In summer, many choose their perfume with a clear objective: to win compliments. Beauty journalist Beth Gillette admits this bluntly in Cosmopolitan: “I mostly wear perfume for compliments“. For four years, she has noted in her phone the juices that most react to friends, colleagues or strangers. Rereading this list of special occasions, an olfactory detail comes up almost every time, and it is neither bergamot nor lemon.
This surprise note is the fig. NewBeauty describes it as a “green-meets-sweet” accord, both green and sweet, that “replaces citrus” in many summer perfumes. Noses use it to evoke the whole fig tree – fruit, leaves and milky sap – which makes it fresh without being acidic.
Why figs explode with compliments in summer
In her article, Beth Gillette notes that almost all the perfumes that trigger the most compliments are brimming with fig. Le Labo Thé Noir 29 combines it with bergamot, cedar and vetiver for a smoky black tea effect, chic but wearable every day. With Figue Erotique, awarded a Holy Grail Beauty Award, fig blends with bergamot, pink pepper and patchouli for a more sensual scent.
Jasmine Hyman, assistant beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, describes Figue Erotique as having a “hushed sensuality,” sexy enough without being too heavy for daytime. For a more floral register, Yves Saint Laurent Lavallière combines fig, rose and musk and Beth Gillette confides that it “always raises questions”. She also cites In This World, an accord of fig and blood orange, which she wore in Tulum: according to her, “every person complimented my perfume”.
Which fig perfume to choose according to your summer
The experts at Who What Wear point out that the fig can smell like the fruit, the leaf or even the wood of the fig tree. A green fig, very leafy, evokes a watered Mediterranean garden, as in
Philosykos by Diptych. A milky fig is reminiscent of white sap or coconut milk and lends itself well to solar perfumes, for example Jean Paul Gaultier Le Beau Paradise Garden.
For the office, a clean, almost marine fig is best, often combined with bergamot or neroli, as in Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Nerolia Vetiver. For an evening date, a woody and spicy fig like Prada Infusion de Figue remains chic without being overpowering. Tendance Parfums notes that these mixed profiles are among the best-selling in their fig section, a sign that the note appeals to both men and women in summer.
Tips to make your fig perfume talk about it
Tendance Parfums advises testing the fruity notes on the skin and waiting at least thirty minutes, while the lactonic molecules settle. In summer, a fig scent in eau de parfum is enough in a few sprays, even if it means layering it, like Beth Gillette, with a woody tea to amplify the note without nauseating.