Zazen

Zazen means sitting meditation, 瞑想 (meisō). Done in quiet, often in a lotus position, either through following one's breath or repeating a koan or mantra. This perfumed Zazen had me skeptical before I experienced it. I try to temper my cynicism with an open mind, but I am leery of the co-opting of these traditions for western consumption. Before I thought to roll my eyes, I felt a pang: maybe this will feel earnest and I can respond in kind. I sampled it, and it felt good. Zazen opens with an immediate apple-peel tartness and citric pucker as if representing a Tibetan bell. What follows is the aroma of saffron-scented steamed rice. This is the first time I've encountered a beautiful, realistic rice accord in a perfume. A hum of cool green runs through like an ensō. It feels like wet, tropical vegetation, watercolor violet leaf, cool bamboo, hints of teak wood. I am even reminded of the scent of milkweed sap, a lactonic green but different from that of fig. Beautifully peculiar and calming. Slowly, Zazen shifts into a translucent musk and hints of what reminds me of dried mandarin peel, sweet and slightly out of focus. I've actually worn this while meditating. It fits, it does not distract. My regards to the perfumer for an artful and respectful ode to this concept. It will easily be a favorite of the 2023 releases.

Once you spray Zazen, it blows up with sour and sharp green apple and mandarin orange. The start reminds me much of Sogni by Meo Fusciuni: the same astringent quality I get from both at the very beginning. In the base notes, Zazen is pleasant - green potion with prominent but soft rice and watery violet. Zazen stays fresh, green, and watery but also develops into a soft, comforting, a bit powdery fragrance. In comparison to Sogni, it's less powdery/milky and without slightly sweet floral notes. Personal rating: 6/13

You know this scene in Ratatouille when the guy eats Remmy’s signature dish and gets flashbacks? This is how this scent feels to me. A yummy blend of rice milk with fruits. Opening is more floral, citrusy, but once it settles down it becomes the most cozy, sweet, and comforting scent.

It's a warm,cozy perfume, it gives me this "friendly" felling to it, like something we know but yet it's still "new" for us. Brings me peace, It's really different than what we have in mainstream these days,I think it's good to "clear" our heads from time to time. Marvelous.

Category: Savory, musky (the skin kind, not the laundry detergent/soap kind) Notes: Sprays on smelling mostly of saffron, but it quickly morphs into perhaps the most photorealistic smell of jasmine rice I've come across in perfumery so far. Soft, fragrant and a little powdery with a mild skin-like musk in the base. There's also a green note playing in the background, reminiscent of unripe bananas. The saffron remains for about 1.5-2 hours before it disappears. Vibe: Saffron buns. Rice pudding. Morocco. Early summer outing. Homebody. Cozy night in. Suppertime. A mother's love. Sake. Sillage: 5/10. This is absolutely a skin scent, you have to be flush up against the skin to tell it's there. The notes in and of themselves are also wholly inoffensive, adding to the overall muted quality. Longevity: 3/10. Within 3 hours this is barely there. Longevity wise this is very disappointing, especially for the price point. Wear: I’d say this is a daytime fragrance, and likely best saved for spring and summer. The middle of December is perhaps not the best time to try this on - other than the saffron which to me is quintessentially wintery this is a light, airy and soft scent that I think would work better in hotter weather. Overall rating: 6.5/10. I’ve been looking for a fragrance that sufficiently mimics the smell of freshly boiled jasmine rice, and this is by far the closest thing I've come across. There are two things that bug me - the crappy longevity and the saffron. The green, unripe banana note makes sense in the composition - if you've ever had sake which is typically made from rice you'll know that some brands have a very distinct banana aroma and flavor to them. But the saffron... Suddenly we are in a different territory, diverging from just plain rice, into the realm of saffron rice pudding or something similar. It doesn't ruin it for me, especially considering it does go away completely after about 2 hours, but it absolutely isn't what I had hoped for or expected from this fragrance and considering the longevity I'm not stoked about it. Speaking of, the performance in terms of longevity also brings down my overall rating by a lot, because I cannot justify paying $255 for something that lasts me less than 6 hours. Overall I am happy to have added this to my collection, but will likely have to give this a few more tries before I can fully gauge how I feel about it. Genuinely a one-of-a-kind fragrance; unique and difficult to wrap your head around - I'd consider this a great example of perfumery as an art form rather than perfumery for the sake of mass appeal. For those who are curious, this is totally unisex with no marked lean in either direction of fem or masc. I am now even more curious about what else the house of Robert Piguet has to offer. If I had to describe this scent with one word it would be comforting. Who would wear it?: I think this would be a lovely fit for a newly made mother. I think this scent is so gentle and comforting it could lull a child to sleep.

On first spray it does have a buttery popcorn accord similar to sol de janeiro’s 62/71 which I really enjoyed. It does have a certain savoury nutty, green sweet and milky facet to it that I really enjoy. There’s something that comes off as a tuberose (so white it’s green kind of flower) and as the perfume sits longer I think the floral, and slight powdery nuances comes to the forefront. It’s definitely not sugary sweet but more so in the way a vegetable can be sweet in a less watery way (maybe sweetcorn-ish?) - maybe buttery is the word I’m looking for? All in all it’s quite nice for day to day wear, it sits quite close to the skin and maintains that savoury butter popcorn quality for a decent amount of time. As it dries down I go get a bit of the rice accord of something a little powdery and starchy which I like (I love powdery scents). From what i could smell it was a skin scent for around 6 hours before I stopped smelling it. I did like it though and I will definitely find time to wear it alone because I suspect the other heavy hitting perfume I tried did drown it out quite a bit. 8/10 Update: I have worn it a couple times since and it’s such a strange perfume (in a good way) this is the probably the most unique thing I own at the moment in my collection. It’s savoury but lactonic but green but sweet. I didn’t smell apple at first but the longer I wear it the more I smell it - especially in the opening, it’s like green apple without the sourness. I usually don’t like apple in fragrances but this made me reconsider. I imagine it to look like sage coloured milk? Although I definitely have to be on the right mood to wear this, I find that mood comes around surprisingly often.

Zazen resembles a milky realm, akin to Lignum by Beaufort or Calabria by Nishane. It’s a dry, slightly greenish milky dessert with character. I initially thought it was cardamom, but it’s probably saffron. The note is less pronounced, while Oud Delice is more straightforward; among them, Zazen is the most intriguing. It feels like an oriental Bavarian cream or chai latte—you could almost imagine smelling like that all day long. Whether it lasts that long is another question. Still, it’s worth remembering as a competitor to Lignum.

Someone on YT has put it in his top 2023 releases, which I don't get at all. To me, it smells like milk powder, mixed with something salty/mineral. Not for me.

Wow, it's like if DKNY Be Delicious grew up from a loud green apple 00s teenager into a more balanced apple granola bars millennial in her 30s. Be Delicious was my first perfume I got for my 13th birthday and I use to be in love with it for it's fresh and energetic character. Am I still big on green apple? No. I don't really like any fruity notes, however once the apple is gone, Zazen becomes more milky, almondy, carby, cookie-like and I kind of like it. It's more cozy - it likes to spend evenings at home baking sweets instead of sneaking vodka in a school backpack to a random house party on the other side of the city. I don't think I would go for the full bottle, but I really like the mental image and state of comfort this perfume sends me into.

I was intrigued by “savory” as a main accord since I don’t usually see that here on fragrantica, and yesterday I finally got to smell Zazen on my skin. It smells like...Daisy by Marc jacobs! But more grown up and a bit less sweet. The violet comes through but in a very green facet, not floral necessarily. I do get the rice, though I feel this is a more green and ozonic fragrance than savory. There is a creamy facet here as well, thanks to the tonka and amber. Refreshing, and meditative like the name suggests.

I tried Zazen, and the first question - who is the creator of this fragrance? It is very sad to smell such an interesting aroma without an author - like reading a book without the author's name on the cover. Sad. The smell really stands out from all the crowd-pleasers. It is an unusual composition between milky, soft, powdery and green, vibrating facets of smell. Worth a try.

I couldn't stand Zazen when I tried it in the summer, but trying it again in the winter made me understand and appreciate it more. The opening is a masterful interpretation of the smell of freshly cooked rice, then it quickly moves on to a slightly grainy, green scent before the base notes kick in.

Sweet, light, carby and soft ricey opening. You’d think this is very much within the L’Eau Papier Diptyque / Sogni Meo Fuscini DNA. The cozy rice note (unlike L’Eau Papier) fades quite fast and it turns into a very watery, fresh green floral. Like Philosykos without the fig.

I am SOOOO in love with this. Smells like putting my nose in a bag of rice!

I need to try this!!!!!! Love perfume with rice note