Music For a While

This iconic fragrance is the other side of Creed Aventus; it's not quite the same, but the use of pineapple is similar to Creed Aventus in concept, though not in scent. This fragrance is crazy, beautiful, and easy to use, and I expect it's suitable for all seasons. It has a commanding presence. I've bought this fragrance twice and I don't regret it at all. It's beautiful, beautiful, and sexy.

I just recently managed to get my hands on a full bottle batch number starting with 21 (is that the year of manufacture?) and I am VERY disappointed, because either the product wasn't stored properly or the batches do vary greatly. I recall a much stronger and fruity pineapple note in the original release back in 2018 (doused myself daily when working in Harrods), which in this batch, that I bought, seems all but elusive. I also find that the sillage & longevity is all but disappointing. I find that my skin is just drinking this juice without giving much in return. I'm lost for words....sigh 😔

Smells like fruit grown by a farmer with amnesia. 7.3/10

sounds kinda disgusting but i'm down to try it sometime.

Self-note based on the blotter drydown: mostly earthy damp patchouli with hints of sweetness.

Long lasting pineapple. In most other pineapple fragrances, the note tends to fade quickly, but here it is enduring to the dry down, which is a clean, woody patchouli. Everything feels quite natural and it has excellent performance. A unique head turner, for sure.

A rare oddball from Malle. One of the most unhinged scent in the catalogue. Overripe canned pineapples with a bouquet of lavender nearby. Like a vivid fruitchouli that turns a bit alien once it all comes together. Not necessarily something I'd want to wear often but I found my sample consistently more interesting than most of what the brand offers.

The opening is very bizarre. It's a blast of stinky lavender and with pineapple slowly approaching. It's not pleasant but wait...... The dry down is AMAZING! Hated this scent at first and then loved it. Not a blind buy or easy wear. Overall, it's solid.

While a unique creation, this one didn’t do it for me…Music For A While is quite simply a pineapple & lavender fragrance…there really isn’t much else…that combination, while unique, comes across a little awkward…something about it just doesn’t fully work for me…not bad, but not for me…I had hoped this would be an easy entry to the brand…but, this subsequently spawned some apathy towards the brand

I think I might love it. And I’ve tried it a few times before and found it underwhelming. This is for people who love The smell of lavender but want it to feel more modern. The intro feels a lot like a DS Durga scent….(quirky and mixed up and dare I say amateur). However the dry down of this feels completely intentional and gorgeous.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of my favorite fragrances of all time. I could sit here and write a long paragraph about this perfume. But instead I just wish more people knew about this gem. This is the artistic, creative and sophisticated approach to the Aventus DNA. People are gonna ask you what you’re wearing so be prepared. It’s a compliment magnet. There’s nothing like this perfume on the market.. Smells very unique. Somehow smells like a freshly cut pineapple dripped in caramel with gorgeous lavenders sprinkled all over it. A timeless masterpiece. Get your nose on it, you won’t regret it. 10/10 all day long

Some perfumes don’t just smell like something. They smell like someone you used to be. Music for a While opens and suddenly I’m back in Sheffield, not the Sheffield of maps and postcodes but the city I lived in as an architectural student in the 90s. The one stitched together from late nights, cold mornings and the warm glow of friendships that felt like they’d last forever. Zaha Hadid (RIP), Peter Blundell Jones (RIP), Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Coop Himmelb(l)au, David Chipperfield and Santiago Calatrava were our familiar guest lecturers back then, oh... good 'ole days. The lavender hits first, soft and familiar, like the air inside a friend’s uni room when you walked in without knocking because back then, nobody knocked. The radiator clanked, the posters curled at the edges and the speakers were always humming with something: 90s house, hip‑hop, remixes we’d hunted down like treasure. That lavender feels like the warmth of those rooms, the safety of them, the way they smelled of cheap incense, warm electronics and the faint sweetness of whatever someone had spilled last week. Then the pineapple rises, bright, juicy, almost glowing and it takes me straight to the record shops where I spent hours flipping through discounted and reduced-to-clear CD singles and 12" vinyls - 99p and below. My fingertips remember the feel of those glossy covers, the soft scrape of cardboard sleeves, the quiet thrill of finding a rare remix tucked between two albums nobody wanted and at times, some paper cuts from flipping through the sleeves. The shop always smelled faintly of dust, plastic wrap and the cold air that rushed in every time the door opened and the owner remembered me every time I stepped in - "ah, that bloody 'reduced to clear' student again!" That pineapple note carries the same familiar spark, the excitement of discovery, the sweetness of youth. As the scent deepens, the patchouli and vanilla begin to hum together, warm and rhythmic, like the bassline of a track you loved before you even knew why. It reminds me of evenings spent in cramped uni quarters, sprawled on mismatched furniture, swapping CDs, arguing about mixes, rewinding the same beat again and again because someone swore they heard something new in it. Those nights felt endless, the kind of endless that only exists when you’re young and the world hasn’t yet asked you to hurry. There’s a softness in the drydown, a quiet animalic warmth that feels like vinyl warmed by a turntable lamp. It smells like the last track of the night, when the room goes still and the conversation softens into something honest. It smells like the walk home through cold Sheffield air, headphones on with my trendy Philips DCC player at that time (who can recall that 'innovative' Digital Compact Cassette system in the 90s?), breath fogging, the city lights blurring into something tender. By the time Music for a While settles on my skin, it becomes a memory more than a perfume - a warm, sweet, rhythmic echo of who I was then. A student with too many CDs, not enough sleep and a heart full of music and possibility. Someone who believed that friendships forged over shared tracks and late‑night mixes would last forever. And maybe, in a way, they did. Because every time I wear this scent, I’m back there, in those rooms, in those shops, in that version of the city that still lives somewhere inside me. For me, Music for a While isn’t just a fragrance. It’s a pocketful of memories, the late nights, the long queue at the club, the Sunday early mornings catching the first train back from London so that I wouldn't miss my early Monday morning Architectural Theory's lecture, the record shops, the friendships built on beats per minute, the feeling that life was one long mix you never wanted to fade out. A place where the music never really stopped. More music, just for a while please.....

Music For a While: A High-Quality Puzzle If this were from any other brand, I probably would have ignored it. But because it’s a Frédéric Malle, I feel that I have to give it a chance. The structure is interesting because it starts with a very classic foundation—lavender, geranium, and patchouli—but then it’s hit with a mix of fruity and sweet gourmand notes. It feels like the perfumer was trying to bottle a sense of playfulness and happiness, but without letting it smell like a generic or cheap cologne. It definitely smells good, and the quality is there, but it’s not my personal favorite from this house. Excellent longevity and projection. It's nice to smell, even if it's not "the one" for me. 6.5: A unique, playful blend—good, but not a favorite.

I'm not sure i like the opening notes of pineapple but the dry down is awesome. Reminds me of a new take on a gentlemen's fougere.

The scent is mad AF and I love it.

club banger designer formula from a overpriced niche brand. smells ever so slightly above designer quality but thats only thanks to the pineapple accord being so strong and the patchouli smelling fantastic.

Smells like the inside of Lush stores. This + cannabis >>>>>

mysterious, approachable, bewildering, enticing. too sublime for a house rager, too raw for a polite get together, perfect for a high concept (drunk) party with your closest friends and lovers. don’t wear this to work or school unless you want to come off as a closeted sex freak, in a good way; and don’t wash your coat after you wear it — the gentle, dried piss/lavender/vetiver it leaves behind will remind u of the best nights of your life

this reminds me of a much more elevated version of twilight by lush. i didn’t get the pineapple, but more lavender, caramel, vanilla. so gorgeous!

Fragrant, dry lavender with smoky patchouli and a pineapple that's so ripe it's basically rotting, absolutely fabulous. I was lucky enough to snag a flacon from 2018. While the modern version smells good, it's not the same anymore. This is old school with a capital N for niche. Look for an old batch, you won't regret it. As it unfolds, the trademark Malle geranium steps forward, as seen in GPM and Noir Épices. I don't really get any sugar or caramel, but there is a sweetness, more of a natural fruit sweetness. There's some sort of musky, armpit/crotch funk under it all. Masterpiece.

Was hoping for this to be a bit fresher but what you get is a very “green” smelling fruit patchouli, like a sweet pine scent with an earthy base, a lot more patchouli dominant than what I could’ve expected so keep in mind there’s a “funk” to it. Kinda disappointing

Pineapple, lavender, fruit notes, vanilla. It is sweet. I didn’t care for it at first. My decant has been sitting in the back of the cabinet for several months. It has really grown in me.

This is a lavander gentleman scent for a night out during winter season in New York.

Testing my sample; pineapple-dominant fruitchouli, opens with an earthy lavender and bitter citrus skins. Gets fruitier and thicker on my skin as it dries, it gets noticeably louder and leaves a trail. Can be worn all year round.

Cooked pneapple and piss.

I'm not quite sure what to make of Music for a While. On the one hand it's a unique take on the fruit-chouli gourmand genre, but on the other hand it's a fruit-chouli gourmand - if you know what I'm saying. The top is a strange spiced-fruit jam concoction of very juicy oranges and lemons mixed with an anise and large lavender type accord. Just as quickly as you pull it apart to see what it is, a rush of sweet juicy pineapple rushes up from the heart. The key words I've used so far in my commentary are "spiced fruit jam." If you have ever smelled a Christmas-specific jam, or specifically an artisanal jam that goes on cheese, that's what this perfume smells like. The anise and lavender at the top and the patchouli at the base work to the same effect of presenting a spicy and earthy smell like baking spices during the holidays, while the fruit notes are so devoid of any sourness, citrusy-ness, or even oily rind zest characteristics, that they present themselves solely as "juicy" fruit redolent with fruit sugars. Nothing about this sounds appealing in words to me, as I also doubt it does to you, but this perfume's saving grace is Carlos Benaim's excellent execution. Despite being wholly unappealing to me in description, as I'm smelling it my nose is telling me "this works, it's quite pleasant, and it's pretty unique for this genre." As the dry down to the base occurs, the perfume reveals its source of energy: lavender. So much of what seemed to be fruity in Music for a While was actually a sweet baking-type of lavender note, maybe a lavender extract used for baking. And now that I'm smelling a lot more of the base, the connection between lavender and pineapple is actually more apparent than my mind would have assumed; Benaim connects them extremely well. The lavender at the top goes to pineapple and an herbal mentholated geranium at the heart, which together smells quite a bit like lavender, and then a sweetened patchouli and labdanum combo at the base that is kept light, airy, and fresh presents plenty of the oily herbal and earthy elements of lavender. If someone listed oranges, lemons, anise, pineapple, geranium, sweet patchouli, and labdanum, and then asked me "what do they all have in common," I wouldn't have thought to have said lavender. But therein lies the genius of Carlos Benaim's composition skills as I mentioned earlier. He threads these notes together so well that this epiphany is actually blowing my mind a bit. Malle has given us another "perfume geek" perfume. However, do I like it? I love it for its brilliant technical execution and care that has gone into making it. It's a stunning piece of technical work. But, at the end of the day, does it still smell like just another fruit-chouli? Well, definitely not just any fruit-chouli - this is far better than the majority on the market today. However, yes, at the end of the day, if you don't make a strong connection to lavender - which some of us may not - this is going to be Malle's entry into fruit-chouli perfume genre, which is a genre I have never personally cared for. I have no idea if I want to add this to my collection, but make no mistake that it's a great perfume that I highly respect. What this has to do with music for a short period of time I have no idea.

Currently leaving my first impression of the opening to early drydown on paper/blotter only, will update/edit when I get around to testing on skin Right away very very lavender forward, first few seconds it felt like 80% of the juice is made up of lavender. I was a bit underwhelmed but I let it sit for a few minutes and again for 10-15 more, and it actually evoked a very nostalgic experience. I would go to these renaissance and/or Celtic fairs and they'd always have a honey store where everything was made of honey and beeswax including soaps, of course honey syrup, hygienic products, etc, and I didn't expect this frag to do that since there is no mention of honey, or rather, it reminds me of beeswax. Now maybe it's because these beeswax shops had something lavender scents or oils that I didn't see on display and that is creating the association but this makes Music for a While quite interesting for me. If not for the vivid imagery this creates, I would probably not care for it much. To sum it up: Lavender-heavy with a beeswax (or at least simply a waxy) texture to it. Somewhat sweet and citrusy but again it's very lavender heavy so those other notes sit a bit further back. Update after properly giving it 1-2 full wears: More positive than I expected. Lavender is usually easily detectable as its odor detection threshold is very low for the human nose but I'm somewhat surprised at the longevity sillage & projection of the overall fragrance. Easily smelled it on myself and in the air for 6+ hours while moving around. Also considering that I'm not a fan of lavender, the wearing experience is quite pleasant especially because I don't become anosmic to the well-blended lavender so I'm actually experiencing the scent for most of its wear.

Very unique. Strange bitterness and sweetness combo in the opening. Mid notes are more pleasant. You can sense the pineapple very clearly.

this is a true 3 noter with some ethyl maltol. the reason its good is all 3 notes POP

This is sausage elixir, proper. Dior WISHES elixir smelled like this. This is a masterpiece for men. Women can wear it I guess? Sure. I say it leans masculine, but don't let that deter you. Wearing it again today, FRESH, sweet. Immaculate. This is a masterpiece.