Reviews of Wild Fig and Cassis (2002)
by Jo Malone

For years I've loved Premier Figuier, but, Wild Fig and Cassis has replaced it as my favorite fig. Wild Fig and Cassis smells like the experience of eating pure, fresh juicy figs, while sitting on a freshly mowed lawn, with the sun directly overhead. It's soothing, warm, and the lasting power is fantastic.

I liked this one enough to buy some. It is a very intriguing scent and I find myself sniffing constantly. I think of mushrooms and peat; earthy.

I love the scent of fig, especially in winter, and given the great reviews here, thought this would be an easy favourite.

At first, it was lovely, opening with strong, fresh, clear fig notes.

But these green top notes of fig leaves quickly gave way to sweet, syrupy over-ripe fruit, which lasted for hours. The scent was so sickeningly sweet, that had it been summer, I would likely have been swarmed by wasps. The cloying warmth and stickiness of the fragrance made my stomach turn at the mere thought of eating a fig. And I can still smell the basenotes a full 24 hours later, like a bad hangover.

I much prefer Fresh Index Fig & Apricot, which balances the warmth with freshness.

Perhaps I am just unsuited to the Jo Malone line... I have always approached her fragrances with excitement, prepared to love them, and have always found them too aggressive and lacking in complexity. Surely there must be one in her line that I could like...

I think this is my favorite fig fragrance. I not a big fan of fig fragrances – I usually can take them but more often leave them. I tend to find them confusing: fig leaves in general seem to have some sort of strange vibration to them that is, at once, quietly pulsating and impatiently static... I get a bit tense with fig fragrances because of the presence of an estopped nervous agitation that are engendered in me. They never seems to follow through to completion: the notes sit there as a quivering blob of potential energy, and this is why I am not a fan of fig. Wild Fig and Cassis doesn’t act this way. This one is fig on tranquilizers, and I feel that I get the green energy of fig without also receiving the inclination towards the nervous breakdown that fig leaf can cause. To me this is a new experience with the fig leaf note, and I treasure the experience. Wild Fig and Cassis is fig green, with a touch sharpness; it has a woody heart and a gritty, near resinousness lurking about it. …Lurking in its shadows – or even more, in its very DNA. It’s a decidedly organic fragrance with a suspicion of the mystic. Its depth is soothing and fulfilling in its organic ambiance.

Love it. This and Orange Blossom are my favorite Jo Malone fragrances. This is great layered with her Rose fragrance as well.

I absolutely love this fragrance, but seldom wear it.
It's one that I wear sparingly during winter months.
The scent lasts and lasts and it's easy to apply too much, but it's warm, deep and earthy.
This one replaced Cinnabar for a deep, winter scent.

Picture yourself in a garden under a freshly trimmed fig tree sitting on a concrete bench. The rich dark black soil underfoot has a light cover of snow. The sky is grey, and there is a bitter chill in the air. This is a brilliant fragrance, but not one that I could imagine myself ever wearing. I get a lot of green (as if you were to cut the branch off a fig tree and smell the wood) and soil (filled with minerals). The sillage and longevity are pretty much non-existent. I will give this one a thumbs up for the amazing imagery that it evokes, but I would not wear it. One of those things I love to smell, bit would not want to smell like.

This is a favorite. A wonderful scent, but, its longevity on me is pretty short. A rea natural, grassy, uplifting scent. Perfect for spring, but could really be worn at anytime. I layer it with Pomegranite Noir, which requires very little and lasts quite long. If this were concentrated and had
more projection like it does with the initial application, it would be perfect.

Just got this one in the mail. When I sprayed it on my freind wrinkled her nose and asked, "Are you sure this is'nt a man's cologne?". It is not femanine at all, but it is true to life. It is very "fig-y".
Jo Malone discribes this as being warm and "sun-ripened", but it is actually very green and sharp. Not a warm, soft scent at all.
However, I did like it. It is quintessentially woody. It's not the best fig out there, but it's a good one.

I ordered this one more out curiousity because I'm not a big fig lover. I like fig notes on others but not on myself. Like with Philsykos the start is very green, the fig leaves hit you in the face. The hyacinth makes it even greener. But than...Yeeeaaahaaah!...comes the saver: cassis. The cassis tells the fig leaves to calm down. It's a great contrast. The soft sugary notes of the cassis balance much more the figleaves than the coconut used in l'Artisan's Premier Figuier. No bitterness. If Philosykos is the fig of the Italy and Greece than Wild Fig and Cassis is a bit more french/nordic