JIJIDE
RISO

2023

PERFUMER
Zimo Luo

kumquat
petitgrain
sichuan pepper

rice
michelia
chrysanthemum
red bean
jujube

soy sauce
vetiver
guaiac wood
cinnamon bark

I feel like there’s been a trend around 2022-2024 surrounding fragrances with rice notes and sweeter rice cake, pastry, popcorn concoctions. Riso however, is rice like you haven’t seen that often, if at all, before.

The rice here is sort of as expected. Slightly sweetened, iris-y qualities, bready, pastry qualities. But instead of surrounding it with sweet comforting notes, I get a very unusual sort of mintiness (?) from Riso. Fresh, acidic, minty flowers for a moment, moving into a pine forest type of edge. Another reviewer alluded to this, but a friend of mine only gets the sweet and cozy side. I think the petitgrain, chrysanthemum and vetiver keep this from going really gourmand for me.

Sweet at its core, but fresh on the edges and quite floral. Of course, it warms and sweetnes up into a more conventional rice-like scent as it dries, but it’s an interesting take on this rice DNA.