Rhinoceros (2020)

Weirdly, although I am female, and don't particularly like leather or incense or nargamotha as notes, I LOVE this scent. And I think it smells great on me. If not for the fact my husband detests it (and complains to high heaven every time I wear my sample vial), a full bottle would be mine. If there was something between a sample and a full bottle, that would be perfect. On a major plus side, my love for this scent lead me to travel through the Strangers Parfumerie line, which is also by Prin Lomros. You should go check them out! (Indiescents is one of the few places that carry the line!)

Robust and unsophisticated leather. It is, indeed, reminiscent of an old library with scarred, comofortable, leather armchairs...in the best of ways.

Rhino however spreads out on the skin, upon application, like a well groomed and clean shaven group of football players, bursting out of the huddle and lining up at the line of scrimmage. There's energy here that is tangible. The notes are packed tightly together and then once the huddle breaks, an audible is called and the formation spreads out, giving everything more room. There's an approximate 2-3 minute window, immediately following application, that I can detect almost every listed note. Almost as quickly, that clarity vanishes and is replaced by a heavier, denser quality and aroma. This begins the heart of Rhinoceros and it pumps the suggestion of whiskey soaked suede, pepper, moist earth and forest woods that have been permanently altered by heat and fire. From the initial, subtle smokiness, a charred leather rears its head and supplants the suede that manifested only moments earlier. These were noticeable transitions and I enjoyed trying to analyze them in real time. Rhinoceros spends the remainder of its time, on my skin, as a smoke-infused woody leather, accented intermittently by earthy tones. The rendition of smoke here, used by Paul Kiler, once the base and drydown commence is perhaps one of the more superior and wearable ones I've come across as of late. Sillage is average or slightly better than that, with longevity approximately 4-5 hours on my skin before turning into a skin scent for just as long. This accomplished with moderate sprays. Thumbs up from Aromi for Paul Kiler's Rhinoceros and as you would expect, a sample wear is recommend before purchase.

The opening leather has teeth marks in it...a bit of a bite, you could say, almost brutish. (This might be the result of the artemisia, along with the sage.) About half-an-hour in, a suede appears to soften the opening leather. The use of tobacco, along with geranium and the top lavender, might have helped to produce it. I didn't notice any immortellle , but perfumers use ingredients for different affects. I should mention I really didn't notice the rum in the opening. The most enjoyable part of Rhinoceros is in the dry down. There is a really nice pine/vetiver/agarwood combo that takes place. It's backed up with a pleasant musk. Zoologist has created a decent woodsy masculine scent.

Zoologist has so many wonderful, fascinating fragrances. Rhino is a big, bold, smoky, black leather soaked in resins, pine sap, dry wood and dirty, sexy musk. The drydown has a sweet, spiced tobacco tone on my skin. Every time that I wear this, I smell something different about it and it progresses just a bit differently, but it's always amazing.