Description
Zen is the first Shiseido’s perfume released at the world market. It was created in 1964 in a black bottle with a floral pattern. This is an intensive floral scent, with hyacinth, orange blossom, jasmine, mimose, daffodil, violet and woody-musky base, which is not produced anymore. A newer, modern version was launched in 2000 and the creator is Nathalie Lorson. This version is lighter, more pellucid, with a general resemblance with the original. The bottle of the second Zen is white. The third version of Zen was created in 2007 by Michel Almairac of Robertet.
Top notes: bergamot, galbanum and orange blossom. Heart: jasmine, rose, violet, narcissus, hyacinth, carnation, orris root and mimosas. Base: sandalwood, cedar, oak moss, amber and musk.
Asteroid – :
a beautiful warm, light chypre with aldehydes and orris and light florals including hyacinth mainly with some rose, galbanum, carnation, violet and a lot of cedar, sandalwood and musk; this is a dry chypre with no sweetness; very vintage and the kind of chypre that I can love when I claim to hate oakmoss; I can get behind this one because it doesn’t dominate me
kaktus – :
This has all the lovely notes of a chypre, but is milder than many of the others in that genre. It would be a good entrance into that realm for someone just getting into perfumes. Such a charming blend of oakmoss and carnation. I loved stealing dabs of this from my mother’s dresser when I was a child and still find it pretty and comforting.
bridget_baby – :
I don’t believe I’ve spent a day without wearing a fragrance since I was a little girl, when I wore Avon’s Sweet Honesty (in either the Persian cat, cupcake-shaped bottles or as a solid in one of their girly plastic broaches in various shapes of apples, bunnies, flowers my ubiquitous cat-themed everything), then Love’s Baby Soft, or Prince Matchabelli (sp) Windsong, maybe a bit of one of the solid nature-themed scents my mother had in a light-brown rectangular compact from…was it Coty?…I remember one being called “Sweet Hay”, my favourite one of the three. Scent-memories are intense!
Although I wore several “cheapie” scents during my high school years, including Emeraude & Gloria Vanderbilt, I chose Zen when I was 16, and it was my sort of gateway scent to higher-end fragrances like Magie Noire, KL, Chanel 19 and Opium.
I just purchased a bottle of the original Eau de Cologne “splash”, which is mostly the scent I recall, although not nearly as mossy or as grey-green a scent as I recall coming from my (EDP) spray years ago. It also completely fades within an hour or so, likely containing mostly alcohol and water, but I just enjoy it while it lasts, wear it on the backs of my hands, while I wear something more tenacious on the rest of me. It’s a dirty green floral, and I’m not sure if I feel the “zen”, or I think I should because of the name, but it’s really nice to revisit. I do sense a bit of the late 70s lingering in Zen…you know, a bit of Charlie, Halston, Chanels 5 and 19, Esteé Lauder’s Private Selection, was it? Collection? Anyway, it conjures images of the teachers I adored in elementary school, and had wanted to emulate, with their turtle-necks and long necklaces, stack-heeled boots and bobbed hair like Toni Tenille…good stuff of good memories, this one.
Here’s a blurb from the insert in the box…maybe someone can figure out which elements they’re describing? The “seed”? The “fruit”? Is there cardamom in this??:
“ZEN finds its seed in India, its blossom in China, and its fruit in Japan. In India “dyhana” (ZEN) which meant “quiet meditation” was seen as a highly philosophical religion, but in China it came closer to the everyday life of the people and was regarded as a means of realising “stillness in movement.” In Japan, it has come to manifest itself mainly in esthetic [sic] fields.
Most art and culture of Japan is influenced by ZEN. The distinctively Japanese arts, such as NŌ drama, the tea ceremony, and painting, have ZEN at their base.
It is the creative spirit of ZEN, and spontaneity of the ZEN practitioner which is responsible for the delicate raising and lowering of the tea ceremony cup, for the bold, unfaltering strokes of calligraphy, and for the great works of art and architecture abounding in Japan.
This same lofty sensibility, and spiritual purity was taken by SHISEIDO as its motif in creating ZEN fragrance…a unique perfume expressing quiet, purity, and traditional Japanese beauty. The esthetic heart of Japanese culture can be appreciated through this exquisite fragrance by people everywhere in the world.”
Nice. I totally get it.
Taneraset – :
This was a fantasic scent, that went sadly the way of many of the older masterpieces…to the reformulation butcher block.
I wore the original in the late 70’s, early 80’s…a bit too sophisticated for me back then I think, but I loved it!
Elegant, easy to wear day into evening.
The new versions: they bear no resemblance, and I wouldn’t touch them.
Will try to find an old original…its worth it.
crizis11 – :
Zen by Shiseido is a beautiful Oriental chypre green, herbal, aromatic, peaceful & perfectly Zen perfume. As the other reviewers have done a terrific job of describing the fragrance, perhaps more than I can this early in the morning. Zen was created by Josephine Catapano who formulated Fidji for Guy Laroche. In no way do I detect identical similarities to Fidji although both appear to have a similar composition of notes and a green soapiness, like a green bar of soap. True to what others are smelling & describing, this is a soft, soothing, therapeutic, comforting fragrance of flowers on sandalwood. If it was not for the Japanese name (Shiseido) and the packaging & the bottle resembling a Japanese or Chinese bath oil, or perfumed water in a bottle, it would pass for a Hindi fragrance. It has the a spiritual air of Zen Buddhism, Shinto & Hinduism. Smells of flowers, light incense, and sandalwood, which are all notes that commonly make up a hardcore Oriental. But it never does get “hard” at all. It’s soft and delicate, soapy, feminine & skin-like, powdery. I close my eyes & visualize a beautiful Chinese or Japanese Empress, taking the black bottle with the floral design and pouring it into her bath to scent her skin while she luxuriates in the warm waters.
In describing the opening of this fragrance, I would say that it is a distinct galbanum, green, earthy, with a touch of citrus. It smells of day time, though usually galbanum notes are evocative of the night. Because the bergamot orange is bright but still very green & herbal, it’s already making a statement. This is a green chypre in the realm of Chanel No. 19, Aliage Estee Lauder, Ivoire De Balmain, Scherrer & Ma Griffe. It also has a slight resemblance to Chamade by Guerlain.
Floral?
Yes! Love my florals!
Along with the greenery of galbanum, the notes are comprised of jasmine, narcissus, carnation, orange blossom, hyacinth, rose & mimosa. There is also quite a bit of iris. In describing the florals, one can smell citrusy florals courtesy of orange blossom & mimosa, but it’s also soapy-white with jasmine and narcissus. There’s violet & hyacinth, a carnation, flowers which come at you left and right. It’s hard to detect each note individually as they are presented to you in a sort of pop-up bouquet. The flowers that really “pop”, at least for me, are iris, jasmine & carnation. The carnation is a spicy graphic green carnation leaf, matching up with the galbanum. The galbanum is substituting for what could have been patchouli. The soapiness of this scent is not as bad as some of the green soap scents which were common in the subsequent 70’s decade like Charlie by Revlon. This is a very luxurious and well crafted soap scent. It’s like they went to the Far East and took the finest ingredients of Japan’s botanical gardens or even whatever they could pick up from forests and Mount Fuji to make this gorgeous Oriental bath perfume.
I can’t tell you how much I love the dry down. As soon as it starts to dry, I’m enveloped with a warm blanket of musk married to oak moss. The musk is not very heavy and one cannot call this an animalic when it’s a distinct chypre and Oriental. A green lush moss embraces amber tree and sandalwood. The classic Oriental staple notes are enjoyable to experience in the dry down when the flowers fade. It starts to get a bit darker and more of a warm scent for winter. It’s a very beautiful and evocative perfume. Asian Empresses at their bath, secret flower gardens in the Imperial Palace, peacocks, and a soft stream or veil of incense wafting out of a Buddhist temple.
This is what Buddha smells like.
This is what the after life smells like:
Green, herbal, floral, peaceful, dignified, a garden of solace, a walk through a never ending dream of greenery.
Nirvana
:
incionglvm – :
Zen is the most beautiful perfume. I love it so much. I feel completely privileged to own it. It is like a paradise of smells. Very strong and perfect. And the bottle! What can I say? It’s divine! Totally divine.
vx07 – :
I blind bought what I believe to be the current reformulation in the EDC spray for a good price on ebay. Bad idea. I guess I was suckered in by most of the glowing vintage reviews, and I am really into Zen Buddhism. But this does not smell meditative or spiritual to me at all. It smells.. like musty baby powder. At first it smells like alcohol, then musty baby powder, one phase is alright when a spicy carnation shines though, then back to baby powder stank. No woods, no greenery, no darkness, no zen. TBH this smells a lot like the perfumes my grandmother wears and I can’t get past that association. Even my mother agrees and suggested I gift it to her. I will likely do just that. Well, I guess I learned my lesson.
P.S. I imagine the vintage formula is far superior but I doubt I will ever spend any of my money to smell it after this.
aNiMaToR – :
Please add the nose of this first version: Josephine Catapano.
xrumera – :
ZEN
SHISEIDO
GROUP ORIENTAL
NOTES BERGAMOT GALBANUM ORANGE BLOSSOM JASMINE ROSE VIOLET NARCISSUS HYACINTH CARNATION ORRIS MIMOSA SANDALWOOD CEDAR OAK MOSS AMBER MUSK
SILLAGE: MODERATE RADIATES WITHN ARM’S LENGTH
SILLAGE: VERY LONG LASTING 7 TO 12 HOURS
REMINDS ME OF: FIDJI GUY LAROCHE CHAMADE GUERLAIN
NOSE: JOSEPHINE CATAPANO, CREATOR OF FIDJI BY GUY LAROCHE
Zen was a fragrance of it’s time: the Sixties. The Beatles were in India discovering yoga, transcendental meditation and dabbling in Hinduism and Buddhism, the Vietnam War was raging in Asia, and in the US hippies and college students avoided the draft and took up guitars and flowers as weapons in their war against war, in their vain attempts to establish world peace. I have the original splash bottle in the shape of a black bottle with round stopper. It looks like a jar or vase. It belonged to my older sister who by 1969 was out of the house and finishing up college. She would visit very infrequently as she did not get along with my parents, particularly my mother, and had left behind her Zen cologne bottle. My mother kept it around and wore it sometimes. When my mother died, the Zen bottle came into my possession through inheritance. I have since bought another vintage bottle. I am yet to try the new formula. Whenever I smell this perfume I think of my sister the lawyer, her ambitious spirit, her intellect, her will, her stubbornness, her feminism, her rebelliousness and her love of animals, her passion for civil rights and her good heart. She passed away in 2011.
The exoticism of the East drew me to this Oriental masterpiece, long hailed as a modern Oriental. It lacks some traditional Oriental ingredients like patchouli and cloves, but it could still belong to the Oriental fragrance family, as it contains a big sandalwood. The sandalwood is the main attraction for me, a fragrant and very Asian sandalwood, like putting your nose to the dark wood of a pagoda.
In fact this has a distinctly religious Taoist and Zen Buddhist aura, like walking into a pagoda. And I’ll be specific. It evokes a place I’ve been to during my religious travels: Mount Haguro, Japan. All around you are enormous 600 year old sugi trees, green foliage and plant life in a beautiful forest and mountain landscape. As you enter deeper into the mountains of Dewa, you find a path of 2,466 stone steps that lead to the pagoda called the Gojuto, a Shinto shrine dedicated to the spirits of nature and woods. Incense is burned regularly and pilgrims come to meditate and offer prayers. It’s one of the most beautiful exotic Oriental places of worship of all time. That pagoda made of wood and the sugi trees smell just like Zen by Shiseido. I don’t know if the nose behind this fragrance knew all about this place but it was perfectly captured into this scent.
Zen’s top notes are somewhat similar to Fidji by Guy Laroche: a galbanum top note, a citrusy bergamot orange and hyacinth flower. The heart and base however are reminiscent of Chamade by Guerlain. It’s as if this fragrance is their hybrid offspring. But this is not a bad thing especially if you have experienced and enjoyed both Fidji and Chamade. The citrus and galbanum provide this scent with an outdoorsy out-in-nature smell. Galbanum also creates a nocturnal effect, like being out in a deep moonlit forest in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning before dawn. The hyacinth in the top is lovely. It serves as an introduction to the floral heart of the fragrance.
The heart is a placid flower garden. The scent of carnation is heavy, smelling like a dozen carnations put together, white, silky and aromatic, green. There is also orange blossom and jasmine. The orange blossom is beautifully paired with a matching mimosa. The flowers are heady, mature and pleasant, like breathing and sighing as you smell flowers on a path that lead into the woods. For me the flowers in this scent really blew me away. They didn’t have to be a thousand flowers along the “multi floral” fragrance company of such scents like Quelques Fleurs, L’Heure Bleue or Estee Lauder’s Beautiful. It has a dignity, a simplicity, just like a Buddhist would not overdo anything as moderation is practiced and prized, this floral scent is not too heavy and never too much. Beautiful. Jasmine and carnation.
The fragrance delves deep into a scent of sandalwood. It’s also joined by a touch of cedar which really doesn’t smell like cedar to me at all but those sugi trees on Mount Haguro. If you enjoy woodsy scents this is like walking through the woods, lots of woods, a long trail into the woods. The musk is at the bottom and smells like a little bit of masculine leather. Because of the woodsy notes and this musk, it can be argued that this was created as a unisex scent and that both men and women experienced with wood based perfume can pull this off. I think it’s true. It has sufficient musk to make it wearable for a man who dabbles in perfumes of every sort. A touch of amber, only slightly resinous and a puff of incense create the final stage of this perfume. It begins to smell like the interior of the pagoda and the Buddhist temple. It’s a warm incense.
This is simply one of the most gorgeous fragrances of my life. It’s plain, peaceful, comfortable, exotic and mysterious. It’s not always easy to pull off and very few people wear this right now but all the more reason to wear it. In it’s practical use I would wear it as a night cologne to wear when you’re out at night with a special someone but still want to make a statement and to be taken seriously. It smells like a date night fragrance, but it’s not pretentious, nor does it feel glamorous nor showy. After all this is not a powdered perfumed coiffured French aristocrat from Versailles but a tranquil scent of a Buddhist monk entering a temple of the remote past when sanghas of monks were first observing the lifestyle of the Buddha. This is a strong perfume so apply with a light touch. I’ve received many compliments on it and have nothing but love for this little pagoda.
akhmedua – :
Strangely comforting and familiar, I wonder if my mother wore it when I was little?
bwf82 – :
Fragrance Review For Zen By Shiseido
*Vintage 1964 Eau De Cologne Black Bottle
Top Notes: Bergamot Galbanum Orange Blossom Hyacinth
Middle Notes: Jasmine Rose Violet Narcissus Carnation Orris Root Mimosa
Base Notes: Sandalwood Cedar Oak Moss Amber Musk
Oriental Masterpiece!
I finally got hold of a 1964 classic Zen cologne in the black bottle. My friend Lucia in London sent it to me as a gift. Not a factice, not a reformulation, the real deal. It’s been preserved since 1965 and it smells like it too. It was hard to make out the entire structure of the perfume as I can only smell it’s remnants. I’ll do my best to describe what it was I smelled. First of all, I was enchanted by the bottle. It’s like an old Edo period Japanese bottle of toilet water for the Emperor and the Empress. The bottle is a splash bottle and being pure perfumed water the scent is very strong. It throws out enormous sillage and has a 2 day long longevity. My first impression was that it was unisex. It’s as unisex as another well known Oriental that needs no introduction: Shalimar. That being said, however, it’s not similar to Shalimar in any way. It can be worn by both guys and gals as with Shalimar. The first scent to hit my nose was the galbanum. It’s a green mossy leafy plant/tree smell. I love galbanum scents. They smell like when you get a whiff of cypress or dark moss and leaves in the dead of night. It’s a nocturnal plant smell, aromatic, green, herbal, wonderful. This makes Zen as much a chypre as it is an Oriental. The galbanum scent in addition to the woodsy notes and floral notes give it a similar air to other chypres like Chamade by Guerlain and Fidji by La Roche. The greenness of the fragrance is what thrills me. It smells like walking into a Japanese courtyard or garden of a sangha or Buddhist monastery, or a palace where Buddhism or Shinto religion is practiced. Totally a Shinto fragrance. It smells of peace, nature, quiet gardens and nature spirits (the Kami). This is hardcore Oriental and does a better job of evoking the religion than Guerlain’s Samsara. To me this is the story of the Buddha, the Prince Siddharta Gautama, in a bottle. The peaceful flowery smells of carnation, rose, violet and mimosa are not too in your face. They smell like flowers in a garden where you can fall asleep. The scent is floral, mature and heavenly. A scent of heavenly flowers. Big time floral fan here so for me this is a pleasure to wear. The dry down is moss and woods, and sandalwood. There’s a hint of musk. Very easy to wear but the reformulation selling in it’s place is as much as you can get now. If you can find the vintage on ebay or anywhere else and youre a fan of Oriental floral chypres you should go for it and buy it. This is a masterpiece. I am in love with this fragrance. It came at the right time. The 60’s. Flower Power. Zen Buddhism. Meditation. Yoga. The Beatles in India. Yoko Ono. The Love-ins. Protests for Peace. A fragrance for peace lovers. For me. The woman or man that wears this fragrance has long hair, never raises their voice in anger or reproach, is tolerant of all people places and things. It’s a fragrance of absolute unconditional love for the universe we were born into. The scent is not of a warrior nor even a weekend warrior, it’s a scent of a mature person who can enjoy silent solitudes, restful periods, who takes the time to meditate and does yoga. It is an older person’s fragrance but the scent is for anyone that loves flowers and woods. This is big on flowers and woods. It’s a garden in a bottle. It’s a garden where I could gleefully lay down and sleep….forever.
mikolla13 – :
Slightly powdery aldehyde and musk. Aquatic. After a moment, heady sensual flowers and then a bit later an incense-y note starts to come through. Mature and serene. Drydown very light, still white floral though.
каспер – :
My mother had a bottle of this and of course I wasn’t allowed to use it. But
at 16 I begged my parents for it for Christmas. “We’ll think about it”, they said. But on Christmas morning there it was, my beloved Zen! I was the happiest teenager in the neighbourhood I’m sure. Today at The Bay I picked up a bottle for nostalgia’s sake and it is still the wonderful floriental I remember. 10/10.
jora_kornev – :
This was my Japanese grandmothers signature scent. Even now when i smell it, it reminds me of her. Its the same with Elizabeth Arden green tea. It just has that Japanese grandma smell to it.
I cant believe they stopped making it.
Its almost got a musky Chanel No5 softness to it. I cant really work out the florals in it but its a classic and always will be!
Svetulik03 – :
Found @ Winners in the men’s section of scents…I knew it wasn’t male, just because it’s eau du cologne only refers to strength. 19.99 Cnd for 2.7 oz or 80 mls.
My dear friend’s late mother wore this as her signature for many years. The 1964 version.
Love this re-release on its own merits. Very smokey & full of incense on me, with floral tones. I was looking for a heavier fragrance, for evenings & cool weather. This fits the bill.
Even my husband sniffed & remarked “Pretty!”
Samy_one – :
@Puzzlefish, I have the Zen original too, and I was disappointed with it. It doesn’t smell quite the same way that it used to. It’s more brash now, for some reason. I wore it back in the late 80’s, and it smelled so good back then. I bought a new bottle from Lord & Taylor a couple years back, and it’s just not the same. It gives me a bit of a headache now. That really makes me sad. The vintage was the best!!
engooo – :
I bought a bottle of this based on reviews here…
I was highly disappointed..it smells *nothing* like what has been written here..I get absolutely *no* incense, sandalwood, cedar, oak moss, amber and musk…just a weird Ivory soap type smell combined with the smell of that cheap little girls faux perfume/cologne they used to sell years ago in “gift sets”…even after several hours (I wanted to give it a chance to “develop”)…
I bought it from Nordstrom online, and thankfully they do returns, as I will be returning this post haste…
Malih1993 – :
lilinah’s review is perfect. Original Zen is a beguiling soft, incensy chypre. Most chypres can be a little on the bold side, especially during the opening, but this is as subtle as the Asian aesthetics it was inspired by from start to finish. lilinah said it all, so I’ll just say it’s amazing and that anyone who is a lover of chypres should be on the lookout for the original, matt-black bottle with the golden metallic flowers motif and steer clear of any later, square or rectangular bottles with reformulations, else you won’t be smelling the same scent.
Aerohoplenerihob – :
I get Band-Aids. Columnar EDC bought several years ago at a department store.
yustas22 – :
I ordered the Zen eau de cologne, pure mist vaporisateur, from Nordstrom for $38.00, and am wearing it right now–so I am surrounded by this mysteriously, lush, floral. BTW, Nordstrom is always free shipping and free returns, no matter what you purchase. And this arrived in 3 days!
But back to this fragrance: I am so pleasantly surprised at how much I am liking the initial spritzing. I will post a follow-up in a few hours. No idea now about the longevity or the silage…
NityBiort53 – :
This is a classic woody green fragrance to my mind – nothing like the lastest Zen Bloom fruit fest or whatever. It makes me think of oriental gardens and waterfalls with it’s clean, uplifting notes. This really belongs to my husband but I wear it much more than he does – it gives me calm and serenity especially when I am at work. Must start looking for another bottle – before he notices it’s gone!
acolo – :
OOh, so lovely… Today this beauty sings with daffodil, and hyacinth, and bright carnation and even mimosa – thanks to all the fresh flowers in my home I can compare the scents and it’s bright and festive – on a pillow of a natural warm oakmoss. Beautiful and serene.
maikl67 – :
Imagine you walk in the park: smell the grass & flowers with morning dews surround them. The scent lingers in the air, sometimes it fades away but suddenly the scent appears & wakes your olfactory system when your brain need some relaxation.
Shiseido Zen is a meditational scent rather than a daily scent. I have tried 3 different Zen, The classic one is focused on green floral scent, the white cone shaped created by nathalie lorson is focused on bamboo note and the last edition, the yellow cubic shape is focused on fruity notes. My nose still prefer the classic dark green bottle and if you want the scent stays longer on your skin you can choose the 20ml bottle in EDP concentration.
S_A_N_C_H_O – :
This was the first perfume I ever bought myself with my own money, sometime around the early 70s. I bought it for the bottle, tried wearing it a few times but it just wasn’t me at that point in time.
I ordered and received a small early 1980s spray today, and sadly, it still isn’t me. The scent did not seem familiar, but as soon as I smelled it I was 15 years old and it was 1971 for a few minutes. 🙂
One thing I notice about this perfume is it’s hard to discern individual notes, it seems so well rounded as to be *one thing* rather than a collection of *many things*.
I think I will be gifting this one out.
Rubenpc87 – :
First impression in the bottle – lovely floral with depth and perhaps a hint of chypre…On the skin not so good; the floral opening, discreet and soft, was followed quickly by a fruity note that did not wear well.
niy199Diobtetty – :
This was my first perfume; received as a gift from my boyfriend at the time. It was many, many years ago, but I will always remember it, it was a beautiful, light, but distinctive fragrance. I would love to have some more now….
Maxikes – :
I feel fortunate to have received a sample of the original, classic ZEN (1964) edc from a generous fellow fragrance traveler, and all the more, having now read her glowing review and discovered that she has shared some of a precious elixir in short supply!
When I donned ZEN for the very first time, it occurred to me that this perfume may have been the very first proto-aquatic fragrance. The difference was that this composition did not bother me and did not smell like a chemical soup or rotting melons or Windex or anything of the sort.
As the perfume (and it is a perfume, despite the edc designation!) dried down, I began to fall in love with its soapy iris and galbanum–a truly classic combination, and I understood why ZEN is so beloved to some. I suspect that one reviewer (at another site…) may have ended up with either a reformulation, or worse: a fake. I say this because I’m pretty sure that this fragrance is out of production, so someone–perhaps not the seller, but perhaps the seller’s seller…–may have filled an empty bottle with pseudo-ZEN juice.
To me, this elixir offers a subtle yet captivating beauty. If you are a lover of soapy orris and galbanum, then you would love–or would have loved–this!
lvovan – :
Zen was the first perfume I bought for myself from my own money. I loved it, and I loved the “coolness” of the chic black frosted bottle, and the gold writing. I had no idea about the contents of the ingredients, I just wore it for years, until it seemed cloying as I became more “sophisticated” (and graduated to Rive Gauche, LOL).
Now that I have rediscovered Serge Lutens, I think I may have to revisit Zen, and see if it still holds a spell for me.
Раилаг – :
I have used Zen since I was a teen age woman in the 1960s. It puts me in a dreamlike state of mind. The black bottle suggest mystery. Indeed, whats inside is an evocative, deep mystery. Oakmoss cover the flowers in a viel of beauty.
Jasmine, rose, jasmine and dark wood an even more jasmine invite you into its magical temple of relaxing tranquility. Its more of a chypre than anything. I was fascinated by its exotic nature and my husband loved it too. We would both wear some out for cocktail and compliment each other perfectly. Such memories…
It is still as potent as the day I first purchased it. It never overwhelms. I see its still just as popular and still on the market. This is youth in a bottle. Today, I just try a few drops and begin a marvelous walk down memory lane.
aleksandr1974 – :
I have a vintage one in an EdC formulation. There seem to be strong aldehydes, which last quite a while. What’s also clear is a “dirty” jasmine. After a couple of hours it calms down and is a nice blend, with a distinct abstract floral quality. The wood element is nice but definitely a background player. It’s certainly “old school,” so don’t expect more than a tiny hint of sweetness, if that. I think I like a fragrance such as vintage Ma Griffe more these days, but this one is not “bad.” However, there are only so many days in one’s life, so decisions have to be made about which fragrance is most pleasing. I obtained two vintage one ounce bottles (unused), so if anyone is interested in swapping for the vintage EdC formulation I may be able to help out.
saksei – :
A very dark, warm and floral scent with wisps of incense and smoke holding all the notes together. However, I also get a serene and spiritual vibe that I have never experienced in any other scent before. It actually feels more like an emotional statement that will present to others a sense of mystery and confidence. I feel a man can easily wear this and set himself apart from your run of the mill scents currently available. A must try………….
gosha2731 – :
I recently received this purportedly 1964 ?? version of Zen when i thought I was ordering the 2000 (or creamy pearl bottle) version. First I should give a disclaimer, I am definitely a novice when it comes to perfume, and I am quite sure my preferences are less than refined. To put in bluntly, I found this a very complex fragrance but somewhat (of an old lady smell). I say that with much trepidation as I am sure there is a more appropriate way to describe what i am smelling. I am basing my opinion on what i suppose would be called the top notes?? How do I know if it is the original? The package and bottles both have Japanese inscriptions but i could not find a date. The bottle is black and looks like the above bottle. Any feedback or even perhaps improvements on my critique would be appreciated and welcomed.
Tomas2 – :
In the eighties I used to work as a make-up artist at a Shiseido counter in a big department store in New-York, I loved Zen, it was so classy, so beautiful but not overwhelming, I am so sorry it disapeared, there was a hint of grapefruit peel, fresh, soft and very fine with moss and flowers in buds, so exotic and japanese, this scent made me travel, I sprayed a little on during the day to feel clearer and more alert.
VANO – :
Can you tell me, is it true that Zen resembles Chanel 19? Want to try Zen but not fond of Chanel very much. Thank you!
Xjmtxras – :
LOVE MAD LOVE!!! Notice there is nothing to compare it to. It is one of a kind… I hope we can always get it. Meanwhile I will savor my last bottle…
ImmispArror – :
My mom gave me a bottle of this (parfum) when I was 10 or 12 (she’d been owning it even before I was born). Now I am in my mid-30s and guess what, there’s still some left in that tiny bottle! I dare not use it, not because its age, but rather, I don’t want to waste any drop of it – it’s so precious and classy! Would definitely love to find a regular size in this original packing again!
DypeKexasse – :
A wonderful fragrance. My mother and grandmother both wore Zen. For years, my mother savored her single bottle (bought in Japan by my grandmother more than 20 years ago), and when I gave her a new bottle as a gift, she was surprised and happy they still made it. So was I. The sales associate was touched that I bought two bottles, one for my mom and one for me. Floral and powdery, and the galbanum adds a unique dimension. In spring I will alternate between this and L’ Air du Temps.
orodaxforum – :
I tried this recently at the Shiseido centre in Japan- it was just lovely – a classic Japanese fragrance – its incense but not smokey – perfect. It is based on what the original Japanese fragrance used in hair and clothing for centuries. It is meant to be light weight, thus true to original traditional way. Its woodsy, mossy and mostly mimosa and carnation stand out as the florals, but it is complex and changing – wonderful. Yes it would be a lovely EDP for the foreign market to suit our taste for strong perfume.
APPLE – :
I got this as a gift from a high school friend. It came in a gift set with a bottle of Inoui and one other Shiseido fragrance…I can’t remember the name. Anyway, I alternated between the three until Zen was the