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Notes04/29/2021
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Neukölln 30 - Hic sunt leones
The series 'Neukölln' with traditional citrus colognes I will close today with episode 30. The series 'Colonialwaren', which deals with woody, spicy and herbaceous colognes, and which is currently at episode 22, will end at 25. Along with the first series 'Colonia instead of Corona', I will then have reviewed and compared 75 colognes: I didn't think at the beginning that the topic would grow like this, but I enjoy exploring this continent. I hope the readers at least a little.
In the future, I intend to deal with Colognes a little less, but they won't be completely ignored by me, of course. I will then start a fourth series with them, again dealing with 'yellow/white' and 'brown' Colognes together, like the first series.
As a final piece of 'Neukölln' I saved this fragrance, which pretends a bit that it's actually Alt-Cölln, namely the world's first cologne. According to the manufacturer's website, "the fragrance, also known as Acqua della Regina, celebrates the perfume that Caterina di Medici commissioned the Domican monks to develop in 1533, and which she took with her to France when she married Henry of Valois."
Well. Anyone with legal training knows that phrases like "this fragrance celebrates the fragrance that" are usually recommended by corporate legal departments to avoid defeat in court if competitors were to sue for unfair misrepresentation. In other words, I'm assuming this scent here has absolutely nothing to do with a 1533 scent (if there even is one), and that was hidden behind the flowery party mood wording. I also can't really imagine that this scent here is the Ur-Cologne, 250 years older than those of Farina Gegenüber, 4711 et al, and that this would have been hidden in all the standard works on the history of colognes.
Adding to the confusion, this fragrance is sometimes referred to as "Colonia" i.e. simply "THE" (traditional) Colonia of this company (and so it says on the bottle pictured here on Parfumo), but sometimes as "Santa Maria di Novella by Santa Maria di Novella" (so here in the perfume database or similarly as "Acqua di Santa Maria di Novella by Santa Maria di Novella", so currently on the company's website: https://uk.smnovella.com/products/7010311. As just stated, it is also supposedly still known 'Acqua della Regina'. However, as Yatagan, who knows his stuff, assures me on high, it is definitely all supposed to be the same fragrance.
With the fragrance notes it looks similarly confusing, because here "white flowers" are indicated, but on the company homepage, among other things, rosemary and lavender (classic Farina ingredients). Be that as it may, for me it's all too much mumbo jumbo, boondoggles and mumbo jumbo, everything gets lost in a friendly southern approximate, in a historically elusive diffusion, where instead of clear geographical toponyms on the maps only a laconic as well as poetic "Hic sunt leones" is recorded.
I stick to the fragrance (thanks to Yatagan for the sample) and state not so poetically, but just as laconic: A by projection and durability badass and uncompromisingly dedicated to underperformance watery, pleasing classic citrus colognig, with minimal green touches, a medium sweetness and a wadding softness (musk alert level yellow), which is not quite secret to me.
After thus a total of four fragrances of this house (Russa, Sicilia, Cuba and the present), none of which I disliked, me but also none really completely thrilled, I make (despite the beautiful bottles) at 'Santa Maria di Novella' a hook.
In the future, I intend to deal with Colognes a little less, but they won't be completely ignored by me, of course. I will then start a fourth series with them, again dealing with 'yellow/white' and 'brown' Colognes together, like the first series.
As a final piece of 'Neukölln' I saved this fragrance, which pretends a bit that it's actually Alt-Cölln, namely the world's first cologne. According to the manufacturer's website, "the fragrance, also known as Acqua della Regina, celebrates the perfume that Caterina di Medici commissioned the Domican monks to develop in 1533, and which she took with her to France when she married Henry of Valois."
Well. Anyone with legal training knows that phrases like "this fragrance celebrates the fragrance that" are usually recommended by corporate legal departments to avoid defeat in court if competitors were to sue for unfair misrepresentation. In other words, I'm assuming this scent here has absolutely nothing to do with a 1533 scent (if there even is one), and that was hidden behind the flowery party mood wording. I also can't really imagine that this scent here is the Ur-Cologne, 250 years older than those of Farina Gegenüber, 4711 et al, and that this would have been hidden in all the standard works on the history of colognes.
Adding to the confusion, this fragrance is sometimes referred to as "Colonia" i.e. simply "THE" (traditional) Colonia of this company (and so it says on the bottle pictured here on Parfumo), but sometimes as "Santa Maria di Novella by Santa Maria di Novella" (so here in the perfume database or similarly as "Acqua di Santa Maria di Novella by Santa Maria di Novella", so currently on the company's website: https://uk.smnovella.com/products/7010311. As just stated, it is also supposedly still known 'Acqua della Regina'. However, as Yatagan, who knows his stuff, assures me on high, it is definitely all supposed to be the same fragrance.
With the fragrance notes it looks similarly confusing, because here "white flowers" are indicated, but on the company homepage, among other things, rosemary and lavender (classic Farina ingredients). Be that as it may, for me it's all too much mumbo jumbo, boondoggles and mumbo jumbo, everything gets lost in a friendly southern approximate, in a historically elusive diffusion, where instead of clear geographical toponyms on the maps only a laconic as well as poetic "Hic sunt leones" is recorded.
I stick to the fragrance (thanks to Yatagan for the sample) and state not so poetically, but just as laconic: A by projection and durability badass and uncompromisingly dedicated to underperformance watery, pleasing classic citrus colognig, with minimal green touches, a medium sweetness and a wadding softness (musk alert level yellow), which is not quite secret to me.
After thus a total of four fragrances of this house (Russa, Sicilia, Cuba and the present), none of which I disliked, me but also none really completely thrilled, I make (despite the beautiful bottles) at 'Santa Maria di Novella' a hook.
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