Musks Collection

Agar Musk Ramón Monegal 2011

Bottle Design Ramón Monegal Maso

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7.4 / 10 84 Ratings

Agar Musk is a perfume by Ramón Monegal for women and men and was released in 2011. The scent is woody-spicy. It is still in production.

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Main accords

Woody

Spicy

Leathery

Animal

Smoky

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Oud

Nutmeg

Cypress

Heart Notes

Oud

Leather

Cedarwood

Base Notes

Vetiver

Amber

White musk

Perfumer

Ramón Monegal Maso

Ratings

Scent

7.484 Ratings

Longevity

7.862 Ratings

Sillage

6.662 Ratings

Bottle

7.163 Ratings

Value for money

6.516 Ratings

Submitted by Florblanca, last update on 12.04.2024.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the "Musks Collection" collection.

Reviews

2 in-depth fragrance descriptions

12/18/2012

5
Bottle 5
Sillage 10
Longevity 6
Scent

Drseid
819 Reviews

Drseid

1

More Like Agar Vetiver...

Agar Musk opens with a nice transparent vetiver that is slightly nutty before the agarwood emerges in the heart of the scent and takes center stage. At first the vetiver noticeably remains with subtle spice in the early heart, but shortly afterwards the agarwood completely dominates and retains its dominance for the duration. Despite the name "Agar Musk" I do not really detect much musk (if any) in the composition, with only the faintest hints of a belated leather influence tempering the extremely strong woody nature of the scent. Projection is above average and longevity is outstanding.

I really enjoyed the nutty vetiver opening of Agar Musk and in the early heart notes I felt the wood and the vetiver really worked well together. Once the vetiver receded and the agar dominated I began to grow tired of the composition pretty quickly as I have smelled this many times before. I will give Monegal some credit in not making the scent as overbearing as some of its competition, but even the leather occurring later-on does not cut the dominant agar enough to really shine through. I also need to restate that I am somewhat puzzled as to the name "Agar Musk" used here. There is plenty of Agar, but no detectable musk of any consequence to my nose at least. Maybe Agar Vetiver would have been more apropos. Despite its shortcomings, I do mildly like Agar Musk and I recommend a trial, but I personally do not consider it worth a purchase. Agar Musk earns a "good" 3 out of 5 star rating, primarily for its opening and early heart notes.

06/07/2012

5
Bottle 5
Sillage 10
Longevity 8
Scent

Apicius
222 Reviews

Apicius

5

A simple thing not made easy

A rather new trend in perfumery is purism. It makes sense to me: there are people who prefer empty modern houses equipped with only few selected pieces of Bauhaus style furniture, with big plain windows giving insights into sparely decorated Japanese gardens. Why not reflect this lifestyle with perfumery? Ironically, Ramon Monegal chose oud for such a puristic perfume – after all a note that stands for Arabian opulence and the romanticism of 1001 nights!

Agar Musk has no flowers, no citruses, it is strictly woody-ambery. It has a base note that dominates the fragrance right from the start, and this note seems to be a single one: bitter, tart, and dry like dust. It has a woody appeal, yet with some green and sharp undertones like fresh plant juices. Unfortunately, I am not aware how the announced Ambroxan smells on its own – but Agar Musk gives me the very strong impression that only a single note is at the core of it.

As for oud – I smell some in the top and maybe heart notes - just a hint of mustiness. It is different than the well known strong synthetic oud we find in so many perfumes that jump on the bandwagon. I want to believe that a small amount of real, natural oud oil might have found its way into this little work of art. Surprisingly, Agar Musk becomes quite campherous, even coniferous in the heart notes – also something one would not easily connect with the world of oud. But after all, that's it, there is not much more worth mentioning. The development is rather quick and by far not as distinct as in a traditional perfume.

Smelling Agar Musk for the first time, I instantly decided to compare it with one of my Arabic favorites: Arooq Al Oud. Both follow the same puristic path, being reduced to a woody-leathery-ambery appeal. Unlike Agar Musk, the inexpensive Al Rehab fragrance seems to contain synthetic oud, but in a highly tolerable amount. There, it lasts much longer – it seems to be a myth that natural oud oil has lots of strength and longevity. As a result, Agar musk misses lots of the warmth and liveliness that oud mustiness can provide. To me, it is sharp and biting, and its purism goes into extremes, whereas the Arab cheapie is much easier to wear, more attractive to me. I would like to regard Agar Musk as a piece of art, an idea put into scent. However, if you are interested in those puristic woody perfumes, such as Wonderwood and the like, you should give it a try. For me, it is too tart to feel comfortable with it.

A big Thank you to Florblanca for sending me a whole set of Ramon Monegal small testers!