Chapter III · Floral Fruity · Eau de Parfum
Hanoi · March · afternoon tea
Tháng Ba hoài niệm A Memory in Bloom
Pomelo blossom, sheer as silk; sugarcane, lightly sweet; fragrant rice tea. Beneath, a soft musk.
In old Hanoi, in March, peeled sugarcane was laid with pomelo blossoms until it took their scent, then eaten with afternoon tea. From that ritual, Rei Nguyen of R Parfums composed Nostalgic March: pomelo blossom, sugarcane and tea, with musk beneath. Rei calls it a nostalgic March because the rituals of that season are slipping away.
Full notes, prices and questions on the Nostalgic March page →
Prices incl. 8% VAT. Delivery within Vietnam.
March. A fine spring rain drifts down, and the streets lie under a thin veil of mist.
You open the window. Hanoi is still asleep, yet something in you has already softened.
In the old days, sugarcane was scented with pomelo blossom and kept for afternoon tea.
A gift from the old gardens, almost forgotten.
Key notes
Pomelo blossom and sugarcane in the top notes, tea in the middle, all three resting on a soft musk. Rei calls them “a trio of notes seldom found in perfume”.
The sweetness in this chapter comes not from vanilla or caramel but from honey, from tea, from toasted rice cakes and a bowl of sweet lotus-seed soup from years ago. Not on the tongue. In the memory.
Four steps, as with tea
In Tràng An, the old Hanoi, tea was never drunk in haste, and Nostalgic March should not be rushed either. One step to prepare, then three for its three tiers of notes.
A quiet corner
Give yourself a moment of stillness before the scent opens.
A tea maker chooses clean water and brings it just to the boil. Smelling a perfume asks for the same: a place to sit and a settled mind. A corner by the window, early in the morning, before the day grows loud.
The bottle · Patina · Verde Patina
The base notes of Nostalgic March do not flare; they stay quietly on the skin. The three pieces of brass on the bottle are just as quiet: three stages of the same metal.
The idea came from relics in Huế; twelve months of research and development went into the Patina line. Each bottle is one of a kind, made for one owner.
The bottle · Ceramic · fire and glaze
The round cap is cast in a mould by craftspeople in Vietnam, finished by hand and fired at 1000°C; its glaze recalls Chu Đậu ware. The kiln decides the glaze and the maker’s hand the tassel, so each Ceramic bottle comes to you as it was finished. The cap comes with a ceramic charm engraved with an R.
The glaze also shifts with the light and from one firing to the next, so the cap you receive will be close to the photograph, not identical.
“I named this fragrance ‘Nostalgic March’ not because Tràng An has disappeared, but because the ritual of that season has begun to fade. A bite of sugarcane on a skewer. A slow cup of afternoon tea. How long has it been since we last allowed ourselves such ease?”
Choose your bottle
One scent, two bottles. A March, held in brass or in glaze.
See the full pyramid and choose a bottle on the Nostalgic March page →
The Patina line · brass · one of a kind
Three pieces of brass on the bottle: one keeps the colour of brass, one is fully patinated, one is caught midway. Each piece is corroded, filed and polished by hand, then set snugly on the glass.
The Ceramic line · fire · glaze
A round ceramic cap fired in the kiln, its glaze recalling Chu Đậu ware, with a ceramic charm engraved with an R. Glaze by the kiln, tassel by hand.
Smaller sizes: 12 ml bottle 1.177.200 ₫US$45 · 2 ml sample 210.600 ₫US$8 · Discovery Set, five 2 ml vials 918.000 ₫US$35 · incl. 8% VAT · See smaller sizes
All three houses carry Nostalgic March to try on skin and are open daily.
We currently deliver within Vietnam only. Visiting from abroad? Collect your order at any of our three houses.
Delivery and returnsBank Transfer by VietQR (VND) or Credit Card (USD). VietQR orders are held for 60 minutes while we await your transfer.
Ask us: +84 89 649 0038Read more in the Journal: “Savoring Perfume as the Ancients Savored Tea – The Art of Sensing with Nostalgic March” (3 April 2025) and “Nostalgic March – A March of Memories Captured in a Fragrance” (31 March 2025). Go to the Journal
In July 2022, R Parfums opened at 34 Nguyễn Duy Hiệu with five scents, Nostalgic March among them: Archive · Open House & Showcasing · The Nostalgic March film, shot in November 2022
Time leaves a fingerprint. In this chapter, it is a March.
