My introduction to Parfumerie Générale has been somewhat of a baptism of fire. Up until very recently I had ignored the line completely, not because I didn’t like the sound of the fragrances, in fact I have read lots of positive reviews, there are just so many lines to keep up with and sometimes my brain has to skim over some just to keep up with the rest.

Anyway, as I was saying, I had an interesting introduction to the brand. Firstly, I received some samples from the lovely Birgit of Olfactoria’s Travels which I have been slowly exploring over the last couple of weeks. I also had the pleasure of being talked through the line by my good friend Nick who works in the specialist perfumery – Les Senteurs. Having smelled most of the scents from the line (albeit briefly), I have to say that I am really pleasantly surprised and I owe Pierre Guillaume a massive apology for ignoring the line for so long.

I hope to review a few of the Parfumerie Générale scents over the next couple of weeks, but I thought I would start with one of the most interesting fragrances in the collection, PG04 Musc Maori.

An obligatory picture of Pierre Guillaume, just because….

The Notes

Cocoa Pod, Tonka Bean, Amber, Vanilla and White Musk [1]

How Does it Smell?

When I was a kid my siblings and I were pretty much addicted to Nesquik Chocolate Milkshake, the type that comes in grainy powder form within a banana yellow coloured plastic tub. We LOVED the stuff and to this day I sometimes find myself craving it. So imagine my surprise when Nick sprayed Musc Maori on the tester strip, declared it as ‘Chocolate Milkshake’ and handed it to me, I was immediately taken back to childhood times.

Musc Maori opens with the hugely familiar note of cocoa powder, but it’s not the usual bitter dark chocolate powder we are used to seeing in some gourmands, no this is sweet milk chocolate powder. The chocolate rains supreme for the whole of Musc Maori’s development and it is one of those addictive smells that I keep finding myself taking generous whiffs off throughout the day.

Those of you who are familiar with Nesquik will know that there are actually two ingredients required – the Nesquik powder and a generous helping of milk, Musc Maori has both. Underneath the cocoa is a melange of creamy lactonic notes that seriously emphasise the gourmand nature of the scent, and that’s what Musc Maori is, it’s not a musk scent at all (it’s nothing like Musc Ravageur or Muscs Koublaï Khän in any way) it is a seriously edible gourmand.

Musc Maori does eventually settle on a warm, appealing combination of musk and vanilla, some grains of cocoa powder are left and whilst it does gradually develop, the signature of the scent remains throughout, it’s not quite linear but it’s close. It does however, get much more sugary sweet and harder to digest as it heads towards the dry down and I do find that once I get to this point I do tire of it very quickly.

I enjoy smelling Musc Maori, the novelty of it’s scent never fails to make me smile but I would never wear it. As I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed drinking Nesquik as a kid, heck I even loved the Nesquik cereal that looked suspiciously like rabbit droppings, a fact that was only confirmed by the guilty looking rabbit pictured on the box, but I have never and probably will never feel the urge to smell like it, it just doesn’t have the wearability factor for me.

For a different take on Musc Maori head over to Olfactoria’s Travels to read Birgit’s review.

Availability

Musc Maori is available in 50ml and 100ml Eau de Parfum with prices ranging from £81.50-£117.50.

Disclaimer

This review is based on a sample of Musc Maori sourced myself.

[1] fragrantica.com

Image 1 bend.com.br

Image 2 profumidinicchia.blogspot.com