Muscs Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens
This is deliciously naughty. Someone who smelled it on a tissue said it smelled like poo. Maybe just a hint but mixed in with so many other things, it doesn't matter.
If ever there were a scent that smelled like Bigfoot's penis, this would be IT.
OK....Tried it once, read the reviews, decided to go back in all fairness and try it again before giving everybody a bad day...so, don't say I didn't try...I love sex just as much, or probably more, than the next guy...I mean that really dirty sex, piggy sex, get down and withit sex...in August-no-airconditioning-and- about-four-hours-into-a-marathon-stay-at-home-afternoon-and-on-the-third-go-around kind of sex, sex...so when I say something is skanky, nasty, nothin I would touch at grandma's house when she was down and needed the laundry done after it hadnot been touched in a week without gloves and a n oxygen mask with portable tank...this fluid needs a haz-mat sticker on it...will someone call the CDC about having that done...People, please, you cannot like that smell on your body...I had coworkers asking me to go home and take a shower, and wink wink nodnod from all the guys in the office who assumed I had had no sleep since the day before....until they got close enough...then they just sort of snorted, sneered and walked off...I did make a new freind though...anyone know what a warthog eats...I can't get him to leave,.. cg.
I have to say, this one on me is rank stank. It smells like wet groundhog. Not that I know what that smells like but, I can imagine.
Smells like my cab driver last night and a little like my balls after a day of partying
These quotes are taken from the LS review area that lies underneath each listed fragrance. I finally have worn Muscs Koublai Khan and I must have just sampled a completely different formula than what's been described........or..........these people sending in their reviews need to enroll in a fragrance class.
I get nothing of the sort wearing this scent. I can't even state that the musk is a decisively animalic rendition. If anything, MKK is on the resinous side. It employs Labdanum rockrose, Grey amber and Ambrette seeds. The overall feel of this Lutens is sensual and bordering on sexy. To say it smells like the aftermath of sexcapades committed in a humid, airless room that lasted for hours is absurd. I'd love to know who this guy is banging hips with because anyone who smells this good after a throttling like that is someone I'd like to meet. I'd also love to smell her BEFORE the event took place.
Granted, Lutens is a house ( for me especially ) that makes some daringly different fragrances and there's no doubt that creating outside the box must be a mantra of sorts. I keep plugging away in increments, sampling the releases, in spite of not caring for most of them. So far, I have found just a few that are extremely good and work well on me. I never considered Muscs Koublai Khan would fall into this category, but alas, I have worn it and have to say that this is a damn good scent.
The musk in MKK is coming from the combination of vegetal musk, costus and ambrette seeds. I don't find it animalic, feral or anything of that nature. I find it sensual if anything and nothing about it is off-putting. Simply put, Muscs Koublai Khan is a sexual rendition of musky amber on my skin.
There's a few other players in MKK ( vanilla, patchouli and morrocan rose ), but they aren't the stars. This is about resinous musk and it's about time you sampled it. The horror stories are just that.........stories.
Thumbs up from Aromi for The Serge and his sexy ass musk.
Amen! Since I tried this I keep wondering what all the fuss is about. It is a beautiful, dry musk! Period. It really makes me wonder how people make thos weird associations.
ReplyDeleteI've tried this in both modern i.e. export formulations, and vintage i.e. bell jar from quite a few years back, and all I noticed was that the patchouli and rose had been brought forward in the modern and it was less powdery.
ReplyDeleteI like it, though it's neither my favorite musk or my favorite Lutens, and agree that people who've made it out as a raunch-monster have exaggerated.
I don't think the raunch comments should be dismissed so lightly. I'm not a fan of skank, but am also not particularly known for exaggerating in my reviews. My reaction to MKK: "It smells like a homeless man (e.g. someone with poor health & hygiene) crapped on my arm." I'd love to smell it on other people, though, to know whether the differences are coming from the wearing end or the perceiving end.
ReplyDeleteThere is no point at comparing notes for musk fragrances. Musk molecules are the most subjective in terms of the way people perceive them, ranging from "what's that stench" to "I don't smell anything". The point is MKK is not scary! Just try before you buy. And maybe do a poll among friends if you are interested about comments you get.
ReplyDeleteI guess MKK is proof that fragrance truly is subjective. One man's treasure is another man's trash.
ReplyDeleteMagazine Street by Strange Invisible Perfumes has numerous fans, yet on me, it has ( quite possibly ) the strongest urine accord I have ever smelled.
The radically disparate reactions to this perfume (and others as well) are simply fascinating and make me wonder whether certain anosmias might be genetically selected for and against in certain populations.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear that what some people are perceiving as sexy, others find repulsive, so I wonder whether such differences manifest themselves somehow in mate-selection behavior. Anyone looking for a good dissertation topic?
This is an extremely interesting topic however it comes with many difficulties. I do not know if you are familiar with the theory of "memes" (a splicing between "mimic" and "genes"). In short while natural selection works on the level of genes in animals, in humans it seems that taught behaviour is far more important. While the gene of being short-sighted was deadly for primitive creatures, the "meme" of wearing glasses is more important in today's evolutionary road. If you have the ability of wearing glasses the naughty short-sightedness gene goes back into the genetic pool like it never happened.
DeleteSmell and smelling natural musks was and may still be important in the mating ritual but we will never know because today the smell of soap might trigger a much stronger sexual attraction. The smell of money is still probably the strongest aphrodisiac :)