It’s a habit of mine to declutter periodically, in both the physical and digital realms. One artefact of the latter is seeing past events and circumstances neatly laid out, in chronological order (which the mind has long ago jumbled)—parts of my life flashing before my eyes, typos and all.

How I looked, what I said—all so familiar and foreign at the same time. Sometimes the person I once was, in earnest, makes me cringe with embarrassment (I’ll spare multiplying it); other times she does me proud (for example, with a well written customer service complaint—even if it went unanswered). No matter: those personas are relics now, flattened to a 2-dimensional image by the undiscriminating passage of time. Hieroglyphs that I can decode, somewhat, as long as my memory is intact, although the gaps are by now too noticeable to ignore.

 

It’s week 11 of working from home for me, and I must admit I have not really done much “reflecting” during these months. (I’m usually doing it to some small degree on a daily basis already, isolation or not.) If I’m to start now, it’ll be along the lines of how to better filter ongoing thoughts and experiences through the lens of what will be worth remembering, say, ten years from now (or even two)—because most details will be forgotten.

 

Today I also happened to use up my decant sample of Dodo by Zoologist. I first tried it last summer, and both my other half and I found a peculiar note bothersome. It reminded me of fresh saliva (before the bacteria have wreaked too much mayhem on it) but is supposed to be a “bird feather” note. I didn’t find it so unpleasant today, but my other half maintained that it was as “stinky” as last time.

This perfume seems to be quite ambitious, categorized as “floral, fougère, fresh, fruity, green, musky”—surely it must be some of those things! I find it mineralic as well, personally.

Zoologist lists the structure of Dodo as:

• Top Notes: Fern, Lime, Lychee, Raspberry
• Heart Notes: Ambergris (synthetic), Fir Balsam, Geranium, Rose
• Base Notes: Amber, Feathery Musk (synthetic), Oakmoss, Patchouli, Sandalwood

 

I definitely get the lychee in the opening, as well as a fresh, light floral aura. This is a light, pastel pink perfume to me. The rose is there, but doesn’t stay long. I couldn’t pick out most of the base notes, but can imagine that the salty aspect of synthetic ambergris and the oakmoss coalesce with the “feathery musk” to amplify the avian character, which stays pretty linear once it’s bared its beak. This is a bit watery, but also like powdered stone or concrete at the same time.

I don’t really perceive anything like amber or sandalwood in this, nor can I speak for the patchouli on its own.

Fortunately, Dodo stays pretty close to the skin, although when I went outdoors and worked up a sweat in the evening, it seemed to project up to my nose with greater intensity than it ever did this morning. It didn’t turn nasty on me, though.

Still, it seems a suitable social distancing perfume. Though not offensive (to most), it maintains an aloofness.

Definitely not a crowd pleaser—get a sample if you are curious, but don’t jump into an untested buy with this one.

 

Tu seras mienne (you’ll be mine)
Tu seras la même (you’ll be the same)
Mais une autre (but someone else)
Une autre (someone else)
Une autre à chaque fois (someone else every time)

—Marc Lavoine, “La Semaine Prochaine” (Next Week)