6
Helpful Review
Salty, Indolic Florals
Musc Tonkin from Parfum D'Empire.
I remember reading about this fragrance back in the day before experiencing real deer musk and searching for a perfume that was considered a good approximation by the community. Now, many years later, I don't see Musc Tonkin as a perfume that is supposed to be a rendition of that, but rather a floral-chypre perfume with a resinous touch, infused with a BIG animalic cocktail that does indeed instill the whole "Natural Deer Musk" feel to the composition. The accord does capture the scent of natural musk, at least to some extent, and certain facets of it. What you smell first, is the floral-chypre component and the resins, then the musk. I find it not as overtly musky as say, Musk Kublai Khan or even Musc Ravageur (to keep it in the synthetic/commercial territory), but it is just as dirty as the first, if not more. The blending is superb, hence, breaking it apart is difficult. There is a big floral component saturated in indoles and an earthy, mossy component warmed by resins. All this structure is infused with a generous cocktail of various synthetic musks, indoles, hyraceum, and ambergris, making the florals feel alive, almost drawing breath, fleshy, and sweating. There is a prominent saltiness and halitosis quality to the composition. That's how hard the base hits. It feels like sitting inside a forest glade full of flowers and animals. The perfume has a powerful vintage flair, and I can see average sniffers calling it an "old woman/man perfume". An odd to vintage floral chypres that were not ashamed of using the same heavy musks in their base to make them interesting and bigger than life.
IG:@memory.of.scents
I remember reading about this fragrance back in the day before experiencing real deer musk and searching for a perfume that was considered a good approximation by the community. Now, many years later, I don't see Musc Tonkin as a perfume that is supposed to be a rendition of that, but rather a floral-chypre perfume with a resinous touch, infused with a BIG animalic cocktail that does indeed instill the whole "Natural Deer Musk" feel to the composition. The accord does capture the scent of natural musk, at least to some extent, and certain facets of it. What you smell first, is the floral-chypre component and the resins, then the musk. I find it not as overtly musky as say, Musk Kublai Khan or even Musc Ravageur (to keep it in the synthetic/commercial territory), but it is just as dirty as the first, if not more. The blending is superb, hence, breaking it apart is difficult. There is a big floral component saturated in indoles and an earthy, mossy component warmed by resins. All this structure is infused with a generous cocktail of various synthetic musks, indoles, hyraceum, and ambergris, making the florals feel alive, almost drawing breath, fleshy, and sweating. There is a prominent saltiness and halitosis quality to the composition. That's how hard the base hits. It feels like sitting inside a forest glade full of flowers and animals. The perfume has a powerful vintage flair, and I can see average sniffers calling it an "old woman/man perfume". An odd to vintage floral chypres that were not ashamed of using the same heavy musks in their base to make them interesting and bigger than life.
IG:@memory.of.scents