These days, as a rest from frantically sampling the new stuff, I’ve been revisiting a few modern classics… This is one I wore intensively when it came out, thought a little crude after a while, and pulled out again recently. It still holds up. Stay tuned for more, when the mood strikes me…
According to the advance buzz on Musc Ravageur, a Frédéric Malle sales assistant got her bottom pinched in the Paris metro when she tried it out. In French, ravageur means “devastating”; the epithet applies to insect plagues, hurricanes, barbarian invasions, scathing humour or a particularly irresistible brand of charm. The very word pronounced in French, with the raspy dry “r”, the kiss of the “v” and the sibilant “g”, is a minor oral storm. How lustily the mustachioed Maurice Roucel, with his big paws and dark roving eye, must roll it around in his mouth…
If his perfumes are anything to go by, Roucel is a man with a robust taste for indulgence: from the vanilla-laden Tocade (Rochas, 1994) to the sweet and salty lick of L (Lolita Lempicka, 2006), his scents epitomize the Gallic talent for patisserie (of course, the austere Iris Silver Mist and the weirdly wonderful Dans tes bras demonstrate he can take an entirely different tack).
No wonder Guerlain, with its bent towards the gourmand, commissioned him with two major launches (L’Instant in 2004, Insolence in 2006): he had already proven with Musc Ravageur that he could riff on Shalimar, with its scintillating citrus overture and balsamic base.
Some people find this more of a comfort scent, with its vanilla and cinnamon-bun aroma. But Musc Ravageur does, in fact, pack a huge wallop of dirty musk wrapped in amber, with a chocolate tinge (a facet of natural musk, according to the perfumer Christopher Sheldrake) and burnt, caramelized notes (present in vanilla, guaiac wood and lavender) veering towards an almost rubber-leather feel… In a word, the skin-loving Musc Ravageur definitely is a bit of an animal: if it turned into a man, it probably would pinch your bottom. And then take you out to lunch at the Café de Flore. A little crude, peut-être? But hey, you’re on holiday…
Also available in Huile à tout faire (dry oil) and body lotion.
I enjoy this so much, and couldn't resist buying it after my first sample was gone. The "comfort-bringing" cinnamon, well, I most of all like to float in that smell, and this other animal quality that can make it improper in certain occasions, mixed very well with that quality. I wore this on Saturday at a conference dinner, and then suddenly felt it (what you describes as) crude..
RépondreSupprimerStella, all of a sudden that little macho thing it's got going on really pleased me. I'm buying this again as soon as I'm around a Frédéric Malle boutique. It won't dethrone Carnal Flower and Une Fleur de Cassie, but then, it plays an entirely different game...
RépondreSupprimerOne of my favorite perfume moments is being at a Malle counter with someone who is trying Musc Rav for the first time. It seems completely polarizing -- they either swoon or reel in disgust, and it never goes the way I'd have guessed! I definitely bring out its dirty side, and it does feel "crude." But some days nothing else will do.
RépondreSupprimerBTW ... I think what I have is the oil? Have you tried that?
Also thanks for your wonderful description of "ravageur."
March, the review is for the edp but the oil is great, I still have some of that left... Fabulous texture, and the scent is very true, but not so effervescent in the top notes, closer to the heart and dry down.
RépondreSupprimerI am the world's sexiest Red-Hot candy when I wear this, although the musk is very, very well-disguised on me. I adore this perfume, although I have to say I always find it a lot cuddlier than crude.
RépondreSupprimerAmy, when I say crude, it's more like macho... You may be anosmic to the musc, lots of people seem to be. It jumped out at me when I tried it after not having worn it for several years.
RépondreSupprimerGreat review and I loved the breakdown of the pronunciation of "ravageur" and the vision it conjured of M. Roucel saying it.
RépondreSupprimerRappleyea, I hope to see him do it some day! Though it'll be different since he's shaved the 'tache...
RépondreSupprimerI don't get macho, the dirty chocolaty musk turns quickly into a disappointing powdery vanilic amber on my skin. I know a lot of guys from Basenotes wear MR but I'm thinking this has got to be rather feminine on them, don't you think?
RépondreSupprimerI love MR's initial topnotes, everything is there; the musk, the lavander, the mandarin/orange and indeed it's the most "masculine" phase but it just doesn't last long enough.
Si j'avais, when I say "macho", I'm thinking more of the way in which it seduces (not particularly subtle) the woman who wears it...
RépondreSupprimerTo me there's a stealth fougère in the notes (lavender/citrus/dark base) which does make it suitable for men. If one of the chimes in...
Chiming in, as requested, D. But alas, Musc Ravageur does not work for me. That vanillic amber trips me up right from the beginning. I feel like I'm missing out on something, because so many people I know love this one.
RépondreSupprimerJarvis, I hope you would, bisou-bisou... Ah, do you think it may be the dreaded musk anosmia? I didn't get the musk until recently, actually. It's as though the fragrance tilted on its axis and showed me its dark side...
RépondreSupprimerPerhaps that's it, D. To me, it smells disconcertingly of Johnson & Johnson's baby oil. I'll re-test it, and see if the animal within comes out.
RépondreSupprimerOh, Johnson's baby oil... Haven't smelled *that* in years...
RépondreSupprimerWow! Does the Universe work in mysterious ways. I've never smelled MR, read the review yesterday, and today I received, quite unexpectedly, a sample of this from the very generous Carol at What a Fragrance Fanatic Thinks.
RépondreSupprimerI haven't had a chance to test it yet (went for the new Tauer first), but just sniffing brought a blast from the past. It smells just like something the guys in high school wore-can't put my finger on it yet though. I'm sure M. Malle would be happy to hear this! LOL!
Rappleyea, I went to an all-girl Catholic school so I have very little memory of high-school boy smells (the nuns shooed them away), but it's interesting you get that male vibe too.
RépondreSupprimerMusc Ravageur is a lover that I come back to regularly, after taking a short, but much-needed break from the intensity of it...despite its crudeness/macho-ness, I find it extremely cuddly, too. No cinnamon, here, just ambery vanilla-musk. It never ceases to make me sigh with pleasure when I spray it on, and to make me feel quite frisky all day. It's one of the few 100 ml bottles I know that I will use up soon.
RépondreSupprimerElizabeth, I must have gone through two or three bottles back in the day... I'm just dipping in my toe prudently this time, just the refills, but I see *exactly* what you mean!
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