Figuier Noir by Houbigant c2022

Figuier Noir by Houbigant: launched in 2022. Created by perfumer Céline Ellena.

Since its inception, Houbigant has perfumed the men who have marked history: from Louis XVI to Napoleon to the Russian Tsars. In Houbigant’s ledgers it is recorded that during the 100-day campaign Napoleon stopped at the Houbigant store to fill his trunks with perfume before continuing his march to regain power. Today, as in the past, Houbigant puts men in the spotlight with a collection dedicated to them, created around precious raw materials and sophisticated pairings.

Figuier Noir is a fragrance dedicated to the hearts of men, a reassuring and elegant but at the same time contradictory olfactory combination. Figuier Noir is a synergy of saps to reach the unattainable star, a combination of woods, to emphasize sincerity, an interlacing of roots, to anchor the signature, exquisite spices and black fig pulp that shapes its sillage.

It begins with a spicy top followed by a fruity heart layered over a woody base.

• Top notes: fig leaves, cardamom, cloves, black pepper
• Middle notes: back fig, iris, jasmine
• Base notes: cedar, patchouli, candied figs

"I had this opportunity, to live in the countryside in Grasse region where I had all the time in the world to contemplate the passage of time and to welcome the arrival of sunny days. From the first heat, the fig trees yield a bitter and sensual perfume, harsh and voluptuous. A reassuring and elegant olfactory combination, yet so contradictory, that the idea came to me to write a men's fragrance. Sitting in the shade of the black fig tree whose gnarled branches embraced me like long, sensitive arms, refreshed by the caress of the wind that gently crumpled the leaves above my head, so large that they reminded me of a giant’s hands, I guessed beyond the bark, the gentle, soothing pulsation of the sap. Nose stretched, hands abandoned to the ground, eyes closed, I let myself be carried away by the waves of contrary but disturbing scents. Numb and blissful, I immediately went back to my workshop to keep my fickle harvest and, in front of my scale, I formulated a brief series of fragrant ingredients. Because, you probably know, men like to define themselves in a few words" - Céline Ellena.