Rhinoceros

This stuff is heavy duty. Of the three Zoologist perfumes, this is the one thats the most immediately exciting and complex. Not as accessible as Panda, but not as uncompromising as Beaver. Rhino's opening is profound. Strong naturalistic rummy booziness, powerful astringent leather, warm tobacco, some mildly sweet floral elements, an almost barnyardy oud and a heavy brooding darkness provided by a whole melange of detectable woody notes. The animalic leather/oud combo is so thick and aggressive that it initially almost borders on fecal but never goes all the way into unpleasant territory. The most exciting aspect of rhino for me is how It's somehow everything at once. It's boozy, sweet, bitter, woody, floral, balsamic, but it's not jumbled or over ambitious. It's masculine in a playful, whimsical way. There is a lightheartedness to the composition and brand that make it much more interesting than the yawn inducing "austerity" of other masculine-marketed niche offerings in a similar vein. The dry down is less arresting, but still quite unique. I pick up a whole bunch of immortelle, providing a slightly uric mapled sweetness underneath the opening's musty oud that kind of gives this an old dusty library vibe. The booziness fades away revealing a sandalwood/cedar combo that provides something more accessible to grasp on to underneath. The leather dries down in a very peculiar manner; normally in heavy leather fragrances the opening has a super powered realistic facsimile that eventually dries down into something more pleasant and powdered (see: tuscan leather, cuir ottoman, monotheme, ADG Leather), but in Rhinoceros, it seems that the leather looses all of it's pleasant facets and embraces the most bitter and challenging side of leather in the drydown. For me, the whole composition hits a certain sweet spot between pleasant and challenging that makes it exciting. Definitely worth a sniff, probably the strongest from the brand. 8/10

I recently got a sample of Rhino and couldn't help but buy a full bottle (which I have now, and man the presentation/bottle are gorgeous). Rhino comes across like it is going to be overbearingly strong, yet it somehow feels light and clean at the same time and never gets cloying (almost has a soapy/fresh vibe at times... which is really awesome). I get mostly a dry/well worn leather out of this with a nice dose of gunpowder smoke, could easily be the smell of a leather gun holster from the wild West that has seen lots of use and has absorbed that gunpowder smoke smell from the gun as it rests in the holster after being fired. Of the insane amount of expensive fragrances I have smelled via samples or purchasing, this one is totally unique (one of the big reasons I bought it... nothing else out there smells quite like it that I have found). This is an awesome cold-weather fragrance, but It could perhaps work well in warmer days too, which is almost unheard of for most of the other classic uber masculine smelling scents on the market. And make no mistake, this is as masculine as it gets. Nasomatto Duro and this fragrance are in the same category as the most masculine fragrances you probably will ever smell (note, both are VERY different smelling, but have a similar ultra-masculine vibe). But perhaps the biggest redeeming quality about this fragrance, is that it isn't a sweet-bomb like pretty much every other leather fragrance in existence (especially ones nowadays). There is very little sweet going on here, this is almost as dry as it gets. But it still has a tiny tiny pinch of sweetness to keep it from going bitter (which could be from the tobacco influence). Sample and/or buy this while you can if what I have said above appeals to you at all. And even if it doesn't try it anyway, you might be surprised. I know I was.

Rhinos are dangerous. Short-sighted, bad-tempered, and often lethally aggressive. It makes sense to be afraid of them. At least until you have seen a baby one, gambolling about, having fun, playing naughty and seeming, for all the world, like nothing more threatening than a slightly more leathery and overgrown piglet. Then they're cute and almost gentle (for something that makes the earth shake a bit when it capers.) And so is this. The opening is indeed bold and big and butch, with leather and oud and rum, which I was expecting from this one's big-beast reputation. I love so-called 'manly' leather scents with notes of booze and wood anyway, so was ready to handle any amount of heavy-duty, hard-charging, thundering weight of these ingredients. But Rhinoceros the scent is so much lighter than that - yes the sillage is big and the longevity very good indeed, but it's not at all the huge macho juggernaut monster I was braced for. Instead, after about an hour, it's ... a FLOWERY rhino! A friendly, gentle and petite one, bedecked with garlands of blooms (I really did get very intense, natural geraniums) ... and softened even further with lavender. And I'm normally a lavender-loather, but here it works just fine. Overall the effect is harmonious, not overwhelming, and its strength just adds to a sense of calm and centred-ness, not the sort of thing that clears room or trumpets its arrival. I'd certainly call it unisex and far far more manageable than its reputation or some reviews here would suggest. So: you think it's going to be a terrifying trampler, but instead this is a cuddly, well-mannered, affectionate little beast. I want to hug it and love it and give it carrots. Another beautiful thing from Zoologist, and one I'll be more than happy to share a cage with.

This is the first powerful wood perfume I've enjoyed wearing. The wood is combined with geranium to create the illusion of a really vivid, bitter leather. This 'leather' has the quality of an illusion in that it shifts in and out of focus for me—sometimes all I smell is the wood, sometimes the leather. Oud + geranium = leather—who would of thought? Maybe it's this shifting quality makes it seem natural and supernatural at the same time—the rhinoceros as a real animal but also a magical, impossible beast. As if you were to just stumble into a clearing in the woods, and there it is—this enormous, powerful, dark, still, impossible thing. (Rhinoceroses are savannah animals, but this one lurks in the pine forest somewhere in Canada. Creepy.) Something warm and sweet—I assume it's the immortelle—enriches the leather effect, and this warmness and sweetness intensifies as Rhinoceros dries down. At the end, the bitter wood is mostly gone, and you are left with just this spicy warm deliciousness. Rum, if you like. In the opening: yes! -- it smells just like the fertilizer section of a feed store—specifically like the rock phosphate component of organic fertilizer. Smelling like a feed store is manly, but also womanly—lots of women are into gardening. It's very distinctive and evocative, and I like it. Either way, its an outdoorsy perfume, both because it smells like pine and gardening and leather, and because it is so big. Not office friendly, I would say, though I don't know how far it carries. I'd sure like to own some of this. Maybe a small portion, as a little goes a long way. More of a special occasion perfume, than everyday. It's perfect for late fall or winter.

I Am Done with people stating that Zoologist perfumes are unwearable - Baloney! They are opinionated, interesting, statements. Some incorporate notes I don’t love and they - like Francesca Bianchi and Dawn Spencer Hurwitz - have convinced me to understand, even enjoy and wear those notes. Zoologist has not released a bad fragrance yet. I can’t wear all of them due to quirks of my own skin and preferences. But - as also with Dawn and Francesca Bianchi - I’m delighted to try every one of them, and they always fascinate and impress me. This first iteration of Rhinoceros is gorgeous. I’m cranky it went away and resistant to trying the new one but, no doubt, that too will be lovely. Another point I’d like to make; yes there are unusual and animalic notes and no, I’ve never yet found a Zoologist fragrance I’d call gross. Not one. Rhinoceros the First? A gorgeous, subtle leather. It’s a teensy bit in the Bvlgari Black court, but more the mod leather of Mark Buxton and Tom Ford. Realistic, a leather (not vinyl but LEATHER) jacket. It is simultaneously dry (in that the leather is a dry, but not bitter version) with glorious bergamot/geranium floral touches and a waft of incense. But it’s also sweet in that it nests in amber, rum, dried fruit. This is really beautiful, exquisite quality (as always with Zoologist), and lasts forever, but with a soft waft, not blasting - unless you overspray. Please don’t overspray. Gestalt? The beautiful, classic leather of Gomma (Etro), Cuir D’Oranger (Miller Harris) but lifted to more of a top note and slightly sweetened. Glorious.