Fig Extasy

Fig is one of the harder materials to build a fragrance around, because a real fig tree smells of at least three contradictory things at once: the green bitterness of the leaf, the milky sap of the broken stem, and the jammy sweetness of the fruit. Most fig fragrances pick one. Mancera's own copy for Fig Extasy insists on all of them, describing fig with milky flesh, fresh leaves and precious woods, and closing with the line that gives the whole composition its mood, a precious memory, an olfactory melody of a Provencal summer.

It starts far spicier than expected. Black pepper and ginger arrive over fig nectar with a wisp of incense, so the first minutes are warm and dry rather than fresh. Fig leaf then takes over and the fragrance opens up green, sappy and cool. What distinguishes it from the many pale fig scents on the market is what Mancera puts underneath: leather, cedar and Mysore sandalwood in the heart, with lavender and thyme cutting across them. The leather is soft and suede-like rather than tarry, and it gives the fig a body that most versions lack. The base is frankly delicious without being a dessert, vanilla pods and tonka rounded by Siam benzoin and a balsamic styrax that adds a light smoke.

It reads unisex, skews slightly warm and works from late afternoon onwards. A Cape Town evening in early autumn, when the day has been hot and the air has just started to cool, is close to its ideal setting.

Longevity is solid, typically seven to nine hours, with a strong first two hours and then a close, creamy woody phase that lingers on skin well into the night. Projection is moderate rather than aggressive, which is unusual for the house and makes this one of the easier Manceras to wear in company. The main caveat is that the green fig-leaf brightness fades faster than the benzoin and vanilla, so by hour four you are wearing a soft sweet woody fragrance with a memory of fig rather than a fig fragrance. Whether that is a fault depends entirely on what you wanted.