Musk
Few fragrances have survived as long on word of mouth alone as this one, and Alyssa Ashley Musk Eau de Parfum has been in continuous production since 1969 because people keep going back to it. The reason is the base. Musk is the subject, used in its clean, soft, skin like form rather than anything heavy or animal, and it is the material that gives the scent its particular quality of smelling like a person rather than like a perfume. Iris sits with it, dry and cool, while vanilla and tonka bean add a gentle sweetness, the vanilla rounded and the tonka closer to almond and hay. That lower half is what wearers become attached to.
Above it, the composition is simple and old fashioned in the best sense. Bergamot opens with a clean bitter brightness that lasts a few minutes, and then a quartet of flowers fills the middle: jasmine for richness, rose for powder, geranium for a green sharpness and ylang ylang for a creamy sweetness that verges on tropical. The flowers are there to introduce the base, not to compete with it. At eau de parfum strength the wear is long and quiet. This is not a scent that fills a room, and that is the whole idea. It sits on the skin for hours, warms as the day goes on and becomes more comfortable the longer it is worn. It works in every season, suits daytime and evening equally, and is as easy to wear at thirty as at seventy. Most people read it as feminine; plenty of men wear it as a quiet skin scent.
The brand was the idea of an Italian surrealist painter. Enrico Donati founded it in 1969 within the House of Houbigant and called it after his daughter, and its reputation has always rested on musk. Houbigant Paris passed to the Perris family in 2005, and control of the brand went to Consuelo Perris in 2019.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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