Coze Verde 2.1

Lately I've been exploring lots of samples from the PG house, which I find very interesting, and I was especially eager to try Cozé Verdé since I love fig (tree) scents. So my expectations were probably too high, and the fact that this has only gotten two reviews in the six years it's been out might have tipped me off that this isn't the most beloved from PG - all the ingredients for a slight disappointment. I do like it, but not as much as I thought I would: it's far from the lush green fig tree I was hoping for. The opening is pure woods on me, very natural but nutty rather than green or aromatic, pretty nice but a little masculine for my taste, and no fig tree to be discerned. In the heart I do get more notes from the pyramid: it warms up a little, and joining the general woody vibe are a vaguely figgy sweetness, licorice, a little patchouli. Still not bad, and it projects nicely at this stage, giving me enjoyable little whiffs of it from time to time for a while. But still not especially great either, or at least not really my thing, and it doesn't last very long either. I still think it's weird this seems to have gotten so little attention, since it's without a doubt a good fragrance from a reputable house, and it seems to be readily available. But on the other hand, it seems it won't be getting much more attention from me either, so I guess that's me joining the (absence of a) chorus.

The original Coze vibe is somewhere there faintly in the background, but even as a composition as a whole, and also performance, the scent is very much weak (indecisive even). I'm struggling to find something positive to say about it, but I can't pinpoint what it is trying to do, and I can't smell it either. I described Coze original as a heavy smoker who just applied cologne. This one is the aforementioned smoker realizing that the cologne didn't have the effect he was hoping for and decided to chew some gum...

OK, yes, after the horror show of Coze, this is more palatable. Like the predecesor, it's heady and strong, possibly a bit headache-inducing. At best, a quite standard green, figgy broth. I scrubbed it off after 15 mins.

Coze was one of those scents that everyone seemed to fawn over except for me. While certainly emblematic of the musky gourmand effect that became Guillaume’s calling card, I found it to smell like candied patchouli or, worse, flavored coffee. Coze Verde drops any evidence of the original down to a whisper and imports a milky fig that’s equal parts green and creamy. Although said fig hovers over what appears to be a something Coze-ish, not much of the original has survived that transition. Coze Verde is basically a lacteal fig which, over the course of an hour or so, morphs into a docile suede-and-patchouli number. It’s perfectly competent as a figgy scent, but the whole time I wore it I kept thinking about other scents I’d rather be wearing instead.

Wow, I'm surprised this one has such bad reviews. To me this is one of the best creations of Pierre Guillaume which showcases his wonderful skills and creativity in fragrance constructing. But then it might be understandable for it not to be more well received. This quirky fragrance walks the line between being a dramatic, challenging fragrance like its original Coze and being a creamy coconut-y fig fragrance. This one is like taking Coze, stripping down the heavy shades and add a creamy, tropical fig to freshen up everything. Underneath the creaminess the weird, barnyard smell of Coze is still present. Such an odd but wonderful work.