Dzing! (1999)
by L'Artisan Parfumeur

Saw dust, Leather, Cardboard, Incense, candy floss. the texture is that of scented leather with hints of cat fur and the sillage of civet + cardboard. very myterious and in a weird way, luxurious.

This is a remarkable, unusual fragrance. The notes on the L'Artisan website are leather, musk, toffee, iris & saffron. I would never dream of such a wild mix, but Olivia Giacobetti did dream and her perfume is a stroke of genious. This creation is wonderful and full of contradictions. After a rich, sweet opening, the drydown is exactly that...dry, tart and beautiful. No one on this website (or elsewhere) can give an example for comparison because there is no other like Dzing. Unique! PS I tried this in the summertime and I definately can smell the circus in the very seductive leather notes...never got the circus reference until now.

February 2007:

Confused, though not terribly interesting, for the 30 seconds it lasted on my skin. My curiosity is sated. I don't have to try this one again.

August 2009:

How many times have I since re-tried Dzing! ? I've lost count. How many ounces of the stuff have I emptied onto my hide in my efforts to get Dzing! to last long enough to evaluate? Enough that if I develop some sort of strange, purple fungal growth on my left arm, I will attribute it to Dzing!

What have I concluded? I actually like Dzing! The animalic leather, so evocative of well-used equestrian tack, the sweet, labdanum-seasoned base notes, the oft-mentioned and captivating "paper bag" or "cardboard" note - it's all great. But never, ever, has an appealing scent so disappointed me in its rapid disappearance. Habituation? Anosmia? Is everyone else still smelling this on me long after I can not? Do I want to wear a scent that I can't smell on myself? The only firm answer I have is to this last query, and it is "No." So while Dzing! smells great, I will never own a bottle. (Instead I turn to the remotely similar Cumming, which is drier and smokier, but endures far longer on my skin.)

A funny story about Dzing! that will eventually turn into a review: I took my L'Artisan samples to my sister's house so we could share them and my nephews were there bouncing off the walls and being silly in general but those children LOVE smelling things... so my sister and I began opening the samples and dabbing, etc, and of course the kids came over and I put Dzing! on my oldest nephew (age six) and explained that it was meant to smell of the circus. My sister, "OH MY GOSH IT DOESSS!!! EWWW! (while laughing)." My nephew, "I SMELL LIKE A HORSE!! I SMELL LIKE A HORSE!!" and then he chased my younger nephew (age three) around forcing him to smell his horse-smelling hand. It all went downhill from there but I digress...

What I personally think Dzing! smells like is the smell of those giant metal permanent markers with the big black wedge tip at the top, mixed with vanilla. It also occurred to me that it is, especially after having it on skin for a while, reminiscent of Bulgari Black but softer and more refined. There's something rubbery and leathery about Dzing! and that's where I think the imagery of animal arises but it's softened so delicately with vanilla that it's hard to call this a monster of an animalic perfume. That said, I'd challenge anyone to have Dzing! in his or her memory banks and pass a horse-drawn carriage and stables and NOT see from where Olivia Jacobetti drew her inspiration. While it doesn't smell exactly like a horse or its living quarters, the idea is there and it would take a real fragrance curmudgeon to not give in to that imagery at least a little bit.

The L'Artisan carded sample says, "A fragrance soft and fierce... Very wild very sweet!" and I think that's a nice way of describing Dzing!, although I don't think there's anything "very" about the fragrance. It's actually kind of mild in its intrigue and uniqueness, perfectly at home in the L'Artisan house of fragrances that rarely, if ever, speak indoors with their outdoor voices.

toffee with a metallic edge, sawdust and nail polish. nothing dirty for me, which is a shame!

Wow.
Quite similar to Bulgari Black, but less soft on me. I also seem to be getting hints of Je Reviens today, on my fourth wear. Lasting power of the interesting topnotes could have been better, they fade soon, but the drydown is musky heaven. The animalic properties I find quite muted; there's just a hint of lovely clean ass. Lots of sweet, balsamic goodness in the base. And the muskiness! Ooooh so good. Easily unisex, I'd say, though quite sweet. Ah I love it. If only it weren't so crazily expensive in South Africa!