By Amber Kallor
February 4th, 2023
Who Wants to Smell Like a Dead Dinosaur? Apparently, Lots of People
Not everyone wants to reek of pop stars and roses. Peculiar fragrances with notes such as gasoline and fossilized amber, and names like ‘Ink’ are trending. Here, 8 to try.
“YOU SMELL interesting,” is the best compliment you can give Katya Roelse. “I don’t think perfume is just about smelling good, it’s about being provocative and starting a conversation,” said the 47-year-old professor in Newark, Del. Some of her favorite fragrances include whiffs of brown tape like Comme des Garçons’s eponymous eau and potato like DSH Perfume’s Starry Nightshade.
Unlike mass fragrances that rely on celebrities and sex to drive sales, new niche scents entice olfactory sophisticates with eyebrow-raising names (like Dead Dinosaur) and unusual notes (like tar). Some people care “more about their pleasure than emulating a celebrity,” said New York perfumer Frank Voelkl, who’s had a hand in such hyped scents as Ariana Grande’s Ari.
Robert Gerstner, co-owner of New York perfumery Aedes, which specializes in hard-to-find fragrances, said year-over-year sales were up 30% between 2020 and 2022. Individuality and exclusivity are key for Mr. Gerstner’s customers, who don’t want to sniff people sporting their scent on every street corner. Consumers are “craving…quirkiness and creativity,” said Carlos Huber, a New York fragrance developer.
But peculiarity only goes so far. “It’s one thing to want to experience a fragrance but it’s another to wear it all the time,” said Linda G. Levy, president of the Fragrance Foundation in New York. A scent must satisfy the senses (not just reek) if it’s going to sell. So shocking notes are often blended with traditional ones, said Mr. Voelkl.
Madisin McLauchlan, 36, a Vancouver teacher’s assistant, prefers unlikely scents that trigger pleasant memories, while Paris PR executive Angharad Coates, 37, uses distinctive fragrances to mark her territory—particularly when it comes to lovers’ abodes. Zack Bochicchio, 26, a Nashville copyright associate, sees scent as a form of expression. “I wouldn’t like if a person called out [my] fragrance. But if someone borrowed my sweatshirt and said ‘This smells like you,’ in a good way, I’ll have achieved my goal.” Here, five scents sure to leave an impression.
Harvest Mouse
Weirdest Note: Hay
Who It’s For: Anyone with a Berkshires abode who’s seen “Ratatouille.”
Victor Wong, the Toronto founder of the brand Zoologist, owns over 200 animal figurines that inspire his stable of scents, which includes Cow, Bee and Squid. The latest addition, Harvest Mouse, conjures rodent-friendly wheat fields via beer and hay extract. Milan perfumer Luca Maffei added notes of chamomile and orange blossom to replicate the “warmth of the sun.” The result “smells like rum-raisin ice cream,” said Mr. Wong. Bottles will go on sale Feb. 18. $175 for 60ml, ZoologistPerfumes.com
…
The Wall Street Journal is not compensated by retailers listed in its articles as outlets for products. Listed retailers frequently are not the sole retail outlets.
Milan, Italy (March 23, 2017)—Today the Art and Olfaction Awards announced its finalists in three categories – Artisan, Independent and Sadakichi Award.
Zoologist Perfumes' "Civet"is honoured to be a finalist for the Independent award, with the winner to be announced on May 6, 2017 at Silent Green Kulturquartier in Berlin.
Zoologist's Bat has been named a winner in the Independent Perfume category in the Art and Olfaction Award, a highly competitive and highly selective award, designed to raise interest and awareness for independent and artisan perfumers and experimental practitioners with scent from all countries.
The Art and Olfaction Institute defines an Independent Perfume House as an organization where the company oversees branding, production and bottling of the scent. The Independent Perfume House will be privately-owned (not owned by another larger public corporation), and operated with the owner’s direct oversight.
The winners were selected out of a group of finalists by a group of highly qualified judges from the perfume world, the art world, and other creative industries. The artisan and independent category submissions were judged blindly, presented in generic vials and tracked by a numerical code. The preliminary round judges selected the finalists, and the top scoring projects in the finalist pool – as scored by the finalist judges - were selected as winners.
Zoologist Perfumes submitted Bat with the following description:
"What is it like to be a bat? In 1974, the philosopher Thomas Nagel posed this question to illustrate our inability to comprehend through our own consciousness what another living being perceives. Humans think of the bat as an elusive, mysterious, almost supernatural creature, silently gliding through the interface between light and darkness, probably up to no good. What we do not understand, we fear, but bats are not malevolent. They control pests, pollinate our crops, and contribute to the amazing diversity that is nature. To experience the life of a bat, take a trip to the Cockpit Country of Jamaica, a crater-filled lunar landscape covered with lush jungle. The entrance to a cave in the hillside is shrouded day and night by a swirling fog, created when the warm air of the outside world meets the cold breath of the dark chambers beneath, with its scent of deep-reaching tree roots, moist earth, and dripping limestone walls. At dusk the bat wakes and flies on delicate, leathery wings through the stony labyrinth seeking the balmy air outside. It drinks from a stream, feasts on the wild jungle figs that grow on the hillside, and enjoys the ripe bananas and other soft fruit that grow in the cultivated clearings near the village. Fully satisfied, it makes its way back to its roost where it snuggles with its warm companions, grooms itself meticulously, and falls asleep again, lulled by the clean, sweet scent of musky fur. In the end, it turns out that the bat’s skin is not that different from our own."
Victor Wong, founder of Zoologist Perfumes, is extremely proud of the recognition and is even more determined to bring more creative and high-quality perfumes to the niche perfume market in the future.
For a full list of winners in Art and Olfactive Award 2016, visit: https://artandolfactionawards.com/2016-finalistswinners/
Zoologist Perfumes is ecstatic to announce its debut animal-themed eau de parfums: Beaver, Panda and Rhinoceros. Designed in Canada and crafted by award-winning international perfumers, these scents will satisfy both enthusiasts and the curious who desire unique and alluring fragrances.
Zoologist Beaver Eau de Parfum is a sensual musky perfume featuring linden-blossoms and synthetic beaver musk; Zoologist Panda Eau de Parfum is a fresh, green and floral musky perfume featuring bamboo, green tea and osmanthus notes; Zoologist Rhinoceros Eau de Parfum is a dark and moody perfume featuring leather, rum, and agarwood notes.
All three perfumes are available in 60ml bottles, and will be released in late November 2014 on zoologistperfumes.com. For those who want to try these interesting scents, 2ml samples and a sample set featuring all three perfumes will also be available.
Our perfumes do not contain animal products. We don’t want to harm animals so that we can smell good.
Zoologist Perfumes was founded by Victor Wong in 2013 and prides itself on capturing the idiosyncrasies of the animal kingdom and transforming them into unusual, beautiful, fun and even shocking scents. They are a proud Canadian company located in Toronto.
Contact info
E-mail: victor@zoologistperfumes.com
website: zoologistperfumes.com (available in late November, 2014)
Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/zoologistperfumes
Twitter: twitter.com/ZPerfumes
Instagram: instagram.com/zoologistperfumes
