MUSK, AMBER, ANIMAL SMELLS
Four materials have mainly been used over the centuries: musk, amber, castoreum and civet. You can add hyraceum, beeswax or ambrettolide. In Of the Smells of Perfumes and Cosmetics (1877), Septimus Piesse even mentions a muskrat named ondatra whose glands secreted a musk-smelling liquid.
We therefore almost exclusively use synthetic musks today. Unlike so-called “animal” musk, almost all of our perfumes contain “white musk”. These have a clean effect, almost detergent, even a little powdery or fruity, like galaxolide. Others, always in a spirit of gentleness, will exhale a smell closer to baby's skin, such as muscenone for example. But also castoreum, oud wood, civet (the synthetic equivalent of which is used today), certain leathery notes, costus or animalis type bases, etc.
The term "animal" originally referred to natural materials, although today it is possible to reproduce the effects using synthesis (almost no longer use natural ingredients of origin animal nowadays, with a few rare exceptions). Animal notes originally come from nature, but advances in chemistry have made it possible to reproduce their effect through synthesis. The use of natural animal notes dropped considerably from the 1970s, for ethical reasons of animal protection. This facet designates notes with a tawny, furry, "dirty", carnal smell. These can bring a lot of complexity, texture and sensuality to a composition. Among these, we find in particular musks. Two types of musk are traditionally distinguished in perfumery. The oldest, tonkin musk, comes from a gland in the male musk deer. Its tawny and animal scent brought a hold, a carnal roundness and an incomparable texture to perfumes, which is no stranger to the aura of yesteryear of the great classics of perfumery. Now banned, its smell is reproduced using synthetic musks (notably thanks to nitro-musks, gradually banned in turn, or even using an “animalis” base).
