Beaver (2016) (2016)
by Zoologist Perfumes

Bright and crisp, damp air and wood: this may be Zoologist's most exact embodiment of the spirit animal behind their fragrance. The musk is gently in the background, very light: the smell of vegetation is everywhere. It's transformative as if your consciousness in a pond or river. Upon first application, it's reserved but strong: sharp mineral notes of lilac and waterlily. On the drydown, leather comes out along with amber. It only makes it a bit darker, but the overall impression is one of lightness: no small feat for a scent with leather as many fragrances want to hit you over the head with their leathery vibes. Not altogether unlike its sibling fragrance Dragonfly, but with woody-resins. Of the two, I prefer this. I think, maybe it's recency bias. But this is so freakin good.

Zoologist has another wonderful scent here. This is a definite contender for a go-to springtime scent: there are so many fun nooks and crannies to their scents, depths and complexity that other houses could take a chapter from. Projection is light to moderate, longevity is 4-5 hours. Really good and a strong recommendation to purchase a full bottle...as I have!

9/10

Quite obviously from the get-go I got the 2016 reformulated version, which does not seem to align as well with my tastes. It is a floral airy watery concoction. It is noticeably soapy, coming from a cleansed version of laundry musk. Easy to wear, but lacking in character. A few hours in I am able to smell the castoreum, but it is faint. Still a bit player in this fragrance. I would have thought, if you said a beaver smell, it would be castoreum, musk, wood, leather, water, in that order. Instead what we get is flowers, water, soap, and castoreum. It doesn't smell bad, and could maybe stomach it from a designer brand, but I had higher expectations from Zoologist. Performance is good for a floral. The white musk lingers. Thumbs down, not interesting or creative enough for me to excuse the misnomer.

Off all the Zoologist I've tried so far, this is the least loved by me. I still give it three out of five stars. It's a funky, flowery, outdoorsy scent. Watery flowers. I smell lotus and water lily here. Green water. Musky, a bit. Musty, indeed. A bit of animal on the end.

Still, I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Like other Zoologist perfumes, this is complex. It opens with a floral,marine mix. I smell the flowers and white musk. I was hoping for a "dirtier" opening, but I just had to wait a bit. The castoreum and leather make an appearance soon after. It isn't too dirty, the floral and vanilla balances it. I am one who has never smelled a fragrance that is "too skanky" if castoreum, oud, leather, or civet are used. I'm sure they tamed this back from what what they could have made it. It is still a great fragrance.

A super musky take on floral-woodsy resinous leather. Zoologist Beaver (the most recent 2016 "improved" formula) opens quite tart and surely fizzy. Opening is indeed quite floral, pungent (redolent) and apparently leafy-vegetal in a sort of "outdoorish, Dior J'adore-like" botanic explosion of blossoms, leaves, humid musks, grass, arid damp woodiness and " dawn's jade". I have to say that by soon I get on skin a sort of dissonant fecal note from the background (a sort of Czeck&Speak Cuba's simil vibe) tending to quickly disappear (or better to melt its substance in the body of the vegetal valzer). Vanilla starts rising as well from the basenotes but it hardly soothen the general floral-vegetal pungency in this phase. It seems to detect lilac, peony and may be magnolia in this dry phase but honestly I'm not quite able to discern the specific floral synth patterns. I get also woody (cedary) dustiness combined with a sort of plastic-medicinal-aldehydic-"electric" Andrea Maack-like vibe. Probably synth leather and hints of galbanum produce this kind of plastic damp vegetal vibe a la Testa Maura Carticasi. The aroma is still powerfully floral, mossy, woodsy resinous (mastic/fir resins) and sticky and the animalics enhance surely this redolent floral-resinous twist. The juice does not evolve utterly on skin, going on obsessively floral, sticky and vaguely dirty. Civet afford a sort of "stale/putrid flowerpot water-like vibe" while castoreum enhances the dominant stout leather effect on skin. I get also hints of earthiness and rootiness in this phase and till the end. Dry down is seriously leathery. An erotic piece of fragrance, something not for the faint of heart. Not my favorite from this great canadian line but surely a must try for the lovers of this powerfully floral-resinous-leathery-musky accords.