Back in January I reviewed the entire Zoologist Perfumes line. I was curious about the concept, and the cute Edwardian style drawings adorning each bottle are one of the most creative and cohesive product branding efforts I've seen in a long time. Of course the big question was, how would the perfumes smell? I went in with the expectation that somehow the animals themselves would be evoked in the scents, and how would that work? But what I found was the perfumers sought to represent the environment that the animals lived in. Do you remember terrariums, those sealed glass containers that held mini worlds inside their glass domes, creating their own environment? These perfumes strike me as similar. They are a snapshot of a particular animal's world, sometimes in minute detail such as the surrounding plant life, what they might eat, and what smells they would encounter in their day to day life.
So why when I saw the name Civet did I think Shelley Waddington, doing her second perfume for the Zoologist line and owner/creator of EnVoyage Perfumes, would go for the obvious, a strong civet- based perfume? Of course I was wrong. So follow Ms. Waddington as she leads us into the jungle.
Let me backtrack for a minute. Living in Indonesia and Singapore, Bali was a frequent vacation spot. I got to know the island pretty well, eventually leaving the sandy shores and ocean waves to venture further inland to experience the culture and lifestyle of the Balinese people. It doesn't take long to get away from the tourist hubbub and find the real Bali. Terraced rice fields of an impossibly vibrant green; gracefully dressed villagers celebrating a wedding, death, or special holy day; women balancing a basket of fruit on their head, walking towards the temple to leave an offering. And once you get into the hills or near one of the island's volcanoes, this sign is a frequent sight.
Kopi Luwak, Let me cut to the chase: civet cats eat coffee beans, they pass through their digestive tract where the beans are fermented but not digested, and they eventually exit the body looking something like a Payday candy bar. The feces is collected and turned into world's most expensive coffee. Strange but true. All very good and ecologically sound on the surface. The problem is that when local farmers throughout Indonesia found there was a market for civet poop they started caging the civet cats which they call luwak and feeding them exclusively coffee berries. As there is no sure fire way to know if your kopi luwak coffee has been naturally gathered or farmed it is best avoided so as to put an end to this practice.
Zoologist Perfumes Civet references happy little creatures roaming free as nature intended, crawling along the dank and moist jungle floor through the flowers and foliage, foraging off coffee berries and other plant life. Ms. Waddington and Victor Wong, founder of Zoologist Perfumes, have captured this concept in Civet.
The perfume's opening is an opulent kaleidoscope swash of scent. Notes represented are bergamot, lemon, and orange, along with black pepper, tarragon and various spices. Reading this you would expect a strong citrus opening but in fact the spices are the star. The citrus gives a bright warmth but is not otherwise distinctive. I have no idea what Ms Waddington's inclusion of the spices was meant to represent, but as civets are found in Indonesia, a country which was the epicenter of the Dutch spice trade, I would like to think it's a nod to the history of the place and the crops still farmed there today. In the higher elevations of Bali one can be wrapped in this scent of lush verdancy. I am sure it is the same in any rainforest or jungle setting. That is the initial feel I get from this perfume.
In Hummingbird, Ms. Waddington used a basketful of scent notes to create a floral nectar perfume. Here in Civet there are also many florals: carnation, frangipani, heliotrope, hyacinth, linden blossom, tuberose and ylang ylang. These join together to give the impression of a tropical setting of riotous florals, humid green plants, and a forest bed of decaying plant life enriching the soil below. This is an accurate portrayal of the actual surrounds civets would roam. I can pick out the creamy richness of the tuberose and also ylang ylang, which to my nose is has a luxuriant tropical floral smell and veers slightly powdery on my skin. The carnation is also discernible in it's more spicy form. These florals join with the spices and an emerging coffee note to make a rich brew. There is a French feel to the perfume at this point, but it is untamed and a bit wild.
There is, of course, a civet note and this gives the perfume a vintage feel. (Synthetic civet is used). The animal musk in Civet eventually becomes more pronounced as the floral notes begin to diminish, but now the civet is encased in warm cozy labdanum and notes of vanilla. It is not sweet or gourmand, rather spicy and warming. The flowers are subdued but still quietly exist in the background. Balsamic resins and woods round out a soft fade out for this perfume after several hours of wear. It is extremely long lasting on my skin. This perfume has gone through so many transformations: a bright spicy opening, humid florals with mossy green foliage, and finally a warm spicy and resinous finish.
I am familiar with Hummingbird as well as several of Ms. Waddington's creations for her own line. If I am presumptuous enough to judge a perfumer by her work then I would say Ms Waddington lives large and is not afraid to place bold colorful stripes on the canvas of life, or in her perfumes. Her scented fingerprints are bold and assured. The perfume Civet is no different. This riotous mixture of so many diverse notes could have been a hot mess, but instead it references a time when civet and other animal notes were common in French perfumes but updates the genre with tropical notes to give a new and unique spin. Civet is another winning addition to the Zoologist line and I can't wait to see what Mr. Wong dreams up next.
To see my other Zoologist reviews you can start here.
Top photo from www..ZoologistPerfumes.com. Perfume sample of Civet provided to me by Zoologist Perfumes.
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