Macaque Fuji Apple Edition

I was not expecting to fall in love with this. I originally received this as a freebie, and I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. It might honestly be one of my favorite Zoologists I’ve tried, depending on my mood. The name makes you think it might be more apple-forward, but to me, this is not a sweet apple fragrance. I can barely detect the apple note. Like yes, there's a hint upon first spray, but I'd say it's more of a supporting tartness for the Juniper. A little flicker of fruit somewhere inside an alive green ecosystem. It’s like you’re in the middle of a dense rainforest, woods, moss, leaves, and humid air, and somewhere in there there’s a piece of fruit. But it’s not the fruit that matters. It’s the environment. It smells natural and wild, but clean in a way. Not clean like soap or powder, but clean like living greenery; plants, wood, and damp air. It definitely gives me the image of being a monkey in a rainforest, but without the funkiness. It captures the idea of that environment without making me smell like actual animal habitat. This is very green. Very foresty. It is warm, woodsy, green, earthy, resinous. Very alive. But not dirty or funky. It’s complex too. It’s not just green apple and woods. Though, hinoki really does stand out to me within the structure along with myrrh, oakmoss, and juniper. There’s something resinous and slightly spiritual about the heart, almost like incense or sacred forest air. It has depth, but it doesn’t feel heavy.

I’m reviewing this from a sample that I bought when it came out. I didn’t remember the scent at all, and I wore the rest of the sample when I found it a couple months back. The first thing I want to note is that it’s very possible that the sample went bad, because what I get here is not what anyone else seems to be getting. typically with zoologist, I can imagine myself in the habitat with the animal each time I wear a perfume. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the hell a macaque is, so it’s harder for me to grasp that part of the perfume. this is so insanely fermented and tart on my skin. It smells identical to the smell of when you go to an apple orchard a little too late in the season and most of the apples have been smushed into the dirt and have fermented and rotted. That’s where I think the sample *may* have gone bad, but I hope this is just how the scent is. Without that sourness, I would find this perfume to be too boring. I don’t like apple in my perfumes, but when it goes sour and fermented... sign me up! I love this stuff in my sample. I’ll have to order a new sample and see if the fermented thing is just because my sample went bad, or whether it’s the actual smell of the perfume !

This is GORGEOUS! I have bought several bottles from Zoologist over the years, and I'm very thankful to Victor for adding this sample to my most recent order. It's NOTHING like the original Macaque! Macaque Fuji Apple Edition has made it to my top 3 Zoologists, alongside Camel and Moth, and knocking off Panda. The opening is fruity, round, sweet and woody. The apple note in here is what makes this edition so special: it's probably the best apple note I've smelled in a perfume; nothing like the green apple in Panda. It's sweeter here and reminds me of a yellow apple (which are usually sweeter than red apples, even though the Fuji cultivar is reddish-pink). Macaque remains sweet throughout, but the apple facet of the sweetness dims with time and leaves place for the hinoki and oakmoss, which are the two other notes I'm able to single out. Compared to the Yuzu Edition, this is sweeter, fruitier and less sharp. I prefer the Fuji Apple edition way more.

First full bottle zoologist I bought from an actual Japanese retailer since this remains a limited edition (most of mine were resells at mercari or directly from the zoologist website). This is not so complex but definitely the most crowd-pleasing zoologist among the bunch. I find the approach similar to geza schoens juniper-forward chypre called boudicca wode where it transitions from a sweet blast then reveals a darker, earthier nature but this is sweeter & very juicy (with swirls of olibanum, Hinoki wood and a touch of sweet labdanum). I’ve tried a sample during summer and was convinced to get the bottle this winter - seems destined to be an all season, blind reach type of fragrance. I find it masculine but who cares at this point :)

Many of Zoologist's offerings suffer from the same problem: they work as room scents, but are unwearable for most people on most occasions. I'm looking at you, Bee and Cow! The original Macaque was nice, but had a somewhat off-putting mid-note that smelled like rotting bananas. Zoologist's flankers, however, corrected most of the original's problems, and are very nice indeed. "Yuzu" is a great citrony blend, and "Fuji Apple" is even better, with a pleasing apple note that blends wonderfully with spicy basenotes. Longevity is decent and the drydown is very pleasant. It's always best to buy samples of Zoologist's products before committing to a full bottle, but Zoologist has made the decision to buy quite easy with this one.

My favorite interpretation of hinoki so far. The olibanum here is gorgeous, reminiscent of Amouage so the quality is high. The apple is mild, hovering under the hinoki and olibanum, bubbling up to the surface occasionally and helping to lift the energy of the scent. Received this as a sample with a purchase from Zoologist and will seriously consider adding at least a 10ml to my collection. On a side note, this blows the overly astringent Hinoki & Cedarwood from Jo Malone completely out of the water.

What a surprise this Macaque Fuji apple! Although it is perhaps one of the least talked about of the brand, it has its own very specific character; a very aromatic woody, smoky, camphorous and very green! It starts out joyful but moves towards increasingly introverted and meditative territories! You put it on and find yourself in a small private garden in the heart of Japan. Handsome!!!

Incense, pine and apple: fresh, discreet and deceptively simple. The apple blends perfectly with the smokier undertones, giving very light sweet hints, complementing the Hinoki and Olibanum. Very easy to wear in the summer, and it works great in the warm spring and autumn. Excellent longevity on my skin. Moderate sillage. Big love from me, but try, before you buy; this is Zoologist.

原版的獼猴是有動物毛皮感的茉莉花茶 柚子獼猴是貼著樹皮聞森林大樹的氣味,除了木頭本身之外,濕氣感、綠意、刺刺毛毛的、土壤、苔蘚、空氣冷冷的這些氣味都描寫的生動細緻 富士蘋果版的其實就是把柚子版的柚子換成蘋果,你細聞就真的雙胞胎!不過擴散出來的氛圍完全不同,細膩堆疊的木質主幹加上日本柚子精油的刺激感,柚子版的嗅覺感受上是奔放開闊、野趣的,而蘋果的香甜味(話說蘋果應該都是合成香氣)把木質氣味帶往了溫潤柔和的方向,把原本那個生機盎然的綠意森林拉起了一個童話濾鏡,有點二世谷秋天的氣息,樹木染上了不同深淺的紅黃色、空氣中有成熟果實的氣味,富士蘋果版呈現的是一個飽滿圓潤,比較內斂比較收的香氣

Prickly shiny pine from a land far away or in your backyard depending on location. Delicate berry sweetness not necessarily apple to my nose but in between fresh and syrup. Definitely want to see how this smells in the air around me during these upcoming colder months.

This Perfume is very smooth and well blended with very high quality materials (Especially for the price) it evokes an image of a steamy spa in the middle of an apple tree forest in japan with lots of essential oils. Its very dry woody with a slightly juicy apple.

At first, didn't like it (was a blind buy). And was lasting like 3 hours. After staying on the shelf for like 5 months, now I'm obsessed with the smell. This shine on a very hot weather. (at least for me)

I liked this fragrance. I wasn't sure I did at first, but over the course of the day I sampled it it definitely grew on me. It's spicy, but not in the heavy, traditional sense. I think those profiles are more typically things like cinnamon, pepper, cloves. Instead, the myrrh and olibanum create more of a dark, mid-depth current carrying the half-sweet, half-tart apple. It's like a black river where you can see the stones of the riverbank through clear water from above. Sometimes the apple bobs to the surface and you get pointed reminders it's there, like flashes of acid green in dark waters, and other times you yourself are submerged in the meditative darkness of the river's incense. While this scent is clearly making me wax poetic, I remain unconvinced it is not better off as a room scent. It reminds me a little of walking into a candle store where the scents are all jumbled into something big and arresting, but in a nice way. Sort of like spicy and fruity candles that aren't an intentional combination, but end up smelling rather nice together anyway. The other reviews about nice performance and longevity for this fragrance continue to convince me that my skin just eats scents, as I felt the need to dab more on every couple of hours. My sample is a vial with a swizzle stick rather than an atomizer, which might make a difference here. Overall, a scent I strongly like. I will happily use up my sample, but not FBW for me. Maybe a travel size if I've got money burning a hole in my pocket. 8/10.

This and Macaque Yuzu Edition apparently share many notes, but to my nose besides a hinoki wood centre they’re very different and I wouldn’t have bat an eye if they were just released as different animals entirely. Where the Yuzu edition is bright citrus, then increasingly incensey in the drydown, the Fuji Apple edition is more of an apple-civet-woods composition. There’s a lot of that rich, high-quality synthetic animalic base familiar from other Zoologists like Camel or Civet, mixed with a slightly shampoo-y apple note. This is how I wish Cow had turned out, as the clean fruity shampoo quality is dirtied-up, made warm and intriguing and a little bit dangerous here (vs being too clean and inert in Cow). A great one from the brand, hopefully to be widely available before long.

Feels very classic and isn’t challenging or weird like other Zoologists, but has an addictively spicy and aromatic wood that truly feels like a lush green forest in the mountains. The apple is subtle and not quite as sweet or tart and more blends with the spicy, piney frankincense and myrrh. Very quickly softens and loses the spicy apple and leans into more of a clean wood and moss wish it wasn’t as softly projecting I have had a tough time truly being able to enjoy this without sniffing my wrist constantly but may seem that might just be a thing for me idk, regardless this is a super nice unique take on an otherwise unseemly style to me it’s like an eastern Japanese gentleman fougere, not at all my favorite from the brand but a strong offering nonetheless.

Has a very herbal opening with a tart fuji apple and fresh juniper berries. As it develops you get a very strong ambery accord with very prominent hinoki woods. It’s resinous, and warm, but still very fresh and green. This feels like the contrast of a vibrant monkey swinging through the trees, the fruit it just ripped from above the tree branches in one hand, the fresh leaves grazing its fur as it swings past. The dry down is a mossy and creamy sandalwood with more herbal accords. The monkey has come down from the trees now, sweetly relaxed as a warm breeze passes through the jungle. There’s still mild remnants of apple and strong hinoki even in the dry down. This one is nice, it’s a homely scent even, comforting and enjoyable.

There's something in this that smells *exactly* like the deodorant my dad used to wear. As a kid, I loved nothing more than sniffing my parents' expensive body products. My dad is no longer here, so Macaque makes me feel connected to him. Probably not FBW bc it's quite masculine-leaning, but I imagine keeping a tester around to remind me of my dad. Macaque embodies a lush, green Amazonian forest with various wood accords and a subtle touch of smokiness from the myrrh. It has depth and richness, but it's not heavy. The apple, sandalwood, and olibanum lighten things up. It reads as a nighttime spring fragrance—mysterious, aromatic, and fresh.

On my skin, Macaque is a fruity, tart, incense fragrance. I get notes of red apples at the top, hinoki at the heart and incense at the base. Upon dry down, once the apple note has dissipated, youre left with a slightly sour woody scent. In the beginning it reminded me of one of CDG’s Incense Kyoto, and upon dry down it reminded me again of CDG’s Monocole Hinoki, and 6hours in, it transforms into CDG’s Ganja, fascinating... Scent: 8 Longevity: 10 hrs Projection: 7 Versatility: 7 Originality: 8 Wearability: 10 Overall: 8 Rec Sprays: 6

Wow this scent really does make me feel like I’m in a temple in the mountains surrounded by apple trees. The apple smell stands out at the beginning but as it dries down it turns more into an incense smell with myrrh taking the center stage. The sandalwood and juniper berry are there as support but ultimately it mixes into a woodsy myrrh centered scent. The apple seems to get lost farther into the development of the scent to me. It’s beautiful for what it is but I wouldn’t get this expecting apple to be on the forefront.

First off, I'd like to say this smells great and I think it's a wonderful scent. However, where's the apple??? Cow smelled more like apples than the perfume that actually has apples in the name, which doesn't make sense to me, but I digress. To my nose this smells primarily of Juniper and Hinoki, it's a very fresh and woody scent with a hint of sweetness from the apple that sets it apart from other masculine woody scents. Overall, this isn't what I was expecting, but definitely something I'd like to smell on my husband.

Very well blended. The apple stands out, but so does the aromatic juniper. The frankincense is there but not too sharp, maybe the myrrh is blunting it. There's something green that sticks out too, i'm guessing the hinoki wood. Overall this is green, piney, woodsy, fresh, aromatic, and a touch fruity from the apple. This seems fairly unisex to me, leaning ever so slightly masculine. Don't know if i'd get a bottle but this certainly seems like one of the less challenging fragrances from this house.

Expensive, masculine, one of those perfumes I want more as a candle. The apple isn't as strong as the wood and doesn't travel as far. If I hadn't accidentally spilled my entire sample vial down my arm, I would apply this again to the neck and see if I smell more fruit. On the wrist, it took me a while to smell anything but wood, or maybe that's my fault for spilling it all in one go. My b.

Loving my sample of Macaque Fuji Apple. It starts very green with a touch of fruit. Very crisp. It dries down to something reminiscent of a cedar trunk. Woody, sharp, with a heavy resin body in the best way. The sandal wood really comes through. Very fresh and clean. My boyfriend told me I smell like a sexy muskrat. I don't understand what that means but he says its a good thing.

I expected this to be similar to Y EDP since it shares most of the notes but it is not at all. The apple and juniper is present in both but this is much more aromatic with an emphasis on woods and little sweetness past the opening. It is a pretty straightforward scent with a pleasant, fruity and slightly synthetic opening which becomes more resinous and earthy in the drydown.

Sadly, there's pretty much nothing here that smells like apples. I think it smells quite nice anyhow, I'd buy this for my boyfriend if he wore cologne. But it doesn't suit me because it's far more masculine than I expected. I bought a sample of this along with some other Zoologist perfumes, so I didn't really know what to expect.

I love forest hinoki scents, this one however smells more like a nice room candle than a perfume. The apple is pretty artificial smelling and it reminds me of a candle or wall plugin scent. It’s still very nice but I wouldn’t say it’s $175 worth. Yuzu edition is a bit better than this one, it doesn’t smell as artificial.

Very nice but if you own Yuzu edition this is redundant imho as they open a little different but are basically the same after 10 minutes. If I had to pick one or the other I'd probably go for the Yuzu edition, I like that bright citrus water opening wheras the apple while nice is quickly lost against the olibanum.

Opens with aromatic hinoki along with juniper that is fresh and green but also resinous because of the myrrh/olibanum in the background Apple is sweetening and brightening the fragrance, giving it fresh atributes Despite that i still prefer the yuzu version (i love the tangy slightly bitter juiciness of it)

The description of this perfume just matches the name. I could totally imagine seeing a macaque among the trees and exactly smelling like this. However i could not detect the apple. Very green aromatic scent with myrrh and just a bit animalic. Very unique and special scent, but not for everyday wear.

Green, aromatic, not sweet at all. After wearing for an hour, it settles into a thin smoke that wears right against the skin. I like it a lot, it seems a tad generic but it's great for spring and summer in the heat.

Refreshing. Lasts a long time. Small projection. Fresh, aromatic. Crisp green apple up front then solid woodsy base. Enjoyable clean scent.

A macaque swings through the trees, curious and jovial. There are no growls or screams to ward off predators, intruders from other communities, or threats so far as it can tell. It sees something hanging in a tree a short distance away, swings to it, and pulls what it recognizes as juicy, nutritious, and sweet food from the branch – an apple. Curiosity and joviality have led to happiness, and the fulfillment of a biological mandate. The apple is perfectly ripe. There is a bit of sour piquancy and bitterness to the skin, and the flesh is perfectly sweet – not underripe or overripe, firm, juicy, and starchy. Ahh, satisfaction. Then... frankincense wafts into the canopy of the tree.... What? Macaque Fuji Apple is a fruity olibanum perfume. Not a fruity animalic, which would make sense, or even a fruity chypre, which would also make sense. I don’t understand this perfume. The apple accord is very nice; it’s one of the more pleasing apple accords I’ve smelled due to its realism and not going overboard with sugary fruity sweetness. The olibanum accord is also quite good for similar reasons of balance between the different facets. But that’s really about all I can say. I do not see the inspiration or the creative brief in this perfume. Yes, there are people in a temple supposedly looking upon this macaque enjoying it’s snack, but completely shifting the subject from the macaque to the faithful creates this feeling I can only describe as taking two short stories and stapling them together at the spine. The technical link between the materials is sound, and the perfume overall is well blended in holding the fruit and incense notes throughout its life... but it feels incomplete and incongruous, empty and too simplistic, and, generally speaking, boring. This falls into the bucket that many Zoologist offerings land in: not bad, not great, rather falling just on the correct side of good, but on the wrong side of the line of boring. I don’t get it, but maybe I’m just a simple monkey.

I mostly just smell dry woodiness in the top note, maybe sandalwood? It reminds me of the through note in all the Le Labo perfumes, which I think is sandalwood - but not all sandalwood smells this way. There’s maybe a little apple when I first sprayed it, with hints of it every now and then afterward, like the perfume thought about an apple. But there’s no sweetness at all, which is surprising for an apple scent. There’s occasionally some fresh leaf smell, like when you break a stem gardening. Aromatic. The woody scent dies down quickly then revives again in the dry down until eventually there’s nothing left but that. Verdict: if this had a sweet note I’d be more interested. It’s a bit too dry and woody & green on its own. Might work layered with something sweet. I think this would be really nice as a room scent, but not on me as a perfume. I don’t think scents can have gender, but this one is definitely more stereotypically masculine because it’s so dry and woody.

This is a pleasant scent if you enjoy your green aromatic woody scents. To me, the apple is very mild, and the juniper/hinoki are the leading players. Unfortunately, this reminded me of the Fabuloso cleaner upon first smell, and I don't want to smell like it. A previous review calling this a perfect candle scent is spot on. This would be wonderful —slightly masculine, fresh, woody scent - perfect for a home. Maybe on the skin (and on a man, IMO) it would smell better.

This has a very nostalgic "Christmas" smell to me- like a Christmas wreath that's been in storage or an ornament collection that's been stored in a cedar chest. I immediately pictured those little bubble-light figurines at my Grandmother's house. Very odd, but in a comforting and relaxing way. Definitely feel masculine to me, but I like it.

Adventurous, natural, herbal, intense... It definitely smells like a monkey enclosure at a zoo, very "jungle floor" vibe if that's what you're looking for. It's not a bad scent, I just personally don't prefer it. I was hoping for more apple but it's a very, very small note. It'd match someone with more of an "explorer" type of personality

An ok fragrance. Crisp apple added to an uninspired fragrance. Very little Zoologist. More of a forgettable designer. I literally forgot anything else worth mentioning about it. Personal score: 5/10. Smells fine. But it's boring. Projection and longevity isaverage at best. I can't give it anything more then a 5/10.

I think this scent matches perfectly what I imagine the habitat of of macaques to be like in Japan. Sophisticated, airy, woody. Not too strong! For me this appears more masculine or masculine leaning unisex scent. I would not use it personally but would love to be around someone smelling like this.

opening reminded me of a apple cinnamom floor cleaner, fruity, spicy and soapy....linear scent even in the drydown, you still smell apple and cinnamon. not a groundbreaking scent , also not mass appealing. only people who likes apple cinnamom may enjoy this

Don't get distracted by the apple, this is very woodsy in a Tam Dao kind of way. Whilst I know it's not in the notes, I also get incense. For me it's interesting and I was happy to try it, but not full bottle worthy.

Very heavy olibanum opening, almost rubbery in its quality. Quickly dries down into a simple sweet apple smell mixed with resin. Reminds me of I am Trash by ELDO. I find the Yuzu edition more interesting.

This leans a bit too masculine for my taste. I'm very much into sweet fragrances. It feels a bit fougere-y to me. Not bad, just not apple-y enough to be feminine and to my liking.

Big fan of Zoologist as a house, but this fragrance didn't hit for me. The apple accord here reminded me too much of febreeze.

Quite spicy and sharp, with a bit of a cooling factor in those aromatic accords. Seems like a traditional Homme, nothing to write how about, but it is quite smooth. Has a very musky dry down that tumbles towards tangy. As a fan of resins and labdanum in many scents, this pulls towards the more burly on me. Like a hairy man fresh from a steam bath among stones. And in the dewy / sticky summer in the city I'm dealing with now, it amplifies the smell of sweat on me cause of the initial musk.

As I wrote in my review of Cow, although Macaque Fuji Apple has been compared to Cow, these fragrances have nothing to do with one another. Macaque Fuji Apple has apple in its top notes for a few seconds only. It's mainly a woody, spicy, and herbal scent. It unfortunately turns acrid on me and I don't get the creaminess of the sandalwood nor the roundness of olibanum I usually really enjoy. I wouldn't purchase it.

I really want to like this. This is one of those fragrances were I can't tell if I hate it or kinda like it. And I think I am leaning towards hate it. All of the notes are right up my alley and it actually does smell like these notes, but when they are put together for some reason it smells off. Like a super sharp citrus fruit that went bad mixed with sper strong cleaner.

Oh, maybe it’s time to slow down a little and take the time to really think. This scent a sign that Zoologist is losing its track. It’s boring, two-dimensional and utterly generic. While I’m not a fan of every Zoologist fragrance, I can still see the beauty in them. Penguin might not be my cup of tea, but I can see the vision. This one on the other hand, I see nothing.

I must be the odd one out - I do not smell any apple in this at all. It is very, very woody and spicy. Like another reviewer said it reminds me of my grandfather’s deodorant and after shave. Not quite Old Spice, but I definitely relate it to Head & Shoulders.

smells very masculine and medicinal, sadly not for moi. good strength and longevity though! overall rating: 🩷💔🖤🖤🖤 1.5/5

All the Macaques have a bit of the BK Rouge DNA, which is something I'm not into at all. I just dislike that whole family of scent. The apple is juicy, but, alas, the BK Rouge monkey musk is not for me. It rather confuses me that this is the "Japanese" one. I feel like Moth or Cow feel more "Japanese," whatever that means, than any of the Macaques. Such a missed opportunity to try some more interesting Japanese scents, or draw in the Japanese audience. I feel like from what I've gathered (from family and friends), that Japanese people prefer "Freshies." Really could have used a nice musky matcha perfume or something interesting market-wise. Evidence this house needs to slow down and refine.