When you think of your favorite scents, the fragrance notes are usually obvious - gardenia, lavender, sage, rosemary. But what about when you come across something harder to describe like musk? What does musk smell like?

How to describe what musk smells like:

Many people think of musk as a very masculine scent. However, it is definitely more unisex. Depending on what it is blended with, musk can range from dark and earthy to light and floral. Musk can be described as powdery, soft, somewhat sweet, and is sometimes likened to a seductive version of "natural skin scent."

Because of its warm and rich scent, musk belongs to the amber fragrance family. Although musk fragrances used to come from animals, here at Hotel Lobby Candle, we only use vegan ingredients for our candles. Which means our musk fragrances are synthetic and not derived from animals.

What scents are usually combined with musk?

Musk is an extremely versatile scent that is generally used as a base note and combined with additional mid and top notes. There are over 100 types of synthetic musk, so odds are you've seen it in the ingredients of some of your favorite fragrances. Commonly you will find musk combined with citrus, floral, or spicy notes.

If you like musk, you may also like these scents:

If you like musky fragrances, you may like other scents like patchouli and tobacco. These scents are also sweet yet spicy and blend well with other fragrances.

One final note about musk... Musky and musty are not the same. Musty smells come from dampness and mildew. Musky smells are the scent profiles you will find in perfumes and candles.

Our recommendations:

If you like your musk scents to be more floral, you'll love our Miami candle.

If you like your musk scents to be more spicy, you'll love our Paris Nuit candle.