My journey into niche perfumery was the one that shifted my direction, stepped outside my comfort zone, and redirected my ceaseless search within the olfactory universe I had been building since childhood.
It wasn't easy for me to transition from my much-loved designer perfumes to niche creations; I was younger, my nose was untrained, and the concept of niche in Romania twelve years ago was somewhat misunderstood and quite difficult to approach. Back then, when you said "niche," you meant luxury - something elite and out of reach, high costs, and boutiques where you didn’t necessarily feel welcome.
Yet, on an April day in 2014, I gathered the courage to step inside Elysee - a perfume house that, at the time, was renowned, elegant, and deeply stylish. As my birthday was approaching, I was searching for a fragrance within my budget, one that I would cherish and love, for it would be the trailblazer of my journey into niche perfumery.
And so, I experienced the niche house of Robert Piguet for the very first time. I must confess, I had immense expectations for Visa, but my beginner’s nose simply didn't know how to perceive it and couldn't process it at all. Practically, it smelled like nothing. Like many things at once, yet nothing familiar. Naturally, I told myself: so this is niche. But do I actually like it? I felt disappointed.
And yet, something kept drawing me back to smell my wrist. Something abstract - a thrill you feel right when you are falling in love and don't even know it yet. Not even yourself.
That was me with Robert Piguet. On one wrist I wore Visa (now simply known as V), and on the other, Alameda.
Inspired by the oriental gardens of the Alhambra Palace, Alameda was love at first wear. It was a dream; it was magic! It was exactly what I had been searching for and had just found. A fragrance that aligned perfectly with my personality back then, at twenty-five years old. Oriental, creamy, sumptuous, and mysterious, possessing a distinct sensuality, Alamedaconquered me on the spot. A breathtakingly beautiful fragrance that remains a great love to this day. A past love, however, as it is sadly discontinued.
Yet after Alameda, there followed Visa, Gardenia, Baghari, Fracas, and the Oud collection - Oud, Oud Divin, and Oud Délice. I owned them all!
But it was when I was searching for the perfect rose that it finally appeared, and I fell deeply in love. The freshest rose - a rose like a beautiful May dream: musky, diaphanous, and airy!
Rose Perfection - because really, what other name could it possibly bear? A rose elevated to absolute perfection through the mastery of perfumer Aurélien Guichard - so incredibly beautiful, so profoundly fragrant!
Robert Piguet is and will always remain one of my soul houses. I do not know why, and I cannot explain it, but every single one of their fragrances has been to my liking!
And the emotion of that very first niche perfume is something one never forgets, for within my olfactory memory, it will forever remain as the most beautiful oriental fragrance - Alameda!
THE HISTORY OF THE ROBERT PIGUET NICHE HOUSE AND THE ICONIC FRACAS
Robert Piguet is a niche house with a rich history; their very first fragrance, Bandit, was created in the year 1944. However, their most iconic fragrance - the one that won the FiFi Award Hall of Fame in 2006 - is the well-known and much-loved Fracas, one of the most beautiful tuberose perfumes, created in 1948 by Germaine Cellier.
In the 1940s, Germaine met Robert Piguet, a former designer for Paul Poiret who had established his own fashion house by that time. Piguet was searching for a perfumer who would resonate with his vibrant and bold post-war designs; he wanted someone who could grasp his concept and bring forth innovation and a breath of fresh air.
In 1944, Cellier created Bandit, one of the first leather-chypre fragrances in history, where she utilized 1% isobutyl quinoline to bestow upon Bandit an intense, mysterious, and leathery character. The fragrance achieved devastating success and became one of the most sought-after perfumes of its time.
But because innovation and the desire to make a defining mark on the art of perfumery still burned within Piguet, Germaine Cellier went on to create Fracas in 1948 - a fragrance considered to this very day the ultimate leitmotif of tuberose perfumes. The fragrance contained Indian tuberose absolute, Tunisian orange blossom absolute, French jasmine, and Italian orris butter, making it a flawless, consummate white-floral.
Fracas became an emblematic fragrance, and today it is still widely considered one of the most beautiful floral perfumes in existence.
WHEN MASTERY TAKES THE SHAPE OF HARMONY - ZAZEN
I recently experienced Zazen. I wasn't familiar with it, yet I intuitively knew I would love it, judging by everything from its name - which holds the very word ZEN - to its absolutely fascinating and enchanting notes.
I longed to imagine it. Before it arrived at my doorstep, I sketched it in my mind in so many different ways. Would it be too fruity, perhaps too sweet, or maybe green?
Oh, Zazen, you are balance, you are peace, yet you are also mystery and a symphony of scents.
As the days passed, I found myself constantly imagining: how will I look upon a Piguet once again? I was so deeply moved; a reunion with my dearest house almost made me want to keep this perfume a secret. Just for myself, until the moment came to tell you all about it here, at leisure, exactly as I always love to do.
I didn't want to share the moment of testing ZAZEN for the first time with anyone. It was an intimate, almost sacred moment. Just me and Zazen, me and Robert Piguet. You must know this feeling, you must have a soul house of your own, to truly understand me.
And so, it was just the two of us. And within that ascetic, pure intimacy, I discovered the softest, most velvety, and most harmonious fragrance - a perfume that is poetry, but also a story. An endless story of infinity, of the sky and the clouds, of rice paddies, of fields filled with fresh grass, of ripe, green, juicy apples, and of powdery, cheerful, and fragrant violets!
Oh, what a beautiful story - so beautiful that it makes you long to breathe in the scent, because this is not just a perfume. Zazen is an experience, a dream, a reverie!
Zazen opens with crisp notes of green, juicy apples, luminous strokes of sweet tangerine, and a touch of spicy saffron. It is cheerful, bright, and almost playful in its top notes.
In the heart of the fragrance, notes of sweetish rice mingle with green accords, evoking the crispness of leaves embraced by the morning dew, powdered by violet, and scented by sweet, velvety orange blossoms. As the green notes intertwine with the rest of the composition, the perfume becomes aromatic, fresh, and green -caressed by the velvety touches of sweet rice, spicy saffron, tonka bean, and amber, which form the base of the fragrance.
It is a playful poem that you long to experience over and over again. On one hand, it restores the joy of childhood, carrying your mind away to warm rice pudding, offering both comfort and bliss to the soul. On the other hand, it remains a fresh, airy fragrance, detached from an idyllic spring landscape where all of nature is in full bloom, everything is green and vibrant, the air is warm, and the birds delight your ears with their most beautiful songs.
This is what Zazen is: a symphony of notes and moods in which you want to lose yourself, only to find yourself again!
WHERE TO FIND ROBERT PIGUET FRAGRANCES
You can find Robert Piguet perfumes on their official website - www.robertpiguetparfumseu.com - and you can also find them on Instagram.
