10 Best Musky Perfumes 2024 [Women and Men]

One of the questions people ask when they hear about musky perfumes is why perfume is described as musky. By this, they want to find out the kind of smell a musky perfume has. The mysterious thing about musky perfumes is that they are too difficult as well as easy to describe.

For instance, we know that musky perfumes smell sweet, strong, earthy, woodsy, and warm but we may be unable to describe how sweet, strong, earthy, woodsy, or warm the smell is.

But one thing we’re sure of is that musky perfumes are designed to capture the natural smell of male musk deer, which they use to attract their female mates. You can also find musky tones from some known musky animals such as the musk beetle, the musk ox, the sperm whale (its vomit, actually), and the musk shrew. If you know how these animals smell, you will understand how perfumes with musky note smell.

In this article, we are going to describe the top ten bestselling musky perfumes for women and men you can find out there. There may be many musky perfumes on the market but you have to choose wisely because it is not all of them that will give you a pleasant musky experience.

Some musky perfumes are not well blended and that makes their musky note too overbearing or choky. Some are prepared with very cheap and/or unrefined materials that give off an unpleasant musky odour. This is why you should always go for the musky perfumes launched by good perfume brands.

In this review, we’re going to discuss why the following perfumes made it to the top 10 list of Best musky perfumes for women and men

Best Musky Perfumes

• Rose 31 by Le Labo
• Lazy Sunday Morning by Maison Margiela
• White Suede by Tom Ford
• Amber Musk by Aerin Lauder
• Nirvana White by Elizabeth and James
• Musk 12 by Kayali
• White Musk by The Body Shop
• Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker
• Pure Musc by Narcisso Rodriguez
• Musk by Jovan

1. Rose 31 by Le Labo

Rose 31 Eau de Parfum by the American perfume house of Le Labo is one of the best musky perfumes for men and women you can find in the market. This perfume was created by Daphne Bugey and launched by the Le Labo brand in 2006. The perfume was designed to attract the lovers of floral, woodsy, and musky perfumes, especially those that love it when their perfumes are perfectly blended with 31 notes.

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The main accords of this perfume are oud, musky, rose, woody, fresh spicy, aromatic, amber, earthy, and powdery notes. Its top notes are cumin and rose while the hearts are rose, cedar, and vetiver. The base notes of this amazing perfume are musk, agarwood, Guaiac wood, olibanum, and labdanum. Rose 31 by Le Labo has long-lasting longevity and moderate sillage.

2. Lazy Sunday Morning by Maison Margiela

Lazy Sunday Morning by the French fashion house of Maison Margiela is another top bestselling unisex musky perfume you should consider adding to your collections. This musky perfume, with a tinge of woody and floral notes, was created by Louise Turner and launched in 2013.

Its main accords comprise musky, rose, fresh, sweet, floral, white floral, iris, powdery, aldehydic, and soapy notes. The perfume’s show notes are pear, lily-of-the-valley, and aldehydes as top notes, and rose, orange blossom, and iris as the heart. The base notes include white musk, mush mallow, and Indonesian patchouli leaf. Lazy Sunday Morning by Maison Margiela has moderate longevity and intimate projection.

3. White Suede by Tom Ford

White Suede by the fashion house of Tom Ford is a top bestselling musky perfume that appeals to both men and women. This perfume was launched in 2009 alongside three other amazing musk perfumes: Jasmine Musk, Urban Musk, and Musk Pure. Note that the perfume was designed as a feminine fragrance but its musky notes, in addition to the woody and floral blends, attracted male users too. This is why White Suede has found its way to the top ten bestselling musky perfumes the world has.

White Suede has musky, woody, leather, warm spicy, powdery, amber, fresh, white floral, green, and aromatic main accords. Its top notes are tea and thyme while the middle notes are rose, saffron, and lily-of-the-valley. The base notes of the perfume are musk, suede, amber, olibanum, and sandalwood. The perfume has moderate projection as well as moderate longevity. This means it is made for people that love mild perfumes too.

4. Amber Musk by Aerin Lauder

The name of this perfume can tell you all about it. Amber Musk, by Aerin Lauder, is one of the bestselling musky perfumes for women that were created by Firmenich, a company that specialises in exotic perfumes, and launched in 2013 by the Aerin Lauder brand.

The perfume was designed to be worn in winter so that it can keep women warm and comfortable. It has musky, amber, coconut, vanilla, rose, warm spicy, and powdery main accords and musk, ambroxan, lily-of-the-valley, sandalwood, rose, coconut water, and benzoin show notes. Since Amber Musk was created to wrap women in a warm comforting embrace, its projection is very intimate. The perfume can also last for 5 to 6 hours, or even more.

5. Nirvana White by Elizabeth and James

The flacon of Nirvana White by Elizabeth and James can tell you that it is one of the top bestselling feminine musky perfumes out there. This perfume was created by Honorine Blanc and launched in 2013. It offers the best blend of musky, fresh, floral, white floral, green, powdery, and rose main accords.

Its mysterious and sensual fragrance comes from the musk and floral chief ingredients used in creating it. The showing scents of this bestselling musky perfume are musk, peony, and lily-of-the-valley. Being a sensual perfume that is designed to keep its wearers calm and collected, the longevity of Nirvana White by Elizabeth and James is moderate and so is its projection.

6. Musk 12 by Kayali

Musk 12 by Kayali is another top bestselling musky perfume that was designed for women but loved by men too. The perfume was also created to attract fans that love a touch of floral and woodsy notes on their musky perfumes. Musk 12 was launched in 2018 and it has been gathering fans ever since.

This is a result of its musky, powdery, white floral, floral, vanilla, sweet, and woodsy main accords. The perfume is also amazing because it opens with lotus and freesia notes and dries down to the musky and jasmine heart. Its base notes are sandalwood and vanilla, a combination that always goes well with musky perfumes. What is more? Musky 12 has a very intimate projection and moderate longevity. It is truly a special kind of musky fragrance.

7. White Musk by The Body Shop

White Musk by The Body Shop may be a top bestselling musky perfume for women but many men have also found it appealing. This is why the perfume is currently regarded as a unisex musky perfume. White Musk was launched in 1981 as one of the few sensual floral woody musky fragrances and it has not disappointed its users ever since it came into the market.

It opens with musk, ylang-ylang, lily, basil, and galbanum notes, which dry down to the musk, rose, jasmine, and lily heart. The base notes are musk, jasmine, iris, oakmoss, peach, patchouli, rose, amber, vanilla, and vetiver. As you can see, the perfume is dedicated to making sure you enjoyed the full feel of musk all day long. One more thing, this musky perfume has moderate longevity and moderate (nearly intimate) projection.

8. Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker

Lovely Eau de Parfum by Sara Jessica Parker is an amazing musky perfume for women. It was created by Laurent Le Guernec and Clement Gavarry to give floral woody musky fragrance to the world. The perfume was launched in 2005 and it became a top bestselling musky perfume the moment it hit the market.

Lovely is characterised by musky, woody, floral, lavender, warm spicy, patchouli, fresh spicy, citrus, aromatic, and powdery main accords. It opens with bergamot, lavender, mandarin orange, martini, and palisander rosewood notes. These scents dry down to the narcissus, orchid, and patchouli middle notes.

You can feel the musky note of the perfume when the base notes are activated. At this point, you will start receiving the blend of musk, cedar, white amber, and other exotic woodsy notes. Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker is an intimate musky fragrance with moderate longevity. It answers everything the name says.

9. Pure Musc for Her by Narciso Rodriguez

Pure Musc for Her by Narciso Rodriguez is a top-selling musky fragrance for both men and women. Even though the perfume was created for women by Sonia Constant, a lot of men have come to love it too. Like many other musky perfumes, Pure Musc has floral woodsy fragrances blended into its musky note.

It opens with a musky note and then dries down to a floral heart. But before the day runs out, the perfume settles into its cashmeran base note. This explains why Pure Musc has musky, floral, woody, and powdery main accords. Another amazing thing about the perfume is its projection. The fragrance has strong sillage and long-lasting longevity. Pure Musc by Narciso Rodriguez is a unique musky perfume.

10. Musk for Women by Jovan

Musk for Women by Jovan is the tenth top bestselling musky perfume we want to bring to you. Even though this perfume was created to win the hearts of women, men have found it attractive too. Note that Jovan also launched the masculine version of this perfume but this very one is loved by both men and women because of how mysteriously sensual it makes them feel.

If you consider that this perfume maintained its bestseller stance since it was launched in 1972, you cannot help but desire to have its feel. The fragrance has musky, white floral, powdery, citrusy, floral, woodsy, and fresh spicy main accords. Its showing notes reveal a perfect blend of musk, bergamot, neroli, and jasmine scents. The perfume’s longevity is moderate but its sillage is inexplicably intimate. It can turn its wearers into mysteriously seductive characters.

Did You Find your Musky Perfume?

As you can see, we brought ten amazing musky perfumes that were created by some of the world’s best perfumers and launched by good perfume brands. We also presented details about their main accords, show notes, longevity, and sillage. We knew you will need all this information to make your choice about any of the musky perfumes. The question now is, which of the perfumes are you going for?

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There are a lot of things you should consider when picking a perfume, but here are the few things we’ll want to suggest:

• Go for the musky perfume that has the type of longevity and sillage you prefer.
• Test your perfumes for scent blends before you purchase them. Here, we want to suggest that you wait for about ten or fifteen minutes after spraying the perfume on a test paper or your wrist so that the middle notes will activate. If you still love the fragrance after that, you should pick the perfume.
• Buy your perfumes from the right vendors. This will help you to buy the real deal.