Wasch Eau de Cologne Bernoth

As already mentioned in an earlier issue of this series, the L.A. Schmitt product range includes the three brands Bernoth, Elasco and Maravilla. I really liked Maravilla-Cologne, so I assumed that I would also like the Wasch-Cologne of the sister brand. The assumption suggests itself that, despite the different brand allocation, it's an identical fragrance mixture, with only the water-alcohol ratio having changed.

Although the term "Wasch-Cologne" does not seem to be defined by law, it probably refers to cologne whose alcohol content (in favour of water) is reduced from approx. 80% to approx. 50% so that if you really wash yourself with the stuff for lack of water and soap, your skin won't dry out so much. In fact, according to the label, this cologne has only 50% ethanol (so it is not suitable as a disinfectant); it also contains hardened castor oil ("PEG40 - Hydrogenated Castor Oil"), which is also contained in washing lotions and is said to help refatten the skin. Thus, this is actually more an (emergency) personal care product than a fragrance.

The fragrance effect is extremely short, less than a minute; even with a generous dosage, no skin-near scent veil remains. It's really a bit like "only water and CD can reach my skin". So you really have to be very quick in feeling the scents. I liked it very much at first, and my assumption that it's just a different preparation of the Maravilla (classic 4711 formula, but softer and more lemon with less bergamot) seemed to be confirmed at first.

Then, however, although one must indeed concentrate here because of the very short shelf life and easily fall prey to some illusions, the fragrance seemed to me to have a strange imbalance, as if the formula was somehow wrong. I then also meant - sometimes quite clearly - to perceive a "foreign note" that does not belong in a cologne (that's what it would probably be called in a sensory test of olive oil or vanilla ice cream at Stiftung Warentest), in the direction of "boiled sausage with marjoram". This is the first cologne tested in this series, and the result is a clear failure. With emphasis on the fact that this could also be unfair and could be due to my olfactory center.

However, if you really want to, quite old-fashioned, for long train rides or flights, or for the long bicycle ride to the office, where unfortunately there is no shower, buy a washing cologne to decoat your face and possibly to sniff out hidden parts of your body, but don't have access to the qualitatively better and guaranteed sausage-free product from Harry Lehmann, you will certainly get solid service here.