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Despod78 – :
These are complicated times. So there’s something nice about having on hand an uncomplicated, straight-forward masculine fragrance like this one.
Ironically, Zizanie translates to “discord”, in French; a lack of harmony. Clearly, wearing this 1934 release in the Twenty-first Century is not in harmony with current tastes. But that’s perfectly alright with me. I find Zizanie reassuring and calming. I love it!
Here, as is often the case, less is more. With just two notes—patchouli and sandalwood—Zizanie is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. Clean and fresh enough for Summer and Spring, yet offering us a cozy warmth in the winter months ahead. This is one of the greats in masculine perfumery. Enjoy it now—you’ll miss it when it’s gone.
Nik12 – :
As another reviewer said, this smells like a really “old school” scent marketed to women, though the difference is that this isn’t as floral, or, at least, the florals are in competition with more “masculine” notes. I have a modern EdT formulation, and I think the problem is that I’d rather wear some other, similar scents than this one (such as Yardley Sandalwood or Colours Men by Julian). However, I don’t wear those very often anyway. So, I’ll likely put it up for swap, but it doesn’t sell for that much and I’d guess those who like these kinds of scents might prefer this one over some others, especially those that have been reformulated and are a lot weaker.
tern0p0l – :
I love this men’s cologne. It is a soft powdery pleasant smell. Very Unique.
LokBroveDek – :
“When I was thirty-five, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls, of independent means. We’d ride in limosines. Their chauffeurs would drive. When I was thirty-five…” Enough said.
Single_Wolf – :
I got this bottle on a blind buy, along with some others, and have never heard of this one before.
I got it because I saw that it was a rarity, so I figured, why not?
Well damn, this is not going to be for me and I’ll explain why.
What I get from this thus far ( spraying it into the cap over an hour ago ) is:
baby wipes and a barbershop smell mixed together, period.
I can picture an older man in his 60’s or older wearing this in the day time but not for someone younger.
I might wear this here and there since I bought the damn thing already but we’ll see.
If you think to buy this and are like me, save the money, feed a kid or something.
kastaneda – :
This is simply a wonderful frangrance.
The patchouli and sandalwood work incredibly well together and althought it’s not listed, I detect a powdery note as well.I have to say this fragrance is very high on the list of one of the best fragrances that I’ve smelt. It’s amazing how simple the ingredients are and yet, the fragrance is so wonderful.
I bought a vintage after shave 70s and unforuntately, as I’m sure you know, after shaves have a tendency to degrade over time. Thankfully, not this one. There’s not a doubt in my mind that it’s every bit as good as it was when it was new.
Most after shaves just seem to have a screw on top but luckily, this one has a long plastic stopper that sealed it tight, so the fragrance has stayed completely rich. Aside from the stopper, there is the slide on cap.I’m very tempted to buy the cologne but I’ve read complaints that the newer version isn’t as good as the old and that seems to be a common theme.
Projection seems above average and longevity is good, especially for an after shave. I’m guessing the vintage cologne is probably very long lasting and I couldn’t resist picking up a small vintage bottle of it when I saw it for a decent price.
When I’m wearing this, hopefully I’ll gain the animal magnetism that Sintatra once had and the babes will mob me. A guy can dream I guess.
fessilent – :
Old school goodness. Any man would smell great wearing this. Perfectly suited for any occasion and any season. For a bit more mature crowd. No wonder Sinatra made the dames swoon.
podv42 – :
I was so thrilled to receive such an exotic-sounding, tiny little commercial vintage dram of this cologne in a perfume estate filled with mostly stuff for broads. Never having heard of it, I loved that it was such a spicy – fresh and warm – and well-rounded cologne. It comes in a tiny rectangular bottle with a silver cap, 2.25 inches high and just over a half inch wide. And it smells just as amazing straight from the bottle as it does on the skin.
This is what I thought Halston vintage would smell like. I love Halston. Love. Let me never speak a bad word about it. But I perceive *far* fewer dimensions to Halston – “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!” – than I do with this bad boy. I can differentiate between like 7 extremely staccato notes on a very enormous spectrum with my sense of perfume literacy – vanilla, oakmoss, rose, caramel, maybe sandalwood, peach, and incense, sometimes cacao – and none of these, as far as I can tell, are in Zizanie. So whatever is in here? Ask someone else haha 😉
So I’ll go with sensation. Brisk, yet comforting. Warm. Smooth. Invigorating. -How is that possible? This in a nutshell is the wonder of fragrance. It’s like meeting with someone who is extrememly fun and funny and yet never makes fun at the expense of another person’s dignity, you know you’re always safe with them, they’re a stand-up guy even if they’re a lady.- Engaging. Classy – and while I usually immediately feel that the use of that word means the absence of that quality, no, in this case, there’s no other word to describe the antiquity it references (remember this was launched in the effing 30’s, it’s an octogenarian scent) and if it came out today, I think women and men would be all up on this as a new unisex fragrance. It’s as if it is both a perfect standing entity while also being a caricature of a excellent vintage cologne. What? Yes.
On that note – I truly thought this was a broad’s fragrance, I still keep checking links and photos to be sure, Zizanie for women?…Are you *sure*?…When it’s on my skin it hits a few depths in notes that definitely fall below “feminine” comfort level – I see how it’s a guy’s cologne, but once again, throw on a silk white flared leg suit with matching jacket, no top underneath, a silk scarf, blow out your hair with some rollers and lip gloss and streetwalker eye makeup and you’ve got WHWHB (What Halston Would Have Been). Wear it now, when you go to dinner this spring or summer, with heels and an attitude of “I don’t give a fuck” and you will be *the* hottest thing on the block.
And if you’re a guy, well, clearly, you’re just going to smell fucking amazing.
partorg – :
Upon initial application and I’m thinking I’ve just put on Bal a Versailles.
Then into the dry down, there is a deviation. Momentarily, baby powder. Thankfully that doesn’t last. Then it becomes…
Crabree & Evelyn Extrait de Mysore, with patchouli added.
2 notes? No, there’s much more going on here.
andr20099 – :
Oh dear, after reading the reviews from everyone else I think I must have gotten a bad bottle. I get a synthetic, metallic smell, and it reminds me too much of aluminum foil. Now and again I get lovely whiff of the sandalwood, but the patchouli almost has a sharp bite to it.
Nah, it’s not you Zizanie, it’s me.
MigSiliPino – :
I applied Zizanie with a couple of drops of a patchouli/sandalwood essential oil mix and it just enhances the fragrance soooo wonderfully…. Call me crazy, but this reminds of me the wonderful smell of one of my all time ladies perfumes: L’Heure Blue… As some have mentioned, there’s an “old world” charm to this fragrance… which is the beauty of scents… the ability to transport you to times and places were life was sweeter, simpler, less complex… We all need an escape sometimes into that charming world.
akkypant – :
Frank Sinatra was said to be wearing this when he first met Ava Gardner. No wonder she fell for him, Zizanie is a knock out! It is a spicy/woody oriental: warm and friendly, yet, it is also sly and seductive. Zizanie was launched in the 1930’s but it has no date. Nor does it have any gender. It is suitable for both sexes because, plain and simply, it is a great scent. A “gotta have”.
diablo9009 – :
Made a blind buy on this and I’m wearing it at the office now. It goes on b sharp but the payoff is in the dry down. I only used 4 sprays and 5 hrs later it’s almost gone. Will use 6 sprays next time. Yes , must be over 40 to pull this off. Classic old school woody spicy talcy juice, that smells way better on than on a test strip. A great blind buy for me.
Cuncatagueunise – :
After reading a few posts regarding ZF, I made an order. Moments after the first spray I began to feel very peaceful, serene. The smell evoked memories of my father, who passed away in 2002. I went to my mother’s, had her smell my arm, and showed her the bottle. She told me dad wore AF when I was a boy, and after wearing it for several years, was no longer to find it in our area.
As a boy, one of my favorite things to do in the evening was to lay my head on my father’s chest and listen to his heart beat until I fell asleep. He smelled absolutely wonderful. Having ZF back in my life has been an excellent way to reconnect with the warmth and togetherness I knew in those moments with my father. Sometimes at night, I spray it on my wrists before bed and let the love he poured into me awake.
I find the opening a bit metallic with nothing but warm power an hour in.
JoydayJek – :
Brahmsfourth, I concur. My dad wore this in the 60’s and it was BEYOND awesome!! We’re not talking about a fragrance, but rather an experience. Because it’s been so long, I don’t know if the version you had 25 yrs. ago, is the one I’m referring to. I read that Frank Sinatra wore Zizanie. All I know is that, if Macy’s carried the original version, men would be standing in line. Btw, my dad ordered some a couple of years ago, and suffice it to say that the stuff inside of that bottle WAS NOT Zizanie!
Falgoro – :
Some great reviews here – weegee, Castor (took words out of my fingertips as I started to type), and a mention to Brahmsfourth for bringing up something key.
I bought this classic ‘scent’ in a somewhat recent EDT formulation (which it is more of a scent than a “fragrance”) as a basis point of knowledge. It is not something I would typically wear in public – but, that doesn’t mean you can’t. For me, this is an after-shower, evening scent and one that I enjoy the simplicity and harmony of. It is a scent I wear when I want to relax, soothe myself, and for pure olfactory enjoyment. It is wonderful to me, in that perspective.
Brahmsfourth mentions a “soapy baby-powder sweetness”. It is there – but to me, not cloying. As a matter of fact (and please take no offense), but I don’t think Zizanie would be Zizanie without a powdery effect, as that is how things smelled “back then”. The EDT has less of the baby-powder than the cologne…I believe, but it is there for the middle of the composition nonetheless (as the top blast fades, powdery in the heart as the sandalwood comes in, but warming up to nice warm patchouli and just slightly dusty and very nice sandalwood). Truly, great balance…and old-school sandalwood scents can be powdery in feel – that is the nature of it (“dusty” perhaps, sometimes). Spray close to the skin and on fabric and you get less of the baby powder accord, at least that is what I found.
I find it to be that old-school 30’s vibe that makes this appealing. Brahmsfourth’s old bottle may have been slightly different 25 years ago, but this has stayed relatively the same over the years from others that I know who respect its place in the annals of fragrance history.
This definitely goes on sharp and striking – a slap to olfactory senses. Castor was right…a scent for romantics (and I will add “true” lovers of fragrance, poets, people who like to read hardbound books and love vintage dress, music and vibe). Contemporary fragrances would look at this, snub their noses and say, “You think you’re so dapper with your simple two-note composition, and classic silver bottle.” And then go jump back onto the shelf at Macy’s so the next teenager or office stiff who wants to smell like everyone else chooses them. Like the movie, “Toy Story”, but for fragrance. However, then an older gentlemen walks in, walks past all the slick bottles and says – “Here you are, old friend. I missed you.” And, he pauses and thinks back to many memories that Zizanie has brought him over the years…
I, unfortunately, will not have those memories as this is a “personal” scent for me – but, I sure do appreciate it.
This could be worn out at night to a swing club with a swagger and a cigarette hanging from the lip (along with a Derby hat) and something with houndstooth – pants, vest, or jacket. So, someone could definitely wear this out…but it has to be someone who gets it.
How to wear this is key as well. Similar to current Caron’s Pour Un Homme…a light (2-3 sprays or so application from distance) and you get more faint notes and I find that, while it is very refreshing and chic – a little light and the notes do not appear as they should to my nose. The key – apply liberally and reapply at dry down of the first application. I like to put on 5-6 nice full sprays and then reapply a few (layer the scent) for depth if I plan on staying up, like I am right now typing this review. It will last through the morning – easily 8-10+ hours on skin and the projection is stronger.
If I go to bed after a warm shower – light-to-moderate application is fine. So soothing to drift off to. But, if you want to get a “full” wearing out of this – definitely reapply and layer to get a more complete wear. I, personally, don’t find it cloying in the EDT strength even with reapplying – actually, I find that the notes show better – greener, sharper patchouli and warmer, richer sandalwood.
No score to be given. Like Caron Pour Un Homme – who am I to give a rating based on a number over 10? I am simply thankful to have this scent in my wardrobe and can enjoy something that has such a classique, old-school French vibe. Merci!
tairlo – :
The sandalwood and patchouli in this reformulation are surrounded by a soapy baby-powder sweetness. It is lighter and more cloying than I remember; I had a bottle of this over twenty-five years ago. It smells nice, albeit dated. It should be reformulated again to add some modern refined notes. I still like it, but it used to be so much more elegant and heady.
dimlit – :
My college roomate had a bottle of this i sprayed some and it really smelled nice, i honestly think its the perfect guy scent because its more masculine than MOST of the other stuff out there and the patchouli, sandalwood merge perfectly and whatever musk is in this makes it even better
I dont know why older people wear junk like english leather when this scent is WAY better
DMITRIY684875 – :
Fragonard ZIZANIE reminds me of a light, pared-down, de-aldehyded version of a certain stage of ARPEGE, which also contains patchouli and sandalwood, but a whole lot more. My suspicion is that ZIZANIE contains some small subset of the lengthy list of notes in ARPEGE which is why I was immediately reminded of that great, timeless, magnificent classic upon spritzing on ZIZANIE.
This composition is much less complex than ARPEGE and absolutely unisex. Smooth and subtle with low sillage in the drydown (slightly bigger in the opening), ZIZANIE is not at all flowery but it is a worthy woody oriental that lovers of that category should not miss. As is typical of Fragonard in my experience, the quality of the components is top notch. I believe that this house, while not extravagant at all, really knows what they’re doing. Among other things, they do not indulge in overdilution, a problem I’ve found with a couple of other venerable houses from centuries past…
ZIZANIE is a pleasure to wear without being overwhelming at all and would be suitable for casual settings of all kinds. A very nice cologne which seems closer to edt strength. Recommended!
vlad_n – :
can’t go wrong with this stuff its the ABSOLUTE BEST woodsy masculine scent and the patchouli and sandalwood are PERFECTLY balanced to give a nice drydown. its cheap, stood the test of time and definately a good buy
rozhko – :
Zizanie is Frank Sinatra classy… Not Frank in a tuxedo, microphone in hand; no, this is Frank relaxing in a designer wool sweater, shot glass full of bourbon in one hand, cigarette in the other. When Frank wore this in the 1930’s it was avant garde. When he wore it in the 1940’s he oozed class and refinement. When he wore it in the 1950’s he was retro cool.
Can this really be “just” sandalwood and patchouli? Hard to fathom actually, but if so, then this is truly the definition of synergy as 1 + 1 = 3, the 3 being something much, much more than the combination of its two separate ingredients. Herbal green notes meld into autumn gold and orange spice notes, with both zest and powder to tickle your nose and heighten your senses.
Zizanie is warm, yes, but in a very sexy, very cool jazz age way. Hot spice and cool jazz, that’s Zizanie. Oh, Frank… surely this is what you wore when Ava Gardner fell in love with you.
Oddly enough, also very much suitable for a woman. A woman wearing a gray cashmere sweater and thinking about lighting up a cigarette. Shot of whiskey optional.