ZOOLOGIST
CIVET

2016

PERFUMER
Shelley Waddington

lemon
bergamot
black pepper
orange
Resins
Civet
Tuberose
Coffee
Ylang-Ylang
Spicy notes
Carnation
Incense
Oakmoss
Frangipani
Russian Leather
Musk
Labdanum
Heliotrope
woody notes
Linden Blossom
Canadian Balsam
Hyacinth
Tarragon
Vanilla
Vetiver

First thought: ‘Not nearly as animalic as I thought it would be’.

Civet opens with a slightly skanky, animalic, musky note and it has a bit of a bug spray harshness. Purely smelling this, I think the scent could throw a lot of people who aren’t too fond of animalics off instantly. However, within literally five minutes, it becomes much milder and an extremely soft balsamic accord starts to take center stage next to the civet.

It’s very warm and silky smooth, with touches of herbal, floral, earthy and spicy notes that I’m not even going to try to distinguish. Coincidentally, I tried Xerjoff’s More Than Words in the same week and Civet shares the sort of fizzy, cola type of scent to me. Maybe even more so a cola connection than I had with More Than Words, as Civet really reminded me of cola lollypops with bubblegum in them that I used to have growing up. I started to think I was going to love this fragrance.

The drydown threw a bit of a curveball, as it reels back the florals a bit and a different kind of sweetness emerges. Coffee is a note a lot of people pick up on here, but I can’t say that I do. There’s a hint of something after a while, but I get more of vanilla or maybe caramel. If it’s coffee, it’s definitely not a bitter, roasted, coffee bean type of scent, but coffee with a ton of sugar and milk and it’s faintly in the back. Now, I said that the florals are toned down in the drydown, but they are still present. It’s all blended so harmoniously that it’s hard to even categorize Civet.

To me, it’s definitely not an animalic aside from the first minutes and some skanky wafts in the late drydown, animalic notes are bystanders in this fragrance. Mainly, this is an almost exotic, tropical floral and balsamic fragrance, that at some points during the wear reminded me of a slightly less feminine (still very much unisex) flanker of Zoologist’s Hummingbird.

If you want a strong animalic civet fragrance, I think you don’t even have to look at this one. For me however, this was a welcome surprise and from the Zoologist fragrances I’ve tried, it’s my favorite anno 2022.