Camel

Camel feels like the final hours before sunset during a journey across an ancient trade route. The day’s heat begins to fade, spices and dried fruit fill the air from nearby markets, and the desert slowly turns gold beneath the evening light.

Zoologist's Camel starts directly with a sweet, jammy fruit note, accompanied by a powdery rose and captured by an early onset of animalics. As a result, the fragrance never tips into being sticky. As it develops further, the distinct fruits give way to a diffuse sweetness and warm spices. The composition is not characterized by rigidly defined notes, but rather lets the chords constantly shimmer into one another. In the base, dark woods, spices, and animalics merge into a deep, cozy foundation. The illusion of a camel caravan in the shimmering desert heat is excellently conveyed here. The fruits and resins merge into a pleasing cloud of fragrance, though the perceptible animalic note always gives the scent a pleasant edge. Unfortunately, the performance on the skin fades quickly. The sillage drops rapidly to a skin-scent level, and the longevity also falls short of the brand's standard. Despite this technical weakness, Camel is craft-wise very cleanly constructed and a cozy fragrance for colder days.

Do I like it? Maybe. But there are dozens of perfumes half its price that reflect the feeling of Middle East in a much refined way. Longevity was also an issue for me