Essential Parfums
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The initial spray delivers a rush of milky fig sap cut through with the zesty oils of clementine and mandarin, their brightness sharpened by an almost metallic green edge. The fruit feels plump and realistic rather than candied, with that characteristic latex-rubber quality of unripe figs providing an intriguing bitterness. Within minutes, a watery cucumber facet emerges, suggesting freesia's arrival alongside the citrus.
Ceylon tea becomes the star here, its dry, slightly smoky character weaving through the fig like steam rising from a porcelain cup. Orange blossom adds a subtle solar warmth without pushing into heady territory, whilst the freesia maintains that crisp, dewy quality that prevents the composition from becoming heavy. The interplay between tea's astringency and benzoin's vanilla-like sweetness creates a compelling push-pull that keeps you sniffing your wrist.
The woods finally assert themselves—Virginia cedar's dry, almost austere character mingling with sandalwood's creamy roundness to create a skin-close veil. Traces of benzoin linger as a faint balsamic sweetness, but the overall impression is of sun-warmed wood and the ghost of fruit rather than anything overtly sweet. It's quiet, intimate, and surprisingly tenacious for something so sheer.
Fig Infusion is Nathalie Lorson's meditation on the entire fig tree rather than just its fruit—a distinction that elevates this from mere Mediterranean cliché into something far more sophisticated. The opening bursts with the milky-sappy greenness of fig latex mingling with clementine's sweet-tart brightness, whilst Italian mandarin adds a petitgrain-like bitter edge that keeps the fruit from tumbling into sorbet territory. What makes this composition sing is the Ceylon tea accord in the heart, which brings a dry, slightly tannic astringency that beautifully tempers the creamy sweetness of fig and benzoin. The freesia contributes a cucumber-like freshness rather than floral sweetness, whilst orange blossom hovers as a whisper of indolic warmth. As it evolves, Virginia cedar and sandalwood create a bone-dry, pencil-shaving base that grounds the composition without overwhelming it—this isn't a woody fragrance that happens to contain fruit, but rather a study in contrasts where wood and fruit exist in constant dialogue. The result feels like sitting beneath a fig tree in early autumn, when the leaves are still green but the wood has begun to exhale its resinous character. This is for the person who finds most fig fragrances too cloying, too obviously summery, too insistent. It's refined without being distant, wearable without being boring, and complex enough to reward those who pay attention.
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