Panda Edition 2017

I like the opening of Panda. On me it's a modern fruity-floral that's complex and well-blended. The apple is there but doesn't dominate, it mixes well with the florals. The ozone/water seems to bring out the ripeness of the fruit and the more heady qualities of the florals. As the opening progresses, there's a hint of something underneath that starts out almost spicy, but then evolves into an animalic/earthy edge. As Panda progresses the excellent amber heartnotes begin to emerge, and I get a slight soapiness. There's something familiar about this amber accord, perhaps I've encountered it in a Guerlain? I enjoy the progression of this fragrance, it gives me plenty to think about. After a few hours I start getting a mossy edge to this, and my favorite point in this perfume is when the amber fades and the oakmoss comes forward so there's a balance of the two. I agree with the reviewer who said this is more a chypre than an oriental, a modern, fruity-floral chypre without the powdery notes that often make chypres seem so vintage. Eventually the moss is what lingers through to the next day. Something about my skin amplifies oakmoss, and here I find it addictive. I spritz Panda before bed just so I can wake up to a mossy dreamland. The base accords of this perfume are among the most enjoyable in my collection. I got the full set of Zoologist samples, and Victor included a handwritten note plus a bonus sample of the newest release, the lovely tuberose-marine Seahorse. The set worked well for me - some of the options that I thought were going to be great didn't work at all, and others that I never would have gravitated to have become favorites. My favorites in the line are Panda and Sloth. Both are wearable yet unique, modern and truly evocative of the story that goes with them. Honorable mentions go to Beaver (leather jacket left at the Lake House), Bat (dark and fruity), Rhinoceros (gorgeous room-filling tobacco), and Nightingale (delicate Japanese chypre).

My Spring 2024 mainstay for sure. I'm revisiting most Zoologist perfumes because over 3 years, my nose has involved after exploring, collecting and wearing so many perfumes. I remember Panda being one of the ones I liked back then but it was that, a "like", not love. Fast-forward 3 years, this is fantastic. Bright, green, floral and uplifting. Perfect for Spring and I'm sure it'll do great in cooler Summer days and the first warmer days of Fall. Surprising, this has a lot of staying power. I get a good 4-5 hours where I catch frequent whiffs of it when I move and then it sticks closer to skin a good 8+ hours. I've seen some describe this as "wet", I can kind of understand that. I'd say Panda isn't so "wet" to me (Dragonfly is, and Bat too but for different reasons). Panda is rather very green. The tea note is very present here. The opening is very fresh and while there's the sweetness of apple here that might remind of YSL Y, the tea and flowers give it a fizzy brightness that might be a bit off-putting to some guys. I personally love that about it. The tea and magnolia is beautiful. The tea note sticks around and turns greener with bamboo as it dries down. Towards the end, it gets slightly smoky and woodier but although civet is listed in the notes, it never sticks out and plays more of a support role here. I'm very fond of this one. You won't offend many people with this, it's very clean and fresh. There's a minority of people (including my own mother, haha) that might get fixed on the earthy side and find it "weird" and "black soil"-like (to paraphrase her) but in general, people tend to enjoy this one around me.

It’s so much harder to do a review of a perfume I love than ones I’m either meh about or dislike because I’m challenged to actually pick apart why I love it. Usually I just put it in because I know I love it and rock it on a day where I don’t want to think about what I’m wearing. So I love Panda (new formulation - found the old one less complex with lots of bamboo and more green). I’m wearing it today on the first day of spring when the weather actually feels like spring. Immediate it is green, with some white flowers peaking in and a creamy animalic base. It’s super well blended so I have to go in eyes closed for another sniff to get the resinous tree sap and wet earth that’s reminiscent of Bat from this house. To me it’s fresh without having any citrus or aquatic notes in it, which is how most fresh perfumes achieve that. The freshness might come from the apple and tea, but I can’t pick up those notes on their own. This lasts all day on me! It’s an extrait de parfum which is the more concentrated than eau de parfum. Even strong rose/Oud perfumes often disappear on me so I appreciate a fresh scent that I don’t have to reapply. It’s by far my favourite Zoologist because not only is it interesting, but it’s actually very wearable. I don’t recommend perfumes in my reviews because it’s such a personal item and your skin chemistry makes a huge difference. So while I love this, it doesn’t mean you will too, but I can’t resist saying if you want a fresh green earthy perfume with a zing, pick up a tester!

If you want to get a feel of what this smells like at a fraction of the price, try Zara's Cool Heighs, since they both share that strong intensive apple note in their composition, that stays throughout their longevity. However, this one right here uses that accord to its most elegant capabilities, giving you a comforting sweet smell, without being nauseating at all, something which Zara's one could end up being. Sillage in this is pretty good, and I can still smell this on me a couple of hours with no effort from my side. It is more feminine than masculine, and a perfect blend of sweet and green. Overall performance is fantastic (+8 hours). For some reason I did not like it that much at first, and the reason may be that I smelled a lot of Zoologist perfumes at once and did not really leave room for this to stand out on his own, but I'm glad I did, since this is just magnificent. It's one of the few Zoologist perfumes, maybe along with Macaque, that doesn't have a strong resemblance to the chosen animal. This is the last thing I picture when I think of how panda's habitat may smell like. To me this smells like the wardrobe of a really famous celebrity from the 50s. 7/10.

I liked the original Panda, but this reformulation is also brilliant. This may well be the most tenacious scent that I have ever worn: I sprayed this on at 8:30am and, 15 hours later, it’s still there - faint, but noticeable. I don’t know why Panda is classified as ‘Oriental Floral’ because, to my nose, it’s predominantly green-musky. It’s completely unisex: the opening still contains that earthy-civet scent that smelled like panda’s poop in the original version, but it quickly subsides and the rest of the exposition is dominated by the sour green apple (fortunately it smells nothing like DKNY!) This is followed by an interplay of green, woody and fruity notes: aside from apple, soil and civet I can also smell dirty patchouli, something leafy, some powdery florals, mostly osmanthus, with a fresh-ozonic overlay. If you love this type of green-musky unisex fragrances, do invest in this beauty, because it is incredibly long lasting and leaves a beautiful trail.