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Acqua di Parma Colonia
Aug. 17th, 2021 01:15 pmFirst fragrance review!
So this was a blind buy, my friend is a long time Fragrance Enjoyer who mentioned this one to me and I figured "what the hell, I'll buy a small bottle, surely I won't hate it". (I was lucky, and I ended up really liking it). Acqua di Parma is the name of the company, and Colonia is the name of this fragrance in particular. This is an Italian fragrance which has been around for over 100 years. Several Old Hollywood stars wore it, including Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. My friend is a big Audrey Hepburn fan, and I'm a big Cary Grant fan, so the stars seemed to align for us on this one.
This is a cologne. I recently learned this, but "eau de Cologne" actually refers to the concentration of scent in the fragrance. "Cologne" has also come to mean "perfume for men" in the U.S. at least, but if you see "cologne" on a bottle that's generally not what it refers to. Basically the hierarchy goes like:
Keep in mind that I'm far from an expert so don't bring this as your cheat sheet to the Perfumers International Conference or anything.
The Acqua di Parma website lists the notes of this fragrance as:
Top Notes: Lemon, Sweet Orange, Calabrian Bergamot
Heart Notes: Lavender, Bulgarian Rose, Verbena, Rosemary
Base Notes: Vetiver, Sandalwood, Patchouli
Another fragrance thing I recently learned, is that the top notes are what you smell for the first 5-10 minutes of wearing a fragrance. The heart notes (also "middle notes") are what you smell for the first hour or two, and the base notes are what you smell for the remainder of the wear.
Colonia is a citrus, woodsy scent, good for summer. I'm personally reminded of the scent of soap, or maybe a barbershop. I think this would be considered an "old-fashioned" scent, so probably not for the most fashion-forward people (but of course, being old-fashioned is a kind of chic in and of itself). This is considered a unisex perfume, and I think it lives up to that. I think it leans slightly more masculine but it's very wearable. It lasts quite a bit on my skin, even though it doesn't last all day..it probably lasts four or five hours on me. It has a good projection and I can smell it on myself throughout the wear without putting my nose to my skin (I have been in the habit of spraying perfume in the crease of my elbows). Overall, I enjoy it a lot, but I would recommend smelling it before you buy, since my enjoyment of it is tinged by my love of grandpa stuff.
The cost for a 100ml bottle is ~$175 US (pictured above is a 20ml bottle).
So this was a blind buy, my friend is a long time Fragrance Enjoyer who mentioned this one to me and I figured "what the hell, I'll buy a small bottle, surely I won't hate it". (I was lucky, and I ended up really liking it). Acqua di Parma is the name of the company, and Colonia is the name of this fragrance in particular. This is an Italian fragrance which has been around for over 100 years. Several Old Hollywood stars wore it, including Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. My friend is a big Audrey Hepburn fan, and I'm a big Cary Grant fan, so the stars seemed to align for us on this one.
This is a cologne. I recently learned this, but "eau de Cologne" actually refers to the concentration of scent in the fragrance. "Cologne" has also come to mean "perfume for men" in the U.S. at least, but if you see "cologne" on a bottle that's generally not what it refers to. Basically the hierarchy goes like:
- Eau de Cologne: the least concentrated of the "fragrances". (I think something like "body spray" would be even less concentrated than this). It doesn't last as long, and generally has less projection (so you don't smell it from as far away).
- Eau de toilette: a bit more concentrated. These last maybe half a day (although it depends on everything from the scent to the person's skin).
- Eau de parfum: this is what I would consider the most concentrated of normal perfumes. This is what most perfumes tend to be.
- Parfum: This is even stronger than eau de parfum. They're not uncommon, but most perfumes have their strongest formulation as an eau de parfum, not parfum.
Keep in mind that I'm far from an expert so don't bring this as your cheat sheet to the Perfumers International Conference or anything.
The Acqua di Parma website lists the notes of this fragrance as:
Top Notes: Lemon, Sweet Orange, Calabrian Bergamot
Heart Notes: Lavender, Bulgarian Rose, Verbena, Rosemary
Base Notes: Vetiver, Sandalwood, Patchouli
Another fragrance thing I recently learned, is that the top notes are what you smell for the first 5-10 minutes of wearing a fragrance. The heart notes (also "middle notes") are what you smell for the first hour or two, and the base notes are what you smell for the remainder of the wear.
Colonia is a citrus, woodsy scent, good for summer. I'm personally reminded of the scent of soap, or maybe a barbershop. I think this would be considered an "old-fashioned" scent, so probably not for the most fashion-forward people (but of course, being old-fashioned is a kind of chic in and of itself). This is considered a unisex perfume, and I think it lives up to that. I think it leans slightly more masculine but it's very wearable. It lasts quite a bit on my skin, even though it doesn't last all day..it probably lasts four or five hours on me. It has a good projection and I can smell it on myself throughout the wear without putting my nose to my skin (I have been in the habit of spraying perfume in the crease of my elbows). Overall, I enjoy it a lot, but I would recommend smelling it before you buy, since my enjoyment of it is tinged by my love of grandpa stuff.
The cost for a 100ml bottle is ~$175 US (pictured above is a 20ml bottle).
