Fidji Eau de Toilette

Fidji - the scent of paradise. Vintage, 70’s edt splash. Created by the late Josephine Catapano (of Norell, Youth Dew etc), Fidji embodied a new style in perfumery, a green fresh spirit, inspired in part by L’Air du Temps, and later on inspiring the mythical Anaïs Anaïs. It was a dreamscape, faraway islands, exotic beaches and the magic of the orient. But not in a heavy oriental manner; Fidji was the daytime version, a more hip hippie fragrance giving its emphasis on patchouli and sandalwood, and bitter green notes. Back then, when tropical didn’t mean fruity pink drinks and coconut suntan lotion, Fidji was seen as a breath of fresh air. And righty so; galbanum in abundance, aldehydes, hyacinth, jasmine, ylang ylang, cloves, orris, ambergris, oakmoss, sandalwood... a fresh but sensual fragrance that read in its first ads ‘a woman is an island, Fidji is her fragrance’. Review of early 70’s edt splash. And indeed it was. Seen through the lens of a gauzy dreamscape, Fidji startles with its soapy aldehydes and bitter herbal opening. Fresh, savonneux, the cool touch of skin freshly showered. Lemon and bergamot add further sparkle without making the opening citrusy, instead enhancing the galbanum, and making way for the florals. Flowers that are caressed by the Pacific breeze. Rich but never demure, the flowers are enhanced by the spicy cloves, with a slight carnation feel, hence the association with the more serious and mature L’Air du Temps; Fidji was younger, carefree, emancipating. Exploring new lands, breaking new boundaries. But even though there’s an innate breath of fresh air running through, Fidji still manages to smell sensual at the same time. The ambery base with ambergris for its lick of salty skin, sandalwood from Mysore that conjures the exotic and faraway India, sensual musks, oakmoss... notes that anchor Fidji on skin for hours, developing and mesmerizing, enveloping the fragrance in sensuality and transitioning it to the night. Fidji was seen as a perfect scent for young ladies. The allure of the exotic was becoming a reality, Woodstock was about to take place, and the hippie movement was in auge. But while a young lady could perfectly wear it, a green fresh floral, so could a more rogue one. Deep basenotes, rich patchouli and sandalwood, animalic beauty running through. Fidji was the dream of a generation, a perfume that made a reality the new world and the breaking of boundaries. A still frame of a generation that was breaking free of restrictions and embracing opportunities. Fidji is and was for everyone, and today it feels more unisex than ever. In its early 70’s formula, which is the one I own, it positively sings on skin for hours on end. The version sold today, while thinner and flatter, still manages to convey the smell of exotic islands and faraway lands. A woman is an island, but Fidji can be worn by anybody. Green, fresh, sparkling; timeless and elegant. A true masterpiece and what exotic fragrances should smell like!

I got a tiny amount of this juice (vintage EdT) in a perfume set of unfinished bottles on Ebay - a 10 ml amount or so, and I raise my hat to every single one of them: it's so bountiful, self-sufficient and just one big olfactive celebration! Yes, you know right away it's old school ( same musky bordering on dusty bottom level as in Rive Gauche or Air du Printemps ), but it's somehow very appropriate here, creating an allusion of a humid hot air cloud one steps into exiting the plane, hopeful of an incredible holiday adventure to begin happening instantly. What left me gobsmacked is the ambiguity of this scent, Firstly, it is moist and powder-dry simultaneously. It is like that contradiction of an underripe pear: you bite into its juicy flesh and it somehow leaves that sandpaper feel in the mouth that leaves you gasping for a drink. Secondly, it is green and white and sweet and minty all at the same time: I actually suspect that the listed lemon note should rather be lime, because it is lime that carries that minty kick and disrupts the sweet and powdery cloud of white florals and clove ( clove - in a summer scent: who could have expected?!). I felt like a million dollars wearing it, it did cause some flashbacks from the childhood, so perhaps it was resting in my olfactive memory all along, and I found it worked best on warm cloudy rainy summer days: it just hit the nail on the head in terms of working with the skin temperature ( sillage just the right amount, longevity exactly as one would expect - 6-7 hrs , and it keeps on living for weeks on fabrics ). I also tested the modern version in a dept. store and I can't even begin to explain how bleak and characterless it is in comparison to its original. ) Hunting for a vintage extrait and would only use it for veeeery festive open air summer occasions. Hardly a young scent: it has waaaay too much "secret female knowldege" in it, if you know what I mean. ;-)

I have a glass bottle (huge!) that looks exactly like the photo in this page on Fragrantica. It was a gift from a now deceased schoolteacher whom I kept in touch with in my adult years. I think of her when I smell this scent, but I am very pleased with the perfume in and of itself. You gotta get your hands on a vintage fragrance that looks just like this glass bottle in the EDT concentration to really get the best version. This starts with aldehydes. Fresh and bathy, and with citrus notes that also sort of smell like grapefruit. The opening is very perfumy-perfume in a classic sense with aldehydes into citrus and then florals. But something about this leans unisex and not feminine. It has an intensely soapy quality. And soap is not for just men or just women but both. The soap bar here is both herbal-green and floral. The galbanum is truly kicking in and the vetiver. It's mossy but subtle and yet earthy. The spices are also present and the cloves. To me the only florals that are making their way to my nasal detection are the rose, the jasmine, the hyacinth, the ylang ylang possibly a carnation. The florals are aquatic, as if the flowers and their bloom/petals were washed up by sea water. Because it's a toilet water, it really does feel like you should scent your bath with this. It's not super floral as it is herbal with some floral notes and smells so fresh and clean. The dryer stages turns powdery. I'm smelling amber, some notes of wood, vetiver and patchouli. If you like green florals and soapy scents, plus patchouli this is heaven for such notes in a fragrance. I highly recommend this for any time of the year. It's a very casual bathy scent so good for wearing right after your shower. It's also office friendly and not offensive. A beautiful simple perfume. Unisex.

nostalgia di terre lontane. oggi indosso un capolavoro senza tempo che mi ricorda inesorabilmente una vacanza passata alle isole eolie con mio padre (avrò avuto 7 o 8 anni). avevo con me un minuscolo beauty case con un paio di pettinini di plastica, un campioncino di Fidji in forma di fazzolettino imbevuto e poco altro. mi piaceva molto, allora. e, con mia grande sorpresa, mi piace ancora. la prima impressione è quella di una versione più leggera ed esotica di mitsouko, più floreale che cyphre. nonostante la complessità fiorita dell'accordo con note di giacinto, gelsomino, iris, ylang ylang, l'effetto generale è per me molto confortevole. il profumo si inaugura con note frizzanti e verdi, per lo più floreali, appunto, e leggermente aldeidiche. la "verdezza" (non so come altro chiamarla!) però viene ammorbidita, nel tempo, grazie a sentori speziati ma soprattutto resinosi (galbano, ambra, patchouli) con un fondo decisamente legnoso (vetiver, sandalo). come gran parte dei profumi di vecchio stampo, anche qui mi trovo di fronte ad una complessità elegantissima e perfettamente dosata, molto distante dalle attuali fragranze astratte e generiche, che richiede tempo e concentrazione nel tentativo di risolvere un puzzle olfattivo così variegato. e comunque, sì, la sensazione evocata dal nome è proprio quella di trovarsi su un'isola, in una spiaggia (come le foto della pubblicità anni 70) prossima ad una foresta lussureggiante. eccellente.

This was the first fragrance I purchased for myself as a teen in High School. I worked part time at Eaton's dept. store and saved up to buy a bottle. All my friends wore either Andrade by Lise Watier (long discontinued) or some kind of Avon stolen from their mom. I stopped wearing it when I started working after finishing College, and went straight for the Disco club frags of the era, Opium, Cinnabar, for night time, and daytime I wore Chanel 19, and in later 80s, I got hooked on Pierre Cardin CHOC in the daytime, and KL Karl Lagerfeld, gosh I sure miss that one... I just bought a small 50 ml edt of Fidji from Shoppers drug mart for $21.99 cdn, I haven't seen it in years and so I couldn't pass it up. I find it quite pleasant upon applying 2 sprays each arm, and very much the same as I remember it, floral but greenish/sharp. Naturally, as with all other reformulations of this kind, it does not last and becomes a skin scent within an hour. But, it is lovely, unique, and I will use it this summer, liberally, in rotation with my Chanel 19 and PR Calandre. It was my signature for my 20's. Now in my early 60's, I am having a sort of re-birth, now that my children are grown and away, I am blessed to have found a new life with a new (younger) man, a new job, and I have the financial freedom to splurge on myself once in a while. Everything is good, and I smell great, thanks to Fidji edt.