Alvarez Gomez is a Madrid-based, family-owned business that dates back to 1899, and Agua de Colonia Concentrada is its signature product. This traditional cologne is reportedly an easy item to find in shops throughout Spain, but it was virtually unknown in the United States until MiN New York began importing the Alvarez Gomez line last year. According to the company, Agua de Colonia Concentrada is “a very fresh, clean and natural-smelling cologne enhanced with carefully chosen essences of Mediterranean plants, flowers and fruit”; its official notes are Spanish lavender, lemon, geranium, eucalyptus, rosemary, thyme, English lavender and bergamot.

Agua de Colonia Concentrada was created in 1912, and Alvarez Gomez claims that its formula remains unchanged. I don’t know whether that’s entirely possible, but in any case, this fragrance does smell timeless, as a classic cologne should. It’s a strongly citrus-based interpretation of Eau de Cologne, with a tart, bright lemon note that evokes the peel as well as the pulp of the fruit. The lemon is almost brilliant for the first few minutes on skin; when you smell it, you’ll understand why Alvarez Gomez has chosen such a vibrant yellow for its packaging…

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‘Candy and flowers, dear,’ Ellen had said time and again, ‘and perhaps a book of poetry or an album or a small bottle of Florida water are the only things a lady may accept from a gentleman.’

— Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind

When Scarlett O’Hara received this advice from her mother (during her fictional girlhood, leading up to the outbreak of the Civil War), Florida water had already been a popular variant on Eau de Cologne for several decades. The New York-based company Murray & Lanman first began to produce and sell a trademarked Florida Water in 1808. The firm has undergone a few name changes over the past two centuries, but it still exists; and, now known as Lanman & Kemp, it still offers this classic item.

The Lanman & Kemp website lists multiple uses for its Florida Water, including a treatment for “jangled nerves” and a suggestion for “boudoir daintiness.” I don’t know how long this particular list has been in existence, but it delights my vintage-loving soul, and so does the label on the Florida Water bottle…

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As I’ve said here many times before, I’m a summer person. I do not like cold, and as long as the weather is warm enough to wear shorts, I have no real complaints. Still, even I am willing to admit that the heat is a bit oppressive here at the moment: the temperature is expected to hit 99° F today, and it probably already has. I had been planning to review the new Fancy Nights by Jessica Simpson, but I can promise you that Fancy Nights is not something you will want to be wearing when it is 99° F.

So: Heeley Oranges And Lemons Say The Bells of St. Clement’s. It is named for the nursery rhyme, and it’s just the sort of thing you can wear when it’s too hot to wear most anything else…

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Celebrity fragrances have been around a long time. Like TV, music and movie stars of today, European royalty lent their names and seals of approval to many perfume house scents in the 19^th century — and were supplied with all manner of toiletries in return. Having a queen, emperor, princess or other “noble” person or family associated with a fragrance helped sales, and Guerlain received royal “warrants” from the likes of the Queen of Belgium in 1842 and the Prince of Wales.¹ Guerlain produced many perfumes with “royal airs” — Bouquet de Duchesse, Délice du Prince, Le Bouquet de Fürstenberg, Esterházy Mixtyre, Bouquet du Roi d’Angleterre, Bouquet du Jardin du roi, Bouquet de l’Impératrice and Bouquet Napoléon.²

Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain (who founded the Guerlain perfumery in 1828) was awarded a royal supplier patent in 1853 when he received permission from Empress Eugénie (wife of Napoléon III) to name one of his creations Eau de Cologne Impériale;³ Guerlain was given the title Perfumer to her Majesty the Empress Eugénie.² Eugénie’s cologne became famous, and its “bee design” bottles are an enduring symbol of Guerlain…

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An ongoing row over who invented eau de cologne seemed to have been settled Monday after a researcher discovered an 18th-century note in a Paris library confirming that the perfume was created by Paolo Feminis.

— From Row over eau de cologne 'settled' at Ansa.it, with thanks to Jessica for the link!

Most colognes are easily identifiable by the “eau” that precedes the name. Many perfume houses do a cologne as a matter of course. Some famous colognes are Eau de Guerlain, L'Eau de L'Artisan, Christian Dior Eau Fraîche, Thierry Mugler Cologne, Eau de Cartier, and, of course, 4711. I like the cedar freshness and gin and tonic quality of Eau de Cartier, and I spray Thierry Mugler Cologne on my sheets when I change the bed, but otherwise cologne has never resonated much with me…

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This year marks the 40th anniversary of Diptyque's first fragrance, L'Eau, originally introduced in 1968. To celebrate, the line has launched a trio of unisex colognes: L'Eau de L'Eau, L'Eau des Hesperides and L'Eau de Neroli. All three were developed by perfumer Olivier Pescheux.

L’Eau de L’Eau pays homage to L'Eau (go ahead, translate that in your head), which was said, in turn, to have been based on a 16th century potpourri recipe. I haven't tried L'Eau in some years; my testing notes, probably written in late 2003 or early 2004, say “it is warm and spicy but sheer at the same time: an almost aqueous feeling: potpourri under water. Very nice, would absolutely never wear it.” My tastes have expanded pretty dramatically since then…

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Cologne Grand Siècle is no. 7 in the Parfumerie Generale line, which now comprises 15 fragrances. It was launched in 2005 and has notes of tangerine, bergamot, bitter orange, grapefruit, lemon, cardamom, herbs, ylang ylang, dry woods, vetiver and wheat.

I am very fond of classic colognes. The term cologne is now used somewhat generically to indicate any fragrance with a concentration that is less than an Eau de Toilette (usually that means less than 5%), but here I am referring to the descendants of the original, citrus-based Eau de Cologne first created in 1709 by Johann Maria Farina, an Italian perfumer who had settled in Cologne, Germany.

According to Parfumerie Generale, perfumer Pierre Guillaume limited his palette for Cologne Grand Siècle to natural, certified organic ingredients that would have been accessible in the 18th century…

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Comme des Garçons released Series 4: Cologne in 2002. Each of the three fragrances is a variation on the classic citrus-based cologne theme.

Anbar is the Arabic word for amber, and the fragrance has notes of amber, mandarin, orange blossom, lavender, clove and musk. It starts with bright citrus notes, and settles quickly into a mild blend with a whisper of dry orange blossom over pale amber undertones. It has a touch of spice, but overall, it is more bright than dark. The lasting power is fine considering the strength, and it is nicely done, but for the moment I am not captivated so I am setting my sample aside for another try in the summer…

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And thanks to Karen for pointing out this article in the Toronto Star (link no longer working) about two contenders for the title of the “original” Eau de Cologne — Mulhens 4711 and Farina Eau de Cologne. Farina, created in 1709, claims to be the “world's first documented brand-name perfume”; Edwin Morris, in Scents of Time, agrees that Farina created the first Eau de Cologne…

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