Snowy Owl

Damp earth, musty basement with mold, rot and decaying leaves in an autumn forest. Do I love rot and decay? Hell yeah. Autumn-coded rather than winter and snow-coded to me. Idk why they named it Snowy Owl.

At first, it smelled cold, minty, and fresh, but there was a strong connection to something I've smelled at a hair salon -maybe like the Aveda rosemary mint shampoo, though it wasn't really a rosemary smell, it was more just that minty botanical type thing. It was piercing, the way that a menthol eucalyptus cough drop is, where it really opens up your sinuses. It dried down into a sweeter floral smell, and all I could think was "this smells white". Delightful.

Mint and melon are the two overarching notes that stand out to me in this fragrance. It’s strong at first, but becomes more approachable with time. I usually hate mint, but I don’t hate this. I also find it better than almost all the other Zoologist perfumes I’ve tried, excluding Cow. If I was to try to describe the mint, it reminds me of the tiny, concentrated pots of toothpaste your dentist opens for a cleaning. It is also a bit evocative of a minty car air freshener, or a listerine paper mint. I’d even argue there is a vaporub quality. However, I don’t get “blizzard mountaintop” or “seeing your warm breath in the cold”. There is also a candied chemical factor (perhaps tying in with the calone). You can also detect this licorice and animal backbone, but it’s very subtle (I suspect the ambrette and civet to be the respective culprits). If I was to describe this texturally or as a scene, I’d say it is like dirtied snow. Imagine white snow laying thick and powdery on a field, but in the distance you spot a rotting carcass, and the snow around it is soiled with gritty mud. There's something pristine about it, but also something undeniably wrong. In a way, I think this conceptually works really well for the snow owl concept, which is a beautiful wintery creature, but is ultimately a predator. I see the vision. It’s a really interesting scent and I dont hate it by any means, but it just isn’t the one for me. Oddly enough, I'd label it as ever-so-slightly female leaning rather than just unisex.

amazing, beautiful, icy opening. I really got the floral notes and the mint! it smelled like it was cold, which was very unique. however, the drydown was not nearly as nice. it became much more earthy and smelled like dirt. the drydown of this reminds me of olm by zoologist. I don't hate it though? I think if a place smelled like this, like an exhibit at the zoo, I would like it. but i can't say that i would wear it in my everyday life.

This is an extremely interesting and unique scent and I can safely say I have never smelled anything quite like it. The best way I can describe it is something dirty pretending to be clean. There is a cold freshness to it but it is always layered on top of a distinct dirty, musky earthiness. I will say that unlike some other "cold" perfumes, that sort of crisp cold scent does last all the way through the dry down here which I appreciate. With the cold, dirty, fake clean combo I kept feeling like this perfume gave my the vibe of the ice machine at a crappy motel. Super interesting but I don't think I would wear this in my normal day to day. I do want to retry this in the winter though.

on paper was great super fresh opening smelt like when you go into the country when it's winter and it's damp with grassy fresh air. On skin opened suuuuupperrrr funky immediately felt like an crazy old lady that has a lot of neglected birds, then dried down to this nice I'd say realistic unripe pear smell. Anyways was an interesting journey. Gives a really beautiful scent bubble after all the beginning commotion wears off. I'm smellling this in winter and I'd say it's definitely a cooler weather smell. It is a bit too animalic for summer definitely winter or early spring.

It comes across like a mix of chlorine and earth hidden beneath fresh snow ⋆꙳·❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆ I wasn't getting much of the florals, which was a let down though the distinct icy quality keeps me from disliking it entirely. Probably best to revisit this in the winter...

The open was a blast of cool freshness, that turns into subtle clean florals. A quiet scent. It evoked a winter landscape on the cusp of Spring. Very unique and understated. Projection and longevity were abysmal on me though.

First spray like literal alcohol (aka. nothing) Then it turns into a super common base for the majority of the commercial perfumes out there. I mean the literal base.

I enjoy how cold it smells and the tiny wafts I’m getting from my test patch spray on a warm summer day. That said, close up the iris is too much and with the resin, I find the base too heavy. Combined together it’s like cold leather to my nose. Pass, but an interesting work of art and one of the better Zoologists I’ve tested.

Smells like the clean, soft, plumy feathers of a baby owl in its nest 🪶 I don’t quite get “cold/wintery” from this! More like fresh damp soil, grass after a spring rain or mowing the lawn, mint, a bit of pine and mist. I can pick up the coconut, purple flowers and a fluffy musk as well. Rather than imagining an icy mountain range I get a coniferous forest with dew drops on the leaves in the early morning, sunlight gleaming off of melting snow, and a curious owl family bobbing their heads around to peer out of their nest 🙂 Projection is intimate which makes sense for the scent profile, with great longevity! I’m excited to find a Zoologist scent with the icy cold feel I’m craving! It seems like some people get that with Snowy Oil, for me it’s more soft and green, vegetal and grassy, and somehow they captured the scent of a bird! I’m working on trying not to let my assumptions get in the way of enjoying a scent - at first I was disappointed it wasn’t what I was expecting but now I have a different type of scent to experience and see where it takes me! I just wish I could sample everything from Zoologist 🤍 🦉 their scents are so transportive!

This started off soooo pretty. It had an extremely realistic freezer burn scent that was very transportive, nostalgic, and almost meditative in a way. Upon the initial spray, I felt like I was in my childhood home in the middle of winter where the air is so heavy and quiet. Unfortunately, after 15 minutes or so, this turns almost identical to the fig perfume from diptique which I can’t remember the name of

This is so airy... definitely a flying version of penguin. I feel like they used a very refreshing green vegie smell to create this feeling.

I immediately get a Parma violet sweets mixed with earth. The dry down is very floral and mossy on me. I like it, it does make you think of being surrounded by snow.

Have you ever gone skiing? Have you ever been on the top of a snow-covered mountain? This is that. Ice-cold, damp snow all around you. You can feel the coolness on the inside of your nostrils, the tiny twinge of soil packed underneath all that snow. There's a wetness here--it doesn't SMELL like celery, but you know how when you take a bite of something crunchy, with a high-water-content? This fragrance has that abstract "crunch." It's more stemmy, though--not in the sappy, sweet, milky, sticky tree resin way--in a wet, fresh, split stem. Maybe like you pulled up a stalk of celery, with dirt still on the root, at the top of a snowy mountain. I bought a full bottle because I wanted a cooling, refreshing scent for summer: my collection is lacking that. With my skin chemistry, though, Snowy Owl develops a strange underlying sweetness. The wet, crunchy, icy elements somehow become humid, like ice-caps melting. My sweat ruins this fragrance, turning it quite overwhelming, at least in the summertime. What a shame. Luckily, when I spray it on my clothing, no such issue occurs--I got several compliments when I wore a half-spray to work. Love this fragrance, through and through. I hope my body enjoys it better in the cool winter.

Second one from Zoologist I got, wonderfully fresh, almost cold in its opening with an obvious smell of calone, coconut, and a subtle smelling mint behind a full bed of greenery. As it dries, the green becomes a more general forest, with cedar and moss. It also becomes sweeter with the vanilla and tonka, causing its base to be a nice, soothing ground. Most pleasant smelling one in this group so far, if you love melon scents you will probably love this.

So I’ve worn this 2 times now, the way it responds when your skin are 2 different temperatures is interesting. The first time was a very cold day. When I wore it, it was super cold minty green coconut laying in an icy wet Forrest bed with some sweetness. This time round I am in a heated environment, no cold shock upon first spray, it is a sweet green coconut vanilla fragrances with hints of earthiness and brightness. Do I think the heat makes this more wearable? Yes absolutely. But the colder months is where this fragrance gets its identity and thrives. I love wearing it both ways, this pretty much solidifies a full bottle purchase for me.

I’m honestly pleasantly surprised with this one. I’m trying to expand my palate and just learn more about complex fragrances. This one opens pretty cold, the fresh true mint definitely attacks my nose. It quickly gets kind of damp and almost humid? I get a lot of dirt, it smells like my abandoned garden that the mint took over. A bit of wet cement too!? Its sweet on the dry down, i would say its more so fruity than floral. Very true, earthy, musky frag.

Really love this one. I get a strong soil smell (which i love). Like fresh air after the rain, or like a fresh musty dampness.

Wierd frozen plumy musk. This will be hard to review because the pyramid is totally misleading and it is also a very original composition with few similiar scents to refer to. Let's start: it opens with a wierd accord of mint (earthy, not balsamic or medicinal) plus gamma-nonalactone with some calone on top, this gives an istant "frozen feeling", it reminds me of the smell of the frozen air when you open your freezer. The earthy facets of the mint accord suggest some woody feeling, super dry, very original but not necessarily pleasant. You are transported into a solitary frozen place and I have a certain "unconfortable" feeling about it. The fragrance then evolves in something more "bitter", mossy. This frozen wood is "dirty". There are some undistinct florals here and there that pop off, but it is like those flowers are struggling against the ice (probably the ambrette seeds start to come out plus some iris plus carrot seed accord). On this enviroment slowly the snowy owl presents itself, as a musky soft plumy thing. Not friendly, more like curious about you, starying at you. This musk is pretty original, and belive me or not it is plumy. Don't know how they did it, probably everything is contributing to it, the synthetic lactones, the civet (yes this musk is animalic and not so conforting) and the tonka-vanille accord adds some sweetness to the composition (this snowy plumy thing may be soft and warm, but it remains distant). While the musk is going on there are the woody aspects that remain in the air, hints of timid flowers, piny resins, dry woods and veramoss (or evernyl). What can I say... this is very original and very "zoologist", from a narrative point of view and formula wise for me it is a total succes, like a 9 out of 10. Unfortunately the scent doesn't work for me as a wereable perfume. I feel unconfortable with it and well there is an elephant in the room that is called Thundra, its megapatchouly+mint is so good at suggesting the "frozen feeling" that I will always go for it when I'm in the mood, it is sooooo much better. For this reason I won't buy this, but I'm totally happy to have tried it. For the practicalities it has a good longevity and a medium sillage, it is totally narrative and genderless but I can't really find any good use or occasion for it (maybe walking alone in the nature during winter?) so I'll leave this aspect to your taste and immagination. Price tag is the usual zoologist and for its scent profile is way too high. Good for testing, bad for full bottle buy, at least for me.

Cucumber mint is what i get originally and it’s a very enjoyable scent.

This is my all time favorite perfume. It’s not for everyone. It’s unique, fresh, and crisp, with a unique floral dry down I’ve never found in anything else.

Cold, earthy snow scent upon first spray...smells like dirt. Then it dries down to a chilling floral and musk. I can appreciate how unique it is, but not something I would wear on a normal basis.

All I can smell is the calone. It smells cold and earthy and wet but ultimately artificial and flat as the scent profile basically ends with that molecule for me.

This smells like 6am on a cold morning with frost on flowers, smells like an empty field. no sugar coating though, a very smooth but harsh fragrance

i REALLY like this one its cold animalic and floral with a hint of mint imo i dont get any coconut from this. DEFINITELY not for everyone

On first spray I really liked this! Cold green natural smell, quite realistic. But then some of the animalistic aspects started to come out, and then I just smelled dead animal that's been sitting outside of your cabin underneath the snow all winter.

Ohhh I absolutely love this. Snowy Owl is incredibly cold and fresh upon first sniff, I’m surprised the mint isn’t the front and centre considering I’m allergic and I can smell it from a mile away. This is beautifully green but not in a grass clippings type of way, it’s quite soft and ethereal. I feel like I’m sitting in a foggy meadow on a chilly morning watching the sun rise, surrounded by iris. The dry down is also immaculate, it’s a little sweet and resinous which is quite nice and unexpected in comparison to the opening. Not what I was expecting from a fragrance called ‘Snowy Owl’ but gosh it’s beautiful.

Again, I might be cursed with loving very polarising perfumes.... But alas, I fell in love with this one from first sniff! It opens up very grassy and petrichor, which lasts around 1.5-2h. Then it gradually evolvrs to a soft minty coconut smell, which sits closer to skin. On my skin, it stays this way, with very faint soil notes. Absolutely beautiful. Really feels like you're wandering around in a winter wonderland without chasing any sense of time. This is definitely not mass-appealing, but for those in search for uniqueness and artistic value, this is worth losing sleep over.

I really love this one! It's such a unique scent that truly does evoke the vibe of melting snow with a slight blooming floral peeking through. Huge Spring vibes as snow is melting and plants begin to bloom. The coconut is well blended to where it acts as a part of the snow effect but you don't really smell it as coconut. I will definitely pick up a full bottle eventually. Also life hack: I layered this with Le Labo's Baie 19 and because they are both cold scents, it creates a really interesting combo!!