Vintage Body Shop White Musk

by Sandy Joe Karpetz | Apr . 7 . 2025 | Beauty, Fragrance, Retro

I’ve been on a mission to revisit old scents from my childhood / teendom over the past few years. Perhaps it’s a coping mechanism to trick my brain into relaxing while we live through yet another global meltdown.

Either way, it led me down a rabbit hole trying to procure a vintage Body Shop White Musk perfume. One thing led to another, and my sister and I are now selling decants of vintage Body Shop perfume oils. More on that later.

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THE DREAM OF THE 90S

One of the most iconic teen scents of the 90s, in my opinion, is White Musk. It’s a scent that holds the power of time travel for me. A single sniff can conjure up vivid memories of stealing my sister’s wool skull and crossbones toque that was knitted by our Grandma using a pattern from The Witches Handbook. It’s that specific.

During the height of her goth phase (I use the term phase loosely as its more of an ongoing lifestyle than a phase) her clothes that I would “borrow” always smelled like a mixture of The Body Shop’s White Musk mixed with cigarettes. And though I despise cigarettes and the clinging scent of their smoke, there’s something comforting about this mixture. It’s comforting yet laced with adoration and envy. I wanted to be as cool as my older sister!

THE HISTORY OF THE BODY SHOP’S WHITE MUSK

Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop in the UK, launched White Musk in 1981. Their roster of fragrances in the 1980s also included: Dewberry, Exotic, Heartfelt, and Visionary to name a few.

What made it so unique at the time was its innovative use of cruelty-free musk and being one of the first perfumes to use a synthetic musk.

The company described the scent as:

“A soft and velvety signature scent for everyone, for every moment, forever sensual.”

“The Body Shop’s best-selling fragrance, a classic floral, great for old and young alike. Made from a blend of aromatic oils and synthetic fragrances to match the scent of real musk – which is cruelly extracted from a now rare breed of dear.”

A collection of Vintage Body Shop White Musk items I found secondhand

THE BODY SHOP WHITE MUSK LINE

The best part about having a signature scent from The Body Shop was that you were guaranteed an opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the smell. Many of their fragrances had corresponding bath and body products like soap, cream, bath salts, talc powder, bubble bath, solid perfumes, eau de toilette, body spray and more.

In addition to the body care lines, The Body Shop also had oil burners and scented candles to insure complete nose blindness when it came to your favourite scent.

WHITE MUSK PERFUME NOTES

I did a major Internet Archive deep dive to find fragrance notes directly from The Body Shop. This is what they listed:

Top Notes: velvety musk, floral lily and sensual ylang ylang with hints of fresh galbanum and basil.

Middle Notes: oriental jasmine, floral lily, iris and rose

Base Notes: sweet vanilla, fresh amber, patchouli, oakmoss and vetiver with hints of fruity peach

VINTAGE WHITE MUSK PERFUME OIL VS EDT

White Musk perfume oil is the most concentrated version of the scent and with that comes an increased longevity to the wear as compared to the Eau de Toilette. Since the perfume oil is alcohol free, its notes don’t evaporate the same way an EDT does.

In addition to that, the sillage is also very different. The oil wears closer to the body whereas the eau de toilette leaves a scent trail. Lastly, I find the EDT to be quite a bit more powdery than the oil.

With that said, I adore both and would be hard pressed to pick a favourite of the two different versions.

DEADSTOCK BODY SHOP PERFUME OIL DECANTS

What began as a quest to replace a few of my old favourite fragrances turned into my sister and I stumbling on a cache of vintage Body Shop perfume oils. Since we assumed there are others out there as obsessed with these classic scents, we’ve made decants available of them all on her website.

DEADSTOCK BODY SHOP PERFUME OIL SCENTS

Here is a list of vintage The Body Shop perfume oil decants we currently have available:

– Ananya –
– Coconut –
– Cosy Cashmere –
– Dewberry –
– Fuzzy Peach –
– Japanese Musk –
– Juba –
– Lavender –
– Leap! –
– Lilac –
– Madagascan Vanilla Flower –
– Mostly Musk –
– Oceanus –
– Patchouli –
– Rose Musk –
– Satsuma –
– Sequin Sparkle –
– Spirit of Moonflower –
– Strawberry –
– Tobacco Flower –
– Vanilla –
– White Musk –
– Woody Sandalwood –

All available at The Witchery website (located in Canada).

WHITE MUSK THE SCENT OF ALTERNATIVE YOUTH

White Musk had an air of sophistication, the wearer seemingly more worldly and mysterious than I could ever imagine. It was a mature counterpart to my beloved Oceanus, which was brimming with youthful folly.

If you were an alternative teen in the 90s, White Musk and Om by Gap were the scents of choice before graduating to the likes of CK One, Lolita Lempicka edp, and later Dior’s Pure Poison in the 2000s.

And now I can live out my dream of the 90s ensconced in White Musk sans the cigarette smoke! But I’m curious to know, for those who partook, what was your Body Shop signature scent?

For more scent related blog posts, check out my fragrance section.

photographs - sandy joe karpetz

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HELLO, I'M SANDY JOE

I'm an ~ senescent ~ blogger who's been posting about thrifting, fashion, beauty, and travel since 2009. Read more about me here.

SANDY JOE