Philosykos (1996)
by Diptyque

Warm and soft, sweet but (to me) not unbearably so. Blends well with my skin. Pleasant to wear, but like most Diptyque's I've tried, has very little base -- very linear, then disappears. More a scent than a perfume. But it just plain smells good, so thumbs up. Probably my favorite Diptyque so far. Most of the line have not impressed me much.

I was used to smell this since a month ago. Then my friend left and she went back to her country and she left here half a bottle of it for me.
So one day I woke up and I used it.. and that day is today.
Fig, you say... I say a forest of figs tree and the warmth of a hug with a cashmere jumper.
It's sweet but it's sweetness remains somehow linear and pleasant and under control of your skin... it's strong indeed, you can bet that it will last and people will ask about it pretty often... but then after you wear it for quite a while it blends completly with your skin and the ceader comes a little bit out and you might think it's gone. But it's not. It will stay on your wrist like a close friend will stay with you... in silence maybe, waiting for the moment you move that arm and the fragrance is ready to be free again in the air.
Don't be bold with it, use it sparingly and no more that one drop... it's strong and sweet and you can easily put too much of it on, ruining its appeal.

It's listed as a fragrance for both sexes... but I must say it's slightly toward the feminine pole.
it would be amazing though on the right man, the one able to me masculine and charming just because of the perfume of his own non-scented skin... since this perfume is simple and well done, it will blend wonderfully on him, adapting to the skin and loosing that sweetness... then he probably will put a beige cardigan on his Polo Ralph Lauren white outfit and he will go out in the summer of a distant city, with an unusual sun piercing through the leaves of immense fig trees where a cute lady dressed with an asymetrical skirt is waiting for him to go to buy some good and fresh food at the local market. And that will be when we will figure out that he stole her bottle of Philosykos and we will smile and we will proceed in reading our book in that greek restaurant ordering maybe more Tzatiki.

Imagine the smell of a burning hot summer day of Mediterranean; a wild field which is covered with both sun-dried and evergreen bushes, and LOTS of sweet smelling fig trees, mildly washed over by a sea breeze bringing the subtle smell of golden colored rocks and sand... I am from Cyprus and this smell is very familiar to me. Now Dyptique took that exact olfactory experience, bottled it, and created a striking masterpiece.

To me, on the other hand, the actual wearability of this masterpiece is unfortunately low. Cause however wonderful the smell of figs (both the fruit itself, and the tree covered with lush leaves), it is too cloying to carry on your skin. Luckily I have found a way to solve this dilemma and enjoy that distinctive smell: Philosykos makes a wonderful room scent and also spraying it on sheets brings wonderful results.

I wish I could say that to me, it doesn't smell like figs, it smells like. . .dry grass and tomato leaves.

But

a. SniffQ already said that.

b. The potted plant smell ( whether it's dry gass or tomato) is present in virtually all the offerings by Diptyque.

c. We mut be wrong, since:

1. Olivia Giacobetti is a genius.

and

2. The majority of reviewers wax happily about the pronounced fig smell !

They're only differ-- or confess to being unsure--- as to whether it's creamy, simple, woodsy, dry, wet, complex; reminiscent of coconuts ( or almonds or peaches or bananas or...?) astringent, musky, has cedar, does not have cedar . projects great sillage, rides close to the skin; is more interesting than Marc Jacobs ( well, what the hell isn't?) but perhaps not more so than Jo Malone or Premier Figuier.

Sacre Bleu!

I beileve I have been niched.

I don't understand all these niche fragrances. Its like their sole purpose is to be something you haven't smelled before without any regard to its wearability. This is hardly wearable, smells like some incense oil, probably offensive to many ordinary people.

Diptyque Philosykos

It is always interesting to me to go back and visit the early work of aritsts I admire. These early efforts usually hold the embryonic beginnings of what will become their trademark style over time. Diptyque Philosykos is one of those cases. It was the third scent created by Olivia Giacobetti and released in 1996. It was interesting that Ms. Giacobetti was choosing to revisit fig as her central note as she had already used it in her first scent for L'Artisan, Premier Figuier, two years earlier. In that scent Ms. Giacobetti created a rich fig scent. In Philosykos her second take on fig was to strip it down to basics. Right from the top the fig bursts to life and come flying out of the gate. This is a green fig a few days away from being ripe. It is also a very dry beginning as if a warm arid breeze was wafting the scent of a fig grove towards you. As this progresses that imaginary fig grove begins to take shape as the leaves and the wood begin to accompany the fruit of the fig. Finally at the base this wonderful wet earth accord pulls this fig grove of the nose together in a beautiful way. Ms. Giacobetti will go on to perfect this accord in 2000's Frederic Malle En Passant but in Philosykos you definitely sniff its genesis. The overall feel of Philosykos of sheer central accords will be repaeated many times by Ms. Giacobetti and this is a good early example of what will become her signature style. Philosykos is one of my favorite fig scents because of that style.