Cèdre Figalia

Okay, let me just say—I absolutely adore this perfume. It’s green, juicy, creamy, and completely stole my heart at the first sniff. At first, I thought, ‘Hmm, maybe it could be a little more powerful,’ but then I realised, no, its magic is in how soft and gentle it is. Also, the review below is a perfect description; there is nothing to add. The longevity is excellent, both on the skin and clothes. Easy 24 hours on my clothes. What else to say... So, picture this: I’m in a perfume shop the other day, and I overhear this couple saying they love fig scents and fresh perfumes. Naturally, I’m like, ‘I’ve got just the thing!’ Lucky for them, the shop had Cedre Figalia in stock, so I suggested they give it a try. Now,—after sniffing it, they said it reminded them of Neroli Portofino by Tom Ford but worse. And I’m just standing there like super confused, ‘Uh... no, not even close.’ But I didn't say anything just smiled. That moment really hit me: I rely so much on reviews, but we all smell things so differently. It’s such a double-edged sword, this individuality and those little quirks in our DNA. What’s a masterpiece to one nose might be a total miss to another. Go figure, right? But once again, to my nose, it is an absolutely indispensable part of my perfume collection because it makes me feel utterly happy and content. Btw sometimes, I layer it with just a tinny-winnie spray of Snob by Le Galion, and it grounds it with flowers and aldehydes to give it a darker twist, but that is only for events if I feel a bit quirky.

This is everything a fig fragrance could and should be. You really get the whole fig. First impressions are of the leaves, as if you have been walking on a very warm day and catch the scent carried by a warm wind from a tree baking in the strong sun--that almost toasted leaf smell that leans both green and coconut. The initial little very-short-lived blast of citrus provides the freshness of that breeze, but doesn't stay around long enough to become present and distract. Then the fig wood becomes very present--the mate and spinach notes help add that sappy feel, as if you have just cut a branch from a fig tree, so that you get the woody outside and the sappy inside. After the dry-down you get the warmth and slight sweetness of the fig fruit (but with NO sickly sweetness. I have had this for 6 months and find that it performs very differently in cold and warm weather. On a chilly day, I go on only this fig journey. In slightly hotter weather, the greenness comes through more strongly and I can pick out the individual notes of the basil, spinach, mate much more clearly, as if the warmth makes the formula come apart a bit rather than stay fully composed and rounded. Both absolutely lovely, but two different journeys. Sillage is not big but longevity is. You would NEVER guess at first scent that this would still be around 8+ hours later. Intimate, doesn't get up your nose, but absolutely offers a journey across the day. Rare combo. Love, love, love.

Review after failing to sell my 10mL travel size! I'm glad I didn't sell it. I had it up for sale and no one was relieving me of my Cedre Figalia so I thought I might as well just wear it. Overtime that note I brought up with it smelling a bit coconut/rice dessert-esque, that wasn't as prominent. It aged into a rougher scent that actually checks what it promised about smelling green and vegetal. In fact it was way more vegetal than I had remembered but not in a literal vegetable way. It's vegetal = vegetation. Less of a green scent in terms of aromatic and actually close to the smell of cutting plants and woody trees. There's still a lingering sweetness there that is kinda like Philosykos yes in terms of the wet juiciness that you'd get. Really glad I ended up keeping it because so many green scents disappointed me after turning very aromatic/that classic men's cologne interpretation of 'green.' Also getting burned from scents that promised a ""photorealistic smell of snapping a plant stem"" and such from various reviews. THIS honestly is both that photorealistic plant smell without just being a literal flat one-to-one plant smell. It's still a perfume and I think it really succeeded in what it set out to do. Idk about projection but this lasts very long on me and my clothes. I could spray in the morning and still smell like Cedre Figalia at night.

Absolutely stunning on first application. It's two parts fig, one part vegetal green with an undercurrent of cedar. I can actually smell the spinach, which is where I think most of the wet, green notes in the opening are coming from. It's actually very neutral and just serves as a fresh green touchstone for the rest of the fragrance to hang down from. I get a good amount of citrus, but it's supporting the fig here, lending a little fizziness in the opening. Once the opening has pulled you in, it settles into a fresh, barely ripened fig with a creamy heart, framed by a nice mix of mostly green with some cedar. I don't sense much progression after that, it just feels like the green dies down first and then it's a slow fade into nothingness around the 3.5 hour mark. I can still smell it at 3 hours if I sniff my wrist directly, but I don't believe anyone around me can smell it at that point. I'm not sure why all the fragrances I love have poor to moderate longevity, but this one does a little better than many similar fragrances. I know this is a new release in 2024, which has been the year of the fig. It's a trendy note right now, but this is clearly a well-thought out entry in a large field of fig fragrances. Moderate longevity, really elegant and beautiful. 9.5/10.

I have tried a LOT of fig fragrances, and while I do always like them, they always fall just a little bit short for me. I have finally broken the streak with this one! The opening is a wonderful, bright fig leaf. Its green facets are bolstered by the combination of basil with a touch of bergamot. As it dries down, the fruity aspects of the fig intensify and the mate and spinach peek out a bit. The sweetness of the fruit is balanced wonderfully by the bitterness provided by the vegetal notes. It has a little touch of a fresh soapy-ness at this point, which I love. Cedar and fig remain for the dry down. I find that this final stage also has an almost vanillic/pandan quality to it. This lasts a really long time- I was still catching whiffs of it at the end of the day after spraying it in the morning. Projection leaves a little bit to be desired, sitting just barely too close to the skin for my liking. With regards to comparisons, this sits between Thé Noir and Philosykos to my nose. The fig note sits more on the Philosykos end of the spectrum while the green/bitter notes lean more into Thé Noir.