Ortigia Melograno and Fico D'India

I first saw the Ortigia range of colognes, bath and body products at my local Fenwick department store. I presume they've been around for a while, but I hadn't noticed them probably because they are stuck away towards the back of the store, somewhere between Dr Hauschka and Crabtree & Evelyn. Anyway, I saw them and what struck me most was their packaging, which looks fun and vibrant, yet serious enough to come across as wearable adult products. I tried two of the line, both on paper strips, so I must admit that I don't know how these develop on the skin.

Melograno

This is based on pomegranate. The website does not go into much detail about the ingredients, but does describe the pomegranate as an exotic fruit, with a dry and dusty scent, symbols of Maximilian 1 of Rome and Catherine of Aragon, both rulers of Sicily. Whether that is true, I can't really say. The fragrance opens quite fruity and pulpy and I suppose it is the smell of pomegranate, but as I am not very familiar with the fresh fruit, I can't vouch for how close-to-life this is. It isn't fruity-floral territory though, and there is something quite herby and spicy in there as well and almost smoky, which really is very nice. The opening is the best part though. Like many colognes, it fades relatively quickly and into the heart it becomes quite powdery, but more in a dusty sort of way. It starts with great promise, then fades into a fairly bland, slightly musky/woody cologne.

Fico d'India

This opens with a brief citrus accord that quickly becomes milky. Until i read the notes, I thought this was a fig scent, but apparently it is based on the prickly pear, which is part of the cactus family although I stand corrected! It is fairly woody, with a slightly sweet feel that almost verged on marine. It feels fresher than Melograno but also has that dusty/powdery note and then fades fairly quickly, being a cologne.


I'm not sure how much I really like these, although to be fair I should try them on skin. The most promising and enjoyable phases for me for both colognes was the opening and then they become kind of ordinary and fade quickly.