Animalis

Animalis: When the scent of the beast becomes a fragrance!

The animalic note, or the delicate scent of locker-room sweat, dirty socks, Le Mâle… still stirs the imagination! In reality, the animalic note speaks above all to virility, to the full “masculinity” of masculine fragrances. The animalis base, present notably in few fragrances but very certainly copied in many others, seeks to reproduce the animality of our men, clean and all too well ordered.

The animalis base, or the synthesis of masculine animalic notes

Animalic notes have always been part of the great fragrances that men liked to wear for their power, their appeal, their seductive force and their thoroughly asserted masculinity! Over the past few decades, the animalic note has become more discreet, partly because it involves animals that asked for nothing, and partly because men, like women, now prefer the scent of clean to the scent of “dirty,” the smooth to the wild...

The animalis base, created by the Synarôme laboratories and probably made from several raw materials, is meant to be a blend of civet and Tonkin musk. Its scent, described as leathery, nonetheless clearly evokes the beast, the wild lion slumbering within every man… The 1980s, with their extravagance, finally paid tribute to this fine animalic base, which loudly and clearly asserts a desire to be a man in his rawest state.

Animalis and the animalic note in masculine perfumery

The animalis base is of course particularly associated with the fragrance Kouros by Yves Saint-Laurent. This fragrance is the emblem of the 1980s, as wild as they were creative! Masculine fragrances sought extravagance, and Yves Saint-Laurent in particular sought to… recreate the scents of a torrid night in a bottle! Everything is said, and Kouros persists and signs! It opens on fougère and aromatic notes, then unfolds dense and terribly masculine animalic and leathery notes thanks to the famous animalis base and its pairing with civet in the base notes.

Following the famous Kouros came the beautiful chypre leather Parfum de Peau by Montana in 1986, which, by contrast, used the animalis base paired this time with amber to trace the deep sillage of its lovely spice and floral notes.

Since these great fragrances, the animalis base has hardly been talked about as such anymore. However, while it is rarely clearly stated in compositions, many fragrances still draw inspiration from it today. Worth noting is the creation of the lovely floral leather Vierges et Toreros by Etat Libre d'Orange, meant to reflect the two facets of masculinity in olfactory form. A clean, smooth man represented by the purity of tuberose flowers, and a combative, animalic man represented by the base notes of animalis, costus and leather.