Olivia Giacobetti

I believe there is an inflection point in every great perfumer’s career where they settle on an aesthetic they prefer working in and then spend the majority of their time turning that into a signature. What is fun, employing 20/20 hindsight, is being able to look back and identifying where that tipping point moment is.

Olivia Giacobetti is one of those perfumers who definitely has a signature style all her own. She is the creator of opaque silk scarves of perfume which float on a metaphorical breeze. Often when wearing one of Mme Giacobetti’s perfumes I think it is no longer there only for the breeze to wisp it past my senses yet again. The high points of this stylistic form are the lilac perfume En Passant she did for Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle, in 2000, and a number of the perfumes she created for the IUNX line she founded in 2003. I could have named any of those as Modern Masterpieces and in the case of En Passant I most probably will come back to it at some point; but as I considered that I realized there was an earlier entry Mme Giacobetti composed for Diptyque which was the inflection point for her. I also further realized I consider that fragrance the baseline fragrance when it comes to fig fragrances. That perfume is Philosykos.

Fig Tree by Yvonne Ayoub

Another kind of consistent theme you will see in perfumers who work at this for a long time is the evolution of the use of a note or accord. For Mme Giacobetti one of her earliest commissions was for L’Artisan Parfumeur, in 1994, called Premier Figuier and within that perfume you see the beginning of what would evolve into Philosykos about two years later. Premier Figuier has a richness to it which is meant to be a fig at its ripest oozing a fleshy quality. Philosykos takes that same fig and rewinds its life cycle to a few days previously and turns Philosykos into a study of not only the fig but the entire tree it is growing in; leaves, bark, fruit, and earth together.

Philosykos starts out with the smell of the fruit but it is subtle and you smell the greenness of galbanum almost as much. It really does evoke a tree. Mme Giacobetti uses a pinch of coriander to draw attention to the woodiness but it is an accent and not a focus at this point. Fig leaves make up the heart and they carry as much a sense of foliage as they do of the fruit. It is here where she learned from her previous fig fragrance as she uses coconut milk to accentuate the creamy quality. In Premier Figuier that creamy quality comes late in its development; for Philosykos she moved it forward in the development and it is absolutely the correct choice. The other big difference was to go with actual fig wood in the base. Premier Figuier sort of became too intense with its use of pine, sandalwood, coconut milk, and more fruit. In Philosykos Mme Giacobetti, I believe, came to understand less might just be more as she takes the light fig wood and supports it with a very light application of cedar and an even lighter amount of benzoin. Within those notes there is also the beginning of a rain-drenched earth accord that will show up again in later perfumes.

Fig Leaves and Fruit-Photo by Tina Wenger

Philosykos has above average longevity although the wearer might not think so because of its lightness of being, but just ask anyone around you and they will tell you that you are wearing something that smells good. The sillage is average.

If you have never tried Mme Giacobetti’s perfumes I highly suggest you start at Philosykos it is very much the beginning of a scented journey which hopefully has many more fragrances yet to come.

Disclosure: This review was based on a bottle of Philosykos I purchased.

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor