Zoologist Squid

Hello fellow frangrace-ers. I’ve been on a sample kick in the last month, looking to refresh what I have and try new things. I’ve been reading reviews here and selecting samples to explore and try. The recommendations and samples have all been good, you know?

Then yesterday I tried my sample of Zoologist Squid and was floored. I have never smelled anything like it— it was more than just a smell. I feel like I understood this scent and that it truly was an olfactory experience.

I am reflective by nature, and I feel like Squid is a reflective scent. It’s not bright and bubbly and shallow; there’s a wisdom from the depths— be it from a book or from the murky waters. It’s moody. The description or “gothic aquatic” is perfect here. Ink and salt and brine and incense.

It reminds me of the whiskey Lagavulin. You drink it and you think about life. It’s dark. It’s challenging. But there is a brightness to it as well that makes you feel like the hardship is worth it. That in the end we will all be the better for it. You reflect in its presence.

Squid is like that in scent form for me. It’s aquatic with a fisherman’s knit hat looking towards the dark clouds rolling in, and not a spray-tan-and-selfies on the beach type of aquatic.

Needless to say, my next step after experiencing the incense-to-ink transformation on my skin was to search up a bottle and buy it. I didn’t intend to buy a bottle of anything in my sample quest. I was merely sampling and enjoying the samples. But this scent experience was compelling and so unique that it had to be a FB purchase. And I had no idea that the smell of ink could simultaneously capture both my adventurous and academic moods in one moment. Mesmerizing.

After I ordered it direct from Zoologist I read an interview from the perfumer about the experience of her work and of Squid— how the incense was designed to capture the location (think: Japan and China) of where giant squid often reside. Squid is a well-executed and comprehensive experience with a dark “wow” factor.

Best of all, I bought this for me and not to impress or invite anyone. Often, I wonder how a scent will be perceived on me. Will it be too much or too little? Will I get compliments or will people push away? With Squid, I didn’t ask these questions— though I suspect it will be well-received. But no matter. I simply wanted to feel its contemplative wisdom in olfactory form without concern for what others might think.