MURE ET MUSC

2/10/15

Imagine, if you will, having come across a secret garden.  Therein, you spy a sumptuous fruit bush, laden with rich, ripe blackberries. As you step forward, hand outstretched, to indulge in this pleasure, a large dog, fangs bared, steps between you and your prize, now winking its tantalizing eye just beyond the reach of your fingertips. You dare not approach to seize the fruit, but you have been sorely tempted and now you are caught inextricably in a trap.  You cannot quite get what you thought you wanted, but you are powerless to retreat.  You wait there, half trembling in the shadows.  Finally, the great beast becomes drowsy and sleeps, everything grows quiet, and you are free to feast upon that object of your desire, which has now softened and ripened ever more.

Such was my experience with L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Mure Et Musc.  One of the company’s most iconic fragrances, Mure Et Musc was created in 1978, by Jean-Francois Laporte, house founder.  The strange and unusual interplay of blackberry and musk created a revolutionary scent at a time when niche fragrance was few and far between, and remains a bestselling perfume for the label.

I found dark yet alluring notes upon wearing this fragrance.  The dog is animalic musk, which draws you in, but is beautifully cradled by the soft ripening of the berries.  It feels to me like you are indulging in a hidden, but quasi-frowned upon pleasure with the prominence of those base notes really seeping through.  The perfume seems to sit close to the skin, which I like, as I find the wearing experience a more personal one.  Later, during the dry-down period, the scent releases its fangs from the wearer’s wrists, and that euphoric madness that initially captivated and piqued your senses washes away like the tide, leaving you at last free to feast on the now more subtle hint of blackberries remaining.

Rating: 4 gilded keys to the secret garden.