Listen, doing the Art and Olfaction Award Finalists for 2016 was so much fun last week, I have a fresh round of them for this week.
Zoologist Bat is spectacularly weird in its beauty. Zoologist is an Indie house out of Canada, and Bat just has me giggling. Notes of Banana, Soft Fruits, Damp Earth. Fig, Tropical Fruits, Mineral Notes, Myrrh, Resins, Vegetal Roots. Furry Musks*, Leather*, Vetiver, Sandalwood, Tonka. (* is synthetic notes). Okay, just read that list again and try to control yourself. I’ve smelled a lot of realistic scents before and love all the CB things. That’s as close as I can get to a comparison – Black March and JAR Shadow have a baby that’s even more earthily feral, if that’s a thing. Dank, pungent, earthy, awash in leather and vetiver and roots and scary things in the cellar like, um, bats!
Sorry, I love this so much, and my hat is off to the Zoologist geniuses who made it. A completely deserving finalist for 2016.
Now off to the beauty, Nomaterra Cape Cod Wild Beach Rose. Notes of amber, saltwater, citrus, wild flowers, rose, and French lavender. This salty rose has stolen my heart from the much beloved Rosine Ecume de Rose – hard thing to do because that has had that spot for a decade. This beautiful salty tang sits lightly on a beautiful rose. The rose is not too sweet, it feels like petals. Add in the lavender, which is elegantly done and not overpowering, and this is one of the rare rose perfumes that I’d happily wear. Yeah, I admire rose perfumes, but have like 4-5 that I wear. Another lovely finalist more than deserving of the honor.
Nice job, committee who picked the finalists. I’ve been super happy with everything so far that I’ve tried and can see why they got through to the last round.
Winners of last week’s Art & Olfaction Award samples (La Curie Incendo, Papillon Salome, Thorn & Bloom Bird of Paradise and Tammy Frazer Namibia) – Pam and Greennote2. Just click on Drop Us a Note at the top, send me an e-mail, remind me of what you won and get me your mailing address. I’ll send you a quick e-mail to let you know I got your e-mail and it didn’t land in a spam filter and then get it on the way to you.
I’ll do a giveaway this week too, samples of these two perfumes to four commenters drawn at random. So after last weekend’s April snowstorm and waiting on my bathroom contractor since November, I gave up and found a Czech guy with great reviews to come in and do it. He says it will be two weeks. I’m worried, but it can’t be worse than the five months I’ve waited. Right? Someone make me feel better about this. The czech guy just does it differently, he won’t schedule ahead. He does one job and doesn’t even talk to anyone else until he is at the end of it, then he goes and gets another job. Well, I ordered the bathtub of my dreams, and I so hope it works out! Will it work out? Ack, I hate making these big decisions that can cost me a ton of money.
I’ve smelled real bats and I don’t recommend it. Each year a crowd gathers at a bridge near my home to watch the mass exodus at sunset! I do love quirky scents though. Thanks for another draw! Much luck with your dream bathroom!
I’d love to try these. Thank you for the draw!
Your Czech guy sounds like the Polish guy who helped me. After looking for someone reliable to do the job for over a year I complained to my neighbor who said, “I know someone who might be able to help you. He’ll call you when he has time.”
He did a fabulous job putting in our shower enclosure. It drove me nuts that he wouldn’t tell me anything schedule-wise until the morning he was ready to come over and start work. But once he arrived he didn’t quit working for days until the job was done perfectly, no muss, no fuss. I was so grateful. Good things come to those who wait.
I love Bat…it’s got a really funky over-ripe fruit/damp earth vibe. I’m also fond of Hummingbird: fresh fruit and cream. 🙂 It makes me a tad hungry though. 😀
I’ve always wanted to try the Zoologist Bat fragrance on account of my love for the furry flying cuties!
The wait for your fabulous new bath will be well worth it, I’ve no doubt 🙂 Seems like you’ve picked a winner with the new bloke, too – two weeks is waaaaay better than five months!
Both of these frags sound fantastic, in completely different ways. Thanks so much for the draw.
I’m really curious about Bat…and Beaver as well. I’m not a real rose fan, Ta’if is the only one I’ve really liked enough to spend money on but this one sounds very interesting. I’d love to try both!
It’s all going to work out great, and your bathroom will be to die for. High-five to Czech guy!
Bats are my spirit animal — I just love them! You don’t see them as often in North Dakota — too cold? — and I miss them. A bat perfume sounds insane, and I want to smell it! The beach rose one sounds lovely as well, but not, well, weird.
I hope the renovations go as planned with the new guy! There’s nothing worse than waiting… The Rose sounds really intriguing – as does bat though I don’t think I’m as likely to like it. 🙂
Hmm, salt air, roses and lavender sounds positively lovely. Bat sounds very mysterious.
I have found eastern Europeans to be among the very best tile and stone masons around.
Ugh! Renovations are the worst! But think of the relaxing time you will have in the bathtub of your dreams when it’s over. And I agree with previous commenters: I would much prefer someone who takes one job at a time and finishes it (I’ve waited far too long on contractors and handymen making false promises of coming back the next day and then not showing up!)
I have to try “Bat”, I’ve read so many good things about it. I love the concept of the series, when are they doing “Wombat”?? 🙂 My favorite Rosine is Zephyr, which I think was originally made from just one harvest of rose, so I don’t even know if it’s made anymore- it was unworldly.
I am looking for a new rose and would love to try your samples! Was on the cape this weekend where the beach roses are not yet in bloom but the air was sweet and salty. Thank you!
It WILL work out with the Czech guy, I have a feeling. Good luck and post pics. Thanks!
Every time a contractor tells me two weeks I can’t help but think of the movie The Money Pit. Since I’m still not over my kitchen remodel taking months longer than it should have I will refrain from commenting any further. I do feel your pain over the 5 months you’ve already been waiting.
I really like Bat and have a sample so please DNEM.
It will work out! It certainly won’t be worse than the five months you’ve waited. (How awful.) Two weeks is worth it for someone with great reviews.
The Bat sounds really fascinating and I wonder how wearable it is and a salty rose sounds like something I could love and I’m eager to try it.
As for your Czech guy, I wish all workers would be so honest and not make false promises. I hate it when they do more jobs at the same time and then take off in the middle of the work at your home to “finish” a job somewhere else…and promise to be back in the afternoon…and don’t come back until next afternoon…and you have to sit and wait. It will be perfectly all right Patty, don’t worry.
Wow 5 months! You have the patience of a saint. In the two weeks that you’re waiting you can at least check up on Czech guy’s credentials/past jobs. Hopefully that will allay your fears, or you can try and find somebody else.
In my experience (as a structural designer who regularly works with contractors) a good contractor is worth the wait and extra money. It always costs more to fix things afterwards than to do it correctly in the first place.
Bat sounds weird, and I like that. After NST did their rose week I’ve been thinking about them more and more. Sounds like I need to try Cape Cod Beach Rose. Also sounds like it would do well in this summer weather we’ve been having.
It will be okay. Go with the Czech guy and get the job done finally. I’ve never been much of a rose fan, but that is starting to change. I’ve been to the Cape and Wild Beach Rose sounds lovely.
The Czech guy is fine. yes, it’s frightening, but I don’t think you want to wait a year. The contractor is taking too long and I believe the Czech guy. Last weekend I was having a glass of wine on the front porch and two Hispanic lawns men came up to the porch and offered to trim my front tree and remove all the dead ivy off the tree for a very good price. Completely out of the blue and cash only with my husband laid off, I was nervous but these guys did a wonderful job and they worked incredibly hard. Long story short, the tree looks amazing and if we have to sell our house, it looks great.
Well, Maggiecat said what I was going to say – using different words – about your Czech guy. I would not be at all surprised if he does a better job than your originally planned contractor!
Bat sounds like it’s something I wouldn’t particularly like which is exactly why I would love to try it. And I love bats. 🙂 They’re fascinating! Cape Cod Wild Beach Rose sounds nice. BTW It’s a joke at my house that the perfumes I *know* I won’t like but am curious about, I fall in love with and vice versa.
Cape Code rose sounds interesting. I guess I would have to buy a sample if I do not win 🙂
It will work out. Really. Your Czech guy sounds like a true artisan, and I’d rather see this form of scheduling that the usual “promise everything and then fail but it doesn’t matter ’cause we have your deposit” folks.
The rose perfume sounds lovely. I don’t think Bat is my cup of tea, but it sounds very creative and interesting.