Animalic note

Animalic notes: virile fragrances for men and characterful scents for women. Used since the dawn of time to perfume bodies with powerful and virile scents, animalic notes have played and continue to play a major role among the raw materials used in perfumery. Fortunately, the animals from which these notes were extracted are no longer sacrificed for perfumery, largely thanks to research and the mass production of synthetic molecules. These have come to replace musks, ambergris, civet, and castoreum with fragrances that faithfully reproduce these distinctive scents.

Where did the animalic notes used in perfumery come from?

Today, it seems entirely unthinkable to dare sacrifice an animal life to create a perfume… This was not always the case, far from it. For centuries, the animalic notes that lavishly perfumed the great figures of this world were genuinely animal-derived substances. It is whispered, for instance, that Queen Cleopatra used the secretions of musk cats (civet) to make her perfumes, said to have curative properties.
The best known animalic notes are musk, castoreum, ambergris, civet, hyraceum, and beeswax. Musk was produced for years by the Asian musk deer, castoreum is produced by the abdominal glands of the North American beaver, and civet comes from the fats of the anal glands of Ethiopian wild cats. As for ambergris, it comes from sperm whale secretions, and hyraceum from the crystallized urine of an African rodent, the Cape hyrax. Beeswax, meanwhile, is simply collected from hives to produce an absolute. None of this sounds particularly appealing, yet these animal-derived materials were used for centuries in perfumery.
Today, thanks to heightened awareness of animal protection, and although only the hunting of musk deer is entirely banned, no perfumer (with the exception of Creed) uses these raw materials anymore. Synthetic molecules have successfully taken their place, sparing their lives!

The use of animalic notes in modern perfumes

Given their strong scents, one might rightly assume that animalic notes would be reserved exclusively for men's fragrances. Indeed, this was the case for many years. However, this overlooked the power of a bold animalic note in a fragrance created for characterful women's scents.
Among the best known perfumes with animalic notes, one must first mention Chanel n°5 by Chanel. The base notes of musk and civet are paired with florals, sandalwood, and cedar to offer a unique, powerful, and legendary fragrance for women of character. Then, a few years later, Lancôme created a magical, wild, and animalic essence, Magie Noire, opening on oriental top notes, with base notes composed of civet and castoreum blended with woody notes. Like a magical and captivating elixir!

Despite these great successes of animalic notes in women's perfumery, men's fragrances still use animalic notes to stamp a seal of virility on the well-known green and natural fragrances of the moment. Men are more discreet and less wild nowadays, yet remain just as virile!