Musk Quest: Musk Tahara Al Faransi by Abdul Karim Al Faransi Maison de Parfum

I have often jokingly said that if heaven has a scent it would be the scent of the Italian hazelnut liquor Frangelico. It is one of the most delicious things you will ever smell and over the years I have often wondered why the hazelnut note found in Frangelico is not used more often in perfumery. Well the thing is when hazelnut is used as a note in perfumes most of the time it is in the form of nutella on steroids, overbearing, intensely sweet, and frequently paired with chocolate; not what I want to smell like.

So let us bask for a moment in the genius use of hazelnut, lemon verbena, and lemon used in Musk Tahara Al Faransi. This perfume uses hazelnut in all its perfect nuttiness to create a sublime cuddly musk.  Al Faransi has made an excellent argument in Musk Tahara Al Faransi that hazelnut is an underused note to use in musk based scents.  Hazelnut combined with a candied lemon verbena followed by delicious zingy creamy lemon makes Musk Tahara Al Faransi have one of the most unique openings I have smelled in a musk in very long time. Musk Tahara Al Faransi is a part of the white musk family, but I have to say this now the white musk used by Al Faransi is clearly above average in comparison to all of the white musks I have encountered. The white musk used by Al Faransi showcases the rose and sandalwood notes of white musk. Yes, this scent is clean but at no point have I been reminded of dryer sheets or anything industrial, what I am mainly reminded of is cashmere, cream, and rosewater.

Musk Tahara Al Faransi smells like luxury comfort with a very friendly opening, there is something very warm and welcoming about this scent. At the heart of this scent is a rosewater vanilla laced white musk which keeps the tiniest reminder of delicious hazelnuts going throughout. The beginning reminds me of an Italian style hazelnut cake with has generous portion of lemon zest in it but as time progresses I am reminded of rosewater scented cream all of this plushly supported by Al Faransi's sweet white musk. Musk Tahara Al Faransi glows perfectly on the skin, this is the sort of scent that should have a cult following because it is just so good smelling. Yes, I do intend to buy a bottle of this.

Try Musk Tahara Al Faransi if you like Pearl by Sage Machado, Perfect Veil by Sarah Horowitz Perfums, Musc by Reminiscence, Opal by Sonoma Scent Studio, Vanilla Musk by Kuumba Made, Loukhoum by Ava Luxe or Montale's Musk to Musk.

First image from alfaransi.com
Second Image Alon Alvissar
Last Image from Pinterest.com