Harvest Mouse

A review that's been a while in the cooker. I've been in love on and off with Harvest Mouse since it was released. For the masses, this is one that may be slightly challenging but in my experience, I've never had anyone wrinkle their nose or make snide comments. On the contrary, I've had quite a few positive comments when I wear it, so that tells me it's a very pleasant fragrance. For Zoologist standards, I'd say this one is a crowd pleaser. It's sweet, borderline gourmand, cozy, warm and inviting. Vanillic, grassy, yeasty, slightly rosy and all around soothing is how I'd describe Harvest Mouse. Cozy is the perfect one-word review. Now, on initial spray, I get a very pleasant autumn landscape painted in my mind, the kind that matches the fragrance's description. It's fall, the air is crisp, it smells like wheat and hay, it's getting colder and everyone is cocooning up inside, baking all sorts of nice yummies and preferring the warmth of the inside to enjoy a beer rather than the porch. The fragrance immediately settles you into this warm, cozy feeling. The chamomile first kicks in, followed by hay and a yeasty scent I can only describe as beer mulch or raw bread dough (for those that get the reference, the smell of active yeast, like Fleischman's). That's what is the most obvious to my nose. Now, it has to be said that this was based on samples I had. Recently I acquired my bottle in the new style. Zoologist's owner Victor Wong recently made design changes in the presentation and in the bottles themselves and I must say, this is a fantastic upgrade, both in looks and execution. The presentation is slick, classy and clean. The bottle is unique and suits the brand (bonus points for magnetic cap and fantastic atomizer!). The upgrade in atomizer is immediately noticeable and changed the notes I pick up here. So yes, quality of the atomizer definitely makes a difference. Absolutely so. I now clearly detect rose nuances which I couldn't get before and they develop beautifully on skin. I get a lot more resinoids in the drydown as well. It makes an already wonderful experience all the more pleasing. Longevity wise, this is a decently lasting fragrance, a good 6-8 hours and I still pick it up if I put my nose to my skin 12 hours later. So, a good couple of hours of good performance before it settles closer to skin. It's not a huge projection monster, though (it goes with the profile, I'd say). It tends to stick closer to skin after the first hour or two. In my opinion and from my experience with it, this is a fragrance that's good for daily casual wear (it's not too cloying and/or offensive) but it will get you points in close encounters, definitely. While it can be easily worn anytime from Spring, Fall and into Winter, this is probably at its best as the leaves change colors and when the first signs of the upcoming cold urge everyone to prepare for the coming cold season. An obvious Zoologist favorite for a reason.

This is a scent that gets better over time! I was so excited for this, I had it shipped from Canada to the UK. I bought this expecting a nostalgic scent that was going to remind me of my childhood, visiting my friends in the country and jumping in the hay stacks. When this arrived I mainly smelt the beer note and an almost tangy camomile, which I found really off putting. I left it a week and still got the same result. I found it less field mouse and more field after a festival, where empty beer cans have been left cluttered around the place. I rated this as 5/10. I was just about to put it up for sale and decided to retest it once more. It’s now been sitting for a good few months and the beer note is no longer anywhere near as prominent as it was. The scent is much better balanced and a whole lot more enjoyable! I take it all back and have changed my review. This is a 10/10 and a keeper! Harvest Mouse is a gorgeous, unique take on vanilla. It’s warm and comforting. I do now get an enjoyable, light camomile note with a much better balanced and slightly sweet hay scent. It is light and sits close to the skin. Im still not getting the nostalgic feeling I was hoping for. Maybe I need to go out to a field and smell the hay stacks again. It might be more similar than I remember. Either way I actually love this! If you like this you need to try Camporella by Gleam (Hay, wild flowers & Camomile Tea) and another must Chemin D’Amande by Une Nuit Nomade (An oaty, almond, vanilla)

Bittersweet woody gourmand. It opens up with roman chamomile giving an hay feeling plus a finally well dosed eugenol (that means just a little bit, this thing is nuclear strong and so many times just overcomes every other thing in a fragrance) and some citrus in the background that stays just few minutes. At this point the fragrance suggest the scent of a country field (hay, some flowers here and there ecc...) before the vanilla and the woods start to take over (and our little mouse goes home). It seems that at home our gentlemanly mouse is serving himself a beer, and this is the first time I smell "beer" on a fragrance. Kudos to Maffei, as usually he pushes forward the perfumery without tryharding but instead finding new notes and materials to add to the classical scent profiles making them more interesting. Because after all, when the head's notes start to fade away this is a vanille-benzoin-woody gourmand, creamy, relaxing and cozy, but the "beer accord" keeps it interesting giving this "bittersweet" contrast that makes it quite original. To summarize, this is a very relaxing perfume, unisex, almost four season (or 3 if you cannot stand gourmand vanille in summer), that adds this avant-garde beer note to a classical vanilla-woody profile, representing very well the image and the narration of the "harvest mouse", this cozy little gentleman seeking for grain and barley during the day and enjoying his beer in his woody lair during the night.

absolutely delicious. it's such a good vanilic experience all through-out but it never gets icky or too heavy at any point thanks to how well it's composed. in the start, i get a nice zing from citrus and clove which kind of comes off as ginger to me (which i love!) - a cozy type of awakening. the moment you spray it, while you're still enjoying the light opening, you feel a warmth already start to hug you. it's like it slowly rises out of the floors to fill the room around you. the resins are my favorite part of this fragrance - uber warm, enveloping, slightly smoky, and vanilic. this brings the scent to it's richer characters, especially with the beer note which comes off more as malt or wheat to me. it's not effervescent or alcoholic, but more crisp like a cornflakes or the inside of a malteser. i get a bit of yeastiness but nothing that registers as badly sour, it's just right. it settles to be a gorgeous vanilla and sandalwood, but the really cool thing here is how it's kept alive by the green notes. the hay and balsam fir holds down the fort to make sure this never goes to cakey territory. overall, this is probably my favorite vanilla fragrance of all time. i know there are millions out there, but nothing has made me smile as big as when i finally got the opportunity to smell this. it feels like the rustle of wheat. it feels rich but in the most cozy and rustic way. this feels like what a hobbit hole would smell like during the fall.

One of the best by Zoologist! Harvest Mouse has a beautifully spicy opening with a sweet, rather than bitter, clove. And the chamomile is a brewed tea with delicate orange blossom essence. It is not quite your orange spice tea (but if that's what you want, look no further than Oriza L Legrand's La Trêve des Confiseurs, sadly only a soap or room spray at this time). And yet those common tea ingredients (bergamot, chamomile, spice, orange blossom, vanilla) give it those calming cuppa vibes. The fragrance softens on my skin, but I do not get the beer or ale note. I imagine this might be my personal skin chemistry that tends to soften nearly everything except certain musks and leathery scents. I do perceive the very welcome and pleasant hay scent, but the moss and Peru balsam are subtle here, thankfully. The cedar and the sandalwood make themselves known, but the balsam fir is the more gorgeous star. I know many people (Americans) smell spice and immediately think "FALL!" But this is more of a winter than autumn scent, despite the name "Harvest Mouse." If it is autumn, it is in its final days preparing itself for the forthcoming onslaught of yuletide cheer. And cheerful it is, either way. Beautifully done fragrance. I am not sure I would claim any collection is incomplete without it, but any collection would definitely be better for having it. Overall, 10/10.