Musk xylene

Say itMusk ZYE-leen

Sweet, powdery, warm animalic musk, very persistent.

What it is: A molecule made in a lab.
When you smell it: Dry-down: what stays.
What perfumers do with it: Once the cheap mainstay musk of soaps and perfumes; now eliminated from formulas.
Worth knowing: Its persistence in nature put it among the first substances on the EU's REACH authorisation list.
Rules: Not allowed. EU REACH: very persistent and bioaccumulative; no authorisation after 2011.
Also called: Musk xylol; 1-tert-butyl-3,5-dimethyl-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene

Not on the label of any of the 1080 perfumes read so far.

Sources