The Hindu, April 8th, 2017
by Surya Praphulla Kumar
In 2012, a burnt-out video game designer at a Toronto-based toy company found his calling in a hotel room, after smelling a musky bottle of Le Labo hand lotion. Wong recalls coming home later to trawl the message boards of popular perfume sites, Basenotes and Fragrantica. “People told me I should learn perfumery and design my own scents, but I knew it would take years of practice to become good at it,” he begins.
So when he decided to launch his own perfume line, Zoologist, he put out an open call. British perfumer, Chris Bartlett, answered it with the idea to capture the essence of a beaver — smelling of wet fur, musk and felled trees. The scent, bottled with a picture of a beaver in Victorian clothing, came out in 2014. And though the perfume blog, CaFleureBon, named it one of the best scents of the year, Wong admits “it was too challenging for many people”. So the duo revisited the formula, adding more “fresh air and river top notes”, and relaunched it successfully late last year.
Today, his menagerie of scents includes Bat, Civet, Panda, Hummingbird, Rhinoceros, Macaque and Nightingale. “Fragrances that are notorious for smelling very animalic get a lot of attention, but I wonder if it’s ‘all talk and no sales’. The challenge for me is whether to bring a strong scent to the market for a small group of people — for the name (and fame) — or something less aggressive for sales,” says Wong, who is working on a scent that will remind the user of walking by a pond.
$125 onwards for 60 ml (₹8,331 approx). Details: shop@zoologistperfumes.com
For full article, click here.
Covey, the founder of Olympic Orchid, a US-based brand of handcrafted scents, teamed up with Wong’s Zoologist for Bat, which won the 2016 Art & Olfaction Award (independent). “I didn’t want to make a perfume that literally smells like a bat, but one that represents the cool, earthy, damp limestone cave where they live, the fruit they eat, and the clean, musky smell of their fur,” explains Covey, who trekked through the jungles of Jamaica in search of bat caves.
Though she believes working with animalics isn’t more challenging than any other scent — “it’s all a matter of balance — she believes this niche trend is in the forefront, with the mass market slowly catching up. “The early part of this century was dominated by scents that were ‘clean’ and ‘light’. The resurgence of animalic scents is just the fashion cycle coming back around,” says the perfumer, who is currently working on a scent inspired by a musical composition, which will have animalic notes.
Up your travel scents with these Canadian fragrances.
An intriguing menagerie of dashingly depicted beasts grace the front of Zoologist fragrances – a US [ed. Canadian] niche collection we were thrilled to come across when founder Victor Wong kindly sent some samples. Civet is a plunge into caddish murkiness, using no animal ingredients yet achieving great depth. Perfumer Shelley Waddington evokes a clandestine clinch with heliotrope shot through with black coffee and a prowling base of leather, moss and musk.
Milan, Italy (March 23, 2017)—Today the Art and Olfaction Awards announced its finalists in three categories – Artisan, Independent and Sadakichi Award.
Zoologist Perfumes' "Civet"is honoured to be a finalist for the Independent award, with the winner to be announced on May 6, 2017 at Silent Green Kulturquartier in Berlin.
A couple of years ago, Toomo Inaba left Tokyo for a quieter life in Kyushu’s countryside, where he continues his work as a fragrance reviewer, producer, and self-taught perfumer. Although Nightingale is his own official debut scent (launched in October), he has in fact created 50-odd private blends over the past several years, and his company Zoologist features a range of deluxe fragrances by different perfumers. He describes his inspiration for the pink floral chypre as coming from an ancient Japanese poem, picking out one line in particular: “Soon you will be wearing a black robe and enter nunhood. You will not know each rosary bead has my tears on it.” The notes include plum blossom, agarwood, patchouli and moss.
January 27th, 2017, by Mandy Lynn. For Original Post Click Here
EauMG.net – "Best Indie/Niche Scent 2016"
"…this is a perfect fragrance. Yeah, I said it…PERFECT. It’s a vintage, French-feeling oriental with indolic florals, dark woods and this absolutely genius coffee accord. If I were to choose a perfume of the woman I wish to become, it’d be Civet."
Fragrantica.com
"Civet is an enigmatic perfume possessing all the stature of a fine chypre minus any fussiness/fustiness which some have come to associate with them. It triumphantly bridges classic and contemporary – with aplomb, finesse, and a full measure of fascination."
CaFleureBon.com – "Best of 2016"
"What we are left with is an absolute stunner of a fragrance. Without a doubt there is a vintage air to the composition, but done so with a keen eye on doing something contemporary and somewhat different than the traditional civet scents of the past. Marrying the different historical uses of the animal into one makes for a very interesting take and shows huge respect to the wonderful animal that begat it all."
Musings of a Muse
"If I close my eyes I can easily imagine Lord Alfred Douglas misting this on before a meeting with Oscar Wilde. It’s very much a fragrance that’s elegant, vintage, and truly glamorous."; "For me it smells like an old worldly perfume. It’s a vintage scent that’s wrapped in a flare of notes that will bring you back to centuries past but with an edge that can only be described as modern sexy."
U Smells Good
Zoologist Civet First Impressions
Smurfygurly
First Impressions Civet by Zoologist Perfumes
MyMickers
Civet by Zoologist Review
Australian Perfume Junkies
"Floral, feral and in-your-face gorgeous, this is the scent that will end up perfuming crumpled sheets in a bedroom, and staying on the skin of a lover who will spend the day drinking endless demitasse of espresso trying to erase the mental fog of the night before, hoping for a future assignation."
Scent Bound
"Civet is a very well composed floral-oriental fragrance that is interesting and very wearable. If you are looking for a dirty, animalic rendition of civet, this is not the one. If you love gourmand, coffee-infused florals, however, you'll be very pleased with Victor Wong and Shelley Waddington's creation."
Scented Hound
"Perfumer Shelley Waddington has created a complex beauty that blends seamlessly to reveal many nuances throughout the wear. With the name Civet, I was worried that this would be a perfume would be rather funky. Instead, she added just the right amount of civet to enhance the subdued florals. Civet is a really lovely perfume."
Colognoisseur
"I imagine the effort Ms. Waddington and Mr. Wong put in to get this just right was prodigious. It shows in the final product. Civet is the best perfume of both of their careers to date."
Perfume Posse
"It’s beautifully done and paced, it doesn’t get muddied like I was afraid it would, and the civet underlies and deepens and adds interest to gorgeous leathery incensed florals. This never becomes publicly awkward to wear."
Perfume Niche
"The civet here isn’t skanky or stinky - this is no wild cat. Leather, resins and woods make it sultry and sophisticated, and like its name sake animal, lithe and nocturnal. The surprise is a note of coffee weaves through the base."
Fragrance Daily
For me it simply means “Civet” is a beautiful perfume in its own right. Lovers of rich white florals with fruity modulations and a chypre allure should definitely try “Civet“. And for those afraid of overtly animalic connotations, no need to worry, the effect here is more of a golden, hazy warmth rather then direct bodily references. Highly recommended!
A Bottled Rose
Shelley Waddington was aiming for the effect of a fur coat over naked skin and that’s exactly what she’s achieved.
ÇaFleureBon.com, the number one niche and natural perfume blog in the world, has just announced their Best and Worst Fragrances of 2016. Zoologist Perfumes is greatly honoured to be the receiver of Perfume of the Year 2016 for Bat, and also Best Independent House of 2016! Thank you!
What Michelyn of ÇaFleureBon.com says about Bat and Zoologist Perfumes:
"Created by Ellen Covey for Victor Wong of Zoologist, it surprised me that is was so wearable. Not a fragrance for vampires or creatures of the night, Bat is warm and musky with the scent of fruit and fur; I have entered the bat cave and have no intention of leaving."
"2016 was a wonderful year for Zoologist; both Macaque (Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays) and Nightingale created by Japanese perfumer (and perfume writer) Tomoo Inaba are addictive. Shelley Waddington’s Civet is stunning with its musky coffee scent and vintage style."
Time
Wednesday January 25, 2017: 6:30 pm to 8:45 pm
Location
Ann Arbor District Library (Downtown)
4th Floor Meeting Room
343 South Fifth Avenue
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
(734) 327-4200
Admission
Free
Number of Seats
60
Zoologist Perfumes has been intriguing fragrance lovers with clever, imaginative, and playful scents since it was founded by Victor Wong in 2013. The niche fragrance house, based in Toronto, captures the idiosyncrasies of the animal kingdom and transforms them into scents with names like Bat, Beaver, Hummingbird, Macaque, Nightingale, Panda, and Rhinoceros. (Note: No animal products are used in the Zoologist line of fragrances).
We’ll experience the aroma of each perfume in the Zoologist line and explore what inspired their creation. Civet, a new fragrance dedicated to a mammal with a strong connection to the perfume arts, will also be shared.
Michelle Krell Kydd is a trained “nose” in flavors and fragrance and the editor of the award-winning blog Glass Petal Smoke. She was recently interviewed in The Conversation regarding smell loss (anosmia) and the misappropriation of the term “noseblind." The Smell & Tell series of events celebrates its fifth anniversary year at the Ann Arbor District Library and is ongoing.
Hello Shelley, good to chat with you again! How are you?
Hi, Victor! It’s great to hear from you. I’m doing well, and hope you are too!
I’m feeling a little nervous, because I’ll soon be launching your new scent, Civet. But otherwise, I’m fine!
You moved from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon about a year ago. How do you like it?
I came to Portland primarily to be with my new little grandson. This is a great place to live and work.
Shelley and her perfumery studio at home in Portland. © Photo: Steve Ross
Does Portland have an active fragrance community? I know that you recently hosted a gathering called “Portland Sniffa”!
The Portland perfume community is lively and growing. The Portland Sniffa was something I put together to commemorate a huge membership benchmark for Charlotte Scheuer’s “Facebook Fragrance Friends”.
Several Portlanders attended, along with perfume-lovers from Oregon, Washington, California and Colorado. We visited three perfumeries, including my own, En Voyage, and then ended up in a luxurious room for dinner and our perfume swap.
The stores we visited reported that we were the largest perfume group they’d ever seen. Every minute was an absolute blast, and we’ll be back next year by popular demand.
Portand Sniffa 2016 Event Photos © Steve Ross
And you showed the final version of Zoologist Civet at the event, too! I know people loved it!
Yes. I introduced Zoologist Civet for the first time at our evening soiree! It received unanimous raves. Robert Hermann, of the popular fragrance blog "Australian Perfumes Junkies", fell so in love with it that he couldn't wait to share the news with the world. He went home the next day and wrote a terrific review, even though the launch was still two months away.
Let’s talk about Zoologist Civet, shall we? What came to your mind when Zoologist asked you to design a perfume called Civet?
My first thought was, ‘Uh-oh, I hope Victor knows how nasty civet smells and I hope he has a darn good brief.’ (He did). Victor also understands my wheelhouse as a perfumer quite well. His ideas were very similar to how I would have conceptualized it myself, so Civet turned out to be a very pleasant collaboration.
I know a lot of people love Hummingbird, the floral nectar perfume you designed for Zoologist a year ago. How does Civet compare to Hummingbird?
Mood-wise, Hummingbird and Civet are worlds apart, almost opposites.
Where Hummingbird is aerial and all sunshine and flirtatious shimmer, Civet is swanky, a little sly, luxuriously furry. A creature who prowls and growls.
Genre-wise, Hummingbird is a unisex woody floral; Civet is a glorious chypre. What do they have in common? They’re both attractive, amusing creatures who each have huge attitude.
Civet surprised me. I think people will be surprised. But that’s all I want to say. I don’t want to ruin the surprise!
Do you often use civet musk in your own perfumes? Can you tell us a bit about the nature of civet musk and what effect it brings to a fragrance?
The civet is a very pretty small animal, about the size of a cat, that lives in the jungles of Africa and Southeast Asia. Civet musk is extracted from their anal glands. Until quite recently, the process of obtaining civet musk was egregiously cruel. Modern civet farmers, under pressure from animal-rights groups, are now kinder to the animals and their methods of extraction more humane. But because of general ethical perception, most perfumers prefer to use synthetic civet.
I use civet in some of my perfumes. The addition of mere traces of this substance exalts and fixes the fragrance, fortifying it and making it more diffusive. It also adds to the wearability and longevity of the perfume.
By the way, remember we tested the idea of making a civet “musk bomb”? But we quickly came to a meeting of minds that even the tiniest increase was decidedly ruinous!
Since we are not using real civet musk, what can you tell us about the quality of the synthetic musk you picked for this perfume?
Civet musk smells disgustingly urinous and fecal in its pure form, whether it’s natural or synthetically reproduced. A close whiff of the pure stuff is an assault to the nose and guaranteed to snap your head back. But a tiny amount, diluted down to less than one percent, has the effect of a magic elixir when added to perfume.
As with all the fragrance materials that I use, I only procure my civet directly from a reputable fragrance manufacturer.
Besides civet musk, there’s a lovely coffee note in Civet, too. I want to include this note because Asian palm civets are famous for the coffee beans that they defecate! Farmers collect them and use them to brew “Kopi Luwak” coffee. Have you had that before?
I was initially skeptical about the “coffee + civet” combo. It sounded very acidic. I’ve worked with coffee before in one of my bestsellers, Café Cacao, so I know it’s a challenging note to work with. For Civet, I sourced the darkest, least acidic coffee available, and then worked in other Eastern materials that would offset the remaining acidity factor. (I’ve described the resulting accord below. It was even better than I’d hoped for.)
As an aside, I purchased some Kopi Luwak online, so that I could experiment with tincturing the beans. My thought was that if it worked, it would be an ideal way to obtain civet musk in the most humane way possible. Unfortunately, the coffee never arrived, so that part was disappointing. I was really looking forward to tasting that coffee!
I know that you’ve spent some time on each of the top, middle and bottom notes layers separately and getting the proportions in the mixture right. Did you have a solid idea of what the perfume would smell like in the very beginning and designed the layers accordingly?
My work is sometimes thought of as leaning towards vintage, but I think a lot of that belief is because I use a high percentage of fine naturals, as was commonly done with vintages. People get a similar vibe from mine and associate it with the vintage perfumes.
But stylistically, I didn’t start out deliberately seeking to create Civet as a vintage. The civet and his environment are timeless and unchanging. So I was aiming towards making more of a Realistic Classic.
I never start blending until I’ve completely conceptualized the story and the final fragrance in my mind. But I always leave a space for surprises to arise. And it was indeed a nice surprise to find that coffee, musk ambrette, opoponax and cinnamon were so incredible together. I didn’t expect the combination to work so well!
For Civet, I was also looking for a specific mood and texture. I found several jungle botanicals from Thailand and Asia that really filled the bill.
I began by laying my canvas with the base, looking for the thematic notes that provide not only the mood and texture, but also the sillage and longevity. I wanted ones that creep up through the heart and top in the ways that I wanted them to. In this case, several auxiliary notes were added to complete the profile of both the civet and his habitat.
The heart is the headspace of the civet’s surroundings – the kinds of smells he smells as he walks and climbs through his environment, and the foods that he eats. As he strolls through his forest grocery store, other animals take notice. They smell him and stop him to ask what he’s wearing.
The top is the glamour he sends out to signal his presence.
But the story only flows properly when the top, heart, and base are perfectly balanced in relation to each other. I hope I answered your question. It’s a little complicated.
Who do you think would enjoy wearing Civet?
It’s hard for me to think of anyone who wouldn’t like this fragrance, although it may contain too much “sex and violence” for the very young. So I’d give it a “Unisex Adult” rating.
I also think it’s a good example of a fragrance that incorporates a lot of natural ingredients in a fairly classic perfume structure. So it would be a great starter perfume for anyone who wants to try something sophisticated with an artisanal vintage vibe.
When we decided on the final formula, we experimented with different perfume concentrations. We tried 20% and 25%…
To me, every perfume has its own ideal point of dilution – it's the point at which everything comes together and blooms in the best way possible. We were surprised that a difference of 5% gave it a much fuller, richer, sultrier sensuality.
(We called Bat, Hummingbird and Civet “Eau de Parfum”, but they are, in fact, “Parfum”. We might rename them to “Parfum” in the future.)
What’s next for you? Will you be releasing any new fragrances in 2017?
All I can say is that each new perfume is a fresh surprise. The next one is underway and I’ll be launching it in early 2017. It’s bringing a wholly new kind of treat. Stay tuned!
Zoologist Civet will be available 2016/12/31.
One of many life's little regrets of a perfumista includes not getting a bottle when it's still available. Here's your last chance!
2016 12/21 Update: Original Formula of Beaver is now sold out. Thank you!
Perfumes The Guide 2018
"★★★★ …Tomoo Inaba is clearly a natural talent. For once the inspiration inspiration comes through clear as a bell and undiminished in the fragrance, as opposed to being some sort of PR guff unconnected with the juice. Nightingale belongs to that small band of perfumes that do something so interesting that you feel the need to rewind the video several times to understand what is going on. I ended up with six smelling strips in front of me." - Luca Turin
Fragrantica
Fragrantica.com's Best Perfumes of 2016, Editors' Choice "Can't get enough of this wonderful old-school chypre style perfume. It's my favorite from Zoologist so far—no easy feat considering how many wonderful scents there are in the Zoologist collection already!"
Cafleurebon.com
"I find myself addicted to this new fragrance", "Nightingale opens with the sweet, fresh and light fragrance of plum blossoms, a breath of spring cut with tart lemon, powdered with violet and spiced with the slightly bitter, dustiness of saffron. On my skin the initial notes dry very quickly, leaving the spring flowers behind and replacing them with an almost Middle Eastern style mukhallat of rose, ambergris, oud, saffron and a touch of smoke", "…definitely a unisex, complex and thought provoking fragrance."
Perfume Do Dia
"…this is a special and poetic perfume. A complex and remarkable composition, where its history is not just a mere excuse to fill a bottle with an empty aroma", "the elegance and contrast of a sober and dry chypre base versus the beauty of the rose are revived here in a complex floral context that emulates the saturated air of spring."
Musings of a Muse
"She’s a complex old Hollywood glamour fragrance that makes you think of bright red lipstick and face powder housed in cut crystal jars. She’s every naughty pin-up girl from Bettie Page to Dita Von Teese and every elegant celebrity from Fay Wray to Greta Garbo. She’d be right at home sitting atop a mirrored vanity tray among vintage gold cased lipsticks and fluffy powder puffs."
Ouch110 Fragrance Reviews
Zoologist "Nightingale" New!!! Fragrance Review
CascadeScents
Macaque & Nightingale by Zoologist Perfumes First Impressions
Perfume Do Dia
Zoologist Parfums Nightingale
Perfume Posse
Zoologist Macaque & Nightingale Review
The Scented Apprentice
Zoologist Perfumes Nightingale by Tomoo Inaba
The Fragrant Journey
Zoologist Perfumes Part Three: Nightingale
Fragrantica (Review 1, by Ida Meister)
Nightingale has several faces: sometimes I feel her as scintillatingly floral, bright, brash, even. Other moments, she is a cloud of face powder sheathed in a dusky base, mysterious and haunting.
Fragrantica (Review 2, Miguel Matos)
Nightingale is heaven for every vintage chypre lover and for me, it reinforces my conviction that Zoologist is the most obvious proof that the art of perfumery is not dead.
A Bottled Rose
I can imagine it successfully captures the feeling of celebration and optimism that comes with the onset of spring in Japan.
Cafleurebon.com
"I find this new fragrance to be cool, fruity and resinous suggesting high altitude forests, swirling cold fog and the Japanese macaques known as Snow Monkeys.", "The cedar trees, like the macaques themselves, are dusted with crystals of ice."
Fragrantica.com
"Inhale deeply, and you are rewarded on multiple levels as your journey through the landscape which Ms. McCartney has lain before you unfolds..."
Colognoisseur
The green of the jungle is set up by galbanum while frankincense matched with jasmine tea forms the basis for the ceremonial. The tea note turns towards a more acerbic green tea while the cedar-like white oud recapitulates the cedar from earlier. It finishes with a furry musk as our monkeys move along to a different part of the temple.
Ouch110 Fragrance Reviews
Zoologist "Macaque" Fragrance Review
Maximillian Heusler
"Scent Safari 2 - Zoologist Perfumes", Maximilian Must Know Episode # 595
Fragrance View
Zoologist Macaque
Perfume Do Dia
Zoologist Perfumes Macaque
Fragrantica
Sarah McCartney Speaks About Creating Macaque for Zoologist
Perfume Posse
Zoologist Macaque & Nightingale Review
Now Smell This
5 Perfumes: Indie Greens
The Fragrant Journey
Zoologist Perfumes Part Four: Macaque
Scent Hurdle
Cedar and frankincense reinforce galbanum’s balsamic olfactory profile and give Macaque backbone. The core of the perfume holds a coherent shape from start to finish, giving the more volatile aromas a chance to run their course at their own pace.
Sabbath of Senses (Polish)
Tajne akta Makaka - Macaque Zoologist Perfumes
A Bottled Rose
Civet, Nightingale and Macaque by Zoologist Perfumes
