ZOOLOGIST
SQUID

2019

PERFUMER
Celine Barel

Incense
Pink Pepper
Amyl Salicylate

Sea Salt
Ink
Opoponax

Ambergris
Benzoin
Musk

First of all…the color of that juice! This was an interesting one from Zoologist (which is pretty much a pleonasm). Putting this in the ‘easy-loving’ discovery set might be a bit of stretch, because it’s far from conventional, although it is wearable for sure. I have to say it’s probably my least favorite from the Zoologist’s that I’ve smelled.

For me, this fragrance is clearly divided into two sides. On one hand, I get the inky, ambergris, aquatic scent. On the other hand, I get a peppery, spicy, warmer benzoin accord, that somehow almost reminds me of warm gingerbread or something in the direction of a spiced bread.

The sides are tied together with smokiness from the incense and the opoponax. I feel like the aquatic or ‘blue’ notes are amplified by the color of the fragrance and the marketing, but it’s not a typical marine aquatic scent at all. Salt is listed as the main note on Fragrantica for example, but in my opinion it’s the pepper that moreso overpowers it in the composition.

I had to get used to it for a bit, but I didn’t mind it at all later in the wear, although it’s not for me. I think this would suit an older gentleman very well as far as the scent goes. The projection however, limits the wearability severely. It’s an extrait de parfum, it’s long lasting, but also projecting loudly for quite a while, which is something that this scent doesn’t benefit from in my opinion.