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4711 Original Eau de Cologne
by Sacheverell
4711 Eau de Cologne is the 'original' cologne, dating back over 200 years to that city. It is still widely available in Boots branches, where it can be found with the other inexpensive perfumes (such as L'Aimant, Charlie, and so forth). It has distinctive, ornate packaging with a turquoise and gold colour scheme, and it is suitable for ... both men and women.
I treated myself to a bottle when it was on a half-price offer. I purchased the 50ml bottle, which is usually priced at £11.18. It is presented in a box, within which the glass bottle is packaged. I was disappointed to find that it was a 'splash' bottle, rather than a natural-spray, which is what I had expected. However, the bottle's design prevents too much cologne from splashing out at once, so this is not too much of a problem.
The scent of the cologne is citrus mixed with neroli, although the precise composition remains a secret. It is a wonderful, natural-smelling citrus; not an artificial type Lemsip or bathroom cleaner fragrance. It is a refreshing, lemon-and-bergamot dominated fragrance, and smells almost as nice, to me, as the vastly more expensive Chanel Cristalle Eau Verte. However, unlike Chanel's citrus offering, 4711 has no real sillage (scent trail) and not much staying power to speak of.
My first impression of 4711, when I tested it in Boots a few years ago, having been enticed by the packaging, was that it was at once very familiar, and rather overpowering. I do think that it is probably worn widely due to its heritage, familiarity, availability and reasonable price. I have no idea why I found it overpowering (almost disinfectant-like, at that stage), because now I find it very fresh, but not at all headache-inducing, artificial, or even strong.
It is a nice fragrance to use every day; I feel it is likely to have an entirely 'natural' composition, with no dubious ingredients, although I have no proof for that assertion. Although it doesn't really last on the skin at all, it is a wonderfully refreshing scent to apply. If you're on a long car journey and don't wish to wear a strong perfume in case it causes a headache in another passenger, I would consider this ideal. I am considering buying a small atomiser bottle so that I can keep some in my handbag, ready for re-application. Sometimes it is nice to wear a scent that is androgynous, rather than overwhelmingly feminine, and it is also nice to wear a piece of history. Some people may consider it old-fashioned, but it smells fresh, and modern, to me - it is not like wearing a heavy, powdery 1980s scent, for instance (although I quite like those in moderation, too).
You can also purchase a 4711 cologne-stick, and scented tissues, although I have not tried these out myself.
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4711 Original Eau de Cologne
by wigglylittleworm
I remember one day picking up my friend, Eileen, and commenting that I liked her really distinctive perfume. Eileen remembered and on Xmas morning I opened a pressie to find a bottle of 4711 Eau de Cologne and she said that was the perfume I liked. I was really unsure about this gift as I always thought that Eau de Cologne was after ... shaves and so a male fragrance. A little bit of research shows that 4711 is a unisex fragrance with an impressive history having first been formulated in 1792.
The first impressions of the 50ml glass bottle are that it looks cheap with a simple round glass bottle with a gold plastic screw top. The label also looks fairly masculine so it doesn't really look great on your dressing table and won't win any prizes for design.
The Eau de Cologne is made up of top notes of orange, peach, basil, lemon and bergamont. The citrus is very apparent when you first apply the fragrance with a light a fresh scent and the oranges being the thing I can most easily identify. This fruitiness is also mixed with something greener which I am guessing is the basil coming through which cuts through any harshness that the citrus notes may have otherwise had.
The initial strong fruity scent dies away fairly quickly and the middle notes of cyclamen, lily, melon, jasmine and Bulgarian rose make an appearance. The fragrance is very soft at this point, the melon is the most predominent smell which mingles well with the floral scents and is surprisingly not a flowery smell at all.
Again the middle notes fade away really quickly and you are left with the base notes of patachouli, tahitian vetiver, musk, oakmoss and cedar and the middle notes are replaced with a woody scent which is a bit too masculine for me. The muskiness comes through giving a warm and earthy feel to the scent and it feels like a warm autumn day.
The base notes also do not last for very long, the whole scent has largely disappeared after a couple of hours and even sniffing really hard on my wrist I can no longer detect any smell at all.
4711 is a surprisingly young and fresh scent, if I did not know the history I would have guessed it was a more modern fragrance. The scent is clean and fresh and although it is marketed as unisex it may be slightly too masculine for a woman to wear while most men will prefer something a bit bolder. The Eau de Cologne does not smell at all artificial but like good quality oils have been used to make the scent. I would say that due to the woodiness it is more a daytime autumnal scent than a summery or nighttime perfume.
4711 is surprisingly cheap too, a 50ml bottle will set you back just over £8 from Boots. It is just a pity that it is slightly too woody for me to feel feminine wearing it and that it doesn't have great staying power.
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4711 Original Eau de Cologne
by zoe_page_1
Numbers are fun things. Did you know that a certain zip-code named TV show may be read as 9-0-2-1-0 in English but is 90-2-10 in German? Or that the old band 911 is only 9-1-1 in English, but 9-11 in some other places?
Then there's this stuff. For years I've known it as 4-7-11 in English and 47-11 in German. Whatever you call ... it, though, it's the same stuff. A unisex scent best suited for crinkly old men or bony old women. Or me.
4711 is the original Eau de Cologne and comes from...Cologne (though ingredients-wise it's more 'alcool' than it is 'eau'. In fact, it originally came from a building at 4711 Glockengasse in the city, hence the name. The scent is now manufactured elsewhere in Germany, but the building remains and is now a shop where you can buy all things 4-7-11. I went there a few years ago while on a Christmas market trip, but you don't have to travel that far to stock up as this is one of the cheapest and most readily available fragrances here and in many countries worldwide.
I think my perceptions of the smell come from its appearance (an ornate gold and jade design covers all products in the range) and the fact that we always, without fail, brought some back for my Nanna whenever we went to Germany. They did then, and still do now, a fabulous set of mini bottles where you get more than a dozen in a little cardboard purse, just like those mini Dairy Milks you can get for the 2p desk-top machines, except unlike with the chocolate, the perfume was always shared.
To me though it's cheap in price, it's not a cheap, tacky scent, though it is a somewhat distinct and rather harsh smell that seems to induce an immediate love-it-or-hate-it reaction.
When you first apply it, or simply take off the lid and take a sniff, you're hit by the strong top notes which in this case are a citrussy mix of bergamot and orange, plus petitgrain, neroli and lemon, three things which make it slightly bitter rather than purely soft and fruity. I think it also has a clear stench of alcohol to it which makes sense as this is its main ingredient, even ahead of water.
The middle notes which waft up next - rosemary and rose - are slightly softer, but still with an earthy, natural feel, while the base notes which come out as time goes by include musk, thankfully the synthetic kind (did you know that, originally, musk came from a Musk Deer's rectum? Or that the word 'Musk' is Sanskrit for 'testicle'?)
This is not an overly flowery perfume and the rose, for example, has a definite artificial tinge to it, but nonetheless, combined, the three levels of notes give a very fresh and cooling scent. Though it's not available on the NHS, perhaps it should be - I brought some into work and one of the nurses' immediate response was that it was the best thing for bringing down a fever. It was originally developed for medicinal purposes, but is now known much more as a standard scent. Because it is fresh and cool it's great for summer - some other bottles I have work well for summer evenings but are too heady for during the day, but this is different. I do think 4711 is best known for its freshness and a number of other products in the range, for example moist wipes, build on this.
This is not a pricy scent, and therefore lacks the prestige of some others (c.f. Chanel No 5) but in my mind that makes it infinitely more accessible and wearable (as well as affordable). Prices below are taken from Boots.com in June 2010
4711 tissues cost £3 per pack
Body Spray £3.95
Perfume stick £5.50
Eau de Cologne
25ml £5.95
50ml £10.95
100ml £16.95 (compared to £70+ for the same amount of Chanel No 5)
I wouldn't necessarily choose to wear this all day every day as it can get a bit much, but when the mood strikes I will quite happily go through a phase of sniffing it a few times a day, if only for the happy memories it invokes.
http://www.4711.com/
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