Musk musk (Tonkinsky) Methods of production: from the musk glands of male musk deer, synthesis Olfactory group: animalistic Position in the olfactory pyramid: middle and base notes with possible presence in the upper phase In its natural form musk is a viscous, granular mass of brownish-brown color with a peculiar odor — pungent, fecal, urinal, animal, sweet and slightly balsamic. Animals were hunted and killed for the sake of musk extraction, but in the middle of the last century, the first farms appeared in Saudi Arabia where its extraction takes place in a humane way, without harming the animal. The animals are caught with stationary box traps, then euthanized for a while to extract the substance. Natural musk has been used in perfumery for quite a long time as an ingredient of the base note and a kind of "fixative" of the composition, prolonging its durability (does not prolong the durability of other components), and in the Middle East it is still used and is now called "black musk". In Europe, the production and use of natural musk in perfumery is prohibited, so perfumers who want to get a characteristic note of black musk in the fragrance should use its synthetic analogues. As a rule, these are synthetic or semi-synthetic bases (without ingredients of animal origin) that have an identical or similar aroma to natural musk. One example of such a database is Tonquitone, developed by IFF specialists, as well as Shangralid and Animalid. White musk Production methods: synthesis Olfactory group: animalistic, subgroup: musky Position in the olfactory pyramid: upper, middle and base notes Modern perfumery is unthinkable without the use of white musks, and they themselves have nothing to do with natural musk obtained from musk glands of musk deer. Unlike the natural musk of musk deer, white musks have a soft, clean, velvety aroma. They can have floral, soapy, fruity, animalistic and balsamic shades that cannot be considered significant enough to form an appropriate chord on their own. White musks include galaxolide, sylvanone supra, ethylene brassilate, helvetolide, gabanolide, exaltolide, romandolide and others. However, the name "white musk" was assigned to a mixture of galaxolide and helvetolide in a certain proportion. Although white musks have a relatively neutral, quiet aroma, they can increase the diffusivity of the composition, its durability, as well as modify the upper and middle notes of the fragrance (epplid, romandolid, helvetolid, galaxolid). Despite the fact that musks are added to almost all modern formulas, there are fragrances in which they play a major role. The musk note dominates perfumes such as Narciso Rodriguez for Her Eau de Parfum Narciso Rodriguez and many of his flankers, Oxymusc A Lab on Fire, Musc Angelique Paul Emilien, White Musk Montale, MûRe et Musc L'Artisan Parfumeur, White Puredistance and others.