Macaque

So I spent the day wearing Macaque then logged onto fragrantica and was surprised to see the relatively low rating of 3.57. Decided to read the reviews and they are all over the place; some say it’s the most wearable Zoologist, others say not. Some people pick up on banana notes, others can’t smell the green apple; some think this is a weird scent and so on. And I’m in partial agreement: Macaque is weird, but it’s also incredibly intriguing. First and foremost this is a green scent sitting on a bed of fruit. A lot of overripe fruit. This fruit compote is not juicy or sweet as it’s been sitting on the jungle floor for too long and is starting to ferment. There’s a dusty, almost powdery quality to Macaque which points toward synthetics but still oddly appealing. It’s as if all the fruit — green apple, banana, passion fruit and others have melded in flavor, combining to make one boozy cocktail. Surrounding this fruity drink is a lot of rainforest moss, grass, and swamp land. After my walk through the jungle I end up drinking an exotic blend of hot tea. I can smell the wood of the hut I’m sitting in. Maybe someone has just sprayed bug spray but I can also smell food cooking. None of this is meant to be a negative, I’m simply in awe. There’s an otherworldly quality to this blend, here the perfumer has achieved my highest praise. Conceptually Macaque is a home run. The challenging part would be finding an occasion to wear this unique fragrance.

If you love galbanum, and you like perfumes such as Chanel N.19 or even Bas de Soie, Macaque is an absolute must-try! The combo of the crisp, sour, Granny-Smith apple with a sharp, fragrant galbanum is superb. This was love at first sniff for me. It is a massive green perfume that is extremely fresh and vibrant. As the perfume dries down, I get a hefty dose of green tea and a nice bit of mossiness that really rounds the fragrance out. In the base I get something vanilla-like, and it brings just the slightest hint of creaminess. I don't know if white oud is a naturally occuring thing, or if it's a synthetic accord, but maybe that's what I detect. This is such a beautiful and super-unique take on galbanum. I never would have thought to pair the plant with fruit. Despite the artistic take on it, it smells surprisingly classy. Lasted a solid 12 hours on me. High on my Want list (Update: bought it). It's such an uplifting scent--like monkeys swinging from vines!

Oh this is lovely. Weird, but lovely. Extremely juicy, almost sour fruit in the opening. My right eye went all crazy with the juiciness as i was sniffing this. The apple is almost as the one in Panda, but more sour and blended more green and less sweet (even though Panda itself is far from sweet). The galbanum is indeed the star, there’s a herbal bitterness here, but it’s also blended to create a lovely composition, albeit slightly synthetic to my nose. BUT the synthetic vibe is so strange, because its a result not of synthetic elements, but of “natural” elements amped up so much, that they become synthetic...if that makes sense. Another thing: something in this reminds me of Anais Anais. Less floral and less “stinky” Anais.

This is for the original macaque. Really wonderful green and tea scent without being generic. Opened with a bit of citrus which leads to the main note of tea with some fruity element, all on some woody base which will become more prominent towards the dry down. I dont find this fragrance to be too green either. Its really comforting, fresh peaceful and zen, just like the monkey dressing in japanese style robe. Very likeable from the house. Above average performance and well blended just as you would expect from a zoologist fragrance. For me its definitely one of the best from the house of zoologist along with the chameleon. Sad it has been discontinued but really happy that i was able to get the full bottle.

@scain54 "...behind closed doors, though...kinky'...I can't help but wonder what makes it so awesome to make someone feel that way. That comment alone is enough reason to want to try it. I tried samples of all their releases from 2015. I hate so say it but my nose just couldn't handle it. I'll chuck it up to me not being as sophisticated as I thought. Perhaps my nose needs to learn how to appreciate and love these fragrances. I'm fascinated by the note breakdown on Macaque, even if not by the name of the fragrance. Still, scain54 could well have uttered the best line to describe any fragrance and what they do to us, or perhaps what they make us wanna' do. Cheers, world!

A delicious sour green opener, closely followed by woods (especially cedar), honey, black tea and light musk. Although the only animal-related note listed is musk, the combined notes certainly have the effect of something more raw. Macaque becomes more complex with a little time and the initial sourness no longer dominates. I think of this as a more serene, civilized, version of the phenomenal Hyrax. Sexy, but not as dirty! Beautiful at night, but you can wear it in daytime and in the office if you go easy on the sprays. Macque probably won't take over a room...it's more intimate than that. Moderate longevity and sillage. Highly recommended!

Piercingly fresh green. My second fragrance from this house and damn, these guys are heading towards becoming one of my favorites. This is a green fragrance but not in the style of the 70s/ 80s powerhouses but with a translucent, modern take. Which is interesting as sweet fruit is one of the predominant notes. Here it blends harmoniously with the woody, incense-like cedar and cool, green galbanum in an almost dry composition. If it was any less masterfully done, it would be one of those boring, anemic "aquatic" fragrances that are the rage now. Zoologist manages to make it both beautiful and unique. Fresh modern.

I ordered a sample vial of this for my husband and ended up stealing it! My husband immediately said he smelled "wet jungle, or like rolling around in the grass of an arboretum," and I completely agree. It eventually settles into an extremely green scent that is completely wearable. It is easily unisex but both my husband and I agreed it faired better on me than on him. Out of the four samples I ordered from Zoologist, this is the only one that immediately made me want to rush out and buy a full bottle. By the way, if you live in an extremely hot and humid area like I do, this is perfect to wear outdoors.

Macaque to me smells like a sweet and sour apple and jasmine tea, the tea resembles panda, but because it is used to intensify the apple it is a bit sour (fruity sour mind you). Macaque, Panda and Elephant give me the same vibe, green, uplifting, good weather in a tropical forest. Though I'm not sure the association of Macaque and the scent, it's a beautiful and unique scent. Zoologist perfumes on my skin have more or less the same performance, the longevity is great with moderate silage, Macaque is no exception.

From the first spray, even before the fragrance landed on my skin, I thought wow, this is absolutely amazing! Never thought I would love a green fragrance as much as I do with this one. It feels like I'm surrounded by many tea trees on a very hot summer day. This is the fourth Zoologist fragrance I have tried, and it is already at the top with Beaver. Both very fresh, clean and very wearable. This one is a must try.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to try this perfume before it was officially launched. Galbanum is one of my favorites notes, but unfortunately overlooked nowadays. Sarah McCartney intertwines it with a beautiful, translucent oud with a top of fresh and luminous notes and a blanket of cozy woods and musks. Excellent projection. Bravo!

Macaque is a blast of green smelling materials: galbanum, apple, green tea framed with crisp white floral nuance (jasmine and ylang-ylang) on top of dry woods (moss and white oud). As with most Zoologist's experiments it's about the environment of that creature. So think sappy lianas and jungle.

Testing from a dab sample vial...fresh, green, lovely. Shares nothing in common with the women's scents popular in the mall these days. I couldn't label this from any particular era. It smells good in the way that I find most men's scents do...uplifting and clean.

made me nut on my little brother when he wore it

I bought the complete sampler pack. I figured I would start "light" and work my way up to the heavier ones. Despite my attempts to start off gentle, this perfume was surprisingly bold. Not all bold perfumes are laced with oud, vanilla, and leather. With the first spray I get heaps of hay, like a barn yard or that smell when you are at the zoo and you get close to an animals cage. Kind of funky. If you would ave told me there are some aldehydes in this, I would have believed you. The beginning projects very sharp, slightly metallic and dry. Slowly that subdues. Bright due to the green apple that never goes away. I dont see white pepper listed as a note, but I smell something sharp and spicy that develops eventually. As this starts to calm down and enters the long middle, It becomes very woodsy, light blonde woods of I get lots cedar and dusty jasmine tea. A hint of incense(frankincense?).Towards the end, Whisper soft florals, but never flowery. Sometimes I think I smell osmanthus at the end, must be from the jasmine tea. Intense projection and longevity. Overall: Dry, green, apple, tea, woodsy(cedar), hay&straw Reminds me of Bvlgari Au Vert, one of my favorite green and dry fragrances. Also reminds me of Chanel 19, which I do not like at all, but strangely I like Macque. There is no powder and posh to this, which I love. This has more of a jungle yoga retreat type of vibe. A very dry and green fragrance. Refreshing and bright and a bit of funky. It really does remind me of jungle treetops in the morning. I also think of green tea in the cool morning. I totally would wear this; I would like this even better as a home fragrance, as it projects the exact vibe I want in my home. Peaceful, zen, bright, clean, refreshing, and a little exotic.

I have had my sample for over three years now; and I truly disliked it at first. I put it away, along with about 7 other Zoologists samples, wrapped back up in the pack they came in, in a box in my closet- forgotten. Came across them today while searching for something else-opening the pack, I randomly selected one to wear today, just a grab one and deal with whatever it was -and it was “Macaque”, as in general I don’t care for Zoologists line- they are just “unusual” for me. I remember TRex and how revolting it found it to be. Back to Macaque- now I also remember disliking this one, but I thought, what the heck, I’ll wear it today, drain the sample vial and toss it. I sprayed it liberally just to “waste it” and I was pleasantly surprised! I liked it! First,.. a whiff of alcoholic-fleeting - a few seconds at most, then,..a very nice, strong green apple, yeah, strong on my skin , then over 30-40 minutes settling into a slightly sweet, green tea of sorts with just the ever so slightest whiff of something animalic. Yes, definitely animatic. Not revolting or off putting in the least. Macaque developed into a very wearable green, aromatic, clean light apple scent on my skin. I am actually surprised how this evolved hidden away in a forgotten box. I guess that’s the maceration over those years. Anyway,..Probably won’t buy another sample, let alone a full bottle of this guy, but I’ll wear the last 1/3 of the sample and enjoy it. Definitely a daytime scent for Spring and Summer wearing! If you like the fresh apple 🍏 one’s, try it, but maybe let it settle for some time.

Macaque by Zoologist is definitely a much better fragrance than its current rating (3.41/5) would suggest. I would argue that it's one of the more wearable from the collection as there's not too much in it that could offend anyone. The opening is a very strong green apple-citrus mandarin burst that is fantastic (if you like green apples and mandarins). I hate Bat because of the banana so I can understand someone hating this because of the apple. The mandarin disappears quite rapidly (unfortunately, but not surprisingly), with woods taking over for a while after that. I can't smell Macaque on my skin after about 4 hours, which is really disappointing. I sprayed my shirt to see if it would help improve the longevity, but it did not seem to help at all. My girlfriend often comments that I smell nice and "musky" after work, sometimes up to 11-12 hours later. So I'm torn about the longevity issue! It's very fresh and vibrant and almost energising in its crispness. I currently only have a sample but I think I like the initial few hours enough to buy a full bottle one day in the future. For anyone interested, it layers really well with other fragrances (particularly woody based ones), which also seems to help it stick around a bit longer too.

This is a lovely GREEN perfume, somewhat "lily-like" without the sweetness; it provides a definite idea of galbanum. In the dry down, after the initial "crunch" of galbanum and apple, it settles down into more of a fruity light quality, but NOT mall-frag; it's just a light somewhat tropical skin scent (but please do not think coconuts etc.). It nicely blends the green elements with faint whiffs of fruit (ylang-ylang) and green tea as well as jasmine. The jasmine is more similar to jasmine tea, not indolic and heavy. I don't smell much citrus in it, or even much wood, although I get surprise whiffs as the hours pass of different scents than identified above. I think this is a very lovely scent but the silage and longevity are low--more the silage. I like amped up scents, and this settles quickly into a skin scent and becomes amorphous. For the price, I'd pick another perfume. But I love the Zoology brand overall.

This is a joy ride, and I've been wearing it and wearing it and I still feel my words are inadequate, my knowledge of notes lacking. It starts out with a sharp sour apple and what I can only guess is galbanum green. This party quickly settles down into what my inexperienced nose thought was pear or banana or some other soft, lightly scented fruit, but now I'm guessing is jasmine tea mixed with green tea. Frankinsence adds smoke to this, rosewood and cedar keep it grounded, a touch of ylang ylang adds a floral, and drop of honey adds a bit of sweetness. I feel so unworthy and unqualified to write about such a well crafted scent, a scent that shows you so many faces before it settles down to something so beautiful and refined that you will sleep peacefully with your wrist pressed to your nose.

First blast of cool spicy ylang-ylang and sharp sweet pineapple. Very lush tropical fruity and woody, like inhaling a ripe musky unidentifiable yellow fruit deep in the heart of a jungle. After a couple minutes, a deep green woody aromatic starts to warm on my skin. Looking through the notes and I think it's the palisander rosewood, something I have not yet encountered. It's mysterious and sweet, vaguely peppery, absolutely unique. Fascinating! I can also get the bitter moss right at the end of a deep sniff.. really hoping that hated note stays where it is. Unisex but leans feminine and best for cool weather. The sweetness could get cloying after a while. 6+ hours later: Very good performance. The scent stayed strong and linear on that mysterious woody fruity sweet scent.