Artisan Parfumeur's Premier Figuier Extreme: Figs for Dessert

L'Artisan Parfumeur's Premier Figuier Extreme.  Photo: Kneale Culbreath

Are you a sweet person or a savory person?  If I had to pick sweet or savory as my go-to for a treat, sweet wins out every time.  Never mind that 'cheese' was my first word, and when I was little I could easily snack on olives, pickles, and saltine crackers all day.  But if I had to choose as a child, I really loved sweet things: a homemade brownie. Nutella on a baguette.  Pie.  But a plate of figs? This would not be my choice, even though I loved fruit.  Fig Newtons, yes. Plain figs? No.  I loved Fig Newtons because they smelled of vanilla and the biscuit exterior was as soft as velvet.  From my view as a sugar-obsessed kid, fresh figs seemed more like a punishment than a treat.  Full of seeds and no cookie? I don't think so.  So good for you and full of fiber, too! I would have rather eaten a box of raisins or a sweet-tart Granny Smith apple.

Despite my early dislike of plain figs, my tastes changed as an adult and I grew to love the fruit. I love the tiny, crunchy seeds and the vanilla-sweetness of the fruit. I became something of a fig fan, especially for fig scents. I discovered a few fig perfumes that really make me happy: Diptyque's Philosykos (and the matching candle), which to me smells like a fresh fig crushed with the leaves, sap, bark, and earth; Pacifica's Mediterranean Fig, a plain, unornamented fig; Body Time's Green Fig Oil, smells of green dried figs, quite heady and rich; and Olivia Giacobetti's L'Artisan Parfumeur's Premier Figuier, the first fig perfume in which fig leaves are combined with almond milk and sandalwood. 

The follow up to L'Artisan's Premier Figuier, Premier Figuier Extreme, is for sweet lovers. I translate Extreme to mean concentrated. After the first spray, I get a blast of intense fig, followed by coconut and almond milk.  The perfume also includes notes of fig leaves, gorse flower, stone pine, and dried fruits.  Instead of thinking of Premier Figuier Extreme as a concentrated version of the original, drier fig, I think of Extreme as the dessert version of Premier Figuier, where the sweet notes of coconut and almond are the strongest.  This perfume is a decadent treat and a little goes a long way.

I think Gordon Ramsay's "Fig and Frangipane Tart" is a fitting dessert to try, with all the appropriate ingredients: figs, almonds, and cream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY0T8Nq07PY

The grammar of perfume

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, illustrated by Maira Kalman.

  

Photos: Kneale Culbreath

You know how there are some books that you pick up and re-read each year? If you love to read and write, if you appreciate great language, or if you would like to learn something new about how to be a better writer, then please go and find The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, a small book about the construction and the beauty of simple and clear writing.  It is a book I return to over and over. I have a few copies that are dog-eared and worn with use because I can always learn how to improve my writing. The edition mentioned above is extra-special as it is illustrated by artist Maira Kalman, whose drawings are  elegant and full of humor- the images are well-suited to Strunk and White's text.


I was thinking about Strunk and White's book in relation to the nonsensical language used in perfume ads.  Just read a few perfume ads and after a while, the descriptions all sound the same, vague and ephemeral.  Take Lancome's La Vie est Belle: "La vie est belle or life is beautiful—the expression of a new era." Or Prada's Candy: "...instantly seductive—pure pleasure wrapped in impulsive charm." Are certain flowers representative of a new era and others are charming? The problem with talking about perfume is too often the language of rich, flowery prose is used to describe scents rather than using plain English.  Overly elaborate, gussied-up language will sell hundreds of thousands of bottles of perfume. I want the advertisers to tell me what the perfume smells like, and not who I will be when wearing the perfume- I can do that myself, thank you very much.  We consumers are smarter than this.  We understand that advertisers will sell us stories- we like them, they are fantasies. But we scent-wearers need a Strunk and White for talking about perfume.

Describing perfume accurately is something different altogether. Perfumers need useful adjectives to describe scents. Perfumer Mandy Aftel of Aftelier Perfumes created the Natural Perfume Wheel in order to clarify how we talk about perfume. The chart lists most essential oils and the groupings or "scent families" into which the oils fall. The palette is one of the tools I use daily when perfuming. Each oil is described using a general category and then a more specific adjective. For example, Sandalwood falls under the "Woody/Sweet" category, while Bois de Rose, while it is in the same "Woody" category, is labeled "Floral." I do not know if one day perfume houses and advertisers will suddenly start using plainer language to talk about perfume, but this chart is a useful and thoughtful guide. I think of the Aftelier palette as something writers Strunk and White would appreciate for its simplicity and clarity.

I think Strunk,White, and Aftel would all appreciate Elvis Costello, someone who always chooses his words with care.

Music: "Lipstick Vogue," by Elvis Costello and the Atttractions. A peerless performance from 1978. Sharp, short, direct, and perfectly concise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dip-FtbsD8E