A month or so ago, I was at a girlfriend’s house (hi Lavinia!), and somehow the conversation turned to fragrance. This happens a lot. I love perfume, wearing it, and talking about it. We were a few cocktails deep, so I don’t remember exactly what prompted her to bring down her bottle of Mad et Len’s Red Musc, but I’m happy she did. Everyone in the room (guys, girls!) put it on, and it smelled genuinely amazing on everyone. I spent the Uber ride home smelling my wrist and googling where to find this magical fragrance.
Red Musc is one of those light “skin but better” fragrances where you could be wearing perfume, or maybe you aren’t, and you just naturally smell that way. It is described as a “skin scent for someone who doesn’t believe in skin scents.” I could not love it more. In small batches, it’s handmade in a remote village in the French Alps (all of Mad et Len’s perfumes are!) with essential oils of undiluted flowers, woods, and spices.
The fragrance is sultry; a bit addictive. It’s meant to mimic vermilion in scent form. Bright and incandescent; subtle and poised. It has more spice (and maybe a bit of booziness) than your traditional musk fragrance. If you are a musk person, you will be obsessed with this. If you aren’t, you might just change your mind. I cannot get enough of this and am grateful to Lavinia for sharing her little fragrance secret. Many folks gatekeep their fragrance, which I respect (remember when 50% of New York smelled like Le Labo Santal 33?)
I purchased my bottle from Luckyscent (I love that they also sell samples!), before realizing I could have bought it locally here in Charleston at Wentworth (my favorite local boutique!). You can also purchase it on the Mad et Len website.
