Egyptian Musk: Moka M

I’ve known Sidi Masood for about twenty years. The Californian who moved to Jordan and has worn “Egyptian musk” as his signature fragrance for as long as I’ve known him.

I tell him off every time I smell it on him.

Legend has it that when Shakespeare wrote about Cleopatra’s famously scented sails, “so perfumèd that the winds were lovesick with them,” he was talking about the scent of Egyptian musk – the scent that helped her win the heart of Mark Anthony.

Despite not being fully decoded, ancient Egyptian texts describe its scent. 

The original recipe was based on… surprise, surprise… MUSK! If you ask me, it seems like the ancient Egyptians used Egyptian musk partly as perfume, partly as medicine. Given the ingredients in the descriptions – frankincense, myrrh, patchouli, cedarwood – you might as well be reading about a healing potion that would coincidently smell fantastic.

Sadly, like so many things now, what survives today as ‘Egyptian musk’ is a far cry from what stirred Mark Anthony’s loins…

Whether the egg or the chicken came first, we can’t know for sure, but the legacy of Egyptian Musk has lived on mainly in perfumery terms. It’s everywhere. Aromatherapy spas, lotions, creams, and perfume shops the world over cash in on this ancient recipe – without actually replicating that recipe, or coming even close! 

Every description of Egyptian musk perfumes sold today starts by telling you how incredible the original recipe was and what it must have smelled like, how much Carolyn Kennedy loved its ‘heady and intoxicating’ scent… 

… but that sadly nobody makes it like they used to. Nobody uses real musk anymore… not everybody likes Patchouli (so better stay clear lest you miss out on mass appeal)… rose extracts are too expensive… and who knows what ambrette seed is or where to find it?… Myrrh is mentioned merely for poetic cadence…

The truth is, modern Egyptian musks have nothing in common with the original that inspires it and everything in common with white musks…

History would have taken a different turn had Mark Anthony smelled today’s renditions on the lady Cleopatra…

Being blessed with access to all the original ingredients, plus ones those ancient perfumers never knew existed, I thought I’d do Sidi Masood a favor and re-create the real deal.

Actually, this isn’t just a recreation of the original Egyptian Musk. It’s an overhaul, and pimped-up, cribbed-out upgrade from every angle. Instead of a simple ointment formula, we’ve turned it into a luxury perfume not even Ramses himself could have commissioned.

At first the profile smells like a unique fougère-esque chypre with an oriental twist. Then wild, aged Indonesian oud starts to gush out, adorned with castoreum and musky sandalwood carried on diffusive fractions of chamomile and smooth yuzu, and it quickly becomes clear that Egyptian Musk defies categorization.

Heady enough to waft from the Queen’s sails into Shakespeare’s verse, projection is vibrant while the scent itself remains rich. 

Take a spritz and in the first half-a-second you smell pure deer musk filtered through a green haze, just to let you know it’s really in here. I smell it every time – that quick mic test that lets you know: Musk, check. 

Then the real show starts.

Smell that tantalizing lemony lubani chord – a cooling bite courtesy of the bitter citrus slash yuzu slash frankincense and myrrh that gives it a medicinal pitch, laid down in a bed of creamy Mysore goodness blissed out on a shot of wild, aged Indonesian agarwood oil.

A trio of carrot seed, patchouli, and jasmine sambac outline the herbaceous Indo aloes with the dry-sweet scent of cedarwood laced with ginger around those zesty top notes drunk on Royal Musk SQ and actual 80s Mysore tincture as the carrier.

TOP
Bitter Yuzu
Pink Pepper
Carrot Seed
Ginger Root

HEART
Jonquil
Jasmine
Tuberose
Cedarwood

BASE
Moka Merauke (Oud)
Wild Indonesian Oud
80s Mysore Sandalwood Granules
24-Year-Old Timor Sandalwood
Royal Tibetan Musk
Bourbon Vetiver
Santal Royale
Castoreum
Patchouli

This edition of Egyptian Musk stars Moka Merauke—at a whopping 2.5 grams poured into each 30 ml!—which imbues the stunning scent of Egyptian Musk with a mochalicious layer of top-notch Maroke, and brings the concentration to over 40%!

Take a spritz and smell the sensual bourbon vanilla soak up the mocha-coco aroma and smell what the butter-creamy beauty of fine, fine tuberose does to that accord! Not to mention the fusion of vintage sandalwood and jonquil that come in for a second cup and then can’t get enough.

A gourmand coffeelicious coco Maroke brew, bottled, for you to spray to your salivating nose’s content.