UNSPOKEN MUSK by FRANCESCA BIANCHI (2022)

All things at once; neatly pissy; west/east hybrid, clever melding of cypriol with civet and castoreum to recreate a South East Asian oud without being too obnoxiously oudish : a thick down (no one does contemporary, thick, poreless downs like Francesca Bianchi and I mean that as a compliment: this lasts well into the next day – her Sticky Fingers basically the perfect patchouli vanilla; dense as; Calme Volupte an almost shockingly visceral spiked sandalwood – alarmingly sexual

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on top, powdered white muskness – those who appreciate the negligence of Tom Ford Urban Musk and Jasmine Musk will like this – with a fondant balsam centre, like an oud chocolate with a liquid floral puree………… ; though White Musk, the original, is still the benchmark of this genre for me (and always has been), other comparable crystallines like Lutens Clair De Musc really just redefinitions; the classic Kiehls and Alyssas just less cleanly versions of the same (I don’t mind a touch of slovenliness in a scent sometimes – it is not usually my go to vibe even if I can’t resist gorging myself sometimes on Bal A Versailles, the musc of all time – but there is definitely a curl up comfort about a blanket of clean/unclean musk even if when worn outside, the riskier risque associations immediately clear )

Unspoken Musk piles on all this musk history, but tells its own stories – full, emotional, as the perfumer herself says, revealing the vice/virtue contradictions inherent in the human; my impression being that it smells quite different depending on the person – on D it was much more feathery and flamboyant while simultaneously too domestic – I smelled woodier, darker, and a tad simplistic, the state of initial cleanliness involved probably also crucial here: I would need to have squeaky clean after-bath epidermis to pull this one off for coziness; unwashed would be too feral – the filthometer teetering too precariously towards Total Skank – with a capital S