On top of the recent Now Smell This report of the Perfumes Exposition taking place in Paris this September, I've have fallen deeply in love with Muscs Koublai Khan, a Paris exclusive from Serge Lutens. Both have me seriously considering a trip to Paris.As the (lamentedly) ex-perfume-blogger Ina of aromascope described it, Muscs Koublai Khan is my "favorite olfactory pet." And I love that she described it that way, because that sense of a creature with a beating heart connects MKK to another animalic charmer for me: Joy parfum. That jasmine wonder, once I got past the petrol whiff it's jasmine initially gives off, has always seemed to me more closely related to a furry creature than a perfume. I've never "gotten" civet until I smelled it in Joy, and I've never "gotten" musk until I discovered it in MKK. Both seem to take on lives of their own on the skin.
In MKK I have found another pet. I might even "love him and hug him and call him George" (You know you want to watch the classic "Abominable Snow Bunny" Bugs Bunny cartoon if you don't know what I'm talking about). It's salty; it's naughty; it's utterly transfixing. To my nose, it has none of the soapiness of some musks such as Kiehl's, and it's also not the gentle woody musk of Annick Goutal's Musc Nomade. Furthermore, its perfection is further confirmed because it has none of the "soiled underwear" that Luca Turin so accurately describes in Miller Harris's L'Air de Rien. Your mileage may vary, of course, but let me just say I thank my lucky stars that MKK is the scent of my fantasy (i.e. bathed) horseman-warrior revealed by the warm, flickering light of a few beeswax candles. L'Air de Rien is Mick Jagger's skidmarked undies, circa 1968.
I need to go to Paris, obviously. Seems like a reasonable trek to take for such a beautiful beast.
The last time I felt this way, it was brought on by another Serge Lutens beauty: Iris Silver Mist. Hm, a pattern may be emerging here.
**UPDATE**
I've seen on the fantastic blog Serge Lutens: Nearly All the Facts that MKK may be joining the export range of fragrances this coming holiday season. squeee!!!
Image of a musk deer from A Manual of Materia Medica and Pharmacology, uploaded by chestofbooks.com
4 comments:
It's been far too long since I've been to Paris and so I think you should go for me, too. And go to Patou before the death of perfume. What will happen to the coctail bar with all the fragrance materials then? You should buy your ticket post haste. Austin sounds delightful to me right now.
I will do my best to go to Paris for the both of us! Austin is really lovely right now. It's not too hot yet... in fact, I need to go for a walk today, or get my tomatoes planted...
I am yearning for Paris at the moment- I know it's a bit clsoer for me but it still feels very indulgent to go when I should be saving for a house... and I've been so many times. It actually gets better the more you go though. Sigh.
Rose, you're so right, I'm sure! I've only been there once, and it was a long time ago. It just gets better. On top of the perfume addiction, of course, I'm dying to revisit the antique market Puces de Vanves, 'cause I love all things old, not just perfume, and also the Ile Saint-Louis, because it was so magically quiet and deserted in the mornings when I was there last--an otherworldly place right in the middle of the city.
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