Zoologist Tyrannosaurus Rex Extrait de Parfum

T. Rex opens intensely caramelized and deep brown, then smoky, then waxy-balmy with delicious ornate florals, and then smoky again, like a bonfire among flowers. Strong Indian-wedding vibes.

There's a *lot* of ylang-ylang, and it's lush, tropical, and quite rubbery. Golden and breathy, backed up with resins.

Then the smoke and resins strengthen, the color darkens from gold to toffee and copper, and we've got caramelized smoky flowers, or spicy floral incense. It's very strong, but I find it beautiful. It's like Gardoni's other incense scent, Lita, with a heavy dose of floral nectar mixed in. Lots of champaca and ylang, lots of humid, heavy, tropical floralcy. Basically this is the most epic nag champa incense ever.

Over the first hour the florals recede slightly and the smokiness strengthens. The tangy, bright-brown incense also turns a bit sharper, more pine-sappy and resinous. By the 1-hour mark, T-Rex is distinctly a conifer-resin and smoke scent; still very strong and fierce, reddish-brown and the perfect balance of sweet and bracingly turpentiney.

By 1.5-2 hours, T. Rex is finally starting to dry out and calm down a little; less reddish amber-resin, more crackly golden incense and woods. (Sandalwood?) It's still quite rich and warm, though, with a lovely golden radiance. And sometimes the pine-sap note comes back and makes it glow red-gold.

I think T. Rex is one of Gardoni's best fragrances, and one of my all-time faves; there are simply no other floral/incense scents this bold and epic. True to Gardoni's usual style, it's an aggro tour de force, merging the complexity of classical perfume with a punchy intensity of flavor the vintage classics never had. Sure, it's too much for some people, but for me it's rollicking feel-good fun.

You don't wear this because you want to smell good. You wear this because you want to smell different. It's not made for the masses, but for an individual. A statement piece. It smells like a forest, freshly struck by a meteor. Extremely well crafted, long lasting, nuclear projection. If you want to smell appealing, there are better options. If you want to stand out, intimidate, and be wild, ferocious and unique, wear this. Nothing will compare to how unique and different this is. Sample first; but just know it's made to be complex. It will unfold your brain in way no other cologne will. Definitely a male fragrance. Enjoy with caution.

It clings to my clothes, my hair, my soul, and mixes with my natural pheromones so well I feel like a sexy cryptid at the dog park, it smells like a dinosaur just stomped through a forest fire, then it melts into this weirdly cozy smoky hug on my skin.

This scent is absolute chaos in a bottle and I mean that as the highest compliment.

fucking horrific.
that was the first thing out of my mouth and i've decided not to revise it. sometimes the review writes itself on the opening spray and everything after that is just footnotes.
the footnotes, then. lighting a charcoal grill with hickory sticks. meaty BBQ sauce. meaty dog food. an old leather couch and a pile of tires sitting in a garage.
the culprit is cade oil. it's a tarry phenolic distillate from juniper wood that smells of smoke, tar, burning wood, creosote, meat, and rubber depending on nose and concentration. at extrait strength, as a structural base alongside leather and frankincense and civet, it does exactly the thing it does. gardoni put it there on purpose. this is not a fragrance that has gone wrong. it's a fragrance that went exactly where he wanted it to go and where i was never going to follow.
and t.rex is apparently the final boss of the whole category for me. i already knew cade oil was a confirmed aversion: city on fire, bois d'ascèse, and the pink lotus absolute thing in anubis all trigger the same tarry-phenolic-smoky register. but t.rex is the most extreme and undiluted expression of that pattern in my whole archive. the one that named the category. the one where "fucking horrific" came out before any polite intervening thought could soften it.
i respect gardoni. i think bogue MAAI is extraordinary. i understand that people genuinely love this perfume and consider it a masterpiece, and i believe them. i am just not one of those people and i never will be, because my nose and cade oil have a standing disagreement that no amount of craft on the composer's side can resolve.
this is very bad. on me. respectfully. definitively.

Just amazing!! I love this cologne so much it’s long lasting and takes you on a dramatic journey from Smokey incense to beautiful woody notes throughout the day great for the person that loves unique beauty

I applaud Gardoni's attempt to concoct a scent that tells the story of a monster lizzard, facing a fire and brimstone apocalypse. He has probably done an excellent job however it's not a story that I can wear. It's not that I don't like beastly, animalic fragrances or smoke notes - Rhinoceros is one of my favourites. But this one is too acrid, with the smell of diesel and burning phenols. It improves in the dry down but I don't have the patience to wait 4 hours for it to stop assaulting my senses.

Better off as a candle than perfume

Such an awesome fragrance!

Not for me. This fragrance can be very polarising, it has a very strong incense smell on my skin. Incense is usually one of my favourite notes, but this goes to the extreme on my skin. Reminds of one of those esoteric stores where all you smell is incense, but amplify it to 10. Not saying it smells bad, just not the right level of intensity for me.

Super interesting smell definitely smells strongly of incense but some hints of a oldness like must or an old person super interesting and surprisingly wearable I got two compliments on it

This gets a LOT of polarizing opinions. The opening is quite harsh, yes, however the dry down is a gorgeous, smokey cedar with a hint of incense. It's a beautiful blend, though won't suit everyone.