Hey Posse, yes we received the devastating news recently that the Mona do Orio brand has died a sad and lonely death. WAAAHH! I’m partly to blame. It’s been a long while since I bought a bottle from them. They were still doing lovely perfume but those stupid bottles they changed to were crap and I didn’t want them in my collection. GAH! They really were the pits after that incredibly clever and beautiful box with the champagne cork inspired lid. So in my search through the boxes of decants for Decant Demolition 2025 I found a 5ml decant of Musc. It was the decant that inspired me to buy a bottle but when the bottle arrived I never wore it so moved it on. What was I thinking?!?
Musc by Mona di Orio 2010
These are the featured accords:
Neroli, angelica, rose, heliotrope, tonka bean, musks
MdO had an interesting way of naming her creations. The name was always an integral part of the scent but often it was not what caught your attention. In Musc the opening is this beautiful, powdery green citrus. Like walking through a field of wildflowers and bracken to get to an orange tree that was just beginning to flower. So more about the tree and leaves with this pretty hint of the flower. All set on a powdery cushion.
Musc is tentatively musky. There smell like both laundry and animalic musks but not like you’re in a laundry or cuddling a panther, it’s all too low key for that. We are well into the heart before my nose even gets a hint of the roses, the greenery and flower. Maybe a lemon jam breath of rose. Very tart marmalade. A whisper, no more.
For something so ethereal Musc has good longevity. It’s totally unisex and now it’s gone I’m sad not to have that bottle. You can see in the above pic that my decant is running very low, maybe 2ml left. I’m going to wear it in honor of MdO and in memory of her beautiful brand.
Surrender To Chance still has samples available
Were you a Musc fan, or any of the MdO line?
Portia xx
Once upon a time I had a couple of decants/minis of Md’Os. I can see them on my old spread sheet but not my up to date records. They were Eau Absolue & Rose Etoile. I can’t remember their smell & must have gifted them at some point.
I do remember that when I found Basenotes Mona was worshipped & that she died in the first year of my joining. Since her death the house seems to have dropped off the radar of perfumistae land.
Musc sounds nice & very polite in the current beast mode climate
Didn’t Luca Turin have some kind of beef with this house in his 2009 perfume review book? And gave every perfume 1 star. Never sampled or bought anything from this house. Always sidetracked with other things