Musk's Big Makeover

One of the most popular ingredients in a perfumer's palette has also been one of the most problematic. But musk is finally cleaning up its act.

- MAURA LYNCH

As the story goes, Empress Joséphine haunted the halls of her home, Château de Malmaison, long after she'd departed—as a smell, not a specter. Her scent, which Napoleon famously asked her to preserve by not bathing, was reportedly a musky perfume she wore like a diaphanous second skin, and it lingered...and lingered.

The power of musk is one reason it's been popular for centuries, as it blurs the lines between what's the bottle and what's the body, and “conveys...intimacy and comfort,” says Kathy Oglesby, chief value creation officer at Sensegen, a sustainable ingredient supplier.