If you were wondering what the mysterious, alluring, JFK Jr.–charming Carolyn Bessette Kennedy smelled like, the first episode of FX’s Love Story gave us a big hint. An early scene in the Calvin Klein office elevator shows a young Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon) chatting about her long-rumored signature scent with a colleague. “By the way, I wore your Egyptian musk last night,” the colleague whispers conspiratorially, “and, I’m not kidding, three different guys, like, inhaled me.”
Her rave endorsement is a nod to years-old perfume lore about CBK, who’s said to have paired her expensive, cool-girl closet with earthy, subtle Egyptian musk oil. CBK is rumored to have favored the version by Abdul Kareem, a brand from the ’80s that was often sold by NYC street vendors. These days, it’s much harder to come by — hard-core fragrance enthusiasts, some of whom have been loyal to the scent for the last four decades, swear that Abdul Kareem’s sultry, soapy scent is impossible to replicate (though there are many attempts out there). The only person who supposedly possesses the original CBK-beloved formula is a single seller on eBay. I’ve bought a few bottles over the years, and I think they smell like the real deal.
The seller, who goes by SkipTheMiddleMan on the platform, has stocked the oil on and off for the past few years. A Hulu shout-out does not seem to have prompted SkipTheMiddleMan to replenish the listing, so I reached out to find out whether the CBK stans’ favorite scent is gone forever.
The seller, who asked not to be identified by name, told me they inherited the formula and business from a family friend named Charlotte when she died (rumor has it the friend was writer Charlotte Vale-Allen, who died in 2023, though it’s unclear how or when she obtained the rights from the original company). Now that CBK is back in pop culture, everybody wants a piece of the eBay fragrance purveyor.
“The interest has been through the roof, which has been amazing but very overwhelming, to be honest,” the seller wrote to me, adding that they’ve been getting 30 messages a day. Apparently, they’re planning to restock sometime in the next few weeks but are waiting until they have a few hundred bottles available before reopening the listing. Chances are it will sell out quickly, but you might be able to catch the next round if you’re vigilant enough. “I can’t comment on the frequency of restocking,” SkipTheMiddleMan told me. “But it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.” All my fellow Abdul Kareem Egyptian musk heads can share a collective sigh of relief — and set up your eBay search alerts stat.