# Zoologist — Macaque > Macaque (2016) is Zoologist's green-tea/incense landmark and the only fragrance in the line conceived and pitched by the perfumer herself - Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays, who studied primatology - ## Essence Macaque (2016) is Zoologist's green-tea/incense landmark and the only fragrance in the line conceived and pitched by the perfumer herself - Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays, who studied primatology - rather than commissioned by founder Victor Wong. It renders a Japanese temple-forest inhabited by macaques as a translucent, modern green scent: a piercing galbanum-and-green-apple opening over jasmine tea, frankincense and a dry cedar/white-oud base. Widely called the most wearable yet still distinctive Zoologist, it is a meditative, "country-house-vs-Japanese-tea-house" green chypre that polarizes precisely because of its uncompromising galbanum. Now discontinued in this original form. ## Scent Profile The opening (first 10 - 20 minutes) is an aggressive, "piercingly fresh" green blast: sharp, sour green apple and tart blood-mandarin lit up by a very spiky galbanum that several reviewers found so loud they had to let it settle and re-try the next day. Cedar is present early, defining and drying the fruit. This is a modern, translucent green - not a 70s/80s powerhouse - but it is genuinely bitter and rooty, "dank and humid," like walking into a jungle. The heart (1 - 3 hours) is the meditative core: galbanum mellows into a more natural green while jasmine tea and frankincense bring a contemplative resin-and-floral "ceremonial" accord, with ylang-ylang and palisander rosewood adding soft floral-woody body and honey a faint sweetness. The tea note reads as both jasmine tea and a more acerbic green tea. The drydown (3+ hours) settles into dry woods, cedarmoss, a "furry" floral musk, and a translucent white oud that recapitulates the earlier cedar - close-wearing but not a true skin scent. Perceptible notes: galbanum (dominant throughout), green apple, mandarin, jasmine/green tea, frankincense, cedar/white oud, musk. Submerged or divisive: the apple "escapes" some noses entirely while dominating others; some get banana, lotus-root, or hay/stable nuances. Signature accord: bitter-green galbanum laced with jasmine tea and incense over dry cedar. It is more linear than the three-stage marketing suggests, but does evolve from a green-fruity attack to a soft mossy-woody calm. Colognoisseur's Mark Behnke tracked it precisely: galbanum sets up "the green of the jungle," frankincense and jasmine tea form "the basis for the ceremonial," the tea turns "more acerbic," cedar-like white oud "recapitulates the cedar," finishing with "a furry musk." ## Performance Reports are inconsistent but cluster around solid extrait performance. Colognoisseur cites 10 - 12 hour longevity with average sillage. Wearer accounts more often describe moderate sillage that retreats fairly quickly to a close aura, with longevity commonly around 6 - 8 hours on skin and some reporting the green/musky base lingering longer; one early reviewer noted it "remaining in place for about four hours" with moderate-then-quick-retreating sillage. A recurring minority complaint is that it (like much of the line) can feel "faint and timid." Heat appears to amplify the green tartness and the scent is widely tagged for spring/summer warmth; specific dry-vs-humid behavior isn't well documented, though several wearers explicitly invoke hot, humid jungle imagery. Best application strategy: spray liberally - one reviewer who "sprayed it liberally just to waste it" found it bloomed far better than a light application, and aged/macerated samples reportedly smoothed out the sharp opening. ## Wearing Context A daytime, warm-weather scent at heart - spring and summer, casual and contemplative. Cafleurebon's Gail Gross argued that because of the depth of its woody-incense underpinnings it is actually "wearable year 'round, a profoundly soothing perfume which spans the seasons," and several wearers enjoy the dry incense-woods in cold weather too. It shines as a meditative, "therapeutic," nature-evoking scent - reviewers imagine spas, gyms, Asian gardens, temple forests - and as an easy-to-wear but non-boring office or around-the-house option. It falls flat for those who find galbanum unpleasant or the whole thing too "weird," too synthetic, or too quiet; a few read it as "old ladies at Sunday School" or "cheap deodorant." Social-perception skew: fully unisex, leaning slightly green-masculine; it does not reference any standard citrus/floral/vanilla template, so "people have no idea what kind of perfume" you're wearing - a plus for distinctiveness, a minus for compliment-seekers. ## Comparisons & DNA Macaque sits in a small family of modern green/galbanum scents. Bois de Jasmin's Victoria Frolova framed it as "a blast of green smelling materials: galbanum, apple, green tea framed with crisp white floral nuance... On top of dry woods." Wearer and critic comparisons include Serge Lutens De Profundis (chrysanthemum-cold, somber green - "strikingly identical" to one reviewer, but Macaque adds more cedar); Ralph Lauren Safari (a "chill transparent version" of its dry green); and within Zoologist, Panda 2017 (also apple/tea but Macaque is "by far the better apple/tea scent... Much more natural"), and Elephant (a wearer found Macaque a near-variation with coconut minimized and more green honey/petitgrain plus jasmine). Shiseido Zen and the classic green chypres Estee Lauder Alliage / Clinique Wrapping are invoked as spiritual relatives by one reviewer. No designer or Lattafa/Armaf-style clone exists. Lineage: Macaque was the second green woody perfume in the line after one of Paul Kiler's compositions, and is the direct ancestor of the 2021 Macaque Fuji Apple and Yuzu Editions by Mackenzie Reilly, which kept the temple-forest concept but swapped McCartney's galbanum-green DNA for a hinoki-incense-with-fruit structure. ## Reception Macaque is one of the more critically praised but wearer-polarizing Zoologists. Among wearers it long carried a relatively low rating that surprised admirers; reviews are, as one wearer put it, "all over the place." A few critics were notably warm, praising Victor Wong's creative direction, its cool fruity-resinous mood, and its place among notable modern greens. Common praise: originality, the masterful galbanum, the meditative tea-incense calm, and its status as among the most wearable in the line. Common criticism: the galbanum is divisive (some find it bitter, synthetic, or "unwearable"), the apple is inconsistent across skin, performance can feel timid, and a vocal minority dislikes the resinous incense base (one reviewer dismissed it as smelling like "a sixties amber from hell... Some sort of pre-made perfumery base"). Polarization axes: galbanum tolerance, apple perception, and whether the quietness reads as elegant or anemic. Blind-buy verdict: risky - sample first, since galbanum is love-it-or-hate-it, and the scent is now discontinued and harder to source. ## Versions & Reformulation The original Macaque by Sarah McCartney has been discontinued and is no longer available from Zoologist; the brand explicitly directs buyers to the 2021 reinterpretations. It was offered as an extrait de parfum (the house standard; retailer listings cite around 25% for the Macaque editions, with the original sometimes labeled EDP). The 2021 Fuji Apple and Yuzu Editions are not reformulations of this juice but separate compositions by a different perfumer (Mackenzie Reilly) on the same theme - they share little with McCartney's green-galbanum original beyond the macaque concept and dry woody backbone. Aged bottles/samples reportedly macerate well, smoothing the sharp galbanum opening over time. ## Acquisition Notes The house sits in the premium niche extrait tier. This version has historical or edition-specific availability, so confirm the exact name, perfumer, and release year before buying. Samples or small formats are the sensible first step when available, especially for discontinued or similarly named Zoologist editions. Buy through official or authorized channels when possible. ## Notable Facts & Lore - McCartney studied primatology at university and had toy chimpanzees as a child, later visiting an orangutan sanctuary in Borneo; she came to the brief already knowledgeable about her subject. - She and Wong deliberately built a backstory - a senior-but-still-playful macaque (not the alpha, "still a little bit naughty") in a Japanese temple troop - before any scent existed, emphasizing green Asian-forest notes, incense, soft florals, tea and mossy temples. - A perfumer interview by Miguel Matos documents the collaboration in detail. - The scent is vegan/animal-product-free like the whole line.