Hey there Posse Perfume Peeps! I’ve probably talked endlessly about Jin and my very first Serge Lutens Palais Royal yellow room experience with the divine Elvire, I think it was 2013, but it may have been 2015. Doesn’t matter. We were taken through the whole Lutens oeuvre from Feminité du Bois right up to that moment. It took a couple of hours and we loved every second. I had a shopping list from Aussies and we were prepared to buy at least one each. Jin fell for Muscs Koublai Khan hard (here’s Tom with old & new versions).
It was beautiful actually, watching another person fall so deeply. I bought it for him. Today Jin finished decanting his second bell jar and fortunately he has a backup. Had I known he was so low we were just in the Palais Royale shop, it would have been the work of a moment to grab another.
I’m not going to let him buy it because the price would totally ruin his enjoyment.
Muscs Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens 1998
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Musk. Castoreum. Ambrette. Beeswax. Civet. Labdanum. Ambergris. Costus root. Caraway. Patchouli. Rose. Vanilla
Muscs Koublai Khan is such a beauty. On Jin it is an experience. There’s something in his body scent that amplifies and deepens the whole fragrance. While I smell really good in MKK, Jin smells like it was made for him and no other. It also surprises in later stages with little wafts as he moves. It’s bloody annoying really.
So let’s talk about how it wears on me. Amber but feral but cozy but sensual but homely. HA! This is just the things going through my mind in the first minute.
On me the labdanum is strong straight out of the gate and I always feel like we are not being given the whole list of spices. I get a hit of Chinese 5 Spice and some Indian chai spice feels through the opening fireworks. The ambrette, patchouli and honeyed beeswax all work together with the animalics to create a smooth 100 meters from an outdoor urinal pissy coolness. Yeah, I know but the vanilla rich amber makes it all very beautiful and elegant. I never get even a hint of florally and rose completely passes me by.
Dry down is cozy, fuzzy amber. Still lightly feral but like a big cat on a leash walking with its very glamorous mum.
Totally unisex. Utterly gorgeous. Longevity even from a couple of dabs is monumental.
Surrender To Chance has samples
Tell me of your Muscs Koublai Khan stories in the comments,
Portia xx
I had a 1970s solid musk perfume locket and spent years looking for a similar scent. I get a reminder of that perfume from MKK, a living creature warmth, amber and cashmere blanket wrap scent. Maybe my nose doesn’t pick up the feral parts or maybe the commercial musks in the 1970s were funkier then today’s musks.
ElizaC,
Have you tried some of DSH Perfumes funkier offerings? They might be your new best friend.
Portia xx
Always been interested in trying DSH. Any specific ones?
I just tried FOXY! It’s spellbinding and feral.
That sounds amazing!! A sample was just ordered!
I had a great time reading this post and the comments. It’s a truly magical thing when a fragrance just … melds with someone’s skin chemistry (especially someone you love) and takes it to a whole different level. I would love to smell this on Jin! I feel like on my skin it’s … off balance somehow. Not terrible, but not the deliciousness it can be on others.
Heya March,
Yeah, MKK has been so iconic and can you believe it’s nearly 30 years since it was released?!?
Next time we are in the USA I’ll make sure he brings his travel of it. We can all sit around and take deep lungfuls of his fragrant deliciousness.
Portia xx
Come to LA and he can use mine!
We will be back one day. Promise.
I… don’t have any!
But now I want some. ( MKK Moments, that is) – gonna check the Uncle Serge box to see if I have a sample!
HA! Good luck on the search Musette.
Portia xx
Alas, I don’t have it! But now, reading the comments, I don’t know whether to be disappointed… or relieved!
HA! You can be both
I had an export bottle of MKK. I found it beautiful but could sense a “gap” in the fragrance on me. I filled it by layering with vintage Poison Cologne!!!
I now know I’m anosmic to the larger musk molecules. I must have absolutely been stanking the place up but no one ever died or complained. Maybe they were anosmic too (insert devil horns emoji here).
MKK was one of the bottles that I sold to pay my eldest’s rent when he was made redundant. I’ve never replaced it but plan to as I off load my collection.
Alityke! I have a secret, unopened export of it here with the Palais Royale pic on the bottom of the label. SHHHH!
HA! I wonder if you really were standing the place up and everyone loved it?
Portia xx
No one mentioned it but Brits are so polite.
I’m making a list of what I really want as I sell from what I have now. MKK is on it
That sounds like a FANTASTIC combo with Poison!
It reminded me of dancing all night back in the 80’s wearing a shit ton of Poison
Ahhhhh, the 80s
Well you’ve read my comments about this one ad nauseum. If there was a desert island scent for me this would likely be it (since I will never again have Fermez Tes Yeux) I get much more nummy comfort and rosy goodness out of this, but every so often it will show claws.
I love that.
Tom, I wonder if it was you that influenced Jin to want to try it? It was very unlike him to have a perfume in mind when we started testing Serge.
Portia xx
I ordered a sample of MKK from STC years ago. Growing up on a ranch, this to me smelled every bit like stepping into a barn with warm animals inside and heavily used straw in dire need of mucking. I’m open to challenging, but it was a bridge too far. Another heavily fecal scent I have tried recently is Dame’s Juste Filthy and that also went straightway into the rolling box!
Okay, you just made me send away far samples of Juste Filthy.
You savage, you!
JD also has a scent called Scatamalis Base by the same perfumer (Hugh Spencer) that may interest you!
Maybe it’s a fantasy for us that only got to visit farms and stables VerbenaLuvvr.
On Jin though it is a spicy warm amber beauty with only hints of barnyard. When he wafts by it is swoon worthy.
Portia xx
Love, love, love MKK. I’ve been living off of decants since I finished my spray bottle. It’s only available in the bell jar now and I haven’t pulled the trigger on that. Also, I would rather have a spray!
I hear you Sarah,
Did you know you can buy a 20ml Travel bottle from Serge Lutens and decant your bell jar? That’s what Jin does, although they gave him his after I spent a small fortune.
Portia xx
I bought a belle jar probably 2 decades ago to split with a perfume friend in the US (when it was still easy to post perfume to other countries). oddly, for how the perfume is described, it was a gentle, very beautiful skin musk on me, with flowers. A tiny bit of skank but nothing like some people describe. I used up my decant from the split and that was that. It’s great it sings on Jin.
I’ve never managed to be in the Palais Royale when the SL shop is open. I’m hoping to visit when I do Paris next year.
Go have a quiz in the Palais Royale shop but there’s another halfway to the Opera that is much less purple and infinitely more airy. I prefer to shop there Cinnamon.
Parfums de Rosine is nice at the Palais.
Portia xx
A quiz? Ok. In truth, I would anticipate that the NVC would be the only thing I’d shell out for in Paris (assuming I still love it). I’d just like to finally visit the SL Palais Royale shop.
Sorry, a SQUIZ: it means a look.
Sadly no Paris store carries NVC. It’s crazy.
Poor UK autocorrect got confused. The NVC is available here but I might have it delivered to Paris hotel next year just to make things fun.
THAT is so outrageously fabulous.
I do have a couple decants of MKK running around and don’t get to wear it that often. I do enjoy MKK but don’t get to wear it that often and I can only wear it when everyone is out of the house (overnight trip). While I love the slutty perfumes, they hate them.
BUMMER that the family hate them but YAY you get to wear them sometimes Eldarwen22.
There’s a few Jin dislikes too. I try and accommodate him when the mood strikes.
Portia xx