Hinoki Meditation

Hinoki Meditation by d’Annam is less a perfume and more a whispered memory. The first time I smelled it, I was transported—straight into a quiet Kyoto forest, where the air is damp with moss and the wood of the temple walls breathes out centuries of incense. It carries the same spiritual hush I get from Eucalyptus 20 by Le Labo, but here it’s softer, more inward, like meditation in stillness rather than ritual in grandeur. If Eucalyptus 20 is a bright morning at the shrine, Hinoki Meditation is the moment just before dusk, when shadows stretch long and everything feels suspended. There’s a sacred warmth here—woody, smoky, resinous—but wrapped in something gentle and green, like fresh cypress needles underfoot. It reminds me of the colonial churches in Antigua Guatemala, too, the old stones and incense that linger in the air long after the last candle’s burned out. Completely genderless, deeply atmospheric, and achingly nostalgic. It doesn’t shout; it hums. It lingers close to the skin, but what it gives you is not performance—it’s presence.

Hinoki Meditation is a genuine surprise! It opens slightly challenging with a leathery and sulfuric facet, alongside "wood-chips". The smoke here though caught me by surprise, it is not a conventionally meditative temple incense smoke. Instead, it is a "fourth of July" type accord in an abstract sense: gunpowder, charred woods, celebratory fire. The hinoki emerges alongside green characteristics that lend to a fougere olfactory experience with a very masc presentation. It is absolutely unique. It accomplishes being easy to wear even through the smoke which is a feat in itself. Quite great woodsy scent! Score: 7/10 Wearability: 7/10 Projection: Moderate Longevity: Moderate

A stunning marriage of warm spices and fresh pine. So bright and sticky that the resins lean citrusy. ALSO there is something sweaty here (No its not just me). Irresistible. Like chopping wood under the sun all day. Pink skin dripping wet, blistered hands dirty and sap-stuck to the axe. Oh my god its incredible. This is the kind of direction I'd hoped the greens and freshies had taken in Enchanting Vietnam. This is distinct! This is the wilderness! This is human and evocative and complex! So beautiful.

I had high hopes for this fragrance. It does have a bit of the d'Annam complexity, namely in the opening as the spices of unburnt incense guide you through the fragrance. However, as soon as those spices cease its almost a clone of Hwyl. I will say the dry down of cypress is far better than the screechy end of Hwyl. Excellent performance, and out of the "exploring a forest" scents (CdG Hinoki, Big Sur Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus 20, Hinoki in Hinoki, and Hwyl) this is the most complex.

a deep-in-the-rainforest-temple scent, but surprisingly very polite and sexy. it could lean more on the masculine side but honestly does it really matter at this day and age. it really is one of the house's most longlasting scents where the drydown (at least to my untrained nose) isn't too harsh, but the hinoki notes sure are STRONG (which i absolutely adore). I could smell this on a man who's got his shit together, actually has a skincare routine, and very calm.