Bat Edition 2020.

The fruit bat offered a two-part concept: a creature drawn to lush tropical abundance by day, navigating complete darkness by night using echolocation. Prin Lomros translated this duality into scent, sweet fruit that descends into mineral darkness, a journey from jungle canopy to cavern depths. The brief wasn't about replicating bat biology. It was about capturing the feeling of that descent: from bright, ripe sweetness into something older, earthier, and entirely alive.

The mineral-earth accord is the structural spine here, present from the opening straight through to the drydown. Without it, this would be a straightforward tropical fruit fragrance. With it, the composition has somewhere to go, the mineral darkness becomes the destination, not an accident. Guava and passion fruit are bright and almost aggressive in their sweetness, but fig softens them, adds an earthy counterweight that previews what's coming. The mineral notes then arrive like damp stone, like the walls of a cave after rain. This is what makes bat unusual: fruit that doesn't stay fruity.

The opening announces tropical ripeness, guava, passion fruit, the green edge of fig. Within minutes, mineral darkness arrives. The sweetness doesn't disappear; it recedes, becomes a memory of light as the cave closes in. The heart introduces hay and jasmine, incense threading through like smoke in a dark room. Night-blooming jasmine blooms in shadow, not sunlight. Then the base: vetiver, leather, a mineral accord that smells like wet stone. The animalic warmth builds quietly beneath everything, musk that doesn't shout, just breathes. The vetiver and leather dominate the long drydown, mineral earth that transforms into something animalic and warm. Across the wear, the mineral-leather trail develops and evolves, revealing new facets as hours pass.

Bat embraces mineral notes, animalic warmth, and earthy depth with uncommon boldness. Whether it works is genuinely divisive. For those drawn to its darkness, it reads as evocative and alive. For others, the mineral-earth character feels stark against the tropical opening. The performance varies significantly by skin type, with some wearers reporting a full day and others noting fade within a few hours.