Chris Rusak calls it “minimalist weirdo.” I call it Mythical Creature, because of its shapeshifting abilities. And, over time, this creature has become like a familiar — it responds to my own energies. Sometimes I refer to it as “a perfume mood ring.” It’s my favorite thing to come along in quite a while.

When Beast Mode was released in late 2019, I developed a sort of obsession with it. Every single time I wore it, I had a slightly different impression! It was like reading a really good mystery novel, a “page-turner” of a perfume — I couldn’t wait to wear it again to see what would happen next. I wanted to know all of its secrets.

I have also wanted to write about Beast Mode for a long time. Over the past eight months I’ve started and abandoned and deleted dozens of attempts. It’s just too…. ineffable. It is a little bit different for every wear, on every body. Also, I struggle with wanting to tell people HOW to try it, because I just know that they will love it IF they give it a chance. (I didn’t fall in love with it instantly, it took a few wearings for it to reveal its true self to me).

This is my first writing about Beast Mode, and it still applies:

Sometimes I smell waxy and rubbery tuberose. Sometimes I feel a sprinkling of crushed black peppercorns. Sometimes I hear the reverberations of the strings of an upright bass being plucked. Sometimes I taste “drop” – that super-salty Dutch licorice that stings your tongue.
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Beneath it all there is a stunning smear of warm, silvery, waxy goodness that has an animalic purr and an ambery sheen. Musky, buttery extravagance with flecks of vanilla, it glides over skin like a silk chemise. It’s like wearing candlelight.
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Beast Mode is a soft, minimalist composition, but lavish in its complexities. As I move about, different facets catch the light and reveal themselves. I was delighted again and again by the surprises that kept popping up, and this puzzle that’s still revealing itself to me.

But also, there’s so much more.

I’m one of those people who experiences and describes perfumes using all of my senses. To hell with “the pyramid,” let me tell you a story. And, the more I like something, the more I feel, and the more abstract and personal it becomes. All of Chris Rusak’s perfumes are very evocative, and so I love them but it’s a struggle to write about them. Going through “the notes” in a top-down progression doesn’t do them justice.

I’ve wrestled with writing about Beast Mode for so long, and I still haven’t come up with anything that conveys its simple genius, the way it’s both beautiful and serious, austere and profound, how it feels like a safe embrace and a soft armor against the world.

Rather than just continue to flounder, and say nothing at all, I’ve decided to take a collection of various thoughts and feelings that I’ve written down during different wearings of Beast Mode, and simply share them. I hope you find them intriguing.

BEAST MODE IMPRESSIONS

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I’m coloring on a giant, warm piece of butcher paper with a fat tuberose crayon.

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It was eluding me, and I got impatient, so I sprayed 6 big sprays on my forearms. Then after about an hour I sat down to respond to an email, got a little heated, and whew! It unleashed the pepper with a snarl, came right up and bit me. Beast Mode has teeth. I won’t underestimate its potential potency again, it is really, REALLY reactive to body heat and chemistry.

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I ordered 6 pounds of salmiak – the cats, the starfish, the scheepstuow, the honing drop, the rocks, and the apekoppen. Damn you, Beast Mode. This perfume has me craving salty licorice, RIP my tongue.

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I am sitting at a loom, effortlessly weaving silver and gold strands of silk, the resulting fabric is a perfect unification of solar (masculine) and lunar (feminine) energies. It is not “either-or” it is both.

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I’m a tender vanilla starfish with black pepper spines, watching the sunrise at low tide.

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I had to spend the night alone in the hospital, covered in wires and sensors and scratchy sheets and strangers’ hands. I had tossed my 30mL bottle of Beast Mode in my bag, thank goddess, and after the doctors and nurses left the room I sprayed it on over all the cold strangeness. Beast Mode wrapped around me like a protective and soothing hug from an old friend, and I was able to relax.

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I’m a fairy with silvery gossamer wings, eating salt & pepper calamari out of a tuberose bowl.

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The subtle use of ambroxan, which I usually hate, is brilliant. When combined with the real vanilla bean tincture and civet, it reminds me of Mandy Aftel’s Antique Ambergris (minus all the tonka). It’s gorgeous, and masterful in its restraint. I never thought I would love ambroxan.

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Beast Mode is sophisticated but not pretentious. It is a perfume for people who enjoy thinking and contemplation. If erudition had a scent, this could be it.

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I’m a mermaid, bathed in moonlight and sea spray, sitting on a limestone sea stack and licking a whale’s tail. No-no! Wait, look closer — it’s just this salmiakki ice cream bar.

I’m a pampered house cat whose affectionate owner wears loads of Tama N Tuberose, which lingers on my silky fur. I’ve jumped onto the dining room table and knocked over the pepper shaker. Little pieces of black pepper still cling to my fluffy tail. I’m completely unbothered.

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I’m lying on warm sand, wearing nothing but a tuberose lei. Foamy rootbeer-bubble waves lap at my toes.

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I am a professional and an intellectual. I’m beautiful, but in a very smart way, so people never objectify me. They wouldn’t dare. I’m the type of person who quietly elevates the scene, merely with my presence. Wherever I am, chamber music would suddenly seem appropriate. I’m glad that someone managed to perfectly capture my personality in a scent.

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I’m a thousands-year-old sea hag with salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a huge garnet amulet and fur-trimmed cape, holding my old Grimoire with thick, yellowed pages, standing at the base of a haunted lighthouse.

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Beast Mode glides over my skin like a silk chemise. It’s comfortable and effortless, but also very sophisticated. I find myself craving it at home in the afternoon and evening, because it’s quietly sensual. But it’s also perfect to wear to work because it stays close to my body, and it changes enough throughout the day to hold my interest. I feel very intelligent and powerful when I wear it.

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Beast Mode smells like what love feels like. Not lust or infatuation, but the deep, authentic love that I experience from the people in my life who care so much about me. Beast Mode is quiet but fierce. Enveloping. Warm and cozy, and not too sweet. It never gets in your face, but you can always sense its presence. It responds to me, somehow sensing my moods through my skin, and it makes little changes to please me.

BEAST MODE FINAL THOUGHTS

I can’t wrap this up without discussing the history and inspiration of Beast Mode for a moment. (We know this from Chris Rusak’s delightful Studio Series, in which he discusses his work in progress and provides samples for subscribers to smell along the way.) Beast Mode started out as a challenge to use two of his least favorite perfumery ingredients — vanilla and ambroxan. As he worked, he found ways to balance these common ingredients and make them lovely by masterfully opposing them in a bold way that ends up creating harmony.

Chris describes the beast in Beast Mode as “a creature of deception,” and speaks about its cunning and intention. Indeed, the most dangerous beast may be the one which lures you in willingly. Beast Mode is definitely alluring, I found myself wanting to wear it again and again. My husband loves it also (although he can’t say why, or what it smells like, it’s just good stuff).

I hesitate to even list the notes, because it’s so much more than the sum of its parts, and none of them smell like what you would ordinarily expect anyway. The tuberose isn’t indolic, the vanilla isn’t sweet, the licorice isn’t candied, the pepper isn’t spicy, and the ambroxan isn’t effusive.

In short — you just have to smell it for yourself. I know that everyone always says that, but in this case it’s absolutely true. (Also, it’s not uncommon for people to barely be able to smell it the first time they try it. Strange, I know, but I experienced this myself and I’ve heard it from a number of other people too.)

BEAST MODE DETAILS

Beast Mode is presented as an EdT. Keeping with its theme, this is kind of deceptive, because it wears as a solid but tight aura of scent, and it lasts for 10-12 hours on my skin.

Beast Mode is a limited edition of 200 bottles. The 50mL size is sold out, but 30mL bottles are still available at this time. You can find more information about Beast Mode, and order a sample, a bottle, or a discovery set, on the Chris Rusak Perfume website.