Heno de Pravia Perfumería Gal

There are some things you would never have thought of without perfume. The import and (never regretted) use of this wonderfully light, unobtrusive and natural-looking colognes are definitely among them. First of all, one would probably never have come across the water without perfume. If you would have met it by chance in a shop in Spain, you would not have noticed its monstrous container (750ML slim plastic bottle in scouring milk style) and would not have wanted to own it
But now there is perfume. And now you're loitering around here reading. And discovering things that are suggested to you by knowledgeable nose-and-writing artists. You lose your inhibitions. If the first order from Spain was successful and the contents were not disappointing, the second is much easier. If you brought a liter bottle of classic Spanish light water into your house for the first time - in my case it was the wonderful 'Agua Lavanda' by Puig, additionally recommended by the hint that this was Frank Sinatra's favorite perfume... - and if you took care of the decanting bottles first, the second step in this direction (in my case it was: Varon Dandy, liter glass bottle of a spicy classic brew) follows almost by itself
Heno de Parva was the third monster bottle to move in with me - and its contents are currently used even more often than the much appreciated Agua Lavanda. The two are quite similar. Here and there a herbaceous, fresh and tangy lavender dominates, but not too sharp or even bitter. The Heno de Parvia offers, according to its name ('hay from Parvia' - a city in Asturias, northern Spain), a light, mildly spicy hay note. In addition to the lavender, this probably also refers to the unspecified wood and moss notes of the soon to be resonating cologne base. Whereby also this base remains bright and summery.

This light water, produced since 1905 by Perfumeria Gal (which was taken over by Puig in 1995), is particularly pleasing after the short, alcohol-fresh lavender opening with a very subtle, elegant or urban-looking touch of rose (rose geranium), which delicately accompanies the lavender from the heart note onwards. This composition looks, what you can hardly believe at this ridiculous price, quite natural; at least in my nose it is by no means synthetic or cheap.

The whole thing is only very weakly, almost watery concentrated. Sillage and shelf life are therefore very manageable. After a moderately radiant 10-minute prelude, 2-3 hours of skin-tight scent remain. I very much like to use Heno de Parvia Cologne, sprayed generously on arms and chest, before sports. It gives the steaming body a discreet, natural-looking scent cover, which seems more elegant to me than any aquat and guarantees a pleasant, lavender-like freshness.

The future belongs to Spanish light water in terms of climate change anyway, as some farsighted perfume pioneers have recently realised here. But even climate change deniers can be assured: menopause is coming, one way or another. And refreshing colognes are also better suited for this than heavy perfumes or sillage monsters. Agua Lavanda has, by the way, since it contains 71% alcohol, the potential additional benefit that it can be used as a disinfectant (filling in shopping backpacks and in the car). Which will probably not work as reliably virus-killing as it used to be with the 64% alcohol of Heno de Parvia.

Anyone who can still get their hands on this fine cooling fragrance in the more presentable glass flacon will consider themselves lucky. Otherwise, the monster plastic plastic bottle is a comforting solution, with the remark that plastic bottles are even superior to glass in terms of their eco-balance due to their lower weight from a delivery distance of approx. 400 kilometres. I now refill these giant containers with used 75ML glass deodorant bottles with a screw-on spray head in this way, which is now being recycled. And I spend the few free minutes that are occasionally left over from being a perfumer by thinking about how to design beautiful DIY labels for the growing collection of beautiful, round, retrained 75ML flacons.

With the herb-fresh lavender dominance and the only minimal rose note over hay or moss, this cologne can be used by people of all sexes and ages. With its discreet silage it will not bother anyone, anywhere. I find it performs most valuable services in hot weather.