Ambrette (musk Mallow)

What it is

Seeds from a hibiscus relative, and the only plant material that convincingly reads as musk. Expensive, and the one botanical answer to animal musk.

What it smells like

Soft and warm with a pear-like, slightly nutty sweetness. It is rounder and less clean than the synthetic musks and is used where a fragrance wants skin rather than laundry.

Where it sits

Which layer of the pyramid it is listed in, across every fragrance here that carries it. A base note is one you smell for hours; a top note is usually gone within the first.

What it turns up with

How much more often than the catalogue average. 1.0x would be chance, so these are the things that genuinely travel with it rather than the things that are simply common.

When it is worn

Against the average fragrance here. The line marks that average, so a bar past it means this is worn in that season or setting more than most.

Houses that use it most

Counted across the fragrances here, which reflects what we cover as much as what a house makes.

Byredo (5), Tom Ford (5), Valentino (4), Givenchy (3), Kilian (3), Le Labo (2).