Reviews of Salvatore Ferragamo pour Homme (1999)
by Salvatore Ferragamo

I can see that this one might be an acquired taste, but one must appreciate the exquisitely crafted citrus-floral-vetiver cocktail that is Salvatore Ferragamo Pour Homme. I'll admit that I did not like this the first time I sprayed it on my skin, but it grew on me and I really enjoy having this one in my collection. I'm saving it for the summer and spring when the weather warms up.

Fresh out of the bottle, I get grapefruit, cyclamen, and fig leaf done in a very Mediterranean style. Its quite nice and there are very few scents as refreshing as this after a long shower. Next, one smells notes that are more typical of this genre - the classic aromatic fougere - which are geranium, caraway, and clove. Apparently there is cardamom, orris root, jasmine, and rose but I don't really notice these as such. Lastly, it dries down to a prominent vetiver, musk and sandalwood. I'll bet its the combo of the musk/vetiver with the fig that turns people's noses. Personally I think the musk is well done and the vetiver makes it a classy one for the summer. There are definitely some gems in the Ferragamo line; one just needs the patience to discover them!

To me, SFPH is not a "gourmand" fragrance at all, but rather a vetiver fragrance with some fig to round off the vetiver's sharp edges. Although I tend to prefer bold and bitter vetivers, I like this one because it replicates the overall feel of the many inexpensive light vetiver eaux de colognes you find in drug stores in France, but more concentrated and with far better longevity and greater radiance. I've always loved the Mediterranean feel of a classic vetiver eaux de colognes, but have always wished they were a bit more long-lasting. SFPH fulfills that wish. I also really like the smoky cedar in the drydown, which blends very well with the vetiver.

I am impressed that a designer firm like Ferragamo released something classic like this in 1999, rather than just cranking out yet another boring acquatic scent or Cool Water ripoff. This is really very good.

Fig? Wow, really?...
Can I have a glass of water, please!
Never smelled a fig? Try Salvatore Ferragamo pour Homme.
Don’t get me wrong. It is a very well made fragrance. It all depends if you like fig. If you do, you’ll be in heaven. Longevity and silage are both excellent, but mean really excellent.
Kinda funny, I am not too fond of smelling like a fig tree, but have smelled it on others. On some smells divine. On me, I’m just not into it. It doesn’t mean I cannot get over by my personal preference and admit is a superb example of a very well made gourmand/yes, gourmand/.
If it works on you, it’s a must!

My nose hasn't been trained to identify most individual notes in this or any other cologne. If everyone says that SFpH contains this note or that, then I completely take them at their word. Clove has a fairly powerful essence, though, and I don't smell it a bit in this cologne. That's for the better. I'm not very fond of clove. But all in all, it doesn't matter one fig (yes, pun intended) to me. What I know is this: I think this is cologne smells quite nice, particularly about 1-2 hours into the drydown. Classy, not too effeminate. On opening, it has a fruitiness but then develops into a creamy, warm sort of fragrance. Longevity is OK but not extraordinary - I am wearing SFpH as I type this and applied it about 6 hours ago. If I sniff my arm, I can still smell it - but from a foot away I'd need the nose of an anteater. I wouldn't say this is one of my favorite fragrances, but it's certainly good enough for a thumbs-up rating, particularly in light of the price.

Almost forgot: when I first sprayed SFpH, it reminded me of some other cologne I used to own. I finally remembered: the opening salvo smells a lot like Jivago 24K for Men.

I guess fragrance appreciation must be 100% relative, because I don't find this "synthetic," too sweet, too clove-oriented, or too "thin." If you want to know what a clove-oriented fragrance is, try Ava Luxe's Kretek. No comparison. I can barely detect clove in SFpH. A fragrance that is too sweet for me is Gucci Envy for men. Carven Homme is also fairly sweet. SFpH does not even register on my sweetness scale. I enjoy the opening because it is not too sweet, yet it's fruity. It's not really my type of fragrance because it's not sweet or spicy enough! Gucci Envy is also way too synthetic for me, but this is fine, a nice one to have in the monthly rotation. I got this in a swap for something I didn't like, and I'll be the first to admit I wouldn't spend money to buy a bottle of it, but I like it better than most fragrances I've sampled. And so I think it deserves a positive rating. Longevity and sillage are good if not great.

Depending on the day, this fragrance ranges from bad to incredibly bad. I bought it blind and want to make myself like it - and I have done that successfully with some other ones. I just can't place it - I do get the cedar, the grapefruit, the fig and clove, but the accord is a kind of projectile-vomit of sour-sweet smell. There IS fresh vetiver & cedar in the drydown but you have to get past this unpleasant assault of synthetic sour that is just unforgivable. My wardrobe is fairly extensive and I have "learned to like" a good many fragrances that just didn't agree with me the first time or two I tried them on... but this one is on a very short list of irreconcilable rejects.

I do not like fig scents, but I like vetivers. Here, the vetiver is perfectly balanced by the fig, resulting in a somewhat odd, but elegant and IMO quite unique fragrance. It is definetely not a clone of Guerlain's or any other straightforward vetiver. Instead, it is an attempt to reduce the harshness of genuine vetyver. Although the approach is different, I would put in in a row with Annick Goutals' Vetyver, Montales' Red Vetyver Terre d'Hermes and maybe Kenzoair. Very well done!

An interesting disappointment this one this is. I agree with the others that the initial top notes are extraordinary and very interesting - dare I say unique. However, the dull and lackluster base of cedar is very taxing on the nerves and do mean taxing. I, for one, got sick of the base very, VERY quickly. I doubt I will wear this very often. It is most definitely an every once in awhile scent.

An odd one. Figgy, lots of clove and the drydown is a clean, soapy vetiver and cedarwood. This would be a nice change of pace to wear once in a while.

Bought this blind, which I regret about as much as you can regret a $16 snag at a discount store--but since I picked up Dirty English and Story for the same price, I think can endure the letdown. Whether I can endure another wearing of SFpH, though, is doubtful. The first few seconds might lead you to believe you've got yourself a unique fresh fragrance, but once the fig and citrus burns off you're SOL for the next four hours during which you'll be subjected to whiffs of an amzing reproduction of the smell of clove cigarettes, a 100% synthetic-smelling freshness, very dry vetiver and wood, and a sweetness that seems unpleasantly out of place under the sharp and dry notes. I always try to give fragrances a full wearing but this one got washed off with extreme prejudice.

The fig comes on strong at first. It melts down to reveal some kind of weak almost feminine hygiene smell. Nothing special here. But, it is different from the usual suspects if that is what you are looking for.

Exquisite bottle - perhaps, misshapen by the intense dischordance in the fragrance it contains. It opens to a crescendo of green fig and the initial conflict begins as the fig competes with the grapefruit creating an astringent note which seems to serve as the conduit to all the accents that rise and fall, smear and clash until it all seems to exhaust itself and implode in the strangely dischordant and crippled way of some synthetic blends. I suspect it might suit naturally acrid bodies where the astringency might serve a purpose to freshen and tone natural smell. In tandem with other gourmand fragrances the problematic notes can be warmed and muffled and the effect can be quite charming. My rating reflects its potential to metamorphose and be better than it is as a singular fragrance when used with a partner like Extraordinary by Avon, or Casran by Chopard.

Oh this one is bad, big time, make that VERY bad. It does not even fit to be a toilet refresher spray...it went straight to the bin, i'm embarrassed to even give it to anyone.

I've loved this for years now and the notes are awesome on me. I love the fig and the drydown. It has always sort of reminded me in a way of Marc Jacobs for men. I will always buy this as long as it's sold. It's not expensive and smells great.

This is an excellent fig leaf composition akin to Hermes Jardin en Mediterranee and Dior Dune but with its own unique take on the theme. Less sweet than the other two and with no signs of any curry, really. Only complaint is that it is a bit close to the skin but longevity is good. Fairly rare and you'll smell like nobody else. Equally good for day or evening wear.

The initial blast of spiciness overcomes you and seems too much going on at once. This soon dies down to a spice rack smell. This unpleasantness continues for about 20 minutes but then transforms into a nice subtle spicy aroma. Does not sit too well on it's own, but layered with other scents can prove interesting.

I think the guy with the spicy indian food remark is not far off here. Ugh! Smells like a spice rack. I don't know what the longevity is like nor am I going to find out! I want this sample off my wrist now!

This one's a bit of a guilty pleasure and I don't feel at all bad about saying that I like it even admid so many negative reviews of it. I'm surprised that I have not heard the obvious comment that it smells rather like burning leaves, which was the initial comment of the person who gave me my first bottle of SF for men. I agreed and so, it seems, does everyone I've shared it with. I rather like having a miniture of it that I requested for x-mas, but I could see even a fan not needing a big bottle of it. The "burning leaves" quality makes me nostalgic for New England in the autumn, particularly because that is precisely the time and place I first discovered it. I consider it an idiosyncratic personal classic and I appreciate uniqueness in fragrances.

"Oh, bring us some figgy pudding . . ." This one's just a bit too much for me -- it crosses the line from sweet to cloying in no time flat. Many others like it, though. I WANT to like it, but just can't. Neutral on this one -- let its fans remain loyal, but I can't shout about it.

Another top 5 favorite of mines, very light, tangy, sweet and just right for a man, for those hot summer days/nights.

Gave me a nasty head ache. I got it as a gift, it smells like cheap indian food.

Cloves, fig, sage, its as if someone took curry and naan and mixed it with musk. Its just "too much" like Michael by Michael kors.



When I wore it to work , everyone said "eww whats that smell..it smells like curry"

Salvatore Ferragamo opens with a strong grapefruit note and a green fig note. The fig note is clean and fresh and disappears rather quickly; the grapefruit note hangs on long enough to join with the clove note from the middle and the cedar note from the base, and the combination turns into a sharp metallic-like aroma which I don’t find very pleasant. Cloves is not a favorite note of mine and I find it is too strong in the middle accord. The other middle notes seem to come out too subtly to my taste, so, in all, the whole middle of the pyramid is thin, sharp, and unpleasant to my nose. There is not very much here that I find attractive, but I must say that the ambiance of the fragrance is nicely masculine and invigoratingly fresh. It is bright and lively and the fig adds a depth if not a richness to the top of the pyramid. By the time the basenotes are reached, the sharpness and thinness of Salvatore Ferragamo has become almost cloying to me: cloying and synthetic. This fragrance just does not deliver much that I like. Then there’s the bottle—now THAT’S nice.

Very distinctive aroma with a top note of fig at the first spray (fig was not common in early 2000, it appeared before Marc Jacobs and Hermes' Un Jardine en Mediterranee) and staying with grapefruit (like Memoire d'Homme), clove and woody notes. I could never use it on summer, it sicked me at poor ventilated spaces (office and subway).

Tangy, masculine scent that stands out from the usual suspects of fragrances out there. It can be a bit too sharp for some, especially over time; but otherwise, it is a rich, fruity, predictably citrus scent that isn't like the typical citrus scents. The only other scent I find which is close to this one is Lalique Equus, which is awesome in its own right. Check this one out!

You can easily pick out the main ingredients of fig, oriental spices and vetiver, yet the combination has produced a fantastic, if slightly cloying, accord. One of my favourites.

Not too bad, but too much wood. A warning, dont use the after shave and Edt together, the cedar smell will overpower you.

When I first smelt it I fell in love with it but a few months later I couldn't stand it anymore...It would give me such a bad headache...And eventhough I was trying to force myself to like it I ended up giving it to a friend with great relief....Too sweet and very very dense....

At first sniff from the bottle it reminded me of fresk red currant (brisk and slightly sour). Grape fruit and fig leaves with spice make some spicy-vegetable impression but it flies away rapidly at the time of black pepper appearance. It develops with great spicy masculinity. Vetiver and floral musk in the base add some salty oceanic undertone to it. First 5-7 times I wore it vetiver note was rather strong to make me think it's "Jacque Polges' Vetiver" (imaginary). Quite formal daytime fragrance for spring and summer. Interesting fig leaf note (also check it out in Hermes' Un Jardin en Mediterranee). Lasts good enough time. Behaves just right in hot humid days (although rare at my local area). Highly recommended. It's Marc Jacobs for Men's "father".

Of all the scents with note of fig this one is my favorite. A winner of FiFi award as the best men's cologne of year 2000. Great to wear in summer and autumn - it's ozone fresh, aquatic, slightly sweet, with prominent vetiver note, and incredible musky drydown. The twisted bottle's fun, too.

YUCK! Medicinal in the extreme. Gives me a headache just to smell it. Not many fragrances illicit this sort of reaction, but...I have to be honest.