Aftelier Fig is delicious for something that isn’t a literal gourmand. And it’s a fig fragrance without any fig. How existentialist is that? 😉 Fig is an emotional fragrance. It’s dark and mysterious. It reminds me of dark, dense forests. I long for it despite its nocturnal villainy.
Fig opens with this rich darkness, like being deep in the forest after midnight in the heart of summer. I do get sappy evergreens. That sticky, slightly citrus sap from the biggest fir tree in the forest. Something about Fig is mystical and dark. It’s what I’m calling a “magical Norwegian death metal gourmand” – yes, I’m a dork. An indolic jasmine appears and it is more turpentine than floral. Fig becomes chewy like dried fruit and spicy. The spice is a brilliant touch. Firs and evergreens are spicy and Mandy’s addition turns the forest into a gourmand. The dry-down is the forest at night, but a little eery because nothing moves. It’s so still and placid…it verges on brittle. The base is so dark – animalic honeyed tobacco leaves, dry fir and musk. You hear an owl hoot in the distance.
Aftelier Fig is dark, mysterious, magical…moody. It’s eerie because it is sweet and inviting. One should stay away from things that are so dark and supernatural, but you can’t. It’s an omen, a banshee in a bottle.
Aftelier Fig is easily unisex and a must try for those that want a dark, chewy dried fig fragrance or for those that like complex evergreen scents. Or for those that like moody, broody fragrances.
Notes listed include grand fir, pink grapefruit, pink pepper, jasmine sambac, Africa stone, and fir absolute. PERFUMER – Mandy Aftel
The 1/4 oz. perfume retails for $150 and is available at Aftelier.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – A dark and chewy dried fig with natural evergreen spiciness, a moody fragrance. This fragrance fills me with emotions; that’s a sign of an excellent perfume.
Want more reviews? Try…
Perfume Posse (reviews of other Aftelier fragrances as well)
Pieces of Paper, Squiggly Lines
thank you Victoria for your sensuous writing about my fig perfume. you totally got inside it to the core and I appreciate it very much. fig has it’s own unique beauty and i see it the same way that you do. I am very grateful!
Thank you so much for commenting, Mandy. It means very much to me.
Fig is unlike any other perfume that I have ever worn. It’s one for “me”. It’s an unconventional beauty.
Lovely review , Victoria! I had a similar impression of this perfume: ‘forest in the heart of summer’ is so apt!! I also had similar visions of sunlight streaming in through the leaves of a dense forest. It truly is a gorgeous perfume!
Lavanya recently posted..Thunderstorm Scents
It really is a fragrance that creates an atmosphere. Reading your review, I feel we both went to the same place while sniffing this one.
This one seems really interesting.
Marti recently posted..YGuoJ
It is 🙂
I haven’t tried any Aftelier perfumes…yet. Fig seems like it’s really interesting.
I had to run out and get a sample after I read your review and other bloggers who have been waxing poetic about this fragrance. I admire and respect Mandy Aftel but this one was a scrubber for me. The opening smelled as if my cat’s litter box hasn’t been cleaned out in weeks. Way too indolic and when that slowly disappeared it smelled a bit “composty” and fecal. I really had an unpleasant time waiting for this to bloom on my skin. After a long wait it morphed into an earthy warm and jammy fig. Nice but it took a long to get there. My body chemistry doesn’t like this too bad. 🙁
Maddy recently posted..Tocca: Cleopatra Crema da Sogno
🙁 I’m sorry that you had a bad experience with this one. Unfortunately, it’s a part of the world of perfume. What works for one won’t work another. Just posted one of those, AG Eau de Charlotte was awful on me…too kitty. Actually, I’ve had a few scrubbers recently…I was over due.
I find that naturals take patience. For example, there are many Strange Invisible perfumes that I like but I don’t like the first 2 hours of wear! So, maybe I don’t like them because I’m not that patient. I want my perfumes to give me instant satisfaction!
Thanks for sharing your experience with this one.
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