“It appears that the loss of the scent of Monkeyflower was first noticed in Britain in 1909, when a well-known nurseryman asked: ‘Is there such a thing now as a common musk with the old musk perfume?’” – THE LOST FRAGRANCE OF MUSK, letter published in the journal Nature, 1934. The Musk Monkeyflower (so renowned for its vibrant scent that it was simply referred to as The Common Musk) was imported to Europe from the American west coast, where the sun-yellow flowers, perched on fuzzy, sticky stalks, can be found in meadows or along old dirt roads. The Monkeyflower was a smash hit in Victorian England, thanks to its rich musk smell. Over nearly a century, it spread from the botanical aristocracy to London street hawkers and countryside cottage windows. But at the turn of the twentieth century, the flower suddenly lost its scent—not just in domesticated plants, but in wild specimens as well. Botanists in North America reported that the uncultivated flowers had also lost their fragrance. This puzzling mystery was the hottest topic among biology conspiracy theorists for decades, but no explanation was ever found. Eventually, the subject faded into obscurity, along with the flower’s popularity as a houseplant. By then, the flowers had spread into the wild and can sometimes still be found living a quiet life in parts of Europe and New Zealand—perhaps just biding their time before returning to the olfactory stage. Monkeyflower features top notes of tussilago and sunscreen; middle notes of fig, chamomile, buttercup and goldberry; and base notes of musk and hay. It is an eau de parfum, edp.
STORA SKUGGAN MONKEYFLOWER REVIEWS
Fragrantica: Unfortunately this is the best thing I've ever smelled, the disfortune only because it costs $180 per 30ml. I have been poring through every floral that reviewers have compared to a flower field or meadow and found that they all just smelled like ...roses, which does not at all smell like the wild fields I grew up in at the base of the Sierra Nevadas. I got a handful of samples of various perfumes I kept hearing about, solely to indulge in the atmospheric experiences everyone was describing, and did not expect Monkeyflower to be the wildflower meadow I'd been looking for. In the package were both this and Dandelion Butter by Clue, so I had a direct comparison. They both evoke the same image perfectly: laying in a field of flowery weeds, laughing with friends, the sunlight peeking through branches above you, pulling apart stems to make sappy flower crowns. Monkeyflower, however, is delicate and creamy where Dandelion Butter is thick and fatty. It smells significantly more floral. The opening on both are very green, but Monkeyflower is more flower nectar than DB's bitter stem. The "sunscreen" note smells more like the gentle butter I hoped to get from Dandelion Butter. Overall the experience is visceral, but gentle and beautiful. This is absolutely my next full bottle purchase, $180 be damned.
Fragrantica: I'm picking up sunscreen but it's not overwhelming or chemical, mostly reminiscent of sun-warmed skin. Then there's this whole meadow accord that smells outdoors-y yet without the generic greenness. The wild florals in Monkeyflower are really something else. I also love the light chamomile which somehow seems to intensify gradually over the first hour. The hay note stays in the background, is dry, sun-drenched and so, so beautiful (I think this is the best hay note I have smelled so far, how perfectly it fits the composition). The muskiness of the late drydown is quite unique, tempered by the faded hay and chamomile, reminding me still of sun-warmed skin. It also doesn't turn into the typical sweet musk on me. Performance: 5-6 hours longevity, lowed end of moderate sillage. Final thoughts: pure sunny whimsy and the essence of a 2010s indie roadtrip movie. Smells exactly like my current summer vacations which brings me so much joy. Also kudos to Stora Skuggan for offering perfume refills.
Fragrantica: Monkeyflower is pleasant, but that's it. I see how it can evoke ‘the flower that lost its scent’-- it does the job of being quietly waxy and medicinal under the rays of sunshine well. The drydown is chamomile-infused, which I am rather impressed by, as I've never experienced a perfume where the chamomile has stuck around for this long.
Fragrantica: Gorgeous gorgeous amazing and awesome. Smells so happy and bright and sunny so naturally I’m a lil pissed off that I’m smelling this in the dead of winter. It really makes you wanna go out and roll around in the grass. I’ve never been into powdery smelling florals, I’d rather my floral perfumes to smell more green and photo realistic. This checks all my boxes in terms of what I look for in a floral; stemmy, sap-like and musky. The fig makes the green notes smell more honeyed. I do get a lotiony note but I wouldn’t say it’s sunscreen? Usually sunscreen smells a bit more medicinal to me and I’m just not picking up on that in this one. I love Philosykos but now that I’ve smelled Monkeyflower this has got to be my favorite fig forward fragrance. I need a full bottle before spring I’m so serious about this.
Fragrantica: Yellow, Green & Cream. Very subdued, I had to spray a lot to smell this around me. Happy Yellow florals, photorealistic snapped dandelion sap and a creaminess that smells like crushed flower petals and a lotion. I do not get tropical or coconut sunscreen at all, which was a note I was unsure about but it thankfully is not present in it's familiar form but instead it presents as lotion creaminess like Sorbolene cream. This is VERY light though and because these only come in 30ml I feel like I would eat through this bottle very quickly during spring so I am going to try my hardest to hold out and see if it comes up cheaper anywhere along my travels. This is super light and inoffensive, safe for work, intimate gatherings, etc. It is like a skin scent, like the smell of your body warmed up by the sun. Actually it smells like you were laying in a patch of dandelions, crushing some under your body while your skin absorbed the smell and that scent is now being amplified by the sun warming your skin. A weird note about this is that the lotion scent feels physically soothing like Sorbolene inside my nostrils. I wonder if that is a psychosomatic response because my brain is registering it like how my body feels when my skin is dry or irritated and I put Sorbelene on it but i like this even more because of that because it is really calming and soothing.
