Civet is one of perfumery's oldest animalic ingredients, a musky secretion from the African civet cat that, in tiny dilutions, adds incredible warmth, depth and sensuality to florals. Undiluted it is intensely faecal and urinous, but at trace levels it becomes buttery, honeyed and deeply human, like warm skin with a dark floral hum. Vintage greats like Guerlain's Jicky used real civet to give their florals that unmistakable lived-in richness. Today it is almost entirely replaced by synthetic civetone for ethical reasons. In Indian weather, civet-type warmth blooms in cool evenings and adds a vintage glamour that modern clean musks cannot match. A whisper of it under jasmine or rose creates the classic, slightly wicked floral character of old-school French perfumery.