The Body Shop White Musk Libertine (2011) {Perfume (Short) Review}
White Musk Libertine is the newest iteration of White Musk (1981) inspired by the desire to revive interest in the olfactory signature of the bestseller of The Body Shop.
With notes of Turkish delight, Sharry baby orchid, frangipani, and cream Chantilly, the eau de parfum is a very well blended gourmand and creamy musk scent with a warm and sexy skin effect. People will probably be pleasantly surprised by its good level of sophistication. It is a semi-complex perfume in keeping with the spirit of a musk oil which would have become more ornate overtime as it succeeded and begot descendants who needed to keep up their new social standing in order to spend their money on something less essential. Perfumer Vincent Schäller of Firmenich upped the dosage of musk to 65% instead of the 55% in the original and added sweet floral and desserty notes to ensure it would be on the addictive side...
The eau de parfum opens on fresh powdery-citrusy top notes in the style of Eau Vive de Carven. Soon a dominant sweet velvety and milky texture succeeds to the brief, uplifting beginning.
Not only the cream, but the contrast of sweetness and saltiness contribute to the sense of a smell which is intimate and that you would want to appropriate for yourself as it evokes something vaguely erotic, like salty, sweaty skin. It smells in fact - at least you represent it to yourself easily - of dewy, young and supple skin, one that is impregnated by the ambient aromas of moist tropical flowers. The milky, custardy nuances manage to convey a sense of vitality and sexiness.
The accord of Sharry Baby Orchid, known also as the "chocolate lover's orchid", releases notes that evoke vanilla, appealingly blandish white chocolate and evaporated milk. The rosy Turkish lokhoum is stuffed with pistachio - hazelnut. The cream is a bit peppery, suggesting the scent of gardenia.
At times, it does not smell unlike an overheated hairdresser shop in which hairdriers would have been whirring on for hours. It is the combination of warm notes and clean musk with hair-spray like accents which gives this impression of popping inside a Southern steely magnolia salon.
The warmth of the composition might rely on a hidden note of everlasting flower/immortelle as this is a scent that one can catch in the longer drydown. Having said that, while the bare bones of the scent are lasting, it is not a satifying lastingness with plenty to munch on. The perfume thins down rather than dries down in style.
The salty, spicy cream described as "Chantilly" makes the fragrance. It plays so well on the range of gustatory notes that it makes the mouth water.
