Balade De Figuer

Very, VERY well done cologne! I will go on to say that this could be one of the best Jo Malone's made for Zara, but there's a close competitor in my opinion (which is Petale d'Ambre from same collection). Major notes I get are petitgrain (bitter orange leaves), grapefruit/mandarine and vetiver supported by fig leaf. There's sage/lavender type aromatic and herbal touch, probably what makes the old-school cologne backbone and with addition of fig leaf greenery can also contribute to a "tobacco leaf" note. It could as well be a "tea leaf" note or generic "sage" for all I know. All the lactonic aspects are muted in the background giving way to the main citrusy and aromatic masculine overlay a la Essential Parfums - Fig Infusion or Banana Republic - 78 Vintage Green. The petitgrain persist almost like orange blossom due to the combination of the milky notes and Muscenone, which is a musk that smells like clean human skin, slightly powdery. It fits to orange blossom theme perfectly, creating a VERY nice effect that I personally adore. Perfectly unisex leaning a bit to masculine side. This could pass as some kind of heritage collection release from Acqua di Parma, Guerlain, Chanel, Givenchy etc. If this was the "Dioriviera" from Francis Kurkdjian, "connoisseurs" would lose their minds talking about the "genius" of him. I think this is quite complex, there's probably more to talk about in time. I am very impressed to say the least.

Another one of Jo Malone's great hits in her ZARA line. This is a complex, unusual, multifaceted scent that stands out not only in the house of ZARA, but from the rest of the usually way safer and more mellow scents in the same line. Fig leaf and fig milk (sap) are the central players in this. Robust, bitter, zesty green opening - courtesy of the fig leaf, vetiver and petitgrain, some powdery feel and denser green notes with the iris "concentrate" and tobacco leaf. followed by dense creamy woody base where the fig milk shines with the creamy, balsamic, slightly lactonic notes that can give hints of resins and fruity sweetness, backed up by the rather interesting synthetic musk molecule that for its part does not smell synthetic at all. It is a dense composition is marked as a 25% concentration, and it lasts on my otherwise dry skin that absorbs fragrance oils super quickly well enough. The price for these elixirs keeps creeping up with each release, but i have to say the quality isn't far behind either, and it is still more worthwhile and affordable than majority of what the top dollar designer scents can offer, and even challenge some in the niche world.

Balade de Figuier could be also a really good men's perfume. I cannot feel a fig anywhere, and that was the main point of buying it! I though that since it has it in the top notes, and in the mid notes, surely i'll smell it...nah. However it has that sweet tobacco leaves smell, that makes you linger in a tobacco shop, even though you do not smoke a pipe, and also a certain butter cookies impression, rum maybe...None of them are in the notes. It is strong, but balanced, interesting, and with the winter outside very ' leather chair, deep voices around, warm embrace' feeling. I'll try it later again, maybe in spring?... Hoping that the fig will somehow emerge. Edit: 2 hours later the tobacco is gone and a very pretty smoke-tinged aroma is left. I like it a lot. It's not only for men 😊😄

I've ordered this without any expectations and it blew my mind. It is modern and old school cypre at the same time. It opens with fig milk and turns into very light blonde tobacco at the drydown and I've got huge compliments wearing as a man. Also it really lasts on the skin and sillage is huge plus also. Reminds me of walking around fig trees in the middle of summer, perfectly balanced green-earthy fragrance. If you don't like green and earthy fragrances with an old school touch stay away from it tho. 9/10

It was love at first sniff. From the very first moment, this fragrance transported me back to Barcelona ten years ago. I don't know why, but it instantly brought back memories of wandering through its streets—I feel like everything smelled like this there. Warm, effortless, and unforgettable. Every time I wear it, I'm reminded of that beautiful place. I absolutely love this fragrance.

I really like this one. Nicely balanced and strong enough, but not overpowering. Very Jo Malone-sque, with this herbal/apothecary vibe, but kind of nice and comforting. It suits very well in the winter, we'll see how it behaves in the summer. I sense green fig leaf, but not too much of the fruit. Citrus and tobacco are nicely balanced with the herbal note.

Such an odd yet still beautiful fragrance! Opening is very hard to describe with words, smells a little bit like some sort of caugh syrup but the drydown oh my! Sweet and wody heaven to me! Hardly smell any fig as I was hoping for, but still is very uniqe and intriguing frag!

It is definitely an elegant and elevated scent. I don't understand the soapy smell comments, it just smells complex and aromatic. It is hard to get the fig scent though imo, not as obvious as it is in philosykos or jo malones wild fig.

Well I’m bias because I love anything fig scented!! This is a great unisex scent from Jo Malone! ❤️ The lady is amazing!

Its the best Zara fragrance so far ❤️

It's actually really long lasting for a Zara perfume. Bottle design is also great, feels high quality. I was a bit scared of the milk note, because they tend to get sour on me, but this one is very pleasant. Well blended scent, i don't get much wood and vetiver or it's very subtle. It's very pleasant, like slightly milky fig fruits, i think it's very versatile, office or hospital friendly. Opening is a bit green, which makes me think of fig tree, but right after that definitely tobacco comes to play. Very nice scent, blind buy that i don't regret. Wish there was just a little bit more sweetness in it on my skin, just like i smell straight from bottle, but nonetheless definitely gonna use it a lot.

To be honest I was hoping for a cheaper alternative to Philosykos by Diptique , Initial few minutes are fantastic and then it blends into a sweet tobacco leaf with a light bitterness , not much of the fig left. I have a bottle and will use all of it, but wish the fragrance retained the fig magic throughout. I definitely can smell all of the notes listed in the beginning , fig and greenery, tabacco leaf and vetiver - all fresh yet milky. Can imagine it would be amazing on a man. I as a girl totally enjoy it. Longevity is great.

This is quite a unique scent profile coming from Zara, I don’t think this will become or is a big crowd pleaser but for those who have been dabbling into perfumes for a while and are looking for something quite unique at an affordable price, you should try this. For me, this is quite a long lasting perfume, unique and more masculine leaning but that’s just my opinion .

I love this one. I have no idea how Leather Jardin is rated higher than this fragrance. This is so much better. I hope they restock this as I only got one bottle. I have gotten more compliments from this zara fragrance then any other one and I now own about 20 of their fragrances. Also more compliments then when i wear BR or Delina

Another blind buy from the Zara sale. One spray and I’m taken back to the 90s, which wasn’t what I was anticipating this morning - It’s that unmistakable floral hit of Joop Homme, less savagely funky, but it’s definitely there in the opener. Let’s sit how it dries down

This one gonna be a best seller from this collection for sure! It's fresh, clean, slightly sweet and perfectly unsex. It can be worn for any occasion so it's very versatile. It has Bal d'Afrique quality to it (in terms of versatility not the smell)

This is a mess. I blind bought it despite all the signs from the universe not to do it (my first order was cancelled, the second was lost etc), as believed I need a green fragrance. Now I have it for a week, and tried to enjoy it in different settings. Not a chance. It opens with some herbal notes, not green, and something that reminds cough syrup, progressing into tobacco and milk and some greens, smells like an old chimney, and than fades into some woody (?) drydown that I enjoy. It is strange, I was warned, but I did not expect it will be that strange 🤦

Recently got the Silent Flowers miniature set to sample these scents. I’ve previously had the Jo Malone x Zara fragrances and really enjoyed them! Balade de Figeur is not my usual type of scent but does have notes that I enjoy. On application, the scent is heady and strong, dries with a sweet note and over the following hours ends a bit like DKNY Women. Overall, it doesn’t represent the notes in the description like tangerine and fig and lacks freshness. If you like heady 80/90s perfumes this may be for you.

It starts off strong and, as someone else said, it does smell soapy, but its not that bad. After 15mins the soapy smell started to weaken and I was having high hopes, but after an hour only some sweet citrus remained - cheap sweet drydown common to so many Zara frags. I dont smell much fig, Zara Amber and fig is much better.

A blind buy for me and I made a mistake. Judging the notes and the reviews I expected a fresh and woody scent, and together with fig, this must be a winner. But.... I get no fig- leaf or fruit itself- no tobacco leaf, no wootsy notes whatsoever. I know it is a womens perfume but reading the reviews I hoped for a more masculine leaning scent, because I love unisex and even men’s perfumes , but also missing that completely. All I smell is a in your face sweet musk, sometimes a hint of sharp citrus and something heavy sweet powdery floral thing I do not like. Very chemical. To me it smells really cheap. ( it is not expensive, I know, but I own more not that expensive perfumes, who I really like, and find more sophisticated.... ) Bonus; when my order arrived: bottle was leaking so everything was drenched in it and it is a really overpowering smell when it is not up your alley. So, money gone, not my cup of tea and I still smell it everywhere even I scrubbed it of my hands and furniture. So longevity is an absolute 10! For me the only thing positive about this purchase.

I've previously enjoyed the Jo Malone x Zara fragrances, but I regret not stocking up more on the Vibrant Cities collection when it was available. As a big fan of previous Zara and Jo Malone collaborations, I had high expectations for this collection. I tested it multiple times, as I couldn't believe how disappointing it was compared to previous fragrances. Unfortunately, this perfume lacks sophistication and doesn't work well for me. Balade de Figeur does have notes that I typically enjoy, such as fig, vetiver, citrus, and greenery, so I was particularly excited about this perfume in the collection. However, it doesn't seem to work well on me. It starts off promisingly fresh, but this feeling doesn't last even 5 minutes. The scent quickly becomes overpowering and sweet, and over the next few hours, it ends up smelling like a cheap men's perfume from Zara. There's something odd in the background that I find extremely irritating. It reminds me of a DKNY perfume my mom used to wear that I found annoying as a kid. Overall, it doesn't accurately represent the notes in the description, such as tangerine and fig, and it lacks freshness. The citrus and greenery notes evaporate almost instantly, leaving behind a headache-inducing mix of poorly blended notes. If you like overpowering 80s/90s perfumes, this might be for you. But if you're looking for perfumes similar to earlier Zara and Jo Malone collaborations, I wouldn't recommend buying this without testing it first. It's nothing like the previous fragrances and is closer to heavy scents like Red Temptation than Vibrant Cities. I really hope Zara will bring back the absolute gems like Waterlily Tea Dress and the entire Vibrant Cities collection, or something similar. No one else on the market offers the same or an alternative to the earlier Zara and Jo Malone collaborations, not even at different price ranges. I wouldn't consider Elegantly Tokyo or Energetically New York to be duplicates of any other branded perfume. They may have borrowed elements from famous perfumes, but they didn't copy them. And I really liked Zara's version. (Edit: April 2024, so happy that Zara brought back the best of its Jo Malone perfumes from old collections in the new bottles. Don’t worry perfume remained the same :). Really happy that Zara listened to its customers and brought back the old perfumes back. New collection is not too bad, I did find one scent in the line that is quite nice. Strongly recommend to try the scent from the silent flowers collection before buying as it is quite different to earlier ones from Zara and Jo Malone. And if you like me a big fun of the vibrant cities collection then rejoice and go on Zara website to re order your favorites.)

“Zara’s niche fragrances” sounds like I took myself off the schizophrenia pills, but their collaborations with respected perfumers (mostly with Jo Malone, at one point with various others like Alberto Morillas) do truly end in niche fragrances from time to time. For me, the initial spray of Balade de figuier is truly niche; but within several minutes, it turns into a mainstream designer that ends up giving me a headache. The opening is stunning: bitter leaves, milk, sugar crystals... I feel the need to emphasise the fact that the milk and sugar crystals are perfectly photorealistic. That’s what makes its opening a true niche fragrance for me. The milk isn’t simply lactonic, soft soapy notes; it’s an actual glass of warm milk. The sugar crystals are not syrup or praline or caramel... it’s the lightly sweet, but mostly somewhat rocky, totally sui generis scent you get when you open a bag of sugar crystals. I know I’m going in circles, but that is insane to me — that these two scents can be replicated in a perfume! If Balade de figuier was this all throughout, I’d have bought bottles to last me a lifetime. But instead it’s decluttered from my collection, because within a few minutes everything devolves into that generic blend every designer scent aimed at women has: it’s a mix of fruits and florals in which everything ends up smelling the exact same, suspended in the sort of cheap alcohol found in the wet wipes in my country.

i really really wanted to love this, but it’s absolutely horrid. fig is one of my favourite notes and this is absolutely not fig. just when you think you can smell the fig leaf, some metallic, black marker smelling, cheap tobacco volitile chemical screeches at you and overpowers everything. the iris is very overpowering at the dry down and it almost smells like a fake leather bag. it’s so harsh for a fragrance that was inspired by provenance.... definitely not even close. this is such a mess.

Since I am completely anosmic to Muscnenone, my nose can only detect this as light soapy water that disappears very quickly. No fig, no nothing. So definitely try before you buy.

This is disappointing. It is not figgy. I have a huge big dominant perfume collection and I want to add to it but this ain't it. Fig is a fantasy note anyway and if I really really try to use my imagination, it might smell like fig tree but I am more reminded of something dry and woody like papyrus. It opens with some faint citrus notes, it has low projection. Then I smell something like papyrus that is supposed to be the fig tree I guess. But the scent is sharp and screechy and it borders on body odor smell. I do not recommend.

I love this so much, I wanted the Romance D'Iris from this range initially but tried this on my hand whilst waiting to pay. I ended up going back and exchanging for Balade de Figuer, its gorgeous. Find this very comforting, projection is good and it lasts all day with just a few sprays. Absolute winner for me, and for the price point I don't think you can go too far wrong.

Picked this up and Romance D’Iris on sale & I love both two unique scents Balade lasts longer on my skin and is a mix of fig vetiver & a slight tobacco amber it’s very nice and doesn’t smell cheap I definitely feel like it leans more masculine the more I spray it the more I like it definite stand out I don’t get any soap but everyone’s body chemistry is different

For anyone interested, the set of the miniature of Silent Flower Collection (including this fragrance) is now on sale again on Zara Europe. It contains all 5 fragrance, 7,5ml each, for 39,90€

It's surprisingly a really well balanced scent. The dry down smells of sweet fig, tobacco, and sort of woody. It's sweet, but not sickening sweet. It's OK, but not outstanding.

The first spray brings a hint of amber and vetiver but the drydown is a mellow smoky tobacco leaf scent. I wanted to love it..sadly it doesn't work for me.

This smell like soap to me, after the opening...