Launched in 2004 Premier Figuier Extrême is a deeper, fuller representation of 1994’s Premier Figuier.

On me, it opens with a blast of crisp, green, slightly bitter fig leaf that settles soft and gently sweet, with a lactonic facet that links to a note of gorse flower, smelling of coconut and vanilla, making the opening rich and evocative of sun-warmed days.  As it blooms on the skin, the fig fruit appears, succulent and lush, its fruitiness heightened by a subtle note of fleshy peach. The fresh fruits merge with a note of almond milk and dried fruits, giving the fragrance a thick, jammy texture. At the base, the fruits fasten to a note of woody fig from stems and creamy, cozy sandalwood, balanced with a balsamic stone pine note so that the drydown is Premier dark, milky and woody.

Premier Figuier Extrême is less about the green of the fig, though that certainly has a presence throughout the fragrance in a sheer, transparent way, and more about the succulent, rich fruit and woody stems of the tree. Deep, smooth and sophisticated, I spray it on my skin, but I feel it in my soul.

I’m on the French Riveria, lying under a fig tree out of the heat of a summer’s day.  The figs are ripe, the tree warm from the sun, the vibrant greenness of spring is now a shadow….

Notes: Fig leaf, gorse flower, fig fruit, peach, dried fruits, almond milk, woody fig, sandalwood and stone pine.