Figmania II

I´ve been working diligently, tracking down various fig-related scents (and thanks for the suggestions) after my first Figmania post. Here are some more results. My fig obsession came out of nowhere, and it hasn´t gone away…

Demeter Fig Leaf – well … it´s not bad, and the price is insanely cheap. It starts off with an additional floral component I´m not wild about. Then it dries down into a satisfying, no-frills fig for about half an hour. There´s a bit of “leafiness” – a faint, woody green note – but nothing as pronounced as, say, Philosykos. Then it goes a bit soapy on me. On its own it´s vaguely unsatisfying, but I´m going to fool around with layering it (hey, what are Demeters for?) It needs more bottom or something. I think it might smell rather fetching with Dirt. Or Wet Garden.

Diptyque Philosykos – I´m not sure I’d ever tried this – in fact, I had a heck of a time finding it in a store, which is interesting. For awhile Diptyque candles were everywhere, and they seem to have been edged out by other, fancier candles, resulting in the entire line having been dropped by a number of places. Anyway, here is a perfect example of limitations of language and individual preference – I have heard Philosykos (which definitely has its hardcore fig fans) described as very “green” – plenty of fig grove, with the leaves, trees, dirt, etc., and so I assumed it would be too green for me. It is greener and earthier than their Figuier room spray, but every bit as delightful, perhaps even more so, because it´s more complex. The “green” note is leafy and keeps it from overt sweetness, but it´s not the shrill green of galbanum or LOTV. The earthiness is a nice base without being too much, and there are no competing floral notes to detract from the figginess (at least that I can detect). Two friends who smelled it on me pronounced it delicious – definitely FBW and, barring another discovery, probably my fig Holy Grail.

Profumum Ichnusa – this was recommended by a reader after my first post. You want woody with a less dominant, less sweet fig note? You might like this. On me, Ichnusa (myrtle, fig-tree wood, cut grass) smells really, really woody – more of the leaves and twigs and less of the fruit of the fig. This smells like what I thought Philosykos would smell like. It´s a little woody for me, frankly, but that´s a personal judgment rather than a criticism of the scent. The grass note is particularly appealing – it´s sort of a sweet, young grass note, like spring grass in sunshine, instead of an intense blast of sharp green.

Slatkin Black Fig and Absinthe – they´re flogging it to the men at places like the Grooming Lounge (where they can´t even keep it in stock). There are several products (fragrance, gel, lotion, candles, I think a shave cream). It´s Fig Plus, and if you´d like your fig cut with something a little less sweet, this is an excellent option. The first time I tried it I got more fig. The next two times I got more absinthe (or whatever you want to call the rest of the smell – a tart muskiness), and anise. It´s nice, and I might buy some for the Cheese, but it´s not my HG. Last time I checked they had the complete line, including the fragrance, in stock at Bergdorf in NYC.

Pacifica Mediterranean Fig – This scent (soap, spray, candle and body butter) gets my special Gold Star Bang for the Buck award. If you want to try out a little fig and you´re not interested in spending much, you might start here. The scent is, essentially, creamy fig and a light sandalwood, making it nicely unisex and good for the household bathroom. I keep the soap in the downstairs powder room and regularly receive questions/comments from visitors regarding its fantastic smell – my sister-in-law just ran off with the spare in my closet. For something that sets me back $7 a bar and lasts a long time (it´s glycerin-based) that´s a heckuva deal. The spray is, I think, $20, and again, while it´s lacking the sophistication and lasting power of a high-end niche scent, it smells great, exactly like the soap. I´ve heard positive things about their matching candle as well.

The Ava-Luxe figs – I think there are actually five of them that are figgy. Unfortunately, she´s taken a break and I can´t order samples. Does this depress me? Yes, it does. I´m keeping my fingers crossed that she returns to perfumery, because it would be a tremendous loss.

CB I Hate Perfume Revelation – Philosykos is probably my Platonic fig ideal, and Heeley garners votes on LuckyScent as the most like a fig grove. Wearing Revelation is like falling down a hole and waking up inside some psilocybin-fueled vision of a fig grove — not that I´m complaining. You´re getting the whole grove – the wind is blowing, the leaves are rustling, there are ants on the tree bark and figs everywhere, and the buzzing of insects and the smell of the sun on your skin… hey, dude, are you tripping with me? Revelation would be my ultimate fig scent if I could wear it and doing anything other than stand stock still and sniff whatever part of my skin has this on it. No, I´m not kidding. I can´t even drive wearing this thing. It´s too distracting; who can see where you´re going with all those figs and leaves and tree trunks and dirt blowing around? You all know CB´s virtual-reality scents work wonders for me. If they don´t work for you, this probably won´t change your mind. If they do work for you, and you like fig even a little, you really need to sniff this one.

Yosh The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things – my chakras aren´t aligned well enough to fully appreciate the Yosh esthetic, and I hadn´t tried this one because I´m a soulless cynic and I thought the whole J.T. LeRoy story was crap even before s/he was unmasked as a fraud. If reincarnation exists, Laura Albert, the “real” J.T., will come back as a cockroach in Yosh´s workshop, and Yosh will mash her under a paperback copy of “A Child Called It´.” There, now that I´ve gotten that bile out of my system – I ended up applying the entire half-vial from LuckyScent to my arm, trying to get a bead on it. My notes read: gingerbread, shoe polish, buttered toast. Hmm. Maybe J.T. and I will be scuttling around on the floor together?

Hautes de Provence Fig Shower Gel (Feuille de Figuier) — The hotel division of L´Occitane. Yeah, I know – I already ragged this last time as boring. Well, I got down further in the bottle and it morphed into a nice, creamy, sandalwood-fig. I changed my mind – now I would steal the extra bottle from my hotel room. But that´s probably as far as I´d go.

Wen Fig Oil – ack. No. I think this is one of those hair-cult QVC things, and I can buy into that (hey, I did buy into that) but it smells like Bach Flowers Rescue Remedy. And I like that smell, but I don´t want to bathe in it. It´s really strong, and not especially figgy. The ingredients are jojoba oil and essential oils.

Bendel Fig Scentport scent from Bath and Body Works – no no no. This isn´t in their stores any more but it´s available in their online catalog, and it has some nice reviews. It´s horrible. It doesn´t even smell like fig. It smells like, I dunno….hell? Only “fresher.”

Heeley Figuier – This is the one touted by LuckyScent and commenters as the true fig you want if you´re not looking for a lot of extra bells and whistles in the woods department. One commenter says, this is fig! And she´s from Israel and knows the smell of wild fig trees. I have zero idea how a fig tree smells. This smells pretty darn good, but there´s a sweetish, root beer-like note (maybe sassafras?) I´m not entirely on board with. When I catch a whiff of it around me I´m quite pleased, but if I sniff it on my skin … root beer. Maybe fig groves smell like root beer, I don´t know. I also get a hint of coconut, for any of you avoiding it like the plague.

Parfumerie Generale Jardins de Kerylos – when this first came out, I thought, pretty, and that was that. Revisiting it in the height of my figmania gives me a new appreciation. To me it´s in the gray area between basic fig and a Fig Plus fragrance — it starts off a rich, creamy fig (there´s that coconut note) but the addition of musk makes it a bit less straightforward. I should disclose that some people complain this scent is too sweet, a problem I have with some of the other PGs, but not this one. I get fig (leaves, fruit, trunk), a little light musk, grass, and something vaguely breezy. Nicely done.

Hermes Un Jardin en Mediterranee – created by Jean Claude Ellena, notes are bergamot, orange blossom, oleander, fig tree, pink cedar. This does nothing for me as a fig scent. But it does all sorts of things for me as an herbal scent. It smells like a glass of iced tea in an herb garden. Refreshing.

Roger & Gallet Gentle Nature Fresh Fig Soap with Shea Butter – it´s big and creamy and lathers beautifully and does not smell one bit like fig. There ought to be a law…

Satellite A La Figue! – fig tree sap, fresh fig, iris, white lily of the valley, cyclamen, vanilla, cedar, white musk, patchouli. A creamy, sap-rich fig with some extra florals. Objectively, this is not a great fig fragrance, although it is primarily fig. But there´s something in this scent that makes me feel happy; I need a decant. I own lots of fragrances that I can parse for their Many Layers of Deep Meaning; I don´t own many scents that put a cheerful grin on my face just smelling them. “Fresh” alert – it goes through maybe five minutes (near the beginning) of some sort of fresh insipidity. Then it´s all good – creamy green fig, sap, a little spice courtesy of the iris and patch.

Addendum: for anyone who recommended a fig product last time that didn´t appear in this post: it´s either because: a) I couldn´t take the pain of buying another candle or soap, since I now have an oversupply; or b) in the case of a fragrance, I couldn´t get ahold of a sample. But if I try one in the future and love it, I´ll blog on it.