BAT : animalics are 'in'

Hope you all had a good start into the New Year, and curious if we will see and smell some more "new animalics" according to our little trend forecast. Last week have been busy beavering about new fragrant molecular jewelry –even a patchouli spinning top– and a scent that shouldn't be missing was that of (–)-geosmin, the earth's perfume, the stimulating scent of freshly ploughed soil as released by the first drops of a refreshing spring rain … a smell that each year announces the arrival of spring … that gets you in the mood for springtime … http://www.shapeways.com/product/D2UHPZC67/geosmin….

   

While we intended the pendants to be used perfumed with the respective scents, in the case of geosmin or even dehydrogeosmin instead, this turned out almost impossible, since it is so difficult to dose and control in the evaporation strength. And instead of being transposed to a lovely spring meadow with flowers, you end up olfactorily in a dirty wet basement, a mouldy hut in the tropics, or a dismally dark earthy cave full of bats.
Talking of which, bats of course love geosmin, even in doses obnoxious to humans, and bat-pollinated cacti indeed use (–)-geosmin and (+)-dehydrogeosmin to attract their pollinators. With little doubt the most distinct geosmin note in perfumery is consequently found in the eau de parfum 'Bat' (Zoologist, 2015) by Ellen Covey; and thus, we highly recommend to fragrance the (–)-geosmin pendant with this 'Bat' perfume instead. This actually is even safer then to apply 'Bat' directly to skin, where the body heat releases some mouldy vibes in the heart accord and early dry-down.

But how does Ellen Covey keep the extreme earthyness of geosmin in 'Bat' at bay? Fruitbat style with a some opaque sweet fruits like banana, red berries, tropical fruits, figs and cassis, the mintyness of which nicely goes with the geosmin, while the banana puree and sweet fruit pulp cover up damp cloth/mould appeal. Of course, the geosmin character is apparent from the very start; yet, it is nicely integrated up to when the fruityness fades. Then things nicely turn mineral with resins and myrrh, and almost a slight phenolic effect. Yet, it is here when the fruit blanket is pulled away that the damp earthyness becomes a bit offensive and obnoxious. Once that has changed completely into a mineral effect with the musks and animalic leather notes 'Bat' dries down calm and harmonically, with coumarinic sweetness, sandalwood and vetiver joining the musk–leather combo.

Zoologist's 'Bat' is geosmin galore, but it is still wearable, and it is pretty unprecedented, very novel, though you can relate its dark fruitiness to perfumes such as 'Succus' (Liquides Imaginaires, 2015), 'Sept. 21. 1966' (Rundholz Parfums, 2014), or even '1 Million Cologne' (Paco Rabanne, 2015); the earthiness of 'Bat' is unbeaten, and likely unb(e)atable!