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I know Debaser is popular, and a friend recommended it a while back, knowing that I like fig-leaf scents. I sniffed it in a shop and didn’t love my first impression but now that I’ve had the chance to wear my sample a few times, I’m warming up to it. I find the listed notes a little misleading: it’s supposed to have green stems, pear, and bergamot up top, but all I notice is the zesty green and then the fig leaf and coconut milk right away, which are supposed to be the middle notes, along with iris (which I don’t really pick up). Normally, coconut is a note that would turn me off, but this one is interesting: it doesn’t feel artificial or sunscreen-ish, it comes across very clean and cool and creamy. It’s very much coconut milk rather than coconut, and I do like it in this fragrance, somewhat to my surprise—it blends really well with the other notes. Under all that, the base notes of “precious woods,” tonka bean, and moss come through heavily. Right off the bat, this perfume is intensely woody, and after the top and middle notes fade, you’re left with a clean, earthy, spicy wood in which Iso E Super really predominates. Overall, the combination of fresh greens, spicy fig leaf, and woody finish make this an almost ideal “basic,” modern unisex/masc-leaning fragrance, and as somebody who likes Philosykos but wishes it was a bit more dense, not so ephemerally light, this is a satisfying and extremely wearable scent. On the downside, some might find it too strong (my gf, for example, says it’s off-putting on first application), and after the dimensionality of the top and middle notes dries down, the woody base can feel synthetic and a bit predictable. Feels good to wear in the summertime but I could see the coconut note not working in cooler seasons.
I absolutely loved it. Every note shines. I need to eat some humble pie about this brand, not that I’ve ever slagged them off and I’ve only really tried Burning Barbershop which I thought was a good concept but I wasn’t that fond of it. The name is probably a reference to the pixies song, considering the kind of hipsterish origins of the brand, I think it’s likely. I love the way it opens, uncompromisingly green, slightly tinged with fruit and citrus but evolving into a positive fig smell. The note starts to become more creamy, a milky fig with a hint of coconut. The soft woods and iris in the base finish it off perfectly travelling from a sharp, leafy, green fragrance, to a natural fig that’s a little mouth watering and philisykos like, into milky summery coconut woods and then a kind of grown up quality base which smells great after several hours. I thought debaser was smooth and a superb concept, vividly realised. I don’t have many fragrances like this so I reckon this is going on my list.
Walk up to an aged fig tree, late summer, loaded with fruit. Snap a fig leaf, smell the astringent greenness. Watch the milky substance ooze out, rub it between your fingers, smell the slightly sweet coconut-ness. Sniff a freshly cut pear (don’t ask). Bite into a soft ripe fig. Put your nose to the lichen covered bark of the aged fig tree, breathe it in.