Aether Arts Perfume Zarafa image via the brand

Once, in another life in the Serengeti, he stretched his neck
To feed on the acacia twigs, mimosa, wild apricot.
He was gentle and his heart was as long
As a human’s arm.
At night, the others of his species hummed to each other across
The woodlands there; no one knows how, exactly, to this day,
But you can hear their fluted sounds.–  “Giraffe” by Lucy Brock-Boido

2 x Art and Olfaction (2014 and 2022) award- winning Amber Jobin, founder and nose of Aether Arts Perfume, grabs inspiration from an enormous variety of sources, both intellectual and natural: deep space, the multiverse, Burning Man, historical figures, the Old West, and the natural world, to name a few. Her newest fragrance, Zarafa, or, loosely, “giraffe” in Arabic, celebrates these gentle, long-necked creatures with a warm, honey-based scent redolent of warm fur and orange blossom that evokes the animal’s inherent sweetness and sauntering elegance.

Amber Jobin of Aether Arts Perfumes collage

As Jobin explains, “Naturalists and hunters have long noted the aroma of the giraffe. Robert Cumming (1870) found the scent pleasant, reminding him of ‘a hive of heather honey in September’ … Using the anecdotal accounts of honey, musk and floral scents emanating from giraffes, their lovely spotted coats and geographic location, I created an animalic-floral with a honey-musk base.” Unsurprisingly, the dominant note of Zarafa is softly floral orange blossom honey. Sitting in the relative cool of my bedroom, I am struck but the way the animal notes cluster in the top before spreading out to allow the honey, spice, and florals breathing space. The first few moments of Zarafa are textural and warm; scents of musk and myrrh mingling with a dried tobacco leaf note and the maple-and-treacle aroma of immortelle. The smell of clean fur is perhaps the most lifelike I’ve come across yet; it has hints of tobacco leaf, immortelle, myrrh and musk, and reminds me of the warm, hay-and-hide smell you get nuzzling a horse. After a minute or so, honey seeps in, bringing with it creamy orange blossom and pinches of dry spice. I see turmeric listed in the notes along with saffron, but these usually identifiable, pungent spices don’t telegraph themselves to me (I thought of asafetida and fennel seed instead). Rather, they add a sandy dryness that undercuts the sweetness of the honey and floral accord and help keep the fragrance centered on both the furry-animalic accord and honey equally.

Honey and white flower, freepik

In the swelter of the late June heatwave, however, Aether Arts Perfume Zarafa starts quite differently. Stepping out into the afternoon torpor shortly after dabbing Zarafa afresh, the top notes and mid-section swap places. Heat and moisture in the air seem to enlarge the citrus so that orange and bergamot become initially the most prominent notes. Honey and spice come along next. After a few minutes in the sticky haze, Zarafa smells a bit like baklava syrup, honey and orange blossom water melted together with a dash of cinnamon. The furry accord that was so arresting in the cool of the air conditioning arrives more slowly, and, as the sun sets here, I think of the animals silhouetted against the daylight burning off towards dusk.

Zarafa reminds me at times of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s lovely Le Serval. The two fragrances share beautifully harmonized animal-indolic and honey-floral accords. But where Le Serval leans into green and woody aromas to invoke the great cat’s environs, Aether Arts Perfume Zarafa stays close to its subject by playing up the fur-musk and honey aspects and letting the florals, fruit and spice mellow quietly in the background.

Walking slowly to minimize the effects of humidity, I notice my protracted shadow stretching along the pavement. Scents of orange blossom honey and sun-warmed fur keep company as the trees rustle in the occasional shake of wind and the sun ducks behind the clouds. Zarafa.

Notes: Tawny coat accord, indolic floral accord, honey–musk accord, orange blossom absolute, jasmine absolute, bergamot, orange, turmeric, liatrix, amber, saffron.

Disclaimer: Sample of Aether Arts Perfume Zarafa kindly sent to me by Amber Jobin. My opinions, as always, are my own.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Aether Arts Perfume Zarafa image via the brand

Thanks to the generosity of Amber Jobin, we have a draw for a 2 ml roll-on of Aether Arts Perfume Zarafa for one registered ÇaFleureBon reader USA (or with a USA address). Please leave a comment about what appeals to you about Zarafa based on Lauryn’s review.  Draw closes 7/1/2024.

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You can read Michelyn’s brief for Vampire Queen created for our 14th anniversary with Amber here. Lauryn’s review of cyBorg Queen, our 13th anniversary celebratory fragrance collaboration here.

Please read: Deputy and Natural Perfumery Editor Ida Meister’s take on Aether Arts Perfumes SHIBARI 2023 and Lucid Synthetic Dreaming 2022.

Senior Editor Lauryn Beer’s exploration of Aether Arts Perfume Hive Mind, 2022. Michelyn’s Best Experiment Scent of 2022.

Editor-in-Chief Michelyn Camen’s journey as Creative Director for Circe in 2019. Senior Editor RIP Robert Herrmann’s experience of ÇaFleureBon and Aether Arts Perfume collaboration Touchstone in 2017.

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