Moth is the cool glooms and musty melancholy of antique lace and silks tucked away with camphoraceus mothballs, there’s a smoky rose musk aspect, the spectral embers of a rose that lit itself on fire for love, or vengeance, or maybe both, and a bittersweet powdery element, like dried honey mixed with grave dust from a tomb. But the longer this wears, the more familiar it begins to smell, and I realize I am actually just wearing the musky vanilla and dusty florals of Hypnotic Poison, or alternately, the Bewitching Yasmine from Penhaligon, or Fleur Cachée from Anatol Lebreton, which to my nose, all smell like kindred spirits. And do I really need another perfume in that vein? And then I remember that I actually only own one bottle of those three scents and that one doesn’t have the thing going for it that Moth does: ultimately, Moth smells like a twilight shadowplay of austere embraces, a haunting chorus of forgotten languages, and basically what you wear to convince the ghosts that you are in fact a ghost.
A really beautiful mysterious scent.
Dusty, spiced, dark woody floral.
A sweetness from honey, dusty flowers with dominant rose, a musky, slightly pissy patchouli base.
Don’t think this will please everyone, but even if it doesn’t, the artistry has to be appreciated.
I can see why Moth is a fan favourite from Zoologist, and a hit amongst those who enjoy weird and wonderful scent profiles. It's unique, and not suited to everyone's taste including mine, but that's ok because it's actually a great creation. I don't personally enjoy the scent profile nor would I really want to wear it, but without a doubt it achieves the brief of smelling like moths - despite moths not really having a smell. It highlights our extensive imagination and brings it to life via connotations. First of all I don't get honey, I get smoke alongside this slightly unpleasant dry powderiness. Typically I enjoy powdery scents, but this feels a lot more like dust than powder - like the surface of an old, musty, slightly rotting bookshelf. It brings to life what you might imagine a moth to smell like; from the dry, withered husk of the cocoon to the brown, slightly furry wings flitting around a lamp in an abandoned library. As I said it's definitely unique and thought-provoking, it conjures a lot of imagery in my head, but I simply would not enjoy wearing this. I feel like it would come across that you naturally smell quite old and musty, rather than wearing a perfume. If this is your sort of thing then I respect that, good on you - but I rather dislike this.
Spectacular opening soon becomes horrific chemical naphthalene suffocation cloud. I have to hand it to them though, this somehow is the smell of a moth.
So some people are bothered by Zoologists shtick. Apparently according to people who frequent online 'community' stuff they are fanboy/girl/personed about pretty hard as well and clearly they have commercial success because they keep knockin' animals out. I however, am indifferent. I don't really have much of an opinion either way, I see what it is they are trying to do and I've been largely complementary about them when they achieve what I see as the brief and I'm slightly perplexed when they do hit a brief but make an unwearable (in my opinion) perfume. So anyway Moth was sent to me as a kind of 'you probably won't like this but...' sort of a fragrance, but to his and my surprise, I thought it was not only wearable but pretty fantastic to boot! It's largely a big, oldskool feeling castoreum focused perfume, dark, animalic but also quite classical and in the image of a floral chypre but I feel that's a bit of a lazy description too. It has a nocturnal feel perfect for the moth, but the castoreum and all it's savory, meatiness is complimented with a honied floral accord which works a treat. I'm a big fan of Moth, I think it's one of the better ones from the brand and there's been some excellent examples of this kind of faithful, vintage recreation stuff from Beaver to Nightingale. Really good.
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