Exploring New Scents #13 | Zoologist: Bat
I have heard various things about Bat from Zoologist. I know that this one was reformulated as the owner and creator of the original Bat parted ways as they had different visions on how the perfume was produced. Because of this history, I found myself intrigued by both the new version and the original one which is still produced by Olympic Orchid--one day soon!
Even though this one was marked as a bit more user friendly than the original, I have still heard it's a bit more difficult than some of the other scents from Zoologist but this in no way was going to discourage me. After the first few spritzes, I noticed the first notes which came through were vetiver and incense. Vetiver is not one of my favorite scents, but it added a nice brightness to the incense bomb. Sadly, this brightness didn't last long as the animal notes soon took over. I mean TOOK OVER! I was hoping for more fruit, but nope, it was a dirty animal scent.
Strangely, this one kept morphing really quickly. Soon, the cave notes and dirt came forward. Way better than the overwhelming animal notes, but still not great. Luckily, on my clothing it was more palatable as the dank dirt and vetiver reigned supreme! Not my favorite, but better than on my chemistry.
In an hour or so, guava took over along with a soapy mop water smell. Not bad, just odd. Also, the scent became very weak which I didn't expect. At around 3-4 hours, it was almost completely gone. All that was left was a light trace of urine which I think was partially caused by the guava note, though the soapy mop water lightly still remained. Yay!
To be honest with you, this is one of the most confusing perfumes I have ever tried. It morphed quite a bit and I never knew where to classify it. I appreciate the artistry of it, but I really don't know what to make of it. I will say that it made me think about it days later, so it was a winner there, just not on my chemistry.
Because of the intrigued that this created, I would give this one a 4/10, but I really don't know what occasion someone would wear this for. I'm still stumped by it's strangeness!
Binky
I've tried the 2020 version and found it very tame - a slightly incensey fougere with a bit of a damp hay note. Quite different to your experience and a bit disappointing when I was expecting something a lot more challenging, even though it's beautiful!