The Musc Essential Parfums 2018 Eau de Parfum

This is going to be a strange review. Because I love the scent, it's just not for me.

I love the scent because it reminds me of buzzing bees making honey, juicy fruit hanging from trees warmed by the sun, with a generous dose of fluffy white musk. I was totally surprised not to see any fruit listed, I could have sworn it contained blueberry! Blueberry-honey-white musk is what I smell.

It feels very "French", very happy, very tender. It actually reminds me a lot of "Love, Don't be Shy" by Kilian, but I must admit that I prefer The Musc, both as a scent as well as performance-wise. It just feels more organic, more natural.

Unfortunately I cannot wear it, for the same reason I cannot wear most modern Guerlains. It is too sweet for me, too much like a (high quality) macaron. But that's just me! This is a solid offering, and extremely good value for money.

Up close the opening gives off whiffs of beeswax and lavender, and although I enjoy those scents in real life, it’s not my favorite part of experiencing this fragrance. The real beauty for me is in the dry down. The base notes are heavenly. Some will say it leans feminine, but I don’t think men should be discouraged to wear this. It’s really clean and pillowy and I wish the base didn’t sit so close to the skin. It does last a long time. This is such a pure innocent scent. I love it more every time I wear it.

Essential Parfums was conceived with the intent of producing high quality perfumes that are affordable. The Musc was created by Calice Becker for them and is available in both eau de parfum and extrait versions. This review is based on a 10 ml travel vial of The Musc, which is how I like to buy new perfumes now.

We should not be misled by the name of this fragrance. It is not a clean laundry-musk scent, though there are synthetic musks in it. It opens with red ginger and lavandin grosso according to Essential Parfums. The lavender accord is not powerful, but you can sense the more aromatic camphoraceous lavandin if you smell carefully. But red ginger is the main player in the opening Soon after, we get the heart notes of beeswax and Nirvanolide, the former providing a subtle sweetness and a delicate hay-like warmth. Nirvanolide is supposedly a white musk that is not animalic but provides a delicate skin-like texture. The Musc settles into a lovely sandalwood at the bottom. This sandalwood was sustainably produced by Aboriginal communities in Australia, as they proudly proclaim. The Musc ends with a delicate musk and sandalwood. Contrary to what is reported on many website, I do not consider it fresh, floral, powdery, sweet or synthetic.

Its performance is good but not great on my skin. This is expected as none of the above-mentioned ingredients is known to project a lot. The intimate skin-like quality is by design. It works perfectly in the office setting, as it functions as a soft, sweet and delicate skin scent.

The affordability goal of Essential Parfums has been diluted in the recent past by hefty price increases. As late as a year ago (2025), I could buy a 100 ml bottle for about €73, but the same bottle now costs $130 on their US website. You can still get them cheaper from European vendor like Jovoy. All the perfumes are now available in 10 ml sizes which is an ideal starting point. Migrate to a full bottle only if you can finish the 10 ml vial. In summary, I recommend The Musc as it is lovely, intimate and subtle. It is very versatile due to its smooth inoffensive personality.

And by laundry detergent I dont mean a blue fragrance. This is musky, feminine with a sensible amount of beeswax.
A perfect scent to feel clean, it literally gives you the illusion of a white bed sheet waving in the wind in the sun after being washed, not bad at all and one of the only scents from this house that I can actually appreciate wearing. Another scent from them that id get a small bottle for my pocket lol, definitely worth trying.

The Musc is the junction between fresh laundry musk and lived-in musk, a clean that is accented with just a touch of human tang. I have a soft spot for lavandin, a hybrid cross between English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and Portuguese or Spike Lavender (Lavandula latifolia). It's a stronger aroma than that of Lavandula angustifolia and is more camphorous. Lavandin sees much use in functional products such as those for house cleaning, air fresheners, detergents and personal care. Here, it imparts that just-out-the-dryer effect, while the macrocyclic "white musks" Nirvanolide and Serenolide make up the nucleus here. They are soft and sensual, velvety to the nose, recalling warm skin.

During my first wear, I began to feel as if it were a specter of my childhood memories, until it dawned on me: cotton. Cotton balls, specifically. When I was a young child, I would use cotton balls to tickle my nose as a sort of soothing mechanism, while sucking my thumb. Think Linus and his blanket. Core memory unlocked, this reminds me of the smell of those cotton balls. The freshest cotton ball, right out of the bag as purchased from CVS, through the round, perforated opening where they would be retrieved. Accompanying me while watching Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. Now that I've shared an intimate detail of my own childhood, I feel a bit liberated—and I feel comfort. My regards to Calice Becker.