Eau de Cologne Imperiale

For the love of Guerlain - Eau de Cologne Impériale in the spotlight. Recently, every time I visited the Guerlain counter, I kept being drawn to Eau de Cologne Impériale. The SA would do a good number on me, reeling me in with the dazzling, dangling carrot of the historical background of this scent and its bottle - it was the first bespoke fragrance in perfumery created by Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain as a special order for the Empress Eugénie in 1853. And the bottle, made by glassmaker Pochet du Courval, is adorned in 69 bees, the emblem of the Empire. So of course, I couldn’t stop thinking of it and asked for a bottle for my birthday. After all, the birthday princess deserves a perfume fitting for royalty 🤪 I was drawn to the scent as well, of course. As a teen in the nineties, there was a time when my entire bedroom smelt of a 4711 scent bomb, another historical scent created in 1792 by Echt Kölnisch Wasser. And although similar in scent profile, they are different. Where 4711 announces itself with fresh and revitalising green and super bright neroli and bergamot amongst the citrus, petitgrain and herbs, Eau de Cologne Impériale is much more calming and gentler. The orange is a little sweeter, more floral and softer, the petitgrain less bitter, the Calabrian green gold bergamot essence more rounded, the neroli, clean, bright and pure.. all blended to perfection and relaxing into a softer, yet refreshing and cooling bed of rosemary, cedar and the tiniest fuzzy cuddle of tonka in the base. And yes, it has the lasting power of a fart in an open field on a windy day. But it is clearly a cologne, not a EdT, EdP, Parfum or Extrait. And, to me, it’s beautiful. The SA told me that they are instructed to spray Eau de Cologne on their hands in preparation of make-up application so that clients are enveloped in the spa like, calming and relaxing scent as part of the Guerlain submersible experience as the MUA hands move the make up around a person’s face. And my immediate thoughts are that I’ll be taking a decant on holiday with me. Where, at home, I love a cozy spray of Eau Duelle, Absolute Aphrodisiac or Naxos as a calming scent for bedtime. I imagine this will be perfect on a hot night, getting ready for bed in a warm climate. The cooling effect of the scent radiating of my skin. Not loudly so, calming and just perfect. But above all, even though Eau de Impériale is readily available and not super expensive, it feels really special to me. Like a little bit of Guerlain history on my dresser amongst my other Guerlain loves.

I just put it on a minute ago and I'm in citrus heaven. At the time of the purchase, I was interested to try out some 'unisex' cologne, I bought a few and right now, I'm thinking I'm probably done with buying new EDC, and I will probably keep this and 4711 in my collection forever. I also bought Eau de Guerlain around the same time, this one wins by far for my personal taste, I'm still a newbie so I believe this ones is easier for anyone to get into if you consider yourself new to the world of EDC. Oh, man, I own this classic looking bottle, it's like half full so this is so precious to me, I don't use it often. I knew this was short lasting but I just feel that it is fading so fast, despite that, I'm in love. 1964-1977, my bottle has a screw spray cap, so y'know I don't know the history or how this had been stored, why does this smell still so gorgeous? Lemon Verbena. I want to pursue this note, by reading reviews by others(females) and I'd like to find something similar someday. My impression is that this is maybe a true EDC? I mean the longevity and the proper use is like, you're not meant to wear it to go out, I don't know what I'm saying, let's just say despite the longevity, this beautiful scent and its history will always have a place in my heart. I'd like to add another impression as of this moment, I'd hesitate to say "Hey, this is a unisex cologne." Someone did the research for us and on the official website, it is 'Les Eau'. I'd like to just leave it at that. As a single man, I can think to myself that maybe someday, I'd meet someone special who can share this beautiful bottle, without even saying words, she/he can just grab this and use as much as the person wants, let me emphasize that I pick it up for myself and that special someone. This bottle I own is the only times that I have tried this scent and recently, I have found that there's a Guerlain outlet not so far away, when I was there for the first time a week ago, I couldn't contain the excitement, I'm sure they had some eau, but I didn't get the chance to test them out. I'll try to remember to make the list, I won't be buying there though, I can't afford the retail price, so when I get some extra spending money, I'll consider another bottle for myself. Guess I have praised this enough? Mine smells simple, yet special, oh yes, I raised my arm and got the whiff of it. It's still going, who needs a girlfriend? Thanks for reading!

I found this bottle like I have many others, at a local CVS, on sale for...$27.50, and there were 5-6 more bottles I could have picked up for that price. It was a steal of a deal I wish I had capitalized on at that time, had I known what it was. I've been trying to tier opening my fragrances so choosing one to wear isn't as tricky. So today, nearly a year after I bought it, I decided to open and wear this... Wow...and I say that for a lot of reasons. First, the initial spray has this burst of natural herbal citrus freshness that smells unlike anything else I've encountered in my collection thus far. Second, moments after my initial spray, I went to smell that exact spot, and the scent was gone. I mean 100% dissipated. No trace. Nada. Bupkis. Like it never even existed. Confused, I sprayed my arm again, and moments later, again, nothing. "Holy $#!+" I thought, this is marketed as an Eau De Cologne, but I don't know if it would even qualify to be an Eau Fraiche! I've sprayed window cleaner whose scent lasts longer than this does. This was truly disappointing for such an amazing scent, and I mean truly...amazing. I don't know why I can't do anything but love this though. Longevity and sillage are absolute garbage, but it's like, for those few moments you can smell it, it's transformative. You mentally go to another place. Maybe that's enough for a fragrance that's been around for 163 years. Modern-day creations have to live up to higher standards. It's what we have come to expect. Or maybe it's because I spent next to nothing on a fragrance that nobody has for that price anymore 😁🤷...I feel like if I had paid regular retail for it, this review would be less pleasant. 6/21/2023 Update: I had my friend test this on his skin to see how long it lasted on him, and his immediate reaction was "This smells like Froot Loops..." and sure enough, it did. On me, it smelled completely different. Oh, and it lasted 5 minutes on his skin before it was completely gone. At least we had that in common... 8/10

Fleeting luxury of the highest order... Eau de Cologne Impériale by Pierre Francios Pascal Guerlain, was created and presented to the Empress Eugenie of France as a cure for her headaches, or so the story goes. As with all "Eau de Colognes", the effect is a bright, refreshing citrus wakeup call which awakens the senses and refreshes the body... like a tonic. The formula is an old one. Citrus, Bergamot, Neroli, Petitgrain, some light florals, and some green moss usually at the base (and sometimes some very light musk). Ultimately, this is a luxurious but fleeting experience. It is designed to be applied at different occasions, such as at the beginning of the day, after the morning bathing ritual, or throughout the day, when the weather is hot or when the humidity is overbearing. In all these situations, Eau de Cologne Impériale succeeds. Where it does not succeed however is if you want it as a perfume for the entire day. It is not meant to be used as such. Because of this, I think if you are looking to buy a similar (to my nose an extremely similar) fragrance... and of course if money is an issue, then go for 4711 . Because the formula is almost the same, and the drydown is almost identical on many levels. I agree that the Guerlain smells different in the opening (more natural and citric), but only for the first 5-10 mins, after which they are hard to tell apart. Ultimately, I would suggest this to anyone with money to spend on the "luxury" of an established, elegant fragrance meant for royalty (and for the history and prestige associated with the house of Guerlain ). Otherwise, if money is an issue to you, there are other options out there which do similar things for a much cheaper price. In my opinion Eau de Cologne Impériale is one for the collectors, for those who appreciate history and tradition... and generally for those who have good taste!

So many reviews to do, so little time. It's tragic that I've only just gotten around to pen my thoughts about this stuff. I don't know whether I'm just having a Eau de cologne renaissance but I really am in love with this kind of fragrance at the moment and it's not even the weather for it. Maybe that's the beauty of this sort of classic perfume...it's versatile and timeless. In any case my respect for Guerlain couldn't be higher and this really is a gem, despite the obvious comparisons with a million other similar fragrances. The opening is like a cool breeze of luscious, bright citruses and lemon verbena which often gives a little fizz to proceedings and although in broad terms, not a long lived perfume, the citrus does last throughout. This might be due to how Cologne Imperiale, superbly transitions into white florals but they are very light and delicate. The drydown has a hint of creaminess like a woody vanilla but so subtle and barely registering as such. It's brilliant! I really like it. This type of perfume can be quite boring but this has something about it an air of class and robust heritage. I have tried it through the years and this latest formula doesn't seem to have lost anything. I didn't expect decent performance and as such was pleasantly surprised when the longevity was okay, low lying but perfectly acceptable.