Bee by Zoologist Perfumes

Looks like natural honey with little pieces of comb, a hint of orange and vanilla, and although they won’t admit it, it smells like incense. People say ‘you smell delicious’ or ‘you smell like a church’. Lasts over 12 hours, projects strongly for the first 3-4 hours then fades.

Thanks to my neighbour Jose, who besides moving furniture knows how to drink beer and has a wardrobe with a thousand perfumes, I tried this. It smells like a hive: thick honey, flowers and resins that embrace you instantly. Opening is sweet and viscous, rustic honey with heliotrope and powdery mimosa. Then balsamic notes and soft sandalwood, all warm and resinous. It’s gourmand but without excessive vanilla or caramel, natural and complex sweetness. Lasts hours, but in heat it can be cloying. Compared to Kilian’s Back to Black, it’s more floral and resinous, ideal for cold weather and special occasions. It’s a unique experience, perfect for gourmand lovers in small doses. Lasts a long time, but be careful not to overapply.

I wasn’t expecting this. At first it’s honey caramel with ginger, and after 30 minutes it becomes a soft floral with lots of honey, you notice the heliotrope and mimosa. Over time it becomes sweeter and woody with that little touch of honey. I liked it so much I ordered another decant until I could buy the full bottle 🥲. Duration and trail are incredible for such a unique scent.

I’ve wanted to write a review of this perfume for a while, but couldn’t find the ideal season to wear it for several days straight to get a concise idea. Finally, I took advantage of the cold days of this winter to dive into how dense it is. Its opening feels purely waxy, very, very honeyed, with a slightly irritating note of urine that I usually notice in perfumes that effectively recreate the honey accord. However, quickly and progressively the perfume becomes lighter, and its sweetness changes from melty to vanilla-like, taking on a much more floral and powdery aspect. Nothing to say about its projection and longevity; I think if I wore it and stopped showering, I’d smell like this until I was buried. Despite not being a perfume I would wear, I have loved trying it. It feels very evocative, giving me the idea of walking the path of a bee making honey, but in reverse: its opening is like exiting a honeycomb cell full of honey, dense and sticky, to fly towards a meadow of flowers. There, it lands on a soft petal, while its legs fill with pollen and greedily, it stuffs itself with nectar. As a perfume for everyday use, it feels very feminine, for winter days when you don’t leave the house (its scent invites me to stay under a wool blanket, vegetating), though I see it perfectly for informal occasions both day and night. One of the most wearable from this house, I recommend trying it to anyone who loves sweetness madly. Pleasant: 8/10 Interesting: 9/10 Versatile: 5/10 Original: 8/10

Such a peculiar brand Zoologist, undoubtedly each of its fragrances is transgressive, this was no exception. What happens to me with this is particular: although I like risky perfumes, this is impossible for me. It’s not a bad scent, on the contrary, I apply it and can’t stop smelling it, it’s narcotic, but there’s no way to wear it, I can’t imagine going to a forest with this, Yogi the Queen Bee would come and even the Atomic Ant. If I have to rate it, I’d give it a 9 and a bit. In versatility a 1 and the moment to use is at home (a few drops) to smell it myself, I doubt anyone would want to go smelling like pure honeycomb honey, nor do I think those around would feel comfortable, it’s a nuclear bomb in projection, it floods everything in its path and is as sweet as pure honey, sweetened by vanilla and Tonka; the incense and sandalwood give it body with a life of its own; it’s a perfume you don’t use, it uses you. It’s worth noting that besides being excessively sweet, it has a completely sexual animalic base, another ingredient to make it more challenging. For people 100% sure of themselves, who don’t care about anything or anyone. In summary, from my perception, it’s extraordinary, completely exquisite, a work of art and a beautiful olfactory experience.

Bee is more than a perfume to wear, it’s an olfactory experience, very balsamic, so much so that it reminds me of a church selling aromatic bouquets. I liked it and for now I’m not taking it out of my collection. The scent comes out with a super natural honey, in the development it becomes very warm where flowers and gorse stand out. The dry down is delicious, I left it on my scarf and I loved the dry down scent: lots of honey with vanilla and flowers in the background.

Super original scent, smelling of honey, beeswax, and butter. I absolutely love it; it’s very special, though I wouldn’t wear it myself. It seems better suited to a man. I’d love to smell it on a man; there’s something so comforting about being in his arms with that scent, such security and warmth. It smells like falling in love with someone because of their sweetness and the safety of their embrace. That’s my impression.

This perfume is beautiful and boasts a long list of virtues. For me, it’s one of the most wearable from Zoologist. It’s intense, sweet, balsamic with an animal touch. It opens with heavy yellow flowers and pollen, lots of golden pollen, even a bit spicy (?) to the nose. Then it shifts to honeyed beeswax, with a hint of incense and sandalwood. In the dry down, it remains more sweet wax, but softly talc-like and delicate. I’ve seen it compared to Kim Kardashian’s Pure Honey, and well… yes, it has a similar vibe, but Kim’s version feels like the poor cousin, though it’s not bad. It’s very strong; don’t over-spray, or you’ll be fogging everyone around you. I’d recommend applying it half an hour before heading out so it can settle. And please, do not wear it to the countryside or a garden, or the bees will follow you. Projection is very intense for the first 3-4 hours, then moderate to low for the 12+ hours it lingers on the skin.

I wouldn’t recommend buying this blind. I had high hopes after seeing it recommended by Abrildoesmakeup, as we share similar tastes, but this hot sale has been my biggest disappointment. My nose only picks up an intensely strong sandalwood note that lingers and becomes overwhelming. It might work better in cold weather than in temperate climates, but seriously, I’d advise buying a decant first; it can be a surprise, just not a good one.

Coquita’s kindness allowed me to try this Bee, the finalist in the 2020 Art and Olfaction Academy awards, a good introduction. The first spray is inevitable: a smile of pleasure. You feel immersed in a spoonful of honey, but not the kind humans are used to. The accord is the secret of the tiny bees working tirelessly: fruity-balsamic facets (concentrated orange and candied ginger) draw a sparkling sound inside the hive, suggesting the vibrant beating of hundreds of wings. The scent is creamy yet dry at the same time, as if you could see the legs resting on wax-covered cells, imagining the consistency of rich, opulent, and dense golden fat, but with a kaleidoscope of hard-to-decipher nuances: floral, delicately gourmand, spiced, and very fruity. One thing is certain: the gentle beeswax hammer of Bee puts you in a good mood. This fragrance has everything to draw a happy face: resinous warmth, beeswax, soft musk, floral sweetness, and vanilla balanced with a certain acidity. It is extremely round, with great depth, like walking in a strange world. Beautiful. Much more than a perfume, Bee is a privileged and realistic viewpoint into a dimension humans can only observe and study, but difficult to understand. The Cristiano Canali fragrance is figurative, intelligent, and unconventional, denoting surprising mastery of difficult notes (the honey here is not urinous, and the beeswax is not sticky at all). It is impeccably cut, deeply autonomous, very distinct from the everyday, and certainly deserves a try.