WAS: Fixatives for citrus blends. NOW Musk

[Guest guest]

> I bought some Egyptian

> Musk at Whole Foods (here in Chicago), and thought I would try a bit

> of that. Actually, the blend is really nice. In the end however, you

> smell the musk (which in this instance is actually nice, I am usually

> not that crazy about musk, but this smells really pleasant).

Hi Rich,

I just want to add a few comments here. And I'm not intending to

ruffle any feathers...

I'd be leery of that Egyptian Musk. Even though it came from Whole

Foods, it's likely full of synthetics. Unless it clearly states that

it only contains natural essential oils, and no fragrance oils. The

local health-food stores around here carry an Egyptian Musk (and White

Musk and China Musk) in cute little square-ish bottles with

Islamic-style art on them -- they're full of synths. (I just looked

it up -- the company is Nemat International.)

Why do I suspect the stuff that you bought? Because it's tricky

making a musk doppelganger from natural ingredients (and not cheap,

either). And it's really difficult, if not nearly impossible, to find

one of these doppelgangers on the market. The reason why the musks on

the market don't contain actual musk is because it's a) endangered,

highly unobtainable, and c) prohibitively expensive. (And: d)

considered to be unethical by most NPers)

What makes the musk that's readily available on the open market smell

like musk? It contains one or several of the synthetic musks, which

are under scrutiny for containing neurotoxins. (Do an archive search

here -- we've discussed it a lot.) The commercial fragrance and

flavor folks are fighting this tooth and nail because most commercial

items like soap, shampoo, laundry products, household cleaning

products and even some foods (for example, certain blackberry flavored

chocolates -- ask me how I know this) contain synthetic musks. If the

perfume and flavor industry had to stop using these in their products,

they'd be forced to rethink all of their recipes, and their entire

business plans. For them, it's much easier to claim " trade secrecy "

and continue to put poison into the products that people use.

All that being said, there IS a bright side. Search the archives here

for Alfred's végémusc and semi-végémusc recipes. I've heard great

things about them from people who've made them. And I've been

planning on making them myself and hope to do so soon...

I hope this wasn't too much of a rehash of info that's already here on

the site. Sorry it's so long...

Cheers!

Andrine