Balade Sauvage

Just got a 100ml bottle of this fragrance in, And I have to admit, I've never been a fig person. If I had to describe myself, I'm a fig HATER. Somehow, Dior has turned my utter hatred for fig into a total attractive NIGHTMARE. I first sampled Balade Sauvage back when the first edition mini sets released. It was love at first sniff, back then I was still a "Noob" or "Beginner" however you'd like to describe it. I did not know there was fig in this bottle, but boy did I flip out on my friend when he told me this is a fig forward scent. Fast forward today, I've finally snagged a full bottle from the Dior website and I have absolutely no regrets. The opening is a beautiful mix of Fig and citrus to my nose, with soft undertones of white florals. In most cases, it leans more towards the feminine side depending on what kind of weather you are wearing this fragrance. My wife and I have noticed that in the hotter Arizona weather, it leans more towards the masculine side since it becomes more ozonic and watery due to your body sweat. But in the cooler weather, you get a floral forward feminine scent. So weather does affect this fragrance quite a bit. I wear this in the spring time here in Chandler,AZ , and it is by no means a "beast" performer, but I wear this scent for my own pleasure rather than other's =) Getting gentle whiffs of the citrusy fig while I walk in the nice cool breeze is just absolutely REFRESHING! The dry down is a light powdery vanilla mixed with slight woodiness. My rating for this elegant yet attractive scent: Projection: 5/10 (Very easy going not at all a projection beast, more of a self-satisfactory fragrance) Longevity: 8/10 ( I get anywhere from 5-8 hours. Also the opening notes dies out a bit too soon, around 3 - 4 hours in and it's gone). Uniqueness: 9/10 (I don't think there's a better "Fig" scent out there, I say this because I hate the smell of Fig, and so far no other house has changed my mind aside from Dior. Don't put me on a pike for this =) It's just personal preference). Price: 8/10 (Definitely worth it, the 220$+ that Dior is asking for per bottle. I think that this scent is worth every dime I spent on it, no regrets!) Overall: 8/10 (Although the rating isn't high, I wanted to be honest about how I feel towards fig. If I'm rating this scent as a Fig lover, this would easily be 10/10 in every spectrum). Thanks for reading my review! =)

This is a very, very nice fig scent. I have a sizable collection of fig-oriented frags and this one could be someone's fig holy grail. Essentially, this is like a hybrid of the beautiful Bal d'Afrique by Byredo and a traditional fig scent, maybe something like Philosykos or AdP Fico di Amalfi. And yes, there certainly is a profile similarity to Jo Malone's Wood Sage & Sea Salt, despite the note differences. But not similar to Dior Dune Pour Homme. Dune is more astringently fig tree bark and leaf green. It has an accord that smells like the moist green innards of a fig tree branch that is split in two. The fig accords in Balade Sauvage are not like that. The orange blossom note in Balade Sauvage equates well with Bal d'Afrique's African Orange Flower, and the peach fruitiness with the Black Currant fruitiness of Bal d'Afrique, the florals equate well, and the creaminess of the amberwood, labdanum and vanilla of Balade Sauvage equates to the creamy amber and Musk of Bal d'Afrique. The solar, ozonic, and sea notes of Balade Sauvage are quite subdued and don't cause a significant divergence of scent profile in this comparison. I can possibly imagine a pebble note and very slight mineralic accord in Balade Sauvage, but it's nothing prominent. Then of course the fig fruit and leaf notes give the fig profile orientation. But overall very nice, and somewhat unique in the fig scent genre.

My first try of the latest collection of Dior Privee fragrances (announced on-and-off over the last few years but allegedly only released in late 2017 or early 2018 in Paris), Balade Sauvage caught my eye above many of the others and I jumped at a chance to sample it via a split. As many of the initial reports are indicating, it's wonderful, a playful, fresh mix of fig, labdanum, and a health variety of citrus, floral, and aquatic notes, possibly with a woody or vetiver base underneath. I've been slow to warm up to fig as a sweet fruity note (it took me a couple of years to warm up to plum, for one) but I do like the way it's relatively subtly used in Balade Sauvage. The fig is there but not dominant; it's well-blended with the other competing clusters of notes. Performance is impressive for a freshie, not quite to the Profumum level but still strong projection for hours and longevity beyond. Certainly most comfortable as a daytime warm weather fragrance (based on character), it's nonetheless robust enough to wear on a warmer night or indoors, only perhaps unsuited for the colder days and nights of winter. I'd be remiss not to mention that I also see this is quite unisex in nature--this could smell good or men or women, old or young, in various walks of life. It's just an unusually pleasant, agreeable smell. 8 out of 10

Vibrant fruity citrus at the top, tapers down overtime to give the oceanic and woody notes some room, it starts to smell like freshly printed money (like brokesta911 said). I glee like an idiot whenever I smell the atomizer. At the halfway of its 6 hour longevity, Balade Sauvage becomes a skin scent, I can never catch slightest waft of it. The projection is ok at the top, but then it's all gone by hour 2. I'm very happy with my purchase, this fragrance helped me discover my taste in fragrance, but I can't excuse weak scents. EDIT: Here's what I personally think of some comparisons: Philosykos by Diptyque (both EDP&EDT) - No. The only overlap is the fig note, and it's not a juicy, edible fig, it's a very young fig, with strong green fig leaf scent. The scent is very deep green and earthy. Silver Mountain Water by Creed - No. Citrus and musk scent Musk Therapy by Initio - No. Musky Orange citrus and sandalwood scent, no aquatic qualities. Fico di Amalfi by Aqua di Parma - No. The fig isn't sour as Philosykos, but it's still young and overwhelms the acquatic notes Bal d'Afrique by Byredo - Sorta. The big similarity is in the top note, but it dries down to something similar to Musk Therapy. Any of the Un Jardin fragrances by Hermes - No. They're old school overwhelming citrus scents, nothing refreshing in my opinion.

Love, love, love. Balade sauvage is outstanding, my first fig centric fragrance so was rather unsure if it would be lovely or not. First sniff from the cap, cold pebbles, labdanum, solar and petitgrain. When applying it's a different story, the opening is bright and fresh, quite green and citric. Petitgrain and bergamot shine most here, ozonic notes are harder to detect but I assume they lend more to projection than anything else. The mid is where things start to get fruity, I can smell the milky fig coming through, some sap and floral fruity sweetness, retains the bitterness from the petitgrain but balances it well here, it's smooth, creamy green fig, not sweet, the green notes are working hard on that. I get the base notes throughout but most noticeable when it becomes more personal around the 4-5 hour mark, pebbles, vanilla, labdanum and woody resinous undertone that almost can be confused for the fig tree staying from the mid. This is outstanding perfumery and extremely creative, this has been my daily driver this spring, layering with jasmine des Anges when I want a sweeter touch, or lucky when I want full green-floral-ozonic goodness. This will stay in my collection, I'm going to hunt for more bottles for sure, someone take my card.