Bat (original) (2015)
by Zoologist Perfumes

Night in St. Cloud by Edvard Munch 1890

This is an extremely interesting fragrance created to smell like the environment, food, and body of a bat. Zoologist - a very fascinating niche perfume house from Toronto - does not aim to capture just an animal's own scent, but the scents of its environment and diet as well. Thus, Bat is composed of "soft fruits, damp earth and minerals." It was developed by Dr. Ellen Covey, the owner/perfumer at the indie house Olympic Orchids, and herself a professor at the University of Washington who studied bat biology for years. Covey wanted Bat to smell like "the cool, earthy, damp limestone cave where the bats live, the fruit that they eat, and the clean, musky smell of their fur." She succeeded with me and apparently others, too; Bat won the Independent Category of the 2016 Art and Olfaction Awards. As for the scent, it is extremely spot-on to the description. It smells literally like wet earth, and is full of the geosmin chemical (the same chemical that causes the scent of 'petrichor' - the after rain smell of wet soil). The only thing this is comparable to is CB I Hate Perfume's Black March, which also has a large wet soil scent (but is far more fleeting than Bat). On the drydown, I somewhat smell the tropical fruits (mainly banana) but the wet soil scent remains throughout. It really smells like you're smelling a cave! I for one am obsessed by this sort of scent, so this is one of the best fragrances I've literally ever smelled. Sillage and projection are also both through the roof, lasting over 10 hours with just 1 spray (especially as it's an extrait de parfum). This is honestly a masterpiece of perfumery, and unparalleled as far as dark green earth scents go.

5/5

Designed by Ellen Covey, this scent is....it's just remarkable. Truly, whenever I examine it I'm at a loss for words.

Initial smells of dark, damp earth mixed with overripe fruit, headlined by banana: it somehow manages to be stringent and demanding yet light. The tartness of the musk and fruit are mellowed by the faint smell of fig in the background. It's such a demanding scent, something modern and incredibly unique. Zoologist always attempts to capture the spirit of an animal in their scent, and nowhere is it done any better than with bat: an animal many fear, dark and elusive, musky yet delicate. The drydown takes the edge off the musk and brings to the forefront the smell of ripe fruits and vetiver. It goes from demanding to alluring in the space of several hours, and I like both stages equally.

Conventional fragrance abounds: it is rare that I get to smell something that stands apart so uniquely from its competitors that I am taken aback. This is truly the case with Bat: I have never smelled anything like it. It's a very modern, very strong scent that should be in anyone's wardrobe that is daring enough to try it. For a powerful man or woman.

Strong sillage and longevity. People can smell it on you, I had many people throughout my day asking what I was wearing. The longevity is in the realm of 8 hours, which is very long on my skin.

True excellence.

10/10

If you buy into the backstory, then this bat is doing some serious flitting, from dank and musty cave to the green canopied forest and back. But, in reality of course, the earthy aspect of this scent comes nowhere close to a bat cave rank with the creature’s droppings; it’s more like freshly turned earth rich in humus, a scent that catches a bit at the back of the throat, matched with a powerful humidity. This is Bat’s overriding theme – challenging for sure, but thrilling to see it so well captured; and its counterpoint is a singing crisp, vetiver, dressed in bright green notes.
For a large portion of its life on my skin Bat is a bit of a tropical rainstorm of a perfume, not one I’d wear for the usual pleasures of olfactory indulgence but because it takes me places. There’s a basketful of fruity notes mentioned in the declared list, but on my skin there’s really no trace – my bat’s got them safely trapped in its gut and ain’t about to burp.
But it’s after a good 6-plus hours that it really begins to take flight for me. The soil tincture effect dies down and a thrillingly sour vetiver-woody reveals itself. It’s a zinging tartness that the nose can’t quite place (it’s not really citric) that has me going ‘mmm’ with pleasure and wanting to zip about with renewed energy.

Challenging but wearable earthy fragrance

Bat has a challenging, kaleidoscopic opening that is dizzying. Sweet, tropical fruit; rich black topsoil; cold, wet, flinty stones; growling animal musks, these are all present from the beginning, vying for your attention. In rapid succession you find yourself with fleeting impressions of peeling open a ripe banana, peering into sunless caves with dripping water, thrusting your bare hands into moist earth, catching a whiff of rotting compost.

The scent settles down into a perfect balance between dank edges softened by fruity, musky sweetness that blend more and more harmoniously as time passes.

The dankness reminds me of another favourite, Dzongkha, as if you had fallen from the shadows of those airy, smoky, mountainous peaks, landed softly in clods of dirt and fallen fruit and slowly rolled into the wet mouth of a cave.