Maggie the Cat is Alive! I’m Alive!

Some of these reviews border on the absurd. If you’re wearing Marc Jacobs Daisy and Miss Dior on the daily, perhaps I’m not surprised, yet it does generate an eye roll when you call this pissy. Litter box where? This is a soft fuzzy peach violet with a musk and patchouli. If anything this is powdery and gauzy. This isn’t weird or strange. This is very straightforward and covertly glamorous. When I got a sample I swear I was expecting something that might have made me gag. And when I put it on and smelled sweet fuzzy and crackling peach and then the violet so powdery, damn I went and bought it immediately. And I was going back and forth between this and Carnival of Souls. Tho I still may get that, that one is actually strange, in a good way. For warm bulb becoming so popular when that smells like actual dust in your basement ( at the start of a horror movie). You would think this fragrance would be way more hyped. It deserves it. So far everything Marissa has done that I’ve smelled is good.

I’m a huge Elizabeth Taylor fan. “Cat” is among my favorite films. This perfume was made for me. And it’s everything I hoped for. I’ve been on a peach lick lately, and this is a lovely peach. Here, the note smells like skin. When my boyfriend I first started dating, he told me that I naturally smell like peaches. This peach mixed with the ambrette brings a skin, human quality to this fragrance. Then you have the oak moss and violet which was a popular combination in vintage perfumes; this of course lends a 1950s vibe. However, it’s very earthy. Very fitting for a woman Rock Hudson called an “Earth Mother”. Elizabeth loved perfume, from Rochas Femme to Jungle Gardenia and Bal a Versailles to her own fragrances. I think Elizabeth would love this perfume and it embodies her well. Fun champagne, sensual, earthy, vintage but timeless.

Bright gold peach and sparkling champagne dissolve into a beautiful blend of violets, sunlight, and pure feline sensuality. The drydown is magical. Like a Tennessee Williams heroine, it both wilts and blooms in the heat, growing more sensual and languid over a long, hot day. A notice-me yowl, a testing scratch, a curled-up purr. Intimate and long-lasting (I mean, it’s one you want to get *close* to). Warm and woody on skin for 8+ hours; sweet and floral on clothes/hair well into the next day. This one is special: nuanced, sharp, and still gorgeously blushingly sincere. How do you craft an arch-feminine throwback that tells a story without buckling under the weight of its own references? Marissa Zappas pulled it off!

on me, at least, there is no pee, there is no cat litter, and there is no cat spray. it's lovely soapy and powdery, and it has that beautiful animalic undertone that i have discovered that i love so much! sample this if it interests you, don't let the reviews deter you. if you like marlou's stuff, chances are you'll probably like this (it's like a tiny bit more toned down than their stuff, but in terms of the animalic vibe, the similarity is there). signature scent worthy if you're bold and cool enough i think it is, however, very strong. so if you get headaches easily i'd probably give it a miss. :3

clean and dirty at the same time, which is so interesting. a little soapy, but kind of in a dried up bar of soap kinda way, the animalic notes give it a 'lived in' quality. the champagne note is a little..yeasty? in the fizzy, living sense. someone partied too hard in a fur coat and then left it in the back of their closet for years. i love orris, i love sandalwood, i've never been big on musks or animalics, but this is quirky in a way that i really enjoy. on paper, this was unpleasant, but on my skin it developed really nicely, i do not get 'piss' at all, i'm glad i gave it another shot.

One of my favorite! This perfume is elevated, complex and unusual. It smells soft and edgy all at the same time. Projection is arms length. Last 6-8 hours on my skin. I do not get the peach scent (wish I did). On initial spray the sparkling champagne peaks through, on the dry down you get more of the animalic and powdery scent. The powdery is not baby powder, it’s more of a clean sophisticated scent that plays well with all of the other notes. The orris, sandalwood, oak moss, solar notes, castoreum, amber, iris and musk seem to be equally distributed each shinning through.

She's fun oh my goodness. I feel like this is a girl I've caught a sniff of in a crowd of an indie show. Oh this is utterly delightfulllll all the notes are a lovely fizzy aquatic bright floral peach. The castoreum in combo with the oakmoss - and the peach - and champagne?! howd she do that? it's like if you took a japanese gummy candy - one of the sunbtle slightly foral fruity ones - made it fizzy, and then somehow also simulated ambergris smell with various notes. Miss Marissa snapped darlings. In my world this is modern masterpiece tier. Muah.

This is a powdery champagne violet ( Which is my thing) so it’s a love for me. Think “actress in the 1950’s”. This is sexy woman ( or man - I call it unisex for today’s taste) it is in the same vibe as other lipsticky powder perfumes with a modern lightness. *****Dry down is spectacular. Tried a sample first and with in 10min I was ordering a full bottle. I feel this will probably be a LOVE or HATE so try before you buy if you’re not pretty sure this is your kind of vibe. For me 9.5/10. Once you spray it give a good 30 seconds before you sniff.

Very powdery and works REALLY well with my skin. The most prominent notes for me are musk and sandalwood with some sweetness from the peach. Smells like it's from a different time (obviously) and also like you hugged a very elegant grandmother. Reminds me a bit of Replica's Music Festival but not as sweet and imo better. Would wear for all seasons but definitely during the nighttime for the most part.

This is a migraine trigger for me, which is unfortunate because it’s one of the most beautiful fragrances I’ve ever had the opportunity to smell. A perfumed glass of champagne with a little peach shaped sun fizzing away inside it. There’s no cat piss in sight, just something warm subtle and animalic that smells gorgeous (and makes me ill, because I’m cursed, pity me).

This falls into a "skin scent" for me. Not a lot of sillage. It has a warm sun smell for sure. It's not old fashioned smelling, rather there is an occasional whiff of vintage perfume (violet, like Taylor's eyes), as if floating out of a window. It's a beautiful, subtle perfume.

Smells like a girl who is spiritually rich, as in wealthy $$$$. Like if you took a 3 hour long bubble bath in an avocado colored tub, using cream embossed soaps and a handful of golden oil bath beads. Really grips onto your skin and hangs around till the next morning. Sexy!!!!

possibly my all-time favorite fragrance and i sound insane when i try to recommend it to people. the haters are correct: it does really smell like an old dusty house with piss-soaked brown carpets. (un)fortunately i am a degenerate

I don't own this, but whenever my brother's girlfriend wears it it really radiates from her. it suits her so well! an acquired taste for a more risqué fashion girly// super sophisticated while remaining playful and bubbly

smells like potpourri, dusty, slightly smoky dried red roses, also smells a lot like fabric - velvet or silk that’s been under a warm light for a while. sultry and sophisticated with a mysterious quality. LOVEEEE

Smells like a beautiful vintage high end clothing shop with complimentary champagne as you browse. This is something a sultry pin-up girl would wear. 10/10 for the uniqueness and sexiness

This smells like a haunted Old Hollywood hotel in the best kind of way.

I love wearing this to sleep... a musky champagne

this is really, really sexy. peach champagne was more prominent on my skin, but the dry down settled it to a spilt champagne on a fur coat. i don't get the cat piss/litter comparisons. it reads dirty, in a good way. i can see how the musky, animalic notes would prove odorous to some but in my opinion it worked out seamlessly for the essence of this scent. someone here described it as vaginal- i agree and i love it. aforementioned notes aside i could more than agree with the barely-there violet. the composition is complex. this brings to mind a messy haired rockstar sitting at a dive bar. she's wearing black, leopard prints, and she's flirting shamelessly with your girlfriend. you want to hate her but she draws you in under the amber lights overhead. she probably has something illicit in her fake leather purse. she probably came from money once- now she is a washed up, hedonistic woman with secrets she'll never tell you. tldr; it's good, subtly sexual, spilled peach champagne, best worn in dingy bars

for the first few hours of wear, this smells like having a sunny champagne picnic with my cat and my grandma in some far off fantasy world where my cat can talk and my grandma can run. after that, all other notes seem to fall to the wayside and i find myself irritated by the overwhelming powderiness that comes through. i liked this fragrance for a while, until i didn't. i would wear this for shorter amounts of time, for sure. those first few hours feel storybook-ish. and i definitely don't get any of the cat piss that others are mentioning!

I was really scared to try this, after seeing all the comparisons to piss/litter/vaginal. However, I found this scent to just be very peach forward. On my skin, it pulled the peach and champagne notes really well. I do agree that it smells like hairspray, after the initial spray of straight peach, it just stayed as a light hairspray scent. A very old smell, like an old hotel. It's a lot sweeter than I would think, but its not bad.

I was drawn in by the name-- a unique film reference for a perfume. The scent itself strongly brings to mind hairspray. But I don't dislike it. It's elegant, powdery, quite vintage. It reminds me of a boudoir in which an elegant lady does her hair and makeup. Unfortunately aldehydes come across as very screechy on me-- no exception here and it's hard to ignore. Still a quality fragrance, just not for me.

Burgundy wide wale corduroy upholstered sofa, faded in the sunlight. I found this warm, comforting and slightly vintage-feeling. Reminds me of staying in my grandparents' guest bedroom as a kid for some reason. My husband commented on how good I smell, and he rarely comments. He must've picked up on the sandalwood, which he always loves. He thought I was wearing a Serge Lutens fragrance.

Definitely paints a picture. The opening champagne and peach are almost acrid together, as some have mentioned evokes classic hairspray. This dissolves quickly and while the violet and moss come in biting, they settle into something hazy, dusty, and warm - and yes, a little animal and stinky. Like unwrapping a vintage fur coat that has held onto too many nights.

champagne right off the bat, like alcohol on someones breath. then its sparkly, feminine violet. an estate sale and all the floral couches smell like grandma perfume, but /this/ is not a grandma perfume. moreso fake pearls and expired makeup, very girlish. the dry down is more sensual, like hotel shampoo and chlorine.

Sorry to the people that got ammonia or piss from this, on my body I only smell the violet, Amber and ambrette. It smells pretty but very mature, like a scent my mother would wear (she’s 70) and not so much a 30 yo. It’s a scent that reminds me of playing dress up in my grandma’s closet when I was little.

A Bubbly bright musk and animalic scent. There are also underlying metallic tones almost the whole way through. It sounds weird but it's lovely. The dry down is more powdery floral. It's just very unique all together and I really enjoy it.

Paulette from Legally Blonde would wear this. Champagne on open then a pretty, makeup-ey, musky vibe. May be a tad powdery for my taste to justify a FB, but it is REALLY nice. And, happy to say, no piss smell for me.

Literal eau de kitty. My friend compared it to a litter box. (He keeps the litter box very clean so probably not as gross as it sounds.) I find this interesting, even if I wouldn’t really wear it.

One of my favorites from Marissa Zappas. I get mostly Moss and earthiness, which I love. I just wish it lasted longer :/

Smelling this is like traveling to a haunted antique parlor. It's dusty, floral and dirty but delightfully charming

champagne stepped o'er by a kitten, her dust-bunny grey fur wet with rain from the humid thunder outside

On me this is a soft powdery orris and violet. It’s well done and feels soft and quiet on

I was going to say this was a grandma scent (in a positive way) but it's something a bit beyond that. It's a mysterious rich great-aunt that makes you the sole benefactor of her will when she dies under mysterious circumstances masked as a heart attack. I haven't smelled White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor in years, but I get similar vibes from this, something more mature and like... a bit GILF. On first spray there's something cloying about this (perhaps the peach, perhaps the champagne) that brings this into Household Product territory for me, erring on the side of Glade air freshener, but it does smells softer as it mellows out on my skin. It's not a personal favorite of mine from Marissa Zappas, but I absolutely love the originality of this perfume, and it's something I don't believe many perfumers would have the gall to do. Edit: JUST realized what this reminds me of. It reminds me of the scent my great-grandma wore when she was in the hospital for an entire summer when I was 11. Random.

Stale champagne spilled on the carpet permeates the air of an old hotel room. Fading stars under a limelight of a different kind. A harsh light that exaggerates every wrinkle, every pore, every layer of caked on makeup, every imperfection by Hollywood standards. Maggie the Cat isn't a party but rather the unglamourous aftermath. A contemptuous cleanup crew cursing under their breath while changing out the slightly pissy sheets. This Golden Age Hollywood sleaze appeals to me. This smells like a dirty open secret.

MZ’s take on a trad Chanel composition - bubbly champagne aldehydes, peach, orrissy powder, but then... the warmth of kitten fur. Vintage hairspray, slightly sweaty silk, what the skin musk & dressing room of an old Hollywood starlet actually smelled like. A masterful, modern & youthful version of an old lady perfume.

I just got a sample of this and im kind of scared to spray it on myself in case it’s really bad, but a tester spray smelled like a somewhat fruity and strong patchouli. Not terrible, definitely not the smell of cat pee, but I got maybe a tiny waft of sweet powder for one millisecond and that was it. I’m very much so a violet and powder lover so it’s a bit disappointing, but certainly a unique and creative unisex perfume (masc leaning imo). I will eventually test it on my skin because I suspect it dries down more sweet and powdery when on skin, but that patchouli is very veryyyy strong. Again it’s not disgusting but I don’t like patchouli or masculine fragrances so I would never wear it. Update: finally gave it a spray on my skin right before I showered just in case... and it’s literally just patchouli. Maybe a hint of champagne but more like a slightly fruity leaning patchouli but that woody earthy damp patchouli regardless. I got absolutely zero of any other note... and I scrubbed it off but man this thing has crazy strength and silliage! I feel like I can smell it still. I guess patchouli is my enemy as well. Fragrantica needs to update its notes.

Gang, I can’t do it. The gold-plated peach bellini dry down is not worth the first half-hour of wee. I get pure dank, stank ammonia. That paired with the pale powdery florals paint the picture of a perfumed litterbox or Febrezed latrine. (Albeit a fancy, neo-Rococo one). I love a good musk, but this is just too janitorial for me. The other thing: Maggie has claws. This scent is a lingerer. It took an everything shower to get her completely off my skin. Kind of peeved that my fave MZs are all ghostly in lifespan, but the ones I don’t jive with last forever. Mental Snapshot: You’re an heiress left to your own devices in the Ritz’s presidential suite. Fresh-cut fruit, bouquets of blooms, flutes of pink champagne. Too bad you don't have thumbs. You swat the glasses off the table and lap straight from the carpet. By the time you sober, the whole suite is reduced to piss and ribbons. Fancy Feast is going to cancel your brand deal if the tabloids hear... tl;dr: cat locked in an Old Hollywood powder room 🐈🍾

while i can appreciate the vision here, for me this flew too close to the sun. maybe it's my skin chemistry or midwest climate, but something in the peppery?-orris or castoreum comes across as a literal Note of Cat. like, this could be a perfume for a cat, or the distilled essence of someone who owns many of them. another reviewer's description "pure feline sensuality" sure is one way to put it.... the texture is strange, so hoarse and dusty while at the same time conjuring the sensation of having a hair stuck in your throat, or the wet blanket atmosphere of an animal shelter. the peach note is a dried, dehydrated peach, and i find the champagne a bit...flat.

I got a sample of this perfume because the notes in it are all notes I love but there is a note im smelling that I dont see listed, when i bought the sample they didnt list it as a note either. Patchouli. My fragrance enemy. With Patchouli i have found that you either love it or hate it and I despise it. Every fragrance that has even the slightest bit of patchouli in it is ruined on my skin. I was hoping for something elegant and delicious but was let down by this catfish of a scent. Patchouli is an Usurper, Hijacking every perfume its in so thats all you can smell. I'm disappointed but at least its just a sample.

On cool cloth it was nice but it turned vile on my hot skin. At first the animalic, furry, spicy vibe was just right for a cat but then it developed into the smell of a modern superamber that basically just smells like horrible chemicals.

Based on the other reviews, this perfume must have went to hell on my skin, because all I get is actual cat piss. Sharp cat piss. Either that or I received a bad sample?

Wish I'd read the comments about it smelling like piss and hairspray before I got a sample. Might be a scrubber...

Smells sharp and like cat peepee on me unfortunately. I want to love this perfume. 😭

It has peach in it as a primary note, so had to give this one a go when I found it in the travelling sample box. But unfortunately, Super Ew for me. The cat is definitely alive, and tramples over everything else. No peach, no violet, no champagne for me. Just cat and desperately-needs-to-be-cleaned kitty litter. Not a pretty, cuddly cat either. Just a yucky, stinky one. "Stinky cat, stinky cat, what are they feeding you? Stinky cat, stinky cat, it's not your fault" A hard pass that I quickly shoved back to the bottom of the sample box so no one else has to go through the horror that I just experienced.

This just doesn’t work on me at all. The castoreum really dominates, and the oak moss and orris combo adds this dry, dusty layer. On my skin, it smells like a beaver in heat trapped in an attic. I’m so sorry, but no!! I totally understand why people are comparing this to cat spray! There’s an underlying screechy ammonia smell which is the main reason I had to scrub. I think there are plenty of other fragrances that pull off this vibe much more effectively. 💔

Had every expectation that I'd be repelled by this since it's so opposite what I usually go for but I can't get enough of it. Phenomenal work of art, which doesn't surprise me, but also something I want, *need*, to wear, which does. Candied violets, peach bellini glow, something vintage and glamorous but too optimistic and too deliciously mischievous to condemn it to a dusty shelf in the backend of your memory. Musk and castoreum aren't so pissy here to me, more milky salty vaginal than anything on my skin. The orris and amber imbue it with an undeniable age but only insofar as money is often old. It's golden, like the low light from a crystal chandelier just barely hanging on from the high, crumbling ceiling of an ancient apartment you just inherited in Montmartre, shaking and twinkling with the pulse of a subwoofer. It's funny, clever. It's not overwhelming (certainly not a piss screech!), it's more like a dirty secret, and a good one, good news, maybe at someone else's expense. It makes me want to run up and down a long hall of power with my dirty little feet. It makes me greedy. It makes me want to corrupt. It makes me very frighteningly fuckable. It makes me feel like everything everyone's afraid a woman could be. And, fine: It gets warmer, sweeter, gentler, much tamer with time, if for some reason it hurt your feelings in the first hour. It will play nice with you if you just get over it. Your most fun friend who's a little bit evil insists you're too sensitive. She might be right. Unbothered by anyone who's relegated this to the litter box because that means more for me. And all I ever want is more. Thank you, Marissa.

Do I love anything in the world of Tennessee Williams? Do I love the 1958 movie? Is that what made me spray this immediately from countless choices in front of me? Yes, yes, and yes! But none of those are the reason that I find this fragrance deeply interesting and admire it. In fact, it lacks the perfectly pitched melodrama associated with the source material, though I can see how it inspired this scent. This is almost an ode to those who can love and appreciate YSL 90's classic Champagne (and the only scent I'm capable of comparing this to). But it's not holiday party, it's not 90s supermodel, it's not party girl like Champagne is. It is less nuclear and more subtle. There's an appealing dry element to it from the violet, orris, and oakmoss. It's an at home kind of disheveled glamour. There's nothing polite about it though. The slightly sharp animal quality of this is a tiny bit unsettling. However it's the kind you want to keep smelling to "figure out", even if you're never going to lol. It's not the kind that starts to grate and must be washed off. The longevity is there but this scent will definitely not project to others around you in the manner of *big perfume!* I absolutely agree with the image of a chandelier in a disused Paris apartment. Vintage in character a little bit, but overall timeless in appeal. 1950's Elizabeth Taylor wouldn't live there I don't think. Maybe sober, modern day Courtney Love and her books and managerie of 90s artifacts would live there. Calmed down a bit, wiser, but never without incomparable personality.

I've got a sampler set from Marissa Zappas, and I don't know if it is just me, but are all of these scents really subtle and subdued? Today I am wearing Maggie the Cat is Alive! I’m Alive and, firstly, I should confess that I’m not coming at this scent from a place of attachment to its inspiration. With the exception of an overwrought snippet or two, I have never seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. From what I gather, it's a whirlwind of melodrama and histrionics and conflicted, tormented souls. And considering that, this fragrance is quite an exercise in restraint. It is the olfactory equivalent of hushed whispers, fading echoes, and pale shadows further muted by weak sunlight. The champagne is a warmed, still echo in its glass, the effervescence long gone. A delicate tension simmers between the dripping sweetness of peach and ambrette’s intimate, powdery musk, all set against an understated backdrop of cool, elusive floral notes and the gentle, woody humidity of oakmoss. Maggie the Cat isn’t at all the piercing shrieking experience that I expected, but offers instead an introspective, understated moment.

Got a friend the discovery set but naturally had to try everything first. This is not one I'll need to own a bottle of, but as an art experience/character study it's FASCINATING. With the caveat that my skin does extreme things to scents, I would not describe this scent experience as pleasant. & yet I can't stop going in for more. Starts off in the boudoir with a hairspray & ashtray blast. Both soapy & rotting, with an odd, off bitterness. Eases over time into sweat & skin, infused somehow with languid longing, untouched. There's something fetid & dank at the base that does evoke a stagnant marriage. Layered into all that, though, is an ode to Elizabeth Taylor & her position in perfume history, with aspects of classic grande dame animalics such as Rochas Femme & Bal à Versailles, as well as Taylor's own celebrity perfumes. Honestly, it's brilliant. Intricate & witty, beautifully crafted from a place of love. An olfactory essay. It's not about prettiness, it's a sculpture in time.