Back at the beginning of the year I had a friend who was visiting Paris over the Holidays and I gave her a shopping list. One of her stops was the new line by perfumer Michel Almairac called Parle Moi de Parfum. These kinds of blind buys are difficult for me because I really only have two pieces of information; the name and the note list. I tend to defer to lists that have things I like, which was what I did here. Of those first three, Gimauve de Noel, Woody Perfecto and Tomboy Neroli; I could glean a little bit about the aesthetic M. Almairac was designing for his own line. Minimalist compositions with three or four distinct ingredients chosen for their ability to mesh together in accords of their own, Tomboy Neroli was the one I liked best of those first three which mixed a neroli isolate, orange blossom, and amber into a real tomboy of a perfume. I closed that first review wanting to try the other five in the debut collection. It has recently become available in the US and I ordered samples of the other five.
Michel Almairac
Once the samples arrived I learned why I am not smart enough to translate a name and a note list. When I was looking at my choices one of the first I crossed off the list was one called Milky Musk with a note list of, “milk notes”, sandalwood, and musk; I was not excited. I was expecting creamy woodiness with darker synthetic musk. Which shows I was wrong because it is entirely different than that. The milk notes turn out to be a synthetic fig aromachemical. The sandalwood is a version which does have enhanced sweetness and creamy qualities. The musk is a layering of different white musks to form a pillow soft accord which arises when you combine a number of them.
That opening surprised me as I suspect it is stemone mixed with one or two of the creamier lactones. Yes, it is milky but this is like cream skimmed off the top not a hint of sourness anywhere; which was what put me off based on the note list. The sandalwood is another aromachemical with the creaminess amped up. This blends with that fig accord like a long-lost family member. Then this almost olfactory illusion of combining a set of white musks into a soft foundation.
Milky Musk has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.
As much as I enjoyed Tomboy Neroli, Milky Musk has become my favorite of the debut collection especially as the weather warms up.
Disclosure: This review based on samples I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
