Dõjima

The notes pyramid didn't do it justice. I don't perceive the rice as the dominant note, instead, this perfume features an ambiguous, elusive, unnamed accord that I've been chasing from one perfume to another, yet still failed to trap it with words. It smells rosy but 10 miles away from a typical rose flower, and creamy like a high-end face cream; it has something in common with the softest patchouli, also something in tobacco reminds me of preserved dry plum (话梅糖); it's mellow, doesn't have any hard angles; it's an enveloping fuzzy gold aura. I sensed it in Monsieur Beauregard by penhaligon, maybe in Aesthete by Le Galion, Alizarin by Penhaligon’s, Palissandr d'Or by Aedes, even hidden in the base of TF Santal blush. Is it a specialty base by some big-name company? Some type of patchouli? a facet of oud? A creamy orris? a certain tobacco component? Or it's just an imaginative note made up by my head? In Dojima, this unnamed accord is present in every stage of the perfume. Except the beginning —— it begins with tangible, paper-ish sandalwood . Then a cool-tone rice powder (not powdery) came up, wrapped inside this ambiguous creamy note . Then some truly dry, starchy powdery note (ambrette, probably) mixed in. Sometimes I get hints of jasmine underneath, but it's gone quickly. I'd say at some point the "rosy" color of the unnamed accord seems intensified, but in the long run, it just fades away.

Opens with a strong creamy sweet rice milk accord - rice plus the ambrette and orris, perhaps - and settles into almost a green floral mid within an hour and then the base is very amber forward. There's nothing here that surprises me yet it speaks to my favorite types of perfume notes with the exotic rice pudding/milky top and then the jasmine and amber base. I'm also a sucker for ambrette and orris root. This perfume is deliciously high quality and seems a bit gourmand without being a gourmand. I'll definitely be purchasing a full bottle but not from Lucky Scent. Side note; the samples at Lucky Scent are dabbers and total garbage for testing. Why they don't allow you to get a small spray instead is beyond me. It's not even necessary to bottle more of the perfume. I basically dumped my samples into spray testers I bought off Amazon for sharing my perfumes with fragrance friends and the experience is so much fuller with a spray tester. End rant.

My latest signature scent and I buy it right as they discontinued it great. If I had a tarot card to represent this aroma it would be temperance. The balancing act this does between every quality I love is unmatched. It’s fresh yet not ephemeral and has some weight and magnitude to it, it has a floral sweetness to it yet herbal and mature without smelling like a grandma idk how it does it. I recently when on a shopping spree of rice based notes and most of them didn’t really smell like actual rice but the note gives them all an air of warmth and sophistication that when attempted with other notes just hits the bottom of my nose and smells sluggish in comparison. But here it smells like wide open spaces and lifts u up. Genuinely sad it’s discontinued I’m dismayed Edit: I wore it to the gym and the rice note started screaming as I exerted myself. Really creamy and nutty with extreme heat and sweat added to it. Stunning

The orris in Dojima is so saturated by fatty musks and creamy rice I can almost see fat dripping off of my wrist as I smell it. Original, unusual and strangely pleasant. The nutmeg and sage are noticeable in the opening along with the fattiness, giving the composition a tingly feeling. As it develops the fattiness eventually gives way to a powdery and musky heart, with a very subtle oriental accord (labdanum?). The wood is there, but more to decorate the musk than as a main note. As a whole this is a very quirky scent, and I find myself loving the sample sometimes, yet find it off-putting other times. In terms of performance - longevity is short, and projection goes from loud to skin-close "very quickly" - part of it might be olfactory fatigue - my coworker asked confusingly "what's that smell?" after he got back from lunch, an hour after I put Dojima on. He was at least 2 feet away from me.

This is a sweet makeup powder scent but with a Japanese or Asian flair. Yes, it has a creamy aspect that isn’t au lait. It’s the creamy sandalwood, the creamy orris root texture, the cream quality of rice or whatever is in the ‘rice’ accord. I initially thought this has coconut in it. But, to clarify, this isn’t Kayali or whatever the gourmand brand du jour everyone is sniffing. It’s not sugar sweet, it’s floral sweet. It’s not cows milk, this smells like freshly steamed rice in the opening then 20 min later you have a very dusty makeup powder scent that becomes even more powdery and musky as ambrette tends to become once the lighter molecules depart. Mona di Orio gets missed in perfume talk but this is a smaller brand worth exploring. First, go on a diet from the Ulta Beauty-Sephora brands then sample this with a refreshed nose. Gorgeous.

Nuanced and subtle, but still commanding attention. Unique. Fairly linear and difficult to isolate individual notes. Instead of rice dominant, I pick up a beautiful orris note. Dojima is a really interesting scent, and a quantum leap from anything else I’ve tried this week.

NON-LINEAR, VERY COMPLEX indeed. I wore this beauty today (after wearing MdO vanille and myrrh casati the nights before) and i can clearly pick up a DNA that I came across in the other 2 as well. It's a subtle powdery dry down and a bit of a clean, almost soapy, but not too aldehydic opening. Idk if I'm picking up the rice because i know it has rice or what. I must say, the entire wear is very well-rounded, even the opening, although all fragrances are naturally punchy, this one doesn't open up with a blast of alcohol or aldehydes BUT u can still smell something clean. It has a sweetness which if i didn't know any better, i would've said it contains dark chocolate. That sweet thing affects the texture as well, it's dense almost candle-like. Also, almost smells like it has a vanilla base but minimally. Weird but i also pick up a very light citrusy touch, and surprisingly not in the opening but the dry down! maybe the oily sticky nature comes from the orris rather than the labdanum, who knows, but a beautiful ultra-complex fragrance.

Dojima is an odd combination of notes that somehow manages to smell entirely natural as a scent. I came in expecting the sweet, somewhat bready/pyrazine rice notes that I've sniffed in Kenzo Amour or other rice scents. But Dojima is a decidedly savory rice scent (the only other one I can think of is ELDO's Fils de Dieu). Dojima is a much simpler scent, with rice at the center. I get rice, milk, musk and sage(?). There's something tangy in the background and something starchy (rice and orris?). It's a rare cool but cozy scent, with a soft and comforting "texture". A bowl of rice milk with bay leaves floating in it. Despite its simplicity, I really enjoy it. Unfortunately it's not very strong at all. I smell it at my wrist but it doesn't have much projection. I did sample it from a dabber, so I'd love to see how it smells from a liberal spray application! strong like, would like more if projection was better.

I have to say if you are expecting a similarity with the L'artisan mentioned above then you will have a shock. The opening is intense sage, nutmeg and a little musk. You have wait for the rice note to appear as it's suffocated by the strong sage and nutmeg. It's worth the little wait as then I really enjoy it. It smells like an almost savoury herbal delight. Very unisex as little sweetness. With time I can detect the labdanum and ambrette. Thankfully the ambrette is quite low key as it's usually the kiss of death with my chemistry. I enjoy it after an hour and then can see a little similarity with LA Bois Farine. Average longevity and sillage. It is certainly not as powerful as the many MdiO I have tried. It's a nice herbally scent but not a love.

THIS IS NOT A CREAMY RICE. I pray to the fragrance gods that in 2023 we can stop recommending Dojima blindly as a go to option for people seeking something lactonic with creamy rice or wheat notes. It is a beautiful scent but it is not rice-forward at all. This not grandma's rice pudding or a cool glass of rice milk.It is a very bold, complex, spicy, musky white floral where the rice is a layer rather than being the star. Without the notes in front of them I don't think the average person walking down the street would ever guess rice notes. Now that I have processed my disappointment, I actually think it is a lovely scent. It is really the fragrance community falling short with blind recommendations rather than the perfume under-delivering.

Truly lovely, subtle, powdery-sweet yet herbal, distinctive ... but it's pathologically discreet on me. Either my skin kills it dead, or I grow anosmic to it fast - a huge shame as it's organically beautiful and special. Amazing control of the nutmeg, so this absolute thug of a spice doesn't crush the more delicate rice and leaves. If only this could be irradiated and mutated to be 10 times bigger, louder and more intense than it is ... though I guess that would kind of spoil the whole point of it as a classy-minimalist-lowkey-mystery scent for people with great taste and plenty money. True unisex and deeply admirable. Wish it performed for me.

The rice accord is almondy and almost paper-like, which combines with the powdery, floral, & resinous facets perfectly and creates a soothing effect. I'm surprised by this seemingly underwhelming fragrance, understated yet addicting.

Sweet, rather subtly oriental scent with powdery accents. Easy to wear, close to the skin, after the opening, the sillage quickly dissipates and remains intimately close, lingering on the skin for a few hours.

Well ... intimate, but not too much. Sweet rice, jasmine, sandalwood. Nutmeg and orris are also detectable. Halfway through I get a fennel-like note that pushes too hard. Maybe the sage-ambrette combo. The moss I get is not the modern type but rather classic. Basically: linear, simple, more feminine than unisex. The sillage is intimate here. Which is fine. The drydown lasts a long time and is similar to Armani's Pierre de Lune. Less animalic-fruity and unisex. Just a little more like a mature woman?Sweet aunt?

Savory, reminds me of Gansu noodle soup. After 6 hours it fades into a warm sandalwood. Probably sits better on someone else’s skin.

Comforting, luminous in a blurred manner, as morning grey mist turns to rose-gold, or early Autumn sunlight filtered through parchment paper, Dõjima is a more stylised and higher-didge Kenzo Amour, with the use of 2-acetyl pyrazine—the “rice” note, when the ads tell us it’s rice, but also the “bread” note, when frags such as Jeux de Peau list such an accord; fascinating stuff the power of words on influencing the mind—without the plasticky heliotropin interruption. There is such a nicely pronounced nutmeg accord, so that the powdery nature of the scent turns more toward warmth than an antiquated Covergirl compact. My experience is a bready, milky, rice steam, and puffs of sweet powder adorned with a goodly dose of nutmeg and golden-white woods. It lasts for quite awhile, at least a couple of hours, and it’s enticing enough to keep me, and those around me, intrigued, but never gassed-out. Feminine, but not at all frilly—it’s too sophisticated for little girl bubblegum, cheap male-up and candy-pink. Dõjima really does recall the little washi-paper adorned boxes of Japanese rice powder I was fond of decades ago. I’ve purchased the aforementioned Amour a total of three times, and have also sold it three times as well, as I’m very fond of the middle of the fragrance, but not the top and base, and Dõjima fills in these gaps perfectly. Maybe not FB worthy..yet..but I’m considering purchasing the (likely limited) option of at least the 10ml roller bottle presently being offered at MDO’s online boutique, as a way to introduce her two latest offerings—Dõjima and Suede de Suede. Mlle di Orio’s creations are superb, and although pricey, I’d rather have a few bottles of fragrance that I love, than 4 dozen bottles of those by which I’m not terribly thrilled. The toughest part of discovering a line that one falls hard for, is holding back until 100% certain which fragrances are worth purchasing. Dõjima is most assuredly on the top of the list, with Nuit Noire, Lux & the tea-waxy Bohea Bohème close seconds, as soon as I get over the sticker-shock of purchasing Vanille.

I was disappointed when I tried this. Not because it's bad, weak or terrible, but because it didn't live up to my own expectations... Any time I hear of a scent that either references or uses ANYTHING Japan as an inspiration, my interest is almost always piqued. My expectations, however, are rarely ever met. Not because I'm a snob (well, not solely), nor because the perfumers do a bad job, but mostly because the intended outcome is not actually achievable. Dojima is now just a tiny machi, just south of Umeda, and of course the Pokemon Center, and I've been to Osaka more times than I can (literally) remember, but this scent does not really evoke anything remotely Japanese. It's a fault SOOO many perfumers have; the need to give something Japan-inspired a Japanese name -- only Nankun Kodo (arriving today) and a few others really come close, and I am ENTIRELY aware that this speaks more to me and my own (limited) experiences with/in Japan, but I am indeed reviewing this based on my own experience... The perfume itself comes across as a sketch -- not incomplete/lacking in any way, but moreso as an accord that doesn't really do much or go anywhere. It's a coloured musk, a flavoured floral with cheap base sandalwood that really truly does not inspire AT all. The orris is muted, the rice is NOT at all J-Rice -- koshihikari has a distinct nuttiness -- in fact, it doesn't even smell like ANY rice. Basmati, Jasmine, NOTHING like that. Anyway, I get a white musk overlay with vague florals, and, even though this scent is not at all bad, it's just not at all what I would normally wear...

This is a beautiful fragrance. It’s very delicate. It definitely leans feminine. I believe this is due to the jasmine. I can see a very high class female wearing this scent, with her beautiful, perfectly tailored suit and luxury silk scarf, with briefcase. When first sprayed, there is a really thick rice accord. It’s very nice. It’s very realistic. Then the other notes play around with your nose a little bit. For instance, the sandlewood and sage start to make themselves known etc. The rice does seem to remain at the top and I enjoy it. I generally do not gravitate to jasmine though and in this fragrance, it is too present. The sharpness of it is too much for me. Although the sharpness dies down over time, the jasmine is still present enough to say this fragrance leads with it. If you enjoy jasmine however, and want a quiet jasmine fragrance, this might be a very good choice.

Such an interesting, delicate and beutiful perfume. Really captures the creamy tone of rice, coupled with a little bit of mysterious spice (nutmeg seemed spot on when I read the notes) and light flowers that do not take over but contribute to the softness of it. I would say lily flowers rather than jasmine, but that could be because of the spiciness that nutmeg gives it. Unfortunately my sample is empty and I don't remember the linearity of it. This would be a great signature fragrance for a classy woman (although it's not mature, I would say 20 and upwards), perfect for office or home. Would be a good gift for someone with a soft and feminine style.

With its starchy and green but simultaneously creamy and powdery profile Dõjima becomes one of the most unique fragrances in my collection. I sampled this religiously before I decided to buy, and I do not regret it! I've come to adore this perfume! The notes blends together to feel like one homogeneous scent - but that sways between being a creamy rice pudding or a dry herbal bush. I defenitly get the labdanum and sage in this. Even if it is unique, it's quite inoffensive and works wonders as an everyday perfume. If you get the chance to try this - do it! I bet it will be something different from what you're used to!