Cologne Bigarade by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle

Bottle Design:
Frederic Malle

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Cologne Bigarade Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle 2001

7.5 / 10 107 Ratings

A popular perfume by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle for women and men, released in 2001. The scent is citrusy-fresh. It was last marketed by Estēe Lauder Companies.
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Main accords

Citrus

Fresh

Green

Fruity

Spicy

Fragrance Notes

Bitter orange

Aldehydes

Cardamom

Hay

Pepper

Rose

Perfumer

Jean-Claude Ellena

Ratings

Scent

7.5107 Ratings

Longevity

5.480 Ratings

Sillage

4.974 Ratings

Bottle

7.986 Ratings

Value for money

5.025 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet · last update on 08/09/2025.

Source-backed & verified

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Bigarade Concentrée

Terre d'Hermès Eau Très Fraîche

Orange Sanguine

Eau de Pamplemousse Rose

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions

09/13/2016

8.5Scent 7Longevity 5Sillage

Meggi
1018 Reviews

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Meggi

Top Review 31

Like Twice a Three-Quarter "Ninth"

Freshly cut tangerine. No, not an orange, but tangerine. Those who don't know the difference have never been served a plate of this fruit by mom (or dad) as a child. It is truly astonishingly true to nature.

Soon, the fruity cloud settles on the skin, but the character of the fragrance remains intact. It feels absolutely wonderful, almost like those spritzing veils of "orange aerosol" that occasionally escape into the air when cutting, delighting everything in the vicinity. Only after a good hour does the watery freshness gradually retreat into a spicy-green-zesty base. Yet even after three hours, the orange leaf green and peel are still fresh. Along with it, a tiny hint of nearly imperceptible watery rose.

And it continues with original-exquisite fresh ideas: Around noon, I think - well? - suddenly of Christmas. Some back-and-forth pondering reveals that the combination of "sweet hay - coumarin - cinnamon" along with the remaining orange is responsible. Crazy, what Christmas vibes in a summer fragrance. A little later, orange woodruff soda comes to mind. It has turned out a bit sweet; I could have also done without the pinch of cinnamon in it. But since I have a penchant for fun drinks, that earns another plus point.

Towards the end, after about six hours, a relatively bland or uneventful synthetic cedar, in conjunction with a skeletal remnant of freshness of laboratory provenance and a fragment of the hay-coumarin-cinnamon sweetness, concludes the fragrance. One might find this exit, which is perfectly fine for a cologne at this time, rather abrupt - for me, it is quite a pleasure!

Because: A comparably artificial-fresh wood note, as offered by Mr. Ellena as a finale, is elevated by Mr. Schön in Escentric 02 to the core of a fragrance. So, after the elegant to original almost-naturalness of the earlier hours, I can now feel extravagantly avant-garde scented until late afternoon, to the extent that it requires its own perfume elsewhere. That is truly generous.

Thus, the abrupt end of the main fragrance part is not really an end; it rather starts again, so to speak. Similar to the way conductor Hans von Bülow (1830-1894; distantly related to Loriot) dealt with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Bülow simply refused to conduct the fourth movement, which he deemed inappropriate because it was embellished with vocal soloists and choir - keyword 'Ode to Joy' - he stopped after the Adagio and simply conducted the first three movements again. Here, it’s not the same fragrance again, but as an encore, a second one. Still crazy.

I thank Yatagan for the sample.

01/09/2016

8Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

Chrisone
10 Reviews

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Chrisone

Top Review 19

The Comparison

When you delve a little into the fragrance line of Frederic Malle and test some of the scents, you quickly notice that they all have one thing in common: They are different. And by that, I don’t mean "bad different" or different in the sense of better, but simply different different. I find it beautiful that such fragrances continually captivate me, as I just can’t relate to the generality of today’s scents, where fragrance X is as similar to fragrance Y as one egg is to another :-)

It actually goes against my grain to call the Editions of the perfume something truly special. Beauty and uniqueness always lie in the eye of the beholder, of course. Fragrances are often copied, produced under different names at lower prices with slight modifications regarding the scent notes, and presented as novelties by another company. Especially with Oud, I quickly notice that almost everything smells the same, but that is just subjective. Strangely enough, among the Malle fragrances, there is only one that is supposed to smell like another, at least if you believe the legend of "Similar-Smelling Perfumes": Cologne Bigarade and Bigarade Concentree. A comparison:

The day before yesterday, a wonderful package with "Cologne Bigarade" in a 100ml bottle arrived at my place. I thought a good cologne is always useful, and at the time of the "premiere" of this fragrance in 2001, the acquisition of Bigarade oil was apparently quite new. It was simply different, and that’s exactly what I wanted.
By chance, I discovered a sample bottle of the "head note cousin" Bigarade Concentree, partly covered in dust, in a far-off little room, and since these two fragrances are indeed controversial regarding their similarity, it was time for a slow test.
So, I sprayed it on, waited a few minutes, and compared.

1.) The top note is almost the same. However, Bigarade Concentree comes across as much stricter, less fresh, and more intrusive. One might think, especially with BC, that one has just cut open an orange and is now sniffing at the juice-covered fingers. Cologne Bigarade is the reserved, older brother, for whom I can get more excited here, as it comes across much fresher. Just the act of spraying it on is dreamy, which is something all Malle fragrances have in common.

2.) In the heart note, the difference emerges that anyone interested in either of the two fragrances must definitely smell to make a decision. While Cologne Bigarade remains consistently fresh, subtly resting on the skin and providing a pleasant feeling, Bigarade Concentree becomes very floral. The scent conveys warmth, which must be attributed to the rose, and therefore makes it, in my eyes, definitely more of a spring and autumn candidate. The actual summer scent is definitely the Cologne. Ellena surely tried to simply amplify CB, as it appears quite weak in terms of performance, but a completely different scent with BC has emerged. Whether that was intentional or not is another question. But for all "fragrance diminutors" and "scent note sniffers," or for those for whom this small criterion is particularly important.

3.) What remains is a fairly similar dry-down, which comes across as strongly woody for BC in terms of fragrance ratios, while CB stays true to its freshness.

I think this brief commentary is sufficient as a little info. Anyone who has Cologne Bigarade should not automatically forgo Bigarade Concentree. The test must be done.
CB is indeed different, different from BC :-)

01/23/2013

6.5Scent

Moriarty
150 Reviews

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Moriarty

Top Review 11

Voyage de Méditerranée

Sometimes a vivid fragrance description is quite simple. This is the case with "Cologne Bigarade," for example.

Everyone knows orange sorbet or has an idea of what it might taste like. If so, then you can already imagine the basic direction here. Now expand your imagination with a master of his craft, who truly understands his trade and creates this semi-frozen mass of juice, fruit puree, and a bit of sugar particularly well, also because he counteracts a sticky sweetness by integrating a bitter orange in a contrasting yet complementary way. The fruits have naturally ripened in Mediterranean latitudes to the peak of their flavor and are correspondingly refreshing, simply pure nature and therefore particularly aromatic.

Now we are quite close to "Cologne Bigarade" from Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle. It is clearly a citrus interpretation of the classic Eau de Cologne. In this sense, the imitation of the natural appeal of the fruit is very successful. The scent stands on equal footing with "Blu Mediterraneo Bergamotto di Calabria" from Acqua di Parma or "Orange Sanguine" from Atelier Cologne, and these two brothers are very grand and charismatic. Provided you can somewhat appreciate the citrus fragrance direction, the joy is boundless.

"Cologne Bigarade" also somehow fits its creator Jean-Claude Elléna, if, as is often read, "Voyage d'Hermès" represents his current style. Here, the beautiful authenticity of the citrus theme is sensually united with a subtle green spiciness, so that the expression of the whole is ultimately wonderfully smooth. In his fruity creations, Elléna often lets the central product shine beautifully on its own and does not distort its natural charm. Rather, he subtly supports the effect with other ingredients and rounds everything off, where here, in the base ingredient, the bitter orange, an interesting contrast of sweetness and bitterness is already present. The devil is in the details. For example, I am bothered by some citrus Annick Goutal fragrances where the natural fruitiness is over-seasoned with herbs, to put it in culinary terms.

Seen this way, this Cologne is very strong, a fruity green representative that wonderfully absorbs the essence of well-ripened bitter oranges. Perhaps some may find it too straightforward, although it is particularly challenging to translate the theoretically conceived or longed-for taste/scent when imagining a bitter orange into practice. It is no coincidence that it takes more than just one ingredient to replicate this one-to-one. In cosmetics, it is said: Well-applied makeup is when you don't notice that you are wearing makeup, and that is a lot of work. It is quite similar here. Transporting a naturally beautiful impression is certainly not the easiest thing in the world; one knows how many have already failed at it. In this respect, Elléna has done brilliant work with "Cologne Bigarade."

07/28/2014

8Scent 2.5Longevity 2.5Sillage

Leimbacher
2873 Reviews

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Leimbacher

Helpful Review 11

Perfection never lasts forever

Cologne Bigarade was part of the first or second wave of Frederic Malle perfumes, and for me, it still ranks among the most delicious EdCs in the history of fragrances. Another masterpiece by JCE - the foundation not only for numerous Hermes perfumes, his globally beloved style of transparent clarity, but also the light version of the already exceptional Bigarade Concentree, which is probably the best summer scent I have ever encountered. So, I’m throwing around superlatives again, but this is absolutely justifiable when it comes to Cologne Bigarade.

Actually, I should have tested both Bigarades in a double test, but even back in my early days with Parfumo, the hype around the Concentree version was so great that I simply preferred it without thinking and was shot straight to the next perfume heaven - final destination Citrus Milky Way! But actually, I always want to test such siblings together now; it’s much more fun. For example, I spontaneously think of the still untested Eau D'Oranges by Hermes, which look extremely similar to the two Bigarades...

Anyone who knows the Concentree will naturally feel at home with the Cologne as well. You just have to spray it a bit more often - although in terms of performance, the Concentree didn’t exactly move mountains a year later, it was still a step forward. But even in CB, the bitter orange is wonderfully freshly sliced and crushed under your nose, the cedarwood grounds the scent and provides a counterbalance, cardamom and hay add a touch of fun, and the rose brings a hint of love and passion - a perfect fragrance that would have deserved an even better rating purely as a scent. But I simply cannot overlook the short longevity...

Bottle: I like the tall bottle even better than the small Malles!
Sillage & Longevity: for the 2-4 hours of presence, you sometimes feel like you’re standing in an orange grove.

I believe that back at the time of release, many perfume lovers had their jaws drop in delight - such a concentrated citrus-fresh feeling without scratchy aldehydes or much neroli has never been experienced before. And the only issues, the performance, were slightly improved with the successor... Thank you, JCE, for one of your greatest creations, which, in my opinion, has secured you a place in the fragrance Olympics!

07/25/2024

7Scent 6Longevity 4Sillage

Taurus
1175 Reviews

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Taurus

Helpful Review 9

Pssst ... Quiet please!

Already the Bigarade Concentrée was quite close to the skin for me despite the high concentration of bitter orange oil and faded quickly. So it doesn't surprise me that the Cologne radiates even more subtly. You can tell that there is a concentrated power in the oil, but it unfolds in a somehow irrational way.

If you disregard this fact, you at least get an aroma of bitter orange oil, which I used to know as my mother's cleaning product. However, it is much more subtle. The creation is softened by minimally used additional notes such as primarily rose, which I can only perceive when I sniff closely at the sprayed spot. A little later, I even think I detect a hint of sunscreen, although that usually contains more neroli or bergamot. I would not confirm any similarity to classic cologne.

Overall, the Cologne Bigarade does have a linear development, but it changes in the sense that the scent initially appears quite pointed and gradually allows for more facets over time, which you then have to search for with your nose like a magnifying glass. Or in other words: Cologne Bigarade is very close to the body and quiet, and anything but a projection monster to wear for hours in clubs.

I think that was definitely not the intention, but rather to present a Cologne that you enjoy quietly and without any distractions, primarily for yourself or when you let others into your "aura."

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