Reviews of Musc Maori 04 by Parfumerie Generale

Fragrance in three words: Triple Chocolate Orange

The fragrance opens with a zesty orange and chocolate. For any confectionery fans what came to mind was Terry's Chocolate Orange. A British milk chocolate bar flavoured with orange oil.

The chocolate notes in this are authentic smelling and I can imagine expensive to boot. Usually when chocolate notes are used in fragrance they end up smelling like burnt sugar or have no potency and get lost in the mix. In Musc Maori it is very close to drinking cocoa.

The orange fades and the drydown is white musks and slightly powdery amber. Longevity was around 6 hours with moderate sillage.

Due to it using bergamot and having a dusky quality I get similarities to Terre d'Hermès (2006). Terre is much earthier, less bright and sexier. Musc Maori is much more fun though.

Price in the UK (March 2021) is £138 for 100ml standard pricing for Pierre Guillaume's Parfumerie Generale line. Given the quality ingredients and uniqueness I think it is ok priced. I enjoyed wearing it, A rock solid thumbs up, but not a must have for me.

7.5 out of 10

Source: 1ml sample

An interesting gourmand. I don't smell any Tonka, musk, or floral notes here. The cacao pod is prominent. This perfume has a saltiness to it. I get lawn trimmings occasionally. I also get a burnt coffee smell. I wouldn't ever invest in a full bottle because I wouldn't wear this one more than twice a year. Artistically, it's wonderful. Realistically, it is a holiday fragrance.

...Sitting here with my morning coffee, I smell Tonka now. Actually smelling and drinking coffee, somehow brings out the Tonka. Surprisingly, the burnt coffee smell of this, is muted, too. Hmmm. Very interesting...

A lot of good chocolate with the acidity of musk. I can't smell anything else. I love anything gourmand but this one turns cloying. I leave a neutral note for the originality of the idea. Nice try...

Longevity and sillage are both weak.

I think I'm beginning to lose my grouchy attitude to out-and-out gourmand perfumes, because Musc Maori's opening made me go ‘Oh yeah'. So, I'm putting my hand up to say, ‘I'm gimmegreen, and – in this case – I want to smell like a bar of chocolate.'
Well, not just any old chocolate obviously, this is one of those super-enhanced milk chocolate bars – where all the juvenile sugary fun of milk chocolate is bolstered by a high cocoa level of impeccable quality. Cocoa, milk, sweet vanilla – this could have been a disaster. But as good chocolate is all about the mouth feel, this is about the texture of the scent – creamy and rich and yet whipped to a feathery mousse by the white musks. I'm willing to overlook the plasticky white floral note hanging round the edges.
Musc Maori is pretty straightforward; it has little to reveal on the shrink's couch. Not a problem for me, but what does count against it turns a bit rubbery when the air goes out of it in the drydown. Plus, disappointingly, after 2-3 hours it turns into a skin scent on me.

Real, authentic Chocolate...

This is one which to me reminds me of pure chocolate powder, a very dark and aromatic mix here. I find it very authentic in it's cacao note. I think this will appeal to people who love chocolate fragrances. I can't say I detect many of the other notes. I have found this is prominent for the first 2 hours on my skin, then dries down rapidly.

This is the first fragrance I've tried from Parfumerie Generale. A gourmand. I'm impressed, but wish this lasted longer. Not sure if I can recommend but I think it would please fans of chocolate greatly.

I first sampled this at Les Scenteurs in London. There were three men in the shop - all turned round and said 'you smell gorgeous' (or words to that effect). So, does it matter if you smell like chocolate milkshake with a cocoa dusting and a raspberry on top - or that men think you smell great. If the point of perfume is to chop it into components and judge it's artistry maybe this scent is simplistic and silly, but if it's to wordlessly alter the perceptions of oneself and others then this straightforward delicious juice has it nailed. And I like chocolate milkshake!

OH DEAR ! Wearing this clearly means "eat me !". I makes one smell like a very highly edible chocolate cake with a gorgeous milky vanillartouch and maybe a little red fruit (raspberries ?). I tried it on, looking for a scent for a man who loves chocolate, but I'm not sure he'd like to smell like he IS the chocolate. However, it is a delicious (...) scent on a very cold winter day in Paris : wearing it efficiently makes one feel warm. What excapes me is the name as there is to my mind nothing 'musky' in Musc Maori.

One of the very few compositions by Parfumerie Generale that I strongly dislike. An extremely realistic dark cacao note, some coffee and a strong creamy/milky vibe. I know it may sound blasphemous of me but it smells like Starbucks minus the cinnamon. As a friend used to say, this is not simply a gourmand, it's more like something you could spray directly inside your mouth. Not for me...

Opening with a Christopher Brosius-like conjuring trick, Musc Maori smells for its first 15 minutes like a box of dark chocolates, accompanied by a hint of its plastic tray and occasional foil wrapping. Thereafter it relies on a combination of tonka, vanilla, and the remnants of that cocoa note.

On the spectrum of chocolate themed fragrances – ranging from the deplorable 100% Love to the delectable Borneo 1834 – Musc Maori sits a little behind the halfway point, on the queasy end of the scale. This is the skilful execution of a silly concept, for Musc Maori is both too simple and too sweet.

My Wife has been wearing this for 3 years now. She gets compliments whenever she wears it. I love smelling her when she wears it. It's simply an addictive fun, sexy scent.

This smells like real genuine dark cacao. Nothing fake about it! I imagine a 50's lady wearing a white musc perfume making chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I feel the smell of freshly buttery chocolate cakebatter with nuts, vanilla, and her white musc perfume mixed with that. After a while this smells like those first 5minutes you set the cookies in the oven,just before the cookies start "cooking". Yum!

Musc Maori opens with a strong almost-cocoa note – deep and dark. I'm not sure of the quality of the note… it has the depth of dark cocoa done well but I think the actual cocoa note is closer to surreal than real, possibly because of a dark coffee note in the accord. The chocolate note is impressive, but not necessarily enjoyable. The scent is essentially linear so its drydown is simply the diminishing of the cocoa accord along with the slow expansion of some discreet amber and tonka bean notes. Musc Maori is an ok scent but I think it exhibits a definite lack of character; Serge Lutens' Borneo 1834 does this concept much better, I think.

Plasticky jasmine & eau de chocolat faux. Scrub. Repeat.

Rich, yet light. A close to the skin scent.

Playful, short lived chocolate, like a smartie.

Fantastic for those who like gourmands but are looking for something different than another Pure Coffee, Yohji Homme, or New Haarlem. Musc Maori starts of with a rich cocoa note that is obnoxiously strong. This quickly settles down, and as it does a powdery musk becomes prominent. For a while this is the heart of the scent.. musky cocoa. However as the base develops the musk becomes spicier and what finally reveals itself is a lightly spicy, musky skin scent with hints of cocoa.If you don't like gourmands, you won't like this, but it does offer much more than your average gourmand. As it is a PG, it lasts forever on my skin. Another winner from Parfumerie Generale.

The blast of chocolate is great but when it fades, and it fades quick, you are left with a very general smelling vanilla gourmande perfume that you can get anywhere for the fraction of the price. The chocolate is wonderful though but it just dissapears almost as soon as you smell it.

I didn't read the description properly, I just assumed this would be a dirty musk like Muscs Koublai Khan or something but alas no. This is very feminine, a clean, sugary sweet white musk with amber, vanilla and tonka. Almost plasticky in its sweetness. The best thing about it is the topnote of dark, bitter, dry cocoa, but that disappears almost instantaneously. I have cheap cocoa/gourmand scents that are better than this. Not sophisticated enough for the price.

What a bummer. The chocolate note was just too obvious for me. I prefer to have to close my eyes and "find" the chocolate in a fragrance.