CARDINAL (2022) • ZOOLOGIST🔺 • ScentAdvice

Zoologist was one of my favorite brands to try in recent years and Cardinal marks my return to sampling them after quite a while. This isn’t my favorite from the house, but I was intrigued for the entire wear and ended up enjoying it more than I expected to.

Cardinal starts off dewy and a bit green; like leafs and grass after rain. A lot of the reviews I’ve seen say its best suited for Winter, but I strongly disagree; I pictured Spring. Cardinal is rather fresh and has a sparkling, citrussy eau de cologne or shampoo vibe. The citrus is slightly bitter citrus and there seems to be a lot of oakmoss underneath with a subtle rose.

In the reviews I’ve read, people seem to detect a lot more of the leather in this than I did on my first impression. I can picture a faint, fresh aromatic leather, but overall, it didn’t register as a leather scent at all for me on my first wear.

It’s slightly spicy, at first making me wonder if I smelled cumin, but only a hint? Or maybe a bit of immortelle. However, later I perceived it as tomato leaf for a long time. It has that tomato leaf and basil, slightly sweetened green aromatic vibe. This would usually be a turn off for me, but Cardinal never veered into a dislike at all for me.

That being said, it’s definitely not my usual style or something that I would likely end up having in my collection. Yet, Cardinal finds a really good balance between the uniqueness fitting in with the Zoologist brand and a relative mass appeal.