Narciso Rodriguez for Her Pure Musc
Narciso Rodriguez (2019)

This kicks off like a Florabotanica-esque fruity floral with mint on top, but the fruits mercifully fade quickly, leaving the mint to melt softly into a cushion of floral softness. I wouldn't really consider this a musk smell - to me it's more like the creaminess of a ylang-driven floral, but without the ylang itself. Though I suspect that there's a lot of chemical trickery happening here, the end result is a very comfortable Creme de Menthe smell.

This seems to be a musk in name only. Aside from a lightly soapy undertone beneath the minty booze, there's not really anything going on here I'd classify as a musk.

I generally don't like minty perfumes, and the current trend of adding mint to a cheap fruity floral to make it "classy" especially bothers me, but that phase of Pure Musc was so short-lived that I'm willing to overlook it, as the mint liqueur smell is quite clever and by far the star of the show. Thumbs up!

My review is for a carded sample of the EDP that I received from an eBay seller this week.

This is a big, soft white flower. Or a bowl of warm white petals.

I personally don't get much of the soap that others do, but this is a clean fragrance. I'm not that familiar yet with different notes in perfume; I wouldn't know "musk" if it bit me. But this feels intimate without any smothering vanilla. It's attractive but not a siren.

Pure Musc for Her feels more elegant and substantial than your average floral. It could be safe for work if used with a light hand.

I agree with aquila_2009 - the first thing that came to mind when I smelt it was white - its packaging really suits it. It's fresh and clean but I don't get the sensuousness that others refer to. For me that's a good thing as it means that this is a perfume that takes you from the office to the nightclub via a romantic dinner.

As easy to wear doing the housework or singing old lang's syne at a NYE party.

I happily wore my sample for three days straight. However, I will not be purchasing this. It's a very linear, kind of basic floral musk. There's nothing really special or distinctive about it. Nice enough to wear to work, won't really offend anyone. The musk is strong enough to stand up to a bike commute, but it's just kind of boring.

After falling in love with Narciso, I'm exploring the rest of the line. Most are very pleasing except for the two original Narciso Rodriguez fragrances, which never worked for me.

Their lines of flankers make sense, sort of what flankers should really be about, though I find the names confusing and wish they weren't so muddied. There's a similarity in the flankers of course - though I like them, I have a bit of difficulty separating them. But I won't complain further, as a plethora of riches shouldn't be discouraged.

‘Pure Musc for Her' is beautifully done. And it has a difference on my skin from the rest, being quite cool and centered on greener white florals. The note pyramid from another site also lists Woodland Lily (Muguet), Lilac, White florals, Almond and Powder, which feels right. I don't care for white floral fragrances, so I'm sort of left wondering how this one managed to draw me in.

Except I love the balance in it, like marveling at a high-wire act, which it is for me. A mis-step in a white floral/green fragrance puts me right in perfume hell. So there's a built-in tension I feel which adds to my interest.

It has a smooth, clean soapy musk note that manages to feel cushiony and soft. Combined with the green florals, it has a rightness I've just never felt with others that try this. I like this fragrance, but also admire it. It has a smooth cool floral abstracted bouquet, abstraction being a quality I like more and more in fragrances. It may be one reason this works for me - it's blended, almost seamless, in the manner of Narciso Rodriguez fragrances, not about the notes.

This has a refined cool elegance, but isn't an ice queen, because of that perennially appealing NR sensual musk, which does wonders for a cool white floral. It presents the sensual beating heart I search for beneath the exterior of frigid white florals and frigid little muguet. Yet the musk is not behind or beneath. It's blended, like friends. So it comes across as sort of gracious, sort of restrained, sort of sensual, sort of romantic, and in all that self-possessed. I like this one quite a bit.

A minimalistic take on soapy/floral musk. A refined synth musk with a quite balmy nature and a white floral core. Pure Musc turns out sophisticated in perfect Rodriguez-style with its kind of cybernetic note of musky-floral cashmeran, almost edible in its smooth musky creaminess. Cashmeran provides a vaguely fruity damp aura, enhancing the floral effect. Musc is in here "synthetically" straighforward, graciously romantic, sensually poetic and purely soapy. Super feminine. Well made.