7 Perfumes That Smell Like Fig

Fig is one of perfume’s most loved and most divisive notes: green, milky, faintly coconutty, and nothing like the sticky sweetness of the fruit. These seven run from a whole fig tree on a Greek hillside to fig with caviar. Start with Diptyque Philosykos for the reference, Acqua di Parma Fico di Amalfi if you like citrus, and Mugler Womanity if you want something strange.

Why Doesn’t Fig Perfume Smell Like Figs?

Because it’s mostly the leaf, not the fruit. Crush a fig leaf and you get something green, slightly bitter and milky, with a coconut-like creaminess. That’s the smell perfumers chase, because the fruit itself is faint.

They can’t use the real thing, though. Fig leaf absolute contains psoralen and bergapten, furocoumarins that make skin burn in sunlight, and IFRA prohibits it in fragrance. So every fig perfume is a reconstruction: green, leafy molecules for the leaf, milky and coconut-like lactones for the sap, and cedar or other woods for the branches. How a perfumer balances those three is what makes one fig different from the next.

Perfume	The fig	What’s with it
L’Artisan Premier Figuier	The first fig perfume	Fig leaf, almond milk, coconut, sandalwood
Diptyque Philosykos	The whole tree	Leaves, sap, fruit and wood
Hermès Un Jardin en Méditerranée	Fig in a garden	Citrus, oleander, cypress, cedar
Acqua di Parma Fico di Amalfi	Citrus fig	Lemon, bergamot, fig nectar, cedar
D.S. & Durga Debaser	Creamy fig	Coconut milk, iris, tonka, moss
Amouage Dia	Fig in an aldehydic floral	Aldehydes, rose, peony, iris
Mugler Womanity	Salty fig	Caviar accord, fig wood

7 Fig Perfumes

L’Artisan Parfumeur Premier Figuier

Olivia Giacobetti’s Premier Figuier (1994) was the first perfume built around fig, and every fig since owes it something. It’s milky and woody, with fig leaf over almond milk, coconut and sandalwood. The almond and coconut push it toward the creamy, sappy side of the tree. It’s the softest fig here.

Check Price on Amazon

Diptyque Philosykos

Giacobetti made Philosykos for Diptyque two years later, in 1996, and it’s the fig most people know. Diptyque describes it as a tribute to the whole fig tree: leaves, sap, fruit and wood, inspired by a fig grove on Mount Pelion in Greece. It’s greener and drier than Premier Figuier, with the cedar-like wood giving it structure. If you’ve never smelled a fig perfume, start here.

One EDT wearer finds the green fig turning softly milky. There’s also an EDP; this is the EDT.

Check Price on AmazonShop Diptyque

Hermès Un Jardin en Méditerranée

Jean-Claude Ellena’s Un Jardin en Méditerranée (2003) was inspired by a garden in Tunisia. Retailers list bergamot, lemon and mandarin, then orange blossom and oleander, over fig leaf, cypress, cedar, juniper and musk. Fig is one part of a whole garden here, and the cypress and juniper give it a cool, resinous shade. It’s the most restrained fig on the list, and the easiest to wear to work.

Check Price on AmazonShop Hermes

Acqua di Parma Fico di Amalfi

Fico di Amalfi opens with lemon, bergamot and grapefruit, puts fig nectar, pink pepper and jasmine in the heart and finishes on fig wood, cedar and benzoin. The citrus makes it the brightest fig: an Italian coast in July. It’s part of Acqua di Parma’s Blu Mediterraneo line; Fico di Amalfi La Riserva is a different perfume.

Check Price on AmazonShop Acqua di Parma

D.S. & Durga Debaser

Named after the Pixies song, Debaser puts bergamot, green leaf and pear stem over fig, coconut milk and iris, with blond woods, tonka and moss underneath. The coconut milk plays up the lactone side of fig, and the iris and moss give it a soft, earthy finish. It’s the creamiest fig here. Our D.S. & Durga profile has more on the house.

Check Price on Amazon

Amouage Dia

Dia Woman (2002) is an aldehydic floral that opens on fig, cyclamen, bergamot, sage and violet leaf, then rose, peony, orange flower and orris, over frankincense, vanilla and woods. The fig is in the opening, where it gives the sparkle of the aldehydes something green to bite on. It’s the most “perfume” of the seven: a fig dressed for dinner.

Check Price on AmazonShop Amouage

Mugler Womanity

Womanity (2010) is Mugler being Mugler: fig, a caviar accord and fig wood, designed around woody, sweet and salty. The caviar isn’t real caviar but a salty, faintly marine accord, and it makes the fig smell like fruit eaten on a beach. It’s sweet, salty and odd, and nothing else smells like it.

Check Price on Amazon

Which Fig Should You Pick?

• The reference: Philosykos.
• The original, softer and milkier: Premier Figuier.
• Fig in a garden, for work: Un Jardin en Méditerranée.
• Bright and citrusy: Fico di Amalfi.
• Creamy: Debaser.
• Dressed up: Amouage Dia.
• Sweet and salty: Womanity.

If it’s the wood you like most, woody perfumes go further. The coconut side leads to coconut perfumes, and the beach list picks up where Womanity leaves off.