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Apicius
Very helpful Review
10
Unique Elegance Forgotten
The brand Salvatore Ferragamo mainly focuses on the mainstream, however, there was one really outstanding exception: Salvatore Ferragamo pour Homme.
The concept of this fragrance was absolutely innovative. On first sight, it could be filed under fig leaf fragrance. But...whereas it is that very and fresh green note that most fig leaf fragrances bring to the stage, Salvatore Ferragamo pour Homme puts it into a different context.
I don't really like the well known straightforward fig leaf scents such as Diptyque's Philosykos or L'Artisan Parfumeur Premier Figuier. Fig leaf scent is about what you get if you pick leaves from a bush and grind them with your hands. For a perfume, straightforward fig leaf is too much nature, and not enough artistry. This is where Salvatore Ferragamo comes in.
Salvatore Ferragamo pour Homme seems to combine the fresh fig leaf with the darker and more robust vetiver, in equal parts, and the outcome is a unique accord of sheer elegance. The fragrance pyramid is unusually opulent, and with spicy, woody, floral, leather notes and musk, it contains ingredients of all scent directions and hardly anything can be detected as such. In my perception all these notes are aimed at balancing and investigating this new unique accord making the result even more elegant.
There is not a lot of development in this fragrance, eventually some masculine musky notes blend in when the base is reached.
Uniqueness and elegance make Salvatore Ferragamo pour Homme a fragrance which you might not get away unnoticed when you wear it. Concerning its uniqueness, I would put it on the the same level as Prada's Amber pour Homme and the use of violet in there.
It is hard to understand why this great way of handling fig leaf has hardly been seized as a suggestion by other perfumers. Dolce & Galbana's Velvet Vetiver is not really a gent's cologne. Micallef's Richard was only produced once in a small batch as a signatory perfume for Beauty Affair in Düsseldorf. There seems to be only one other men's perfume currently on the market where this special accord can be found: Charriol's Royal Gold for Men. However, a fig leaf and vetiver combo is only top notes in there with a further development of a completely different, oriental direction.
Salvatore Ferragamo pour Homme has been discontinued for a while, but some bottles can still be found on the net for small money. I already put another 100 ml bottle on stock, and I recommend a blind buy even just to get acquainted with an accord that is currently missing in perfumery.