Bat: a new scent by Zoologist Perfumes has me flipping!

Those of you who know me well are aware of my affinity for bats. To the rest of you, that may come as a surprise. But I love those little (and some not-so-little!) pollinators.

When I heard about Zoologist Perfumes' new addition to their animal cruelty-free line shortly before they released it, I went-- well, a bit batty.  It was going to be called - it is called - Bat! 

Ok, there was dancing. Really. And lots of squealing and emojis. Ask Victor Wong, owner and creative director of the line. 

And when I found out the nose (perfumer) for the scent was Ellen Covey, the dancing and squealing and emojis started all over again. I swear I'm lucky Victor and I are still friends.*

*We are, right? Victor? Victor? 

Ahem. Let me sort that all out later. 

Anyway, I was ecstatic to receive my sample and immediately sprayed it on. There may have been more dancing, and squealing, and emojis, and an immediate Facebook post- but really, can you stop fixating on the dancing? You're embarrassing me. 

Let's talk perfume. Here's what happens when you wear it:

Immediately you're transported to the world of the fruit bat. Any one. Pick one. (There are 173 species of fruit bats)

Here's a leaf-nosed bat, like the one on the packaging.

Our Bat loves a little banana and some fig. There's also dense vegetal earth and rich plant life, and that sweet smell of fruit. A mineral tang from home -a cluster of rocks or a cave- cling to the air. 

Slowly... ever. so. slowly... the scent turns. Musky and furry smells unfold. We're smelling a watercolor version of the bat himself now. Not too strong or pungent, but decidedly animalistic. This scent is not dark, rather it is dusk toned. The bat's preferred launch time, their favorite hunting time. Leather notes sketch out the bat's soft wings...

Eventually, the night ends and the stronger base notes begin to fade. As the moon sets and the bats return to roost, we're left with a faint but beautiful sandalwood and tonka sunrise. 

I've never quite experienced a nuanced, two-step beauty of a base quite like this one! 

Projection: moderate-to-close depending on how heavy-handed you are; longevity: 6 hours-ish or more; Smells like a watercolor painting of fruit and earth, then musky leather with a sandalwood drydown. Price: good for niche; samples available. www.zoologistperfumes.com

Full-bottle-worthy.

Available December 31st, 2015!

Apologies: for the layout of this post due to computer problems. Usually my posts are a little more nicely laid-out. 

Disclaimer: Sample provided by Zoologist Perfumes

Meet Miss Hummingbird, Zoologist's newest edp

Hummingbird Eau de Parfum is the latest offering from one of my most favorite houses, Zoologist Perfumes. 

It's a departure from the heavy footfalls of Rhinoceros and the rutting skank of Beaver. It's closer in tone to the light, transcendent Panda - but not in the same genre of scent. 

Hummingbird is a flirtatious, fun, flickering thing. A "fruity floral," I'm hesitant to say, as I know that name makes some people wander off, but please don't!

Our fun-filled Hummingbird is a delight to wear and nothing like those department store confections. So please, let me describe her.

As first we meet, she is darting about, making preparations. We catch pungent whiffs of juicy pear, a sumptuous rose, sweet and innocent violet, some chilled citrus juice, and a hint of a lilac breeze. Miss Hummingbird likes things sweet but realizes we may not want to go overboard, so she shows delightful restraint. The perfect hostess. 

When next she flys by, shimmering in the sun, she presents us with a brilliant, glimmering bouquet. Again, always considerate, nothing dominates heavily. Everything is effervescent, sparkling, and incandescent like the lady herself. We smell, at times, lilac & peony & ylang ylang & honeysuckle & mimosa. Sometimes we smell them all, like a brilliant flash of colors - daresay like Miss Hummingbird herself?

Miss Hummingbird, tired from flitting about, settles down gently into a creamy musk-laden woods. One is almost surprised to see her resting this softly, but always the genteel lady, her repose is as gorgeous as the rest of her.

Hummingbird Eau de Parfum was created by perfumer Shelley Waddington , of  En Voyage Perfumes, for the brief created by Victor Wong, designer of Zoologist Perfumes. 

Family: fruity-floral; Projection: good/strong; Length-of-wear: 6 hours+; This is a gorgeous floral blend with a sparkling fruity top and creamy woods bottom. Full bottle worthy and perhaps my second favorite in the line. At $125 the pricepoint is reasonable for niche perfume, and the bottles and labels are divine. 

Zoologist Perfumes

Disclosure: Sample provided by Victor Wong

Zoologist: Beaver - Clean and skanky

A river pools in the clearing of a peaceful wood. Wild flowers mingle in the undergrowth. This is where the beavers build their kingdom.

Perfumistas often find themselves divided over the topic of "skank." That dirty, gritty, animalic aspect of some perfume that some find disgusting while others feel is sexy.

Perfume notes that add "skank" are usually musks: civet (from a catlike creature of the same name), deer musk, and castoreum (from beavers). Musks are removed from the glands near the anus of the animal and, as one can imagine, this does not leave the animal intact after the procedure. Considering this procedure and its impact on the animal, modern musks are usually synthetics or not sourced from these creatures. Then there's ambergris, expelled from the sperm whale, like vomit but not. Since ambergris is not harmful to the sperm whale, it is not a no-no from the animal-cruelty standpoint - but it's super rare (and super expensive!). Luckily, perfumers have been experimenting with dried hyrax poo ("African stone"); choya nak, which is made from roasted sea shells; cumin; costus; and cassie - all to create the skank we like without the animal cruelty (and without the synthetics, for the natural perfumers purists out there).

Happy beaver butt.

In Zoologist's beautiful Beaver edp, one will find a healthy dose of what smells like castoreum. Fear not! No beaver butts were harmed in the making of these perfumes. Zoologist founder Victor Wong challenged perfumer Chris Bartlett (of Pell Wall Perfumes) to create this animalic tribute to Canada's favorite little hard worker without using a single animal product. After all, a tribute is not a suitable tribute if it harms the honoree.

Adorable, isn't he?

There's been a lot of buzz about this scent in Perfume-o-Sphere, but not a ton of reviews. Is that because we're all fifth graders and can't hear the word "beaver" without turning stupid? I literally saw someone post, "I won't try it because of the name." Oh grow up. You're missing out.

Beaver opens with a breath of the lightest citrus, a simple-sweet linden swirl, and the feeling of an expanse of beautiful clean air. And as my skin always brings the heavier notes forward early, yes, I get the castoreum already.

As the perfume progresses - and this is an edp that wears strong, 6-8 hours at least - the musky leather scent builds a bit, always trailing the most beautiful light musky floral notes...

There's a whisper of vanilla and smoke that adds to the feint of leather in the heart of the scent. Not enough to take us into handbag territory, but enough to keep us from tripping into a pile of steaming skank. Hours later, the scent fades gently into softer progressions of musks over woods.

I find the perfume fairly linear in concept with enough subtle nuanced lifts tossed in here and there to keep it from being boring.  As a lover of skank, I'd call this one "skank lite", and recommend it to anyone who enjoys leather scents and may be interested in branching out into more animalic scents.

*Note: as with all musk-based scents a warning must be made. Since musk scent molecules are perceived differently by each nose, what I find not-too-skanky may smell like a barnyard to you, and what you think smells like a skunk may smell as clean as soap to me.  

Beaver is like a remade classic scent. A modern vintage. It has the lovely, earthy skank of an older perfume (that castoreum is really an accord and not a little dose of the real deal?!), with a modern and light hand shaping the notes around it.

And can we talk about the packaging and bottle presentation? GoodNESS those are gorgeous.

Once again, the Zoologist Perfumes house gets an A++ and a "must buy" rating from me, and I don't "do" ratings...

                                                                  

 Beaver edp by Zoologist Perfumes $125 

Top Notes: linden-blossom, Fresh Air, Musk, Light-citrus 

Heart Notes: Castoreum*, Iris, Vanilla, Smoke, Undergrowth 

Base Notes: Animal Musks*, Ash, Cedar, Amber

                             *Synthetic notes. Beaver Eau de Parfum does not use animal products.

 Disclosure: samples are my own

Image Credits: happy as shit beaver, pinterest.com (edited); beaver dam, theamericaninparis; swimming beaver, ign.com; cute begging beaver, docakilah.wordpress.com; all others either zoologist.com or my own