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Zizanie by Fragonard is a Oriental Woody fragrance for men. Zizanie was launched in 1932. The fragrance features sandalwood and patchouli.
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.
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
Powdery Sandalwood, Patchouli, Orris, Vetiver, and others - dominated by a powdery Sandal-Patchouli accord with perhaps some Cedar, Lemon, Bergamote, Sage, Jasmine...The indolic aspect recalls Jasmine; its not floral, but nor are the traditional Hindu blends consisting of Patch, Santal, and Jasmine I've smelled on my travels through the sub-continent. Very much of its era, with something ageless about it. Mature, sophisticated, elegant, and above all, sober - something at odds with the very French meaning of its very French name.
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!
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
The top notes give the wearer the impression that Zizanie is a relative of Old Spice, for they share strong and spicy accords; to my nose, these notes are on the limit of comfort. But one has to remember that men, when Old Spice and Zizanie were released, used scents with enormous initial sillage settling into very intimate mid and base notes. In this sense, Zizanie is such kind of fragance. So don't let this top notes fool you for they don't do justice to the way it is.
I would not suggest Zizanie for those into contemporary scents, it is rather for romantics - those who regret things lost, the ones wanting to sense the way things smelled years ago, or just for those on a whim to recover the past: it would be the perfect scent to wear while reading Proust's "A la Recherche des Temps Perdue". Dated? No way, rather a classic for the self assured.
Now, if your into bland present-day, generic aromas, forget it. This is not for you.
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.
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