#tomoo inaba

[moratoirenoir]

[odoroussavourssweet]

Zoologist Moth

Zoologist Moth

Nose: Tomoo Inaba

notes: notes: saffron, clove, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon; heliotrope, mimosa, iris, rose, jasmine, lily of the valley; honey, smoke, oud, resins, musk, guaiac, ambergris, cypriol, patchouli, vetiver

Moth comes at you fast.

it goes on alarmingly honey-sweet, but it’s quickly dampened by a pleasant smoky-woody dry note.

A tender, fluffy, pale-yellow mimosa floral aura keeps peeking out around the edges and gradually comes to the forefront; now Moth is a mimosa scent backstopped by potent honey and smoky dusty woods.

Then the florals fade and we’re back to honey and dry smoky woods, yellow and black. It’s an intense combination, but I find it balanced and not quite as overwhelming as it sounds; it’s a bit powdery, which softens the effect.

Moth isn’t the rugged desert fantasy that would be, say, Andy Tauer’s take on honey and charred woods; it’s a softer, more antique-attic vibe.

And then —in less than two hours — it changes again! now it’s a comforting cloak of spices and dusty, powdery woods, in shades of muted brown. This phase is my favorite, and the most truly moth-like. It’s a subdued personal aura of soft dry warmth, like a brown cashmere wrap dress.

Moth’s drydown is not too far from the powdery-cinnamon-incense drydown of Fate Woman after their respective opening fireworks have subsided.

Definitely a grown woman’s scent; the “powdery” smell of heliotrope tends to code as feminine, and when you combine powdery softness with warm dark spices and woods the effect is rather maternal…but also plausibly seductive in a Mrs. Robinson kind of way. A MILFy moth.

Moth is an impressive achievement — a high-concept creative idea (inspired by a moth drawn to a candle flame) that also pulls together into something that simply smells good.

[moratoirenoir]

[odoroussavourssweet]

Zoologist Nightingale

Notes: saffron, bergamot, lemon; rose, plum blossom, violet; oakmoss, ambergris, oudh, patchouli, white musk, labdanum, olibanum, sandalwood

Nose: Tomoo Inaba

Zoologist Nightingale opens with an unpleasantly musty, dusty oudh note, with a bright-pink fruity rose note poking out — the combination of the rose and plum blossom.

After a few minutes the dust settles into a comfortable oakmoss/patchouli base, not as mossy-green as you’d see in a 70’s rose chypre, but more of the worn, gentle dustiness of Agent Provocateur. A powdery-underbrush-shadows haze, like an elegant garden gone to seed.

And the floral note opens out into something haunting, with exquisite tenderness. “Rose, violet, and plum blossom” seems hardly enough to describe it. It’s crystalline yet melting; it makes me think of clouds lit up with sunrise and little putti at play in the heavens.

Feminine, for sure. A remarkable reinvention of the retro rose chypre.