Valentine's Day 2010: Exploring Musk Oils - Part 1 {Scented Thoughts} {Perfume List}
18th century Muscadins (from "muschardin", a pastille perfumed with musk) are pre-dandy types who were known for their predilection for perfume The systematic quest for artificial musk started some 130 years sooner than is usually thought of when most introductions to synthetic musks start with a mention of 19th century Musk Baur. We entered the modern age of man-made musk odorants which was going to be so prolific and fashionable at recurring periods of history as early as the mid-18th century, in 1758 to be specific according to Kopp, when German chemist Andreas Sigismund Margraff (1709-1782) managed to create a musk-smelling material by treating the oil distilled from natural resinous fossilized amber (huile de succin) with nitric acid.
As reported by several works on chemistry, it had been known for a long time that the action of nitric acid on some hydrocarbons could produce a musky aroma but this moment is recorded as a landmark and Margraff himself baptized the new substance which offered a strong musky smell and was soluble in alcohol, "artificial musk"...
A 1973 ad for Macho Musk Oil in the midst of the musk-oil craze of the 1970s
This early artificial musk was nonetheless never produced at an industrial scale and remained more of a scientific turning point than a commercial and cultural one.
It is not before 1888 that as a serendipitous result of the research of chemist Albert Bauer looking for new explosives that artificial musk perfumes would be launched thanks to what was discovered and commercialized as "Musk Baur" or again, "Artificial Musk." Soon Baur went back to work as his odorant became an end-of-19th century hit. Next, Musk Xylene, Musk Ketone and Musk Ambrette were isolated. Although today, these so-called "nitro musks" cannot be used anymore due to their toxicity, the nitro-musk odoriferous characteristics are still sought after by other means and different aromachemicals.
Around the Belle Epoque, musks became thus more widespread and in fact became associated with the low-life type of the "cocotte." To this day, you can use the derived French word "cocotter" to mean that something smells too strong, pungent with a connotation of over-applied cheap perfumes. You can directly invoke the pejorative memory of those women of easy virtue perceived to be on the prowl olfactorily speaking by saying "Cela sent la cocotte ici" to mean that a place smells. (lit. It smells of a cocotte in here). If musk was frowned upon in well-heeled advice manuals of the turn of the 20th century, a complete reversal takes place by the 1970s when animalic-scented oils and musk oils in particular became a veritable sign of the times. As Tom Reichert writes in The Erotic History of Advertising, Jovan Musk Oil was introduced in 1972 but was inspired by a phenomenon already taking place on the streets and the realization that a no-label musk oil sold in Greenwich Village created long lines of customers amongst the youth of the time. Strong aromas that associated well with Marijuana-smoking like patchouli (for covering it up too) and sexual liberation, like musk oils and other animalic odors became not only useful but desirable and extremely popular. Overtly sexy was good. As a 1970s beauty magazine, Mademoiselle, published in 1973: "These days, no woman's fragrance arsenal is complete unless it includes Musk Oil, Civet Oil and Ambergris Oil." In Lewd Food, 1974, Robert Hendrickson also mentions the then "musk fad" which goes hand in hand with a civet one.
In 2010, we are left with the direct descendants of this musk-oil craze of the 1970s. The new discourse on sexual perfumery uses a new key term "pheromone", which is supposed to be odorless, but a number of iconic and lesser-known, more underground musk oils are still to be found as scented "pheromones" and aphrodisiacs. I will detail several of them in my next post under the following headings: 1) Musk Oils: Straight-Up and Raw; 2) Luxury Perfumes Influenced by the Musk-Oil Concept.
Meanwhile you can read:
The White Musk Trend in Paris, Really?
Top White Musk Trails to Try Out
Musk Hall of Fame
Love Potions or My Top Super Sexy Scents for Valentine's Day and Beyond
Previous Posts in Scented Thoughts:
North-American Originals: Perfumers on Fall & Winter -- Part 5
North-American Originals: Perfumers on Fall & Winter -- Part 4
North-American Originals: Perfumers on Fall & Winter -- Part 3
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