Egyptian Musk (Running Low)
Heady enough to waft from the Queen’s sails into Shakespeare’s verse, projection is vibrant while the
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
Wild Indonesian Oud
80s Mysore Sandalwood Granules
24-Year-Old Timor Sandalwood
Royal Tibetan Musk
Bourbon Vetiver
Santal Royale
Castoreum
Patchouli
*For a limited time, each order will include a piece of Royal Tibetan Musk inside the bottle.
Featured Testimonials…
Sprayed some of this beauty this night and I’ve almost forgot how good it is.
…Such an intense, dark, chocolatey, spicy musk. This really needs to be on skin to shine.
I really struggle to want to wear this one around others because it’s so unique, however tonight, it’s really hitting that sweet spot. Perfect for quiet, meditative evenings.
As the description on the website states, it smells like it’s most definitely based on the Hainan attar. This has instantly become a firm favourite for me. Such a beauty!… 👍 Thank you.
Egyptian musk is epic.
For now all I can say is: Cola, spices, Sweet florals, musk musk musk. I love it … tbh I’m quite mad about the fact that I haven’t got a 50ml bottle 😒.
This is a very very good fragrance
These are just my first initial impressions:
Ensar I have to say, you did it again with this musk.
Hands down, this is just crazy good. Completely different from every Musk in my collection.
The name could not be more fitting. This is as oriental as It can get.
Not smokey or incensy oriental. It’s spicy, sweet and dry as the sand in the Egyptian desert. It gives of a slight fizzy cola-vibe combined with candied ginger and something exotic that reminds me of roasted coconut. Like the smell you get, when you walk along middle-eastern markets with people smoking Shisha and drinking tea on the streets. There is a LOT going on here. It’s musky but not animalic at all. Sweet but at the same time dry and spicy so it’s not cloying.
Those tea and tobacco notes somehow give me a very comfortable overall feeling. There is also something hay-like in the background. Something that reminds me of a note I find in Notes from Underground. I can’t put my finger on what it is but the dry down really reminds me of NFU and let me tell you it’s absolutely addicting.
Egyptian Musk is ABSOLUTELY unisex and easily wearable! I only used two sprays to work now and I had already 3 people asking, what I am wearing. As always, I will give it a full review after some time.
“Egyptian Musk (first impression)
Ladies and Gentleman we got another milestone in the musk perfumery.
I couldn’t really imagine what an Egyptian musk smells like but since I was very pleased with the recent musk creations like Tonkin Musk, Tibetan Musk and siber extreme, I’ve pulled the trigger as soon as I’ve read the mail from Mr. Kruger.
Today I woke up at 9:30am and 5 minutes after that the DHL guy rang the doorbell.
Perfect start for a day 😁
After a quick shower I’ve made a test spray on my arm and I was like : Wow now I know what the other people mean when they’re talkin about a Cola Note.
It opened with a spicy sweet musky note which reminds me of Dr Pepper with a proper citrusy Lubani – yuzu aroma.
I got asked if this fragrance has any similarities with Tibetan musk and the only thing which reminds of the TM is the sweetness of the florals, but in this creation it’s more a dry and very harmonic sweetness, not as pungent as it was in TM.
The mysore tincture which is the carrier of this perfume reminds me of olde hind but in a very tamed and mild way.
Using the Mysore tincture as a carrier was the perfect choice for this fragrance, it adds this proper oriental feeling to the perfume.
After a while I can notice something slightly chocolaty out of it and a very nice ginger notes.
All rounded up pretty well with a very interesting oud note and patchouli.
All in all it’s a very round and powerful fragrance, easy to wear in every situation and very likeable.
The sillage is proper and the longevity is good, but I think that it’s going to increase over the time like it does with all the eo perfumes.
My most favorite aspect of this perfume is the Cola note, if I could turn the time back I’d definetly get the 50ml bottle of this fragrance.
It’s such a good creation and I’m looking forward to see/smell what kind of impact the fat hairy piece of royal Tibetan musk is going to have over the time.
This is exactly the stuff that I need, Ensar is a baller when it comes to oud but when it comes to Musk he’s the undisputed master.
Thanks for this great perfume 😊
Chris A. • Germany
Note from a Customer
I never knew really really authentic Egyptian Musk smells like this, yes ensar said, “It’s an overhaul, and pimped-up, cribbed-out upgrade from every angle.”
What have I been wearing then.? White glazing Egyptian musk?
This rather is……
A very strong animalic mixed with a sweet gourmand warm opening. Honey and Musk integrated, squeezed together to create a compound from it, and then layered out on a pan for you to inhale its fumes whilst it’s being cooked.
We have all been in a restaurant or a dessert places and you can smell the aroma , the fumes of the hot sweet cooked dessert you have ordered and about to get your claws into.
The ginger aroma is also very apparent early on, spicy and citrusy slightly floral , piney type.
After about 3 4 minutes, the gourmand nature comes out a lot more, more smoother and lighter, in the opening its very strong.
There is also a slight woody accord in the composition, the type of wood smell you get in the summer, after the hot beaming sun has settled upon it. The sweat of hot wood I call it.
Lush creamy accords are also present, it depicts itself as the fragrance settles onto the skin. The contribution of the camomile is present, herbaceous, warm, sweet and fruity with a slight dry animalic tone.
The bittet citrusy lemon affect is intervened, woven and carefully integrated in this sweet gourmand creamy animalic creation, it’s done so subtly that the bitter citrusy lemon affect doesn’t over ride the perfumes composition but has facets and plays a role in that.
The wild Indonesian oud falls perfectly into this composition, if you look at the notes and the breakdown of what you experience Indonesian wild oud offers all the same quality, warm, floral, woody and earthly, ever so slightly medicinal.
I suppose the animalic musky aspects are exploded from the Royal Tibetan Musk piece inside the bottle.
A quality fragrance. Different and I’m enjoying this a lot !
30ml bottle is a must !
I can only imagine this will get better!
—Furqan F. / UK
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