Snowy Owl

Fresh cool dewy grass and a hint of expensive department store smell (at first). This scent is already a lot more wearable than many Zoologist perfumes, in fact I'd like to smell like this. The opening is a pretty grassy scent, and the sample says it has 'Snow Accord' in it, which I see Fragrantica says is 'Calone.' I don't think I particularly smell "snow" here, but I do imagine crisp winter air on a sunny day with the snow beginning to melt and shining. There is something there that also reminds me of the smell when you walk into a department store and there is this sort of fresh new leather-y smell around. I know there isn't any leather in here, but it's the closest I can think of how to describe this scent relating to a department store. I also feel like the mint and coconut are not in your face and just subtly give a hint of coolness and sweetness to this. I can smell it within 4" of my skin, but it's lighter. 10 minutes later and it's become a bit more 'earthy' green scented. It makes me think of winter turning into spring, with again some snow melting and some greenery starting to make its appearance finally. This may be the snowdrop. 20 minutes later and I feel like this smells more nature-y and I imagine the ground of woods mostly. Like others have mentioned, having the autumn leaves from the previous year now exposed out of the cool wet ground among some melting snow. 30 minutes later and it's a skin scent, but stronger and I feel like I can imagine a "dirty" smell of the wings or feathers of the owl. It still absolutely has a freshness to it, but there's also this natural "dirtiness" to the scent as well now, which may be the oakmoss and the musk. There's still a coolness and sweetness to it as well. By dirty, I don't mean like a dirty patchouli, it's more like just what you would smell in the air in nature, not unwashed human dirty. I do feel this leans slightly more feminine, especially with the touch of sweetness and coolness, but I'm sure this could smell elegant on a man as well, especially the "musky dirty" dry down. I'll see how long this lasts, but I'm really enjoying this one. 2 hours later and it's a cool sweet musky vanilla scent with some woodiness and a lightness to it. 5 hours later and it's a faint skin scent I can only really smell with my nose to my arm, but it still smells the same. 8 hours later and it's gone

I was seeking a unique wintertime scent. Something that could get me into the spirit of the current frozen season as I sprayed it on, whilst wrapped in an oversized white mohair sweater and watching the snow fall...indoors...on a TV screen...ideally from Florida. Snowy Owl seemed to fit the bill. Much like with Zoologist’s Seahorse (a favorite of mine), my nose isn’t refined enough to pick out all of the individual scents mingling here. Among others, this fragrance includes notes of coconut, mint, and lily of the valley. I mean, I think I can maybe detect those. But then it also contains scents of...*checks notes*...snow accord? *Glances up from notes with confusion* What the hell does snow even smell like? Apparently it must smell delicious because, also like Seahorse, this scent is magical and transportive upon immediate spray. Like a white Christmas, Snowy Owl is a mystifying wonder. Now, I don't know exactly what fresh fallen snow in a quiet forest smells like, because I avoid going outside in cold weather at all costs. But I do imagine it smells like this fragrance – icy, wintry, aloof, and yet somehow soothing. To my mind, it reminds me of classic black and white movies like A Christmas in Connecticut, or the wintry album cover from Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm. This scent has largely been endorsed as a winter fragrance, as one might naturally conclude from a fragrance that’s meant to evoke the thawing snow in a damp forest. Best worn in daytime underneath a cold sun, indeed. However, I think this scent might also be just as ideally suited to summer, because upon spray it offers such a refreshing blast that I could see it perfectly cutting through the humidity of summer to land on your wrist like a melting ice cube. At the same time, it’s so utterly unique and indescribable that it can’t possibly be for everyone, and so I highly recommend sampling before purchasing. In five words or less: A Christmas in Connecticut, revisited.

Have you ever gone skiing? Have you ever been on the top of a snow-covered mountain? This is that. Ice-cold, damp snow all around you. You can feel the coolness on the inside of your nostrils, the tiny twinge of soil packed underneath all that snow. There's a wetness here--it doesn't SMELL like celery, but you know how when you take a bite of something crunchy, with a high-water-content? This fragrance has that abstract "crunch." It's more stemmy, though--not in the sappy, sweet, milky, sticky tree resin way--in a wet, fresh, split stem. Maybe like you pulled up a stalk of celery, with dirt still on the root, at the top of a snowy mountain. I bought a full bottle because I wanted a cooling, refreshing scent for summer: my collection is lacking that. With my skin chemistry, though, Snowy Owl develops a strange underlying sweetness. The wet, crunchy, icy elements somehow become humid, like ice-caps melting. My sweat ruins this fragrance, turning it quite overwhelming, at least in the summertime. What a shame. Luckily, when I spray it on my clothing, no such issue occurs--I got several compliments when I wore a half-spray to work. Love this fragrance, through and through. I hope my body enjoys it better in the cool winter.

The woods are quiet at night. Every step you take is laden with awe. Snow imprints the memory of your foothold in the slow wake of your walk. Pine needles shiver with snow and ice and gently you sweep some off with your warm, mitted hands, alleviating the weight of winter from their ancient arms. Stillness strikes you with a nostalgia for life beyond your grasp. Your senses are alive and awake to every small crack and call, none will go unanswered under your steady watch. Your mind alights with the passing of a silent wing. No call will be carried by this silent hunter. Pure luck has allowed you to witness her secret passing. She lands on the nearest tree and you try to sink into the snow unseen. But cold, wise eyes stare into your soul, purifying it. A Snowy Owl, serene and impenetrable, the guardian of the forest passes her gaze over you on to the next subject of her nightly reign. Obsessed with this, nothing else out there like it. When I heard "walk in the forest in winter" I was a bit skeptical thinking this could be just a heady pine fragrance but it's not at all. Artistry truly, it takes you into this winter scene.

I got this sample from Lucky Scent about a year ago. At the same time I got Bee and Hummingbird. Bee swooned me with its intense and pure honey note, and I thought Hummingbird was very pretty. They kind of eclipsed the far more subtle Snowy Owl in my mind, and it didn’t make that much of an impression. I registered it as a fresh perfume, with notes of calone and musk, and something green, and put it aside. Taking it out today and putting it on after it matured for a year was a revelation. It’s one of the purest, strongest Iris scents I remember smelling in a long time. A true silver Iris. It’s cold and beautiful. My husband commented on it right away and that’s rare since he’s used to the various perfumes I constantly cycle through and it takes something remarkable at this point for him to comment on it without being solicited for his opinion. I’m so impressed I’ve ordered samples off this creator’s website, DSH Dawn Spencer Hurwitz. Sometimes the best things take time.

This is winter in a bottle! The mint notes offer an interesting punchiness to the sillage that almost "burns" the nostrils like cold winter air after a fresh snowfall. The coconut and vanilla notes offer it a mild sweetness, not necessarily to my liking, I would have preffered stronger frankincense and cedar notes but overall it is a very well balanced perfume that evokes pleasant memories of winters gone by. The flower notes like lily of the valley, white rose and iris give this perfume almost a sexiness, like that unapproachable person sitting at the bar, who you can't quite put your finger on why you're attracted to them. Even though I have some gripes with the overall perfume, I would still review it as "LOVE IT" because it's such a great perfume for the colder seasons - and I really like that initial "burning" sensation, it immediately takes me to the ski slopes of the Alps.

So incredibly unique. This sort of fragrance is why I keep buying new things, to find more of whatever genre this is. I'm not looking for fragrances described as rich, deep, warm, or spicy. This is the opposite of all of those. I like refreshing, but not as in green sharp soapy clean refreshing, I do like those but I mean refreshing as in effervescent, water, angelic, heavenly, spotless, bubbles, airy, non-existent, powder, white noise, SNOW. It's so hard to find fragrances like this. This is refrigerator air. A bit sweet and so very clean, it's crisp and white. Not sharp at all, it's deep night air in the tundra, the coconut is not tropical at all. This is frozen oak moss with ice cold cucumber-infused coconut water poured over and a sprinkle of crushed spearmint leaves. Slightly floral, powdery. Ozonic. Musky. Rocks and rain and concrete, strange mysterious and beautiful.

Zoologist is always surprising me, and some of the scents I'm least drawn to end up being my favorite, Snowy Owl being one of them. I'm not picking up any of the dirt or mildew some people seem to be smelling. To me this is a very clean, cool musk. The coconut, mint, vanilla and floral notes are present, but not predominant. They are all blended together nicely to create a soft floral musk that would be the perfect cozy scent on a cold day. I recently got a sample of 11:11 Vanilla by Lake and Skye, and Snowy Owl smells similar to me, not identical but in the same family. For my body care girlies, I think this would layer beautifully with the EOS Peppermint Cashmere holiday lotion. Also, I asked my husbands opinion on this. He has very limited knowledge and vocabulary when it comes to fragrance and he said "It's nice, smells like flowers, I like it."

To me the scent opes with a strong earthy albeit semi-sweet note, not entirely unlike the scent of polypodium vulgare roots. I guess this is the earthy iris that comes through. This scent is quite evocative, for me, and reminiscent of spring-winter. If you’ve ever been out in the boreal forest when the snow is starting to retreat, and the decomposing leaves of last autumn is starting to appear and giving of their scent, you know exactly what I’m getting at. Decomposing, earthy, yet fresh and cold. This is also, at least in this part of the world, the time of the snow drops. I’ll willingly admit, that even though I’ve grown up surrounded by these flowers each and every spring, I’ve never paid any attention to their scent. So all in all, this scent is, to me, very reminiscent of the boreal forest in spring-winter.

The opening of this fragrance smells like if you're burrowed up in your nest eating a coconut. But once it dries down, it turns into night and you fly out on the twilight of a cold winter. While on that trip you catch a fish, trying to escape it sprays you with water. And once you get back to your nest you realize spring is soon to come, and not much later you eat your catch and fall asleep. What a beautiful fragrance, I don't know if I like it or love it, but I know it smells extremely similar to myself in a way. The smell is so complicated for me to properly decipher how much I actually enjoy this fragrance but I will still wear it because it is something that strongly represents me, if only the sillage was better. 9.5/10 overall 8/10 basic "mass-appealing" smell

this literally smells cold! this opens with a refreshing blend of coconut and sweet mint with an ice cold calone note and airy lily of the valley. this is a snowy owl flying above snow capped mountains, flowers frozen over and crisp air breezing past. Then comes more florals, these are earthy, grounded and fresh. The snowdrop floral note here is interesting, as I believe it’s a fantasy note, but this really does feel like fresh flowers in the cold wintertime. The dry down is sweet, slightly animalic but in an earthy, woody, and aromatic sense. The snowy owl has perched upon a branch in the side of a mountain now. Sweet musky air passes by, mossy patches along the mountain damp from the snow, the snow smooth and soft.

As with all Zoologist perfumes, it’s interesting, unique, and up for interpretation. This fragrance is undeniably much more green than it is cold/icy or “white”. More specifically, it’s a lactonic (milky) green/grass. Branding and “snowy owl” title aside, my consensus is that there are several notes not listed on this one, most prominently cut-grass, but also suede deep in the background, and maybe even a fruit/melon. The coconut note is somewhat of a chameleon; some sense it immediately, and others barely at all. I’m certain if the coconut note wasn’t advertised/listed here, people would think grass before coconut. Zoologist could have easily marketed this as “Forest Owl” with the same formula. 🌲 🦉

I just experienced Snowy Owl for the first time. It was also my first time smelling a Zoologist fragrance in general. As a newbie, I gotta ask: What. Was. That? No, really! What was that??? There's only one thing I can say for sure: it's a unique scent. I found this perfume by searching for the notes I wanted: lily-of-the-valley, iris, rose, olibanum, and vanilla. I read all these reviews saying "reminds me of winter" or "walking through a forest." From the second I opened my sample, my brain scrambled into a Jackson Pollock painting 🤣 Seriously, that's the only visual I got. However, it's so unique that I can't stop smelling my wrist. I really do love whatever this is.

I think this is my favorite scent from Zoologist, maybe my favorite perfume of all time. It has this powdery freshness that really lifts your spirits and brings you to a snowy mountain in the north, with the wood notes tying it together perfectly. I definitely think it suits the essence of the snowy owl. If this was as long lasting and had as much sillage as some of their scents, this would be a 10/10, but this is a much more delicate scent, and it becomes quite subtle if you're less generous with sprays. Subtle not necessarily being a bad thing, of course. Unlike many Zoologist perfumes, I will definitely call this a safe blind buy. Probably more feminine.

As with all Zoologist perfumes, it’s interesting, unique, and up for interpretation. Branding and “snowy owl” title aside, my consensus is that there are several notes not listed on this one, especially aldehyde and grass. This fragrance is undeniably much more green than it is cold/icy or “white”. More specifically, it’s a lactonic (milky) green/grass. The coconut note is somewhat of a chameleon; some sense it immediately, and others barely at all. I’m almost certain if the coconut note wasn’t advertised/listed, people would think of grass before coconut. Lastly, Zoologist could have easily marketed this as “Forest Owl” with the same formula. 🦉

'Snowy Owl' is extremely realistic. It smells like nature. When I wear this, it's as if I'm not even wearing a perfume at all, but rather I'm walking through an icy cold forest or park, after the sun has melted some of the ice. I get the impression of frozen flower petals and wet grass: green, gentle, and cold from the minty snow accord. I can detect a very minimal sweetness from the coconut. If you enjoy 'Beaver' (2016), then you'll probably like 'Snowy Owl.' They smell nothing alike, but they could almost be in the same family. The watery green, woody notes smell so natural in here. On the softer side, but while it lasts, this is magical.

So I’ve worn this 2 times now, the way it responds when your skin are 2 different temperatures is interesting. The first time was a very cold day. When I wore it, it was super cold minty green coconut laying in an icy wet Forrest bed with some sweetness. This time round I am in a heated environment, no cold shock upon first spray, it is a sweet green coconut vanilla fragrances with hints of earthiness and brightness. Do I think the heat makes this more wearable? Yes absolutely. But the colder months is where this fragrance gets its identity and thrives. I love wearing it both ways, this pretty much solidifies a full bottle purchase for me.

As a citizen of a cold climate area, where 50% of the year feels like winter, I can say this truly does smell like the air outside on a winter day. With it's aquatic touches this does not evoke a world entirely frozen, but rather a mostly frozen landscape with a resilient river running through it. There is no decay - everything that could not survive the winter cold is long dead, and all that remains are the ethereal creatures and plant life that are built to withstand exactly this. A truly transportative masterpiece, and one of the biggest delights of my Zoologist sampling journey. I hope full bottles are restocked soon.

Again, I might be cursed with loving very polarising perfumes.... But alas, I fell in love with this one from first sniff! It opens up very grassy and petrichor, which lasts around 1.5-2h. Then it gradually evolvrs to a soft minty coconut smell, which sits closer to skin. On my skin, it stays this way, with very faint soil notes. Absolutely beautiful. Really feels like you're wandering around in a winter wonderland without chasing any sense of time. This is definitely not mass-appealing, but for those in search for uniqueness and artistic value, this is worth losing sleep over.

Amazing. Similar to another classic in the fresh genre, you or someone like you from ELDO. A photorealistic mint backed up by fresh cut grass and florals. I am not a coconut type of person, like at all. This is genuinely the first time I have ever enjoyed a coconut note. It's blended so wonderfully well with the caloney mint that my vendetta against the note has been destroyed. Cold, green and fresh with some complexity to it, a perfect scent representation of a field of grass covered in a light powdery snow. Straight Canadian pride here with zoologist!

Delicate, cold, silent & unique. Warm musky skin outside in the crisp white snow. Although I adore the sheer artistry of this scent, it is almost too realistic at times. I quite literally smell like I have been outside in the cold all day. There’s a metallic note that gives the ‘outside’ feeling and sometimes it’s a little too much for my nose to bear. Snowy Owl is stunning but not always an easy reach for me - 7/10 *Update: The metallic ‘outside’ smell that I described before is now far more prominent to my nose. It has become unwearable - 2/10

Snowy Owl by Zoologist is a beautifully delicate fragrance that captures the serenity of a winter morning. The cool opening of mint and lily of the valley instantly transports me back to my childhood, waking up at my grandmother’s house on crisp, quiet winter days. There’s a comforting, almost nostalgic air to it, like the scent of freshly fallen snow drifting through old wooden windows. The soft florals and gentle musk wrap around you like a warm blanket, making this perfume not just a scent, but a memory reborn.

I really love this one! It's such a unique scent that truly does evoke the vibe of melting snow with a slight blooming floral peeking through. Huge Spring vibes as snow is melting and plants begin to bloom. The coconut is well blended to where it acts as a part of the snow effect but you don't really smell it as coconut. I will definitely pick up a full bottle eventually. Also life hack: I layered this with Le Labo's Baie 19 and because they are both cold scents, it creates a really interesting combo!!

A lighter, more feminine and fresher Olm. While Olm is my favorite Zoologist scent, it’s not appropriate for all occasions. Snow Owl however could be the scent to reach for instead of Olm. It’s definitely minty and reminds one of icy soil and frozen flowers. It reminds me of cold pebbles at first, but this quickly vanishes and settles into a freezing pastel scent. It’s not a happy fragrance, far from it. It’s not exactly lonely, more like being alone, being aware of it and content with it.

If the original Zoologist Bat (now sold as Night Flyer by Olympic Orchid) and Squid had a baby, added touches of mint, coconut, and melon, and put it in the freezer, it would be Snowy Owl. This is the opposite of my usual heavy, spicy, resinous, cozy cold-weather fragrance. It's light and invigorating. I've worn Snowy Owl in the summer to help me think cool thoughts, and today I'm wearing it to mark the first snowfall of the season, It's wearable and enjoyable in any weather.

Tried this yesterday and forgot to post it. This reminds me a lot of my signature scent before I bought this bundle which is Nosferatu by Heretic Parfum. Though whereas Nosferatu is rain on cobblestones with the scent of flowers perfuming the air, snowy owl is much cleaner, the fresh snow and mint notes really open it up, and as it dries down, it becomes this impeccable woodsy floral scent that I find really refined. Another banger from zoologist. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Second one from Zoologist I got, wonderfully fresh, almost cold in its opening with an obvious smell of calone, coconut, and a subtle smelling mint behind a full bed of greenery. As it dries, the green becomes a more general forest, with cedar and moss. It also becomes sweeter with the vanilla and tonka, causing its base to be a nice, soothing ground. Most pleasant smelling one in this group so far, if you love melon scents you will probably love this.

It’s soooo unique. I love this scent. Very photorealistic snow and ice effect. This is what I would imagine the ice queen from Narnia to wear. I don’t get any coconut btw. Definitely one of the few perfumes that can be a year round, day and night scent. If you want a cool icy mysterious girl scent without the darkness or heaviness that usually comes with mysterious scents, this is your girl. Just wish it wasn’t so expensive I’d have a bottle yesterday

I have been wearing this perfume for two years. I love it very much despite the fact that it is not long lasting. It smells very fresh and cold. I often hear a note of snowdrops and coconut. The warmer the temperature, the colder and fresher it sounds, the more like snow. Sometimes the perfume smelled like a cold coconut mixshake, which I also really liked. I will remember this perfume with love (it is almost finished T-T)

Cannot be explain how unusual this perfume is. I bought it for the artistry of it. I wear it at home when the mood strikes me. I find the mint, the greens, the civet and cedar just gives me this wonderful cozy feeling. Perfect for fall and winter, but I'm wearing it on a rainy spring day and it's perfect. I own a few zoologist perfumes. This one is my favorite. Is it truly wearable out? That is the question...

Gorgeous, and one of my favorite perfumes of all time. Strange fern is not listed as a note because that's all I smell. I feel like on me, it's a super linear fern smell. The smell of bird feathers go in and out but a consistent smell of fern leaves crushed releasing the smell of fern in the air. I love it! This is my "non offensive" perfume. When I want to smell like me, but don't want to offend people.

Starts with sharp pine-sol before dissolving into snow-bent buds with undercurrent of ornithology exhibit. Crispness mutes the already-unobtrusive florals. You're on the ground with the snow and spruce while a feathered animal hides in the canopy, gripping some cold, wet thing in its talons. Masculine and intriguing like a chilled leather jacket. Wear to the zoo to blend in with cave rocks.

when first got a whiff from this i was shocked, this smelled exactly like the plateau i used to go every summer with my family. It smells like if you fell into a pile of half dirt and snow with some flowers on it while you were skiing. It's earthy, really green, floral and super cold, just like penguin. I absolutely love how some perfumes magically brings it all back. 9/10

Absolutely love this. Smells nostalgic almost, a luscious field of grass covered in snow. The coconut, mint, florals and greenness work so well together. Smells less cold then zoologist penguin but more watery-cold, almost like melting snow. Performance is mid. Smell: 9/10 Performance: 6.5/10 Value: 7/10

This smells almost peaceful and melancholic. You can picture the vast emptiness of a snowy landscape. Theres also something very delicate about it. Absolutely lovely perfume. The animalic and cedar notes I think make it reminiscent of a bird cage too upon dry down but it's not off putting.

I love this!! So unique, fresh and beautyful. Green, minty and cold in the opening. Dries down to a gorgeus blend of vanilla, coconut and...freshly cut grass? I’m on hour 7 and can still smell it on my skin🩷❄️

I love this! Smells cold but like a comfortable cold. Cozy with layers on maybe? Fresh but not very clean, like a natural fresh. I don't think it lasts very long unfortunately but I'd still by a travel bottle!

Lovely cold sweet airy scent! actually so heartbroken that it’s summer time because I think it’ll be even better when its cold out. it’s a lightly aquatic wet snow, with a sweet minty floral undercurrent.

This smells exactly like you are walking down the street in the rain. You can smell the wet mud and concrete. If you like the scent of rain you need to cop a bottle asap.

This is my all time favorite perfume. It’s not for everyone. It’s unique, fresh, and crisp, with a unique floral dry down I’ve never found in anything else.

love this. it smells like really rich soil. Am I going to wear this to work or family gatherings? no. but I would definitely wear it while alone.

i REALLY like this one its cold animalic and floral with a hint of mint imo i dont get any coconut from this. DEFINITELY not for everyone

If anyone would like to swap an unused new bottle for an unused bottle with the old design (black label, leather cap) let me know!!

Really love this one. I get a strong soil smell (which i love). Like fresh air after the rain, or like a fresh musty dampness.

Making my way through the complete sample set from Zoologist... I knew from the get-go that this one was well outside my scent profile, but it seemed so interesting and also well-liked, that I was excited to try it. As expected: not for me. But for the first hour, it's remained quite interesting. The coconut, mint, white flower, and snow notes are prominent, lasting longer than I expected. It shifts and shimmers a lot, evolving quickly and serially. The base notes hold it together, so it doesn't feel *only* floral or sweet. It's a somewhat daring combination, since (for me) coconut evokes tiki bar, and I would never put mint in a coconut drink. I.e., that's a strong collision. Mint and freshness for a bit too long could evoke toothpaste or Velamints. But this seems to keep squiggling away from being too outré, specific, or unpleasant. It grabs my attention like a bright snow day, as intended. Well into the second hour, the unusual notes and pairings die down into something subdued and very wearable: it's giving high-end Dove soap. I.e., clean with a trace of coconut and just a bit of warm spiciness. It remains subtle and pleasing into the third hour, with mint, coconut, and calone fully gone, and vanilla, oakmoss, cedar, and ambrette all detectable. I would believe the tiniest bit of civet is there but don't actually smell it. I suspect it's just making the florals pop a bit more. Clearly well-composed. (Very) wintry, and I interpret this as feminine, but obviously all fragrances are unisex. Reacting to some of the other reviews: * Agree that it smells synthetic (like most fragrances) and that the calone note remains prominent for a long time. * Personally I don't smell any soil accord at all (unlike say, Bat, where it's front-and-center). * At no point can I personally smell anything that would suggest a birdcage or bird poop, other than perhaps the trace of cedar evoking wood chips. Civet is the only animalic note actually listed, and its use as I mentioned is (for me at least) ultra subtle.

This is a difficult scent to describe, but not in a bad way at all. I actually quite like it and find it very wearable, even though I can understand why it might not be for everybody. To me, the florals stand out the most, especially the white florals. They don’t come across as loud or screechy though. They feel cold, soft, and strange, like flowers that should not still be alive in this kind of weather. It's fresh, cold, and kind of subtle in an eerie way. It gives me the visual of walking “alone” through a vast snowy forest. It rained earlier, but now it’s snowing again, and everything feels quiet, damp, and frozen over. You pass by lily-of-the-valley somehow still holding on for dear life despite everything around it being frozen over, a soft floral smell cutting through the cold air. You hear something, reminding you that despite the fact everything around you is completely still, something is alive in the distance, hidden by the snow. There is definitely an animalic quality to this, but to me it is not funky or overpowering. It’s more like being able to tell that the forest around you is still alive. You can’t see anything, but you know there are animals nearby, or that something passed through not too long ago. It gives the scent this subtle living warmth underneath all the snow and florals. I’d describe it as a cold, white floral, musky, and animalic. It’s strange, but in a quiet way. Not shocking or loud strange. More like stillness with something breathing underneath it.

- Main Notes : Iris, Starch, Raw Tuber As a Potterhead, I bought it because of Hedwig, but oh boy, this scent is interesting! I know what it's trying to say: a cold powdery-ness , like untouched snow , but the perfumer did it in quite an original way: It's NOT like any of the cold iris I've tried before (e.g. Iris Silver Mist, Iris Nazarena etc. etc.) Scent Description A split second of tender lily-of-the-valley, then we're embraced by a creamy tone, like, literally a "facial cream" tone ( maybe coconut? ), with a tad bit of typical "make-up powder" sweetness ( sweet violet and iris ), edged with a mentholated silver lining. Somehow a really faint woodiness ( part of violet? ) is also detectable. But this is not another make-up scent. What make it cold is a.....very subtle hint of cool-tone “medicinal powder” , think those bitter tasted drug powder in capsules. Don't worry, this medicinal powder is mixed with 90% starch ( probably ambrette ), so there isn’t any real "medicinal note", only a modifier to cool down the starchy scent. The real star of the show is a "raw tuber" tone ( maybe rooty iris? ), remind me of the somewhat "cold" scent when cut open a raw potato . At this stage, what also haunting me is a phantom-like dusty aspect of iris , you can only catch it with the corner of your eye, then it turns into the “make-up powder” sweetener from the beginning. Smells good? 6/10 Smells interesting? 7.9/10

This little gem compensates for the horrors that are Moth and Cockatiel, but it still isn't a masterpiece unless one loves very literally animalistic fragrances. A bit of a pet shop type musk lingers in it, and while I'm not a fan of that, it is evocative of a bird that is very much alive, unlike the poor dead cockatiel. Rest in peace. But I love this one most of all for its other facets, which are fresh, cool, ethereal, green, and snuggly. I have no idea why anyone would dislike calone when cashmeran, narcissus, and horrible musks exist, but to each their own, I suppose. The musk in this can be more earthy and fungal smelling, but at least it doesn't strip your nose hairs like the kind used in Kayali's Vanilla Rock Sugar, which is a pity because otherwise that fragrance is yummy. I love certain aspects of this like angels' wings, but other times it is more like bird droppings. This makes it very much actual bird, and not angel, which is a pity for me, but a blessing for those who truly want that avian experience. This is definitely a companion to Penguin by Zoologist, which goes a bit loud in its aromatics. A pity I chose Snowy Owl and not Penguin for my set, perhaps, because Penguin is much cleaner. I still have my sample of Penguin, though, so I will experiment with layering them and report back when I am able.

To my nose this is something of a love child between Angelique sous la Pluie and L'eau d'Hiver, though I may actually marginally prefer this to both (I certainly like it more than the Angelique). It's dry, bitter and softly green, but lacks any sharpness, as if some ornamental snowdrop made of glass was frosted by repeated rubbing with sandpaper. It's "rough" in texture and yet also soft and powdery in smell - greens and powder in the absence of sweetness can be a dangerous game though as some scents (*cough* No 19 Poudre *cough*) can end up smelling somewhat of mildew growing in wet clothes. I don't get that here, however, as I find the lack of sharp greenness in Snowy Owl keeps the scent from getting too biting, too aggressive. My only slight qualm with Snowy Owl is the structure, which (despite a laundry list of fascinating notes) is very linear and monotonous on me. It's got that scent of fresh, snowy spring soil, but it's quite brick-like and unchanging such that, after some hours, I find myself rarely noticing it and, when I do, getting a little bored. It's perhaps more a room scent, or an ambient scent, than one I'd expect to find on a person. That said, when I'm yearning for early spring, this will be a great one to come back to.

This is my first try of the latest release from the house of Zoologist, Snowy Owl, created by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz. It’s fresh, floral, green, and woody, balancing the concept of snow with the wooded habitat of its namesake. The note selection is varied and interesting, the most prominent to me being lily of the valley, mint, iris, mate, resins, cedar, civet, and musk. It has a vegetal aroma, as well, though not nearly as heavily as in the early version of Panda. Overall, Snowy Owl feels like a good balance of realistic outdoor expressions (florals, woods) and more artistic, fantastic elements of snow, and this makes for a really pleasant, easily wearable perfume. Predictably it’s a little more pronounced and a bit sharper, with almost an herbal smell in the opening, and it dries down to a smoother blend over time, which is not at all surprising. Snowy Owl is priced at $165 for 60ml (roughly in line with the rest of the house) at 25% (parfum) concentration and is sold via the house site and all of the great boutiques through which it is usually sold, including Perfumology, Indiescents, and Luckyscent. I’d certainly recommend Perfumology because of the great service and spray samples available. 7 out of 10