Ninfeo Mio

Reviewing Ninfeo Mio is like doing a testimonial about a best friend or a sweetheart. It's just someone you love, regardless their flaws. This scent is a big love to me, it's the one I've found after a long dive in the perfume world, when I finally got a real idea of what I like and dislike. It was not love at first whiff, though. First time I knew I like it, but it was too much green leaning to masculine, reminded me of straw even. Second time I liked it better, but was afraid it was the perfume you like to smell on others, not yourself. Third time I sprayed on my hand, and oh god! I could not stop bringing it to my nose. I am aware of the cat pee or BO notes that other reviewers mentioned. I personally run away for this kind of scent, like Aqua Allegoria Pamplelune. Who wants to smell like didn't shower? However I feel that this notes are not obvious in Ninfeo Mio, they're just there, hidden between the green leafs and the milky fig. I couldn't stop loving it, even if I wanted to. Ninfeo Mio is my safe place. I wear it when I need to face a uncomfortable situation or in a day I would have liked to stay in bed. It's not safe because it will please everyone around me, but because it reminds me that it is MY scent, and I love it even if others don't. It reminds me that we don't have to please everyone, we need to be comfortable with who we are. About the scent itself, for me it opens with fresh sharp, dry greens, but very fresh. I love it for giving the "citrus cologne vibe" when applying it, but I'm happy it doesn't last too long. Then there is a sweetness showing up, from the fig, or fig leafs. It is not a gourmand sweet, but it is definitely sweet. No prob, as it is balanced by a woody background. On me it has light projection and it is really longlasting: 7-8h. For me it's more than enough. It's just by the very end of the scent that I start to get the pee vibe, but I wouldn't say cat pee, it's more like the room of a child who still pees in bed sometimes LOL I prefer to wear it in the colder months (which are 8, where I live) 'cause I find it to develop better in cold weather. For warmer months I prefer something even more fresh, anyway, like Petite Cherie or Eau d'Hadrien, even though I open my Ninfeo Mio very often just to smell it again :) I have the Dolce Vita collection and it's the same scent, just in a different bottle. And I agree with the reviewers who said it's the smell of fairies in a forest. It is really a natural magic scent!

Fig is a strange one... two fig scents that I really enjoy spring to mind. ADP Fico and the Diptyque Philosykos...this is unlike either of them! It's starts out with a classy citrus blast, by that I mean expensive smelling not like a lemon cleaning product or a 'smelled it all before' designer fragrance. Citron and I get some orange too it's really nice! Then comes one of the greenest of green smells I've experienced, reminiscent of L'Ombre Dans L'Eau by Diptyque. You also get the wonderful freshness of fig but it's very vague in the mix, also there's a slighly spiced, peppery vibe. If this just dried down with subtle wood and faded quietly... I'd have been a happy man, having discovered a brilliant summertime fresh fragrance that I would definitely wear I may have otherwise over looked. Then the magic happens in the drydown!! My favourite part about this fragrance is that even while the citrus and green notes are settling that subtle spice is building to a crescendo of resinous glory! The galbanum is a huge player in the fragrance for me and I've come across mastic before but while I'm not familiar with it's specific qualities it obviously brings something special to the party and the combination smells a bit like myrrh...then changes as it matures further. So given this fantastic combination and journey through different olfactory stages I have to say that this is a magnificent juice from Annick Goutal and a combination of citrus/greens/spice/resins I'd like to see more often. Perfectly unisex too, something about the whole composition seems to be balanced and the drydown to me is masculine but would be totally at home on female skin by the same rule. Excellent stuff this!!!

This perfume is amazing! It really is. I bought it after a long and protracted day of sniffing perfumes at Harvey Nicks, I'd tried on about 6 perfumes on different parts of my arm and spent the rest of the evening sniffing them. Something kept tantalising my nose and each time I sniffed the Ninfeo Mio patch it was subtly different each time but lovely. I went back and bought a bottle of course and I've been building an interesting relationship with it ever since! The first sniff is very, very citrusy but not just sharp - it's also boiled sweet lemony, you get a lot of herbs at first too. Then it becomes more woody and that's when this perfume begins to lift you into something beyond the usual perfume experience. I've read that Goutal wanted to reflect emotions and experiences and for me this is the experience of childhood - rummaging around in the bushes and trees with the sun warmed smell of twigs and leaves, my Mum's tomato plants, and more specifically the smell of raspberry bush leaves - green, earthy and warm with a touch of animal! Someone else has commented on that element, can't remember where, but it's true, there's a cumin-like sweaty note that makes this perfume strangely sexy, but not in a standard feminine way. It's very very close to natural smells of woodlands on a summer day but only if you're rolling around on the ground If you want unusual and you're not into flowery feminine classics, I think this might appeal very much

I was not very excited to test this perfume, because I actually don ́t like the smell of figs. But one day - as a real fan of the house Goutal - I took the change to discover Ninfeo Mio, while I was standing in a little parfumery. My first impression was: Yes, it is fig! But to my suprise it was a very pleasing fig, embedded in some interessing and sour citus notes in the top. Suddenly I had to think of a beautiful lemon grove, sunshine and a warm breeze on my skin. Later, on my way back home, the fragrance was getting smoother and I sniffed the warm and a bit milky wodden notes.(Like taking a rest in the shadow of a pistachio tree.) I found NM quiet nice as a single experience, but not breathtaking enough to buy a bottle. A few mounths later I fortuitous got a sample of Ninfeo mio (EdT) as a gift. I used one or two little drops of the sample on a relaxed evening at home. Ah, here comes the grove again! What a great juice to stimulate an uplifting daydream. Immediatley the wanderlust grabs me and NM sends me on a comforting short trip somewhere in the south. To make a long story short, I felt more and more in love with this creation. When the sample was empty, this fig has already captured me and my nose and I was "forced" to buy a bottle. This fragrance simply makes me feel happy, it conjures a smile on my face every time I use it. By the way, a voyage with the EdT lasts round about 5 hours on my skin.

This is my second bottle of Ninfeo Mio. I last bought it around 2010 and I'm delighted to say it hasn't changed a bit! In all this hot muggy weather I was craving something that cuts through the wilting heat. I re-tried Chanel's Cristalle (cool, mossy white flowers), Atelier des Ors' Blanc Polychrome (a hit of musky yet bright lemon and fig) but I was craving something keener and more reminiscent of the beautiful greens and yellows of this summer. Ninfeo Mio still hits the spot. The only gripe I have is the name - my mum asked what I was wearing - so I replied: 'Ninfeo Mio'. She laughed - 'What? Nympho maniac?!' A-a-nyway, I get the lovely references - to the garden of the Hesperides, the land of myth, the gardens of Ninfa in Rome that are filled with lemon trees. This wonderous perfume smells like you're rolling around in a bed of herbs - lemon verbena among them, also musky/bitter green leaves that remind some people of cat pee. It's not really like cat pee, if it was I'd not be able to wear this! This year I've been painting a series of paintings inspired by a mysterious clearing in a forest near me, in which I encountered the crumbling remains of a medieval friary, all overgrown with foliage, surrounded by ancient trees forming a canopy of green overhead. I wanted a perfume to make me think of that as I painted - that's why I re-bought Ninfeo Mio. Beautiful and unique!

Ninfeo Mio is a realistic unisex green citrus that gets the balance right. Just the right amount of green, citrus, and wood. The fig at the top of it all makes this a perfume, and stops it from veering into citrus cleaning product territory I can imagine a person who likes the smell of Aveda products liking Ninfeo Mio. It doesn’t actually smell like an Aveda product, it just has that vibe. I get just the smallest note of clean sweat. It reminds me of a specific moment umpteen years ago where I chatted with someone after they’d just played racquetball indoors. It’s a good smell, but it’s atypical in mainstream perfumery. Along with the citrus and wood, I imagine this dash of sweat as a part of the experience of basking in the sun on Ninfeo Mio’s Mediterranean island, and I love it. I would buy a full bottle of Ninfeo Mio, but the performance every time I’ve tried it has seemed poor. I just sprayed this on under two hours ago and it’s like it sank right into my fabric and disappeared. I have to lift my shirt up to my nose to get a good whiff. Spraying in your hair holds better, but it’s still performing poorly. I consider this a good perfume for working out. It’s inoffensive, and will blend with your body rather than trying to cover it with artificial notes. It’s also the sort of fragrance I’d place in the guest bathroom for anyone who wants to freshen up.

(This review is for Eau de Toilette) NINFEO MIO is certainly unique. This scent is very aromatic, green and natural. I totally agree with Missk in the review below that this scent reminds of a well-kept vegetable garden. My grandfather used to love growing vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers. I spent many happy hours in his garden. NINFEO MIO definitely captures the natural green scent of vegetable plants mixed with the sunshine and summer mood. The opening is citron and lemon with woody and balsamic note of galbanum. I love citrus scents, so the starting notes were a pure bliss for me. There is definitely a vegetable like note in this fragrance very similar to tomato-note, as also already mentioned in the wonderful review below by Missk. The heart notes are very gentle with the lavender and milky fig leaves. The dry down on my skin also has fig notes mixed with herbal and wood notes. NINFEO MIO smells pleasantly fresh and unexpectedly nice on my skin. I strongly dislike most herbal and vegetable scents, so I was quite surprised that I do like this one. There is something about this scent that is balanced and harmonious. It is natural and relaxing. I definitely could see myself wearing this in summer. However, I would recommend trying a sample before buying as the uniqueness of this scent might not appeal to everyone.

Oh Ninfeo Mio! Annick Goutal, or better yet, Camile and Isabelle have managed to capture the essence of a spring garden, getting the first rays of sun! I never knew I liked fig fragrances, let alone love them, but this green sparkling little gem has me smitten. It captures the essence of a fig tree near a water spring in a garden that is most probably hidden from the crowd, secret if you will. A very sparkling cypress opening, dominated with lemon, leads the way under the shade of the tree, where juicy figs are slightly past their prime. But oh how succulent they are. And this hungry and tired traveller can't help but succumb to their smell, juiciness, feel. Ninfeo Mio never fails to transport me to a carefree place every time I spray it. Ever so simple and complex at the same time, with an above average sillage and longevity, this sometimes hidden gem is in my opinion one of the finest examples of Goutal's exquisite know how. It is not the best fig soliflore around, but for me it gets a 10 in transporting me to a hideaway where I can simply unwind and forget. And that time travel in today's hectic lifestyle is a highly treasured commodity. If you like fig, or even if you don't, green leaves and lemon, touched by creamy sandalwood, give Ninfeo a try, it might enchant you like it did with me!

I seem to have the uncanny habit to find perfect perfumes at amazing prices the moment I tell myself to stop buying perfume for a while. I think this is a love at first smell, and a sensational blind buy. For context, this summer I wore a lot of Issey Miyake A Scent, and Lancôme's O'de Lancôme where I accepted that the sharp, gluey dry down was simply something to accept if I wanted to wear the scent profile; I also wore quite a bit of Moschino Funny! , which is quite similar to Ninfeo Mio but felt a little too juicy and bubbly for work. Ninfeo Mio combines what I love about both these scents. The pleasant floral undertones of the mid points of A Scent and O'de Lancôme, with the fun and juicy orangey delight of Funny! all rounded off with a pleasant milky fig that tames it and adds a sensuality and milk lotion quality I adore. It feels like "me" like many of my favorite scents do. I've been considering if I would prefer a bottle of Sables by Goutal or Afternoon of Faun by Etat Libre for a while now, and this revelatory scent has made it far harder to decide! It's actually somewhat hilarious that the true retail of a bottle (£150) would typically cost just about what it cost me to purchase the 3 scents it reminds me of. This is a scent for life, welcome home.

I have the reformulation. There haven't been any changes. It was my new signature scent after Les Nuits d'Hadrien was discontinued, and I'm already on my third 100ml bottle. The opening is indeed very crisp and green, even bitter, but there is a hint of sweetness. Interestingly, the galbanum and lentisque here doesn't give the dandelion and bell pepper impression that you might find in Corsica Furiosa or Eau de Gentiane Blanche. I think the petitgrain must be behind the sweetness. It's intensely green, but is closer to sweet ivy than lawnmowers and celery. Later the green intensity wears off, but the ivy sweetness stays. At this point I supposed it's all a matter of skin chemistry. My skin amplifies orange blossom, so the small amount of petitgrain here makes it so that the notes harmonise with my skin without going out of balance. It lasts several days on clothing and over 12 hours on my skin. My boyfriend is crazy about it. Out of all the perfumes I've worn, this is the only one that he associates with me. Everything I own probably smells like Ninfeo Mio. Also, Ninfeo Mio and La Violette from the same house combine really well together. The result is something like the discontinued Verte Violette from L'Artisan, but much longer-lasting.

Yes, yes! I've always wondered if I'd ever find a goutal I love. I haven't had much luck with line, even going as far to blind buy a bottle of petite cherie that I quickly grew tired of it and gave away. I love green notes, but the pear/rose in there or something was just screechy imo. Ninfeo is perfect for citrus with green notes lovers. I ended up pouring out the entire sample on myself, which I know is greedy but it's the kind of scent where I can bathe in it and not feel overwhelmed. It has a very rich citron-lemon scent and if you actually feel the perfume, it's oily which speaks for a nice concentration. The fig leaf is perfect in here, green with a pleasant sweet fig. Like others have said, it smells like a magic forest. If Ninfeo was a time, it would be the second half of September. Just when the leaves start to turn a little and there is a bit of that pleasant decaying leaf smell on the ground. Fig leaf has a bit of that sweet decaying kind of scent to me. I imagine if I had this I would keep a bottle at work, it would be so lovely to spray this on all day just a little at a time for optimistic bursts of lovelyness. The scent is subtle and not strong but the citrus hangs on for a very long time.

One of the most beautiful fragrances I have smell, I always were curious about the fig notes i see on many perfumes and when i had the opportunity to get my hands on a decant of this i couldnt skip! This really captures that natural scent of fig leaves, its one of those perfumes who totally transport you to the first moment you were around this kind of threes, figs are very common in my city, people grow them on their homes so this one immediately brings me back some memories, this also have this bitter citrus peel scent that is just freaking delicious and natural!! its truly a beauty for me!! I cant wait to get me a bottle of this soon!! I would say that if you like citrus, herbal or tea like perfumes you are gonna love this i promise!!! The only cons i have is the longevity and projection, I could still reach for my wrist and smell the perfume after 2-3hrs but after that it was gone, I went very demure with it and only did 5 sprays but i still coudlnt really catch my smell that was a little bit sad, i dont want to run out of the decant but ill have to go a little bit harder and see if its better but none the less i want to get myself a bottle of this next year!!

It is a solid fragrance. Smells natural and fresh. It starts with sharp citrus scent and end up with fig leaf. I understand people who detect cat pee vibe on it. It is the combination of petitgrain and fig leaf. It's performance is like other citrus fragrance, nothing special about it. I strongly recommend it to check if you want to buy a summer fragrance. And you should try it. Personally I do not have any problem with the cat pee type of smell, but you may not like it. Give it a try ..... ----------- Edit: I'm fallen in love with this fragrance. It is all about nature. There is the most natural acidic citrus scent, the essence of fig leaves, and something else in beneath......Something that gives is some depth, and sweeten it in the dry down. It is not a scent for romance, nor for work. It is the scent to come back to nature. Although it doesn't have anything skunky, it doesn't feel clean (which is not bad). This fragrance is as odd as seeing a Sicily fig garden nearby a train station in 21 century. Sun shines on the fig leaves and the lemon tree (which you are sitting beneath of it), and you are watching the train passing on the other side of the garden.

Upon spraying, my nose picks up tomato leaf right away, then lemon. Not bitter or sweet lemon, but right down the middle. Tart and bracing. Then a couple of hours later I can pick up a scent that is much the same in character. It's mellowed and it's quite a bit less strong, but it's true. I've never smelled an actual fig, fig leaf, citron, Amalfi lemon, or any of the other notes listed. So I'm smelling tomato leaf and lemon. A perfume without any sort of funky dry down is a treasure. So many have something scratchy or harsh or just 'off' that spoils the fun. Recently I tried You or Someone Like You and I couldn't believe how pretty and refreshing it was. Then after about an hour a piercing note comes through. It stays while all the beauty fades. It's still there in the morning. Now, I'm admittedly a bit of a sensitive sort and I'd say a good half of perfumes have something I absolutely can't tolerate. But it is thus. Ninfeo Mio is gorgeous, refreshing, bright, and cheerful from top to bottom. I'm usually a vanilla-amber-spices kind of person, but this I've got to have. Good medicine for a foul mood, nausea, headache, et cetera.

I haven't been to the Ninfeo gardens in Italy but I can say that for me this fragrance evokes a 3D memory of climbing up steep alleyways on the Greek islands where you find a fig tree literally around every corner as well as plenty of aromatic herbs and lemon trees. The citrus isn't very sour it is more of a slight cooling bitterness underlined by the wooden notes. I love how this feels on my skin on a warm sticky day although I am slightly wary if the fig leaves / bitter citrus combo might come across as something else. I am wearing Ninfeo Mio today as I write this and today I have not had any unpleasant "aftersniff". However on another occasion I had this split second of thinking that the fig tree spot is also a place where the feral cats leave their scent markings.... Not to say this smells pissy or anything but it has a serious/bitter/almost sweaty undertone that comes and goes. It is not a sweet scent in my opinion - I would say it is woody, leafy, salty but not aquatic or green as in grass. A must try if you are drooling over your holiday pics and need a quick teleporting to Greece or a similar place. Magic.

When the almond trees bloom and the earth is covered with carpet of daisies - is the time of Ninfeo Mio. Maybe this is the time when forest nymphs wake up – they begin to dance in the meadows and play on mountain streams and you can see the rainbows around of them on the water droplets they squirt... It’s the fragrance that captures all the energy, freshness and positivity of spring. NINFEO MIO IS WONDERFUL! For me it is the fragrance of rebirth and optimism. It has the same ability that the first sunny days that erase the weight of gray rain clouds and the darkness of winter days. For me, when I wear it for the first times in the spring, it is the sign that winter is over. I have the whole bottle and I want to have one for every year that arrive. It gives me so many emotions that I nearly forget to write about notes ... This fragrance has a wonderful evolution - the citrusy and galbanum-green opening turns into soft, milky, nutty fig scent. The best fig I know! Yes, I prefer it to absolutely natural Philosykos and Fico di Amalfi. Exceptional longevity - 10 hours.

Very natural smelling fragrance! Starts with bitter citrus opening and quickly goes to green accord (with fig leaf being one of them, very tart and flowery green) and moves to woods at the base. Leaning masculine, in my opinion, and certainly is not for everybody.Mature audience, 30+ The green accord has a lot going in it that some people misinterpret. So, try on your skin before buying it. Very gardeny and outdoorsy, summer fragrance hands down and reminds me of Mediterranean garden with fig trees and a bunch of aromatic greens. No sweetness at all in this one. Performance is average and projection is only strong in the first hour or so, even though in hot weather it will pop off your skin unexpectedly 6-7 hours later. It also has this coconut overtone (even though there is no coconut note officially in it) and this fragrance can not be over-sprayed (2-3 sprays top). If you like tart fig leaf, bitter orange and woods combination, definitely check this one out. Not a big crowd pleaser but will get you noticed as it is very unusual and good quality.

I love this! Anyone who looks at my perfume wardrobe can see I've been going a bit cRaZY with ordering samples recently, and this is the first one I've actually used up, which probably says enough. To me the smell evokes a hot day in a coniferous forest, which somehow also includes fig and lemon trees (exactly as intended, I guess, the name suggests a Mediterranean garden after all). It's distinctly warm because of the dominant woody/resinous notes, but not stuffy at all because they're beautifully balanced out by the fresher, brighter notes. So it is very summery, but not in the sense that it's light or insubstantial or very fresh: it actually reminds me of summer. Which I think will make it a great choice in all other seasons as well; I hope so, because I think I will order a full bottle soon and I plan on wearing it very often for the foreseeable future... I can also add that this is the longest lasting of all the Annick Goutal samples I've tried so far; it lasts most of the day on my wrists.

I love the smell of box (the plant), and this has the most gloriously true box note - snapped-pea, crushed-leaf, spicy a little like fresh bay laurel - together with sappy green fig and a ton of super-juicy lemon/citron type citrus. Some people perceive box as having an unpleasant cat pee odour, which is probably why a few commenters have found the scent quite urinous. I'm not one of those people, though, and happily waft this stuff through the hot summer months - it's my favourite citrus-plus. There's a milky-fig-leaf-sap element to the drydown that tips this towards the lactonic (in the broadest sense). I agree with Amour, Michele: this smells very natural, in a good way. Also: apparently 'box blight' is rampant in European box hedging at the moment; I've seen quite a few local box shrubs cut back or removed entirely. All the more reason to celebrate the beautiful scent of the healthy plant.

Annick Goutal Annick Goutal. The house that made me fall in love with perfumery at the age of 20. My first serious perfume was Neroli (now discontinued), so is my first ever review here on Fragrantica. I've outgrown AG somewhat. But once in awhile I feel like regressing to my girly self and that's when I'll reach for my bottle of Ninfeo Mio. It's a youth pill, injecting bubbliness into my mood and a spring into my steps. I'm a fan of fig. The combination of fig, galbanum and mastic is fabulous. Here's where the greenness comes in and is stabilized in a light fixative of gummy mastic resin. The citrus makes everything fizz and pop. No one can feel crabby wearing this perfume. I've been to the Ninfa gardens and now the memory of that visit is indelibly merged with AG's Ninfeo Mio. I no longer think of one without associatively bringing up the other. They truly deserve one another.