Clair de musc Serge Lutens 2003

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7.1 / 10 362 Ratings

A perfume by Serge Lutens for women and men, released in 2003. The scent is powdery-floral. It is still in production.
Pronunciation

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Main accords

Powdery

Floral

Sweet

Animal

Fresh

Fragrance Notes

Musk

Perfumers

Christopher Sheldrake, Serge Lutens

Ratings

Scent

7.1362 Ratings

Longevity

7.2264 Ratings

Sillage

6.0251 Ratings

Bottle

7.7242 Ratings

Value for money

6.848 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 02/03/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Musc

Original Musk Blend No. 1

Muschio Bianco

N°5 L'Eau Eau de Toilette

Musc Invisible

Moschus Wild Love Perfume Oil

Reviews

9 in-depth fragrance descriptions

12/22/2012

10
Bottle 5
Sillage 7.5
Longevity 8
Scent

MemoryOScent
37 Reviews

MemoryOScent

Very helpful Review 6

tender is the musk

My first impression of Clair de Musc was that it is an unnecessarily expensive version of Bodyshop White Musk. After that it has been sitting in my perfume cabinet neglected until I decided to give it another try. My initial reaction to this was very hasty I admit. First of all the musk here is not white at al. It is of the same creamy, dusty variety found in Muscs Koublai Khan, treated on a more conventional and feminine way. The opening features a very beautiful, slightly rooty iris note kissed by the honeyed musk of Serge Lutens. Iris and musk are a match made in heaven and these first opening minutes are really amazing. The iris fades leaving a light shimmering trail of coolness under the warm musk. A floral note that to my nose is jasmine adds the feminine dimension and makes the difference to the most masculine MKK. As the base warms up on the skin the musk kicks in with all its animalic glory. In fact this musk seems a lot more raw and animalic than the salty, fuzzy, almost peach skin musk of MKK.

Clair de Musc translates as Clear Musk but is also play on words: clair de lune means moonlight so the name of the fragrance could also mean Musk Light. And although it is a light scent it has a nocturnal disposition. It reminds me a lot of Fleur Poudrée de Musc with less innocent florals and less dangerous musks. It is easier to wear and its deceptive name and similarity to a clean musk seems like a cunning game with the concept of musk as it has evolved in modern perfumery. The merest hint of true musk in a perfume rings alarms of “old lady smell”. The sexual connotations of musk have been dissociated from the interpretation of this note, as if we have lost our connections with our animal instincts. Clair de Musc offers a possible bridge to allow us to reconnect with this aspect of musk. Simple and airy on first inspection but sexy and secretive on hindsight.

06/28/2018

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 4

clair de musc

Clair de Musc’s musk accord isn’t as much like Muscs Koublai Khan’s as Fleur de Citronnier’s is. It’s ‘cleaner’ and higher pitched and has the hallmarks of the ‘white’ musks: soap, sweetness and soft-cuddliness. But here’s also where you’ll find Clair de Musc’s resemblance to Muscs Koublai Khan. Muscs Koublai Khan has just enough cleanliness to it to make you realize how dirty it is. The honeyed rose creates a feeling of purity that gets completely run over by the bawdiness of the the musk. If there is a narrative of innocence lost embedded in the perfume, the story is told in about as long as it takes to say, “Wow. Innocence lost.”

Clair de Musc tips the balance way in the other direction. The clean musk accord aims to cover any errant animalism but every now and again something unclean pops through. The scent of scalp, a whiff of armpit. It makes you realize this perfume isn’t about cleanliness. It’s about hygiene not quite holding its own against the scent of the human body. Remember the story of the first use of historical eaux like Eau de Cologne and Florida Water? They were for covering up the funk of unwashed bodies. Clair de Musc gives you that experience without you ever having to have a funky body yourself.

Some of the best musk perfumes are a variation on the idea, though perfumes like Kiehl’s Musk No 1, Amouage Gold Man and Les Nereides Fleur Poudrée de Musc all land much further in the funk than Clair de Musc. The perpetual resurfacing of bodily scents emphasizes the degree of restraint needed to keep from falling into the indulgence of the flesh. There’s a sexiness to the perfume that’s easy to miss if it’s not your bag.

From the angle of 2018 Clair de Musc is an interesting alternative to the trend in women’s perfumery toward dull white musky drydowns. The perfume’s musk notes are more detailed than the default pillowy basenotes built into so many mainstream florals.

from scenthurdle.com

10/15/2021

6
Pricing 6
Bottle 6
Sillage 9
Longevity 7
Scent

Kurai
388 Reviews

Kurai

Very helpful Review 4

Clear skin

It is a fine line between clean and dirty. Clair de musc has a bit of animalism in the opening and then quickly lands in the clean side. Clean as in soaped up human skin. It plays around with the clean-dirty dualism, moving back and forth towards the border, but stays far from going funky.

Don't go spraying this on cloth or blotters. That's like drinking fine wine from a paper cup. Body temperature is key to make it shine in all facets. That goes for all perfumes, of course, but for musks like this in particular.

05/03/2014

8
Bottle 2.5
Sillage 2.5
Longevity 7.5
Scent

Fanny
66 Reviews

Fanny

Helpful Review 5

Clair de musc

A Lutens Light for everyday use, like wearing a modern platinum jewel: sumptuous yet modest.
The most sophisticated musc scent I ever met.

08/30/2015

9
Scent

ScentFan
334 Reviews

ScentFan

3

Sweet Musk

Bergamot, iris and neroli turn this musk beautiful. Its Muscs Koublai Khan with the mongol removed, no horses and hides here. This musk dressed up to maraud through male hearts at a charity ball or symphony. To me it has a distinctly feminine and lush appeal but, yes, there's a silvery whip here--small, but naughtily present.

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