Community The Zoo

Wearing Community is an unexpectedly nostalgic experience for me, because its first 3 hours smells very reminiscent of a cucumber facial wash cream that I used during my teenage years. It's probably the kind of dewy, aqueous, almost crystalline aspect of melon minus its juicy sweetness, combined with a subtle, ivory soap-like silky creamy undertone, that creates this association to me.

As this "cucumber facial wash" vibe gradually fades, a slightly spicy grassy note emerges, which is quite similar to how I perceive cis-3-hexenol, the main fragrant component of freshly cut grass. I, like many people, find the smell of freshly mown lawn invigorating when I catch whiffs of it by the wind. But it often appears quite harsh and overpowering to me in a perfume, because I'm more or less trapped in its range for hours, which is unfortunately the case with Community too.

Luckily, a tender, slightly melon-y but mostly abstract fruity sweetness soothes the brash grassy note with time. And softly resinous and grassy labdanum also peeks out from time to time in the dry down to anchor the fragrance without weighing it down. I also occasionally catch a faint whiff of a bitter and salty herbalness, but it's not concrete or strong enough to evoke any particular note to me. The sillage is mostly moderate during its 7 hours wear on me.

Because of its "cucumber facial wash" nostalgic factor, I was quite amused when sampling Community. The subtle warming labdanum in its far dry down is also a wonderful touch to anchor a fresh grassy perfume instead of the more cliché route of mainly relying on soapy white musk. However, it still doesn't overcome the harsh feeling of many grassy perfumes that rely on cis-3-Hexenol or similar components in my opinion. Overall, I'd say Community does its job as a conventional fresh perfumes in the Niche market, as long as one is not too sensitive to those grass-imitating aromachemicals.