Merino Musk

This is very, very pretty! So soft, and cozy and creamy and fluffy and powdery, powdery, powdery! The tone of the powder is that of a mix between pure talcum, floral and sweet vanilla/caramel. Iris is most certainly here, at tracts even taking buttery connotations. I personally didn't smell much earthy patchouli like other reviewers, although it would have been even better. I found the bottle I have opens somewhat boozy, with an amaretto undertone to it, and I didn't yet pick up the lily (which I was hoping for). Then it sets in to a static powdery/musky core which I like very much! It is a beautifully soft cloud of kitten musk mixed with various type of powdery notes; the dry down appears to be all caramel, in the middle between lactonic/creamy and airy, and the sweetness is very measured. At last a pinch of patchouli surprised me, and the dry down got really, really sexy and addictive. I think this is a wonderful skin scent or lingerie type of fragrance (as I like to call them). It is very satisfying in its simplicity and I think it will greatly please all lovers of powdery fragrances. In terms of comparisons this is very, very similar to Milky Musk (but less fruity), very similar to Zara Warm Freedom (but much more feminine, it doesn't have that sort of male deodorant undercurrent in it, probably caused by the earthy coffe beans). I find no similitude with Dior Homme, and it is much less irisy then Zara, Romance d'Iris or Iris Malika by Cartier, it is much more closer to Narciso Poudre or Zara Nuit and Femme in terms of style (just style, not the notes). I think this may be one of the best Zara powdery fragrances togheter with Femme, Femme Winter, Vanilla Violet Orchid, Friday- Freaking Gorgeous, Majestic Opulence, Warm Freedom, Nuit, Gleam of the Moon, Romance d'Iris, Hypnotic Vanilla Bloom and Angelic Vanilla. Dry down is truly fantastic, and while it shares some dna with the new Zara Vanilla series, this is a very intimate and cozy fragrance. For me it was the most unique from the Musk collection, and surely my favorite.

Powdery, dry, atmospheric. I think the best description of the scent is that it smells almost exactly like a makeup powder compact. Very cosmetic-y. I love cool powdery iris and rose scents, but Merino Musk is on the warm side. But it's not a smothery warm baby powder scent; this is more sophisticated. It's somewhere between Chanel No. 19 Poudre EDP and Le Labo's Labdanum 18. I personally don't pick up too much caramel but I see that it's in the notes, so it might just be me. I do pick up the Lily of the Valley. Projection: Not too much. It dries down to a woody, slight chalky scent. Almost a skin scent. I think someone would have to be very close to you to smell it, maybe a foot away. Lasts about 4-5 hours so far. I really like it, it's very pleasant and wearable, and it seems like a fantastic layering option. It's unique. I don't have anything else quite like it. But I don't know if I would recommend it because the projection/sillage are on the weaker side. Update: After wearing this for 24 hours, I think I have to give this a thumbs-down. Eventually the dry down became very scratchy and a bit too much like Play Doh. I found myself trying to "endure" the scent, and then eventually I had to admit that I just wanted it to go away. I still think this has potential as a layering scent, but it's not a blind buy. ------ Edit to add: I was going through my laundry a week(!) later, and I found the shirt I was wearing when I was testing this. It smelled heavenly, powdery, divine; not scratchy. Merino Musk was still going strong! I am so torn about this one, I really thought I'd decided it was a no, but if you like powdery woody scents, you probably need to have this. For the price, it's pretty insane longevity.

This perfume is absolute stunner , in fact all musk collection is success including cashmere musk due to its unusual gourmand nature. It performs great in any season , any temperature as I've been using it since it's first released. It lasts long and has enormous sillage. Merino musk is quite unusual, earthy like someone mentioned on the comments scent of a freshly washed merino wool sweater. Not mentioned in the notes but it has a subtle iris undertone to it. But still it has almost not overwhelmingly sweet edible feel to it. Such well crafted scent, well done to Zara , they really can come up with surprisingly great , niche quality scents. Hopefully they'll continue to sell all musk collection regularly.

At first try, I didn’t realize how special this fragrance is. Pachouli is bitter at first and a bit earthy like a trunk of tree to my nose. But I think you need to wait just a minute, the base note is just delicious creamy caramel!!!! I didn’t expect this!!! You need to try this and don’t let that patchouli note tricked you, it’s very short love and after that such a great note seamlessly blended with the caramel! Pair it with that delicious Zara cashmere of goodness pop corn, you’re welcome!!!!!

Merino Musk is clearly inspired by the Dior Homme line, the Iris-themed masterpiece, not the new formulation from 2020. I own both DHI and DHP. Side by side, both DHI and DHIP have a distince woody base against the iris heart while Zara's Merino Musk takes the gourmand route and leans toward the vanilla/tonka/caramel sweetness(found in many Zara scents) in the dry down. It is actually closer to the excellent Givenchy's Gentleman Reserve Privee, which is too an inspired iris fragrance.