Beautiful clear and bright scent, a little piece of history captured in a beautiful bottle.

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.