Crown Imperial (1905)
by Crown Perfumery

The first delight is a visual one: the colour of this juice is an unusual deep, luxuriant orange. The second delight, on initial spraying, is the obvious purity and quality of the citrus ingredients. The third delight is that, after a couple of minutes, the citrus, to my nose, seems to take on the sharp, refreshing tang (sharp but never harsh) that is almost identical to the opening notes of YSL Pour Homme - one of my favourite opening citrus blasts.
After these three delights, Crown Imperial took me on a pleasant enough journey into the realms of traditional eau de cologne developments - quiet woods and spices modulating the citrus. Perhaps, towards the end, something of that traditional Crown mustiness and fustiness crept in - but not enough to be offputting.
All in all, a rather fine experience.

18th November, 2011.

One of my favorites. Not too complex, just an opening blast of bitter orange and lemon that hangs around throughout the experience, mixed with a powdery dry down that still stays masculine. This is a *very* potent scent, so I definitely recommend going light on the trigger. Finally, Imperial lasts... and lasts... and lasts. Very well made. The comment about the orange color of the scent staining skin and potentially clothes really is true. I have gotten a bit of an "orange tan" before when wearing it. Very nice stuff on the whole, very sad it has been discontinued and now is hard to find for new folks to try it out.

27th July, 2011.

This is quite the scent! The juice is so dark in colour, so orangey! It stained my skin on my wrists! It certainly would stain clothes.
Many of the reviews talk about the lemon, but on my skin this produces an aura which matches the colour, ORANGE! It hit all the orange notes; both skin, juice, and blossom. The neroli cloud twists into a bitter, slightly metallic chord; and then a soapy, musky one. I don't get any lavender here. This is a substantial scent, even "thick." I'm amazed that an orange scent can be so powerful. The orange dom-dom-dominates here... I don't really get any herbal notes either. Orange fans should check this out... it is old-school in the extreme. I like orange but this is a little bigger than I can handle.

25th March, 2010.

Crown Imperial is certainly a musty, musky, soapy, Victorian fragrance with a dark lemon opening quite bitter in fact.

26th January, 2010.

Crown Imperial is my citrus fix! It is driving a thumb into a ripe warm-off-the tree Seville orange, beginning with the burst of rich oil which meets the deliciously bitter pith. Driving deeper meets tart acidic juice and sweet glistening pulp. But there is more, as a seed is crushed between the fingers, releasing an astringent and herbal brightness. For hours after the initial drydown, Crown Imperial deepens and becomes richer and warmer, lasting several hours.

Crown Imperial is confidence and focus. An executive acquaintance never enters an important meeting without it.

24th June, 2008.

First of all, it is a shame this house was closed by Clive Christian, though he was probably merely reacting to lack of interest. "Rule Britannia" perfumes are not for "Cool Britannia" times perhaps.
I adore Sandringham and I love Quinine and Town&Country, as well as Maréchale. As for Imperial, I wish I could have the top without the bottom. This is surely the most refreshing, natural and powerful lemon in fragrance history. Just the right thing to kick the sleep out of the eyes of Sir Humphrey Caton-Jones, MP, before a day of parliamentary debate or help a dapper Lieutenant Colonel keep fresh at 45 degree Calcutta heat. What follows then, however, is a very powdery and somewhat musty (rather than musky) drydown which irritates like invectives from the opposition bench or nasty mosquitos. Like a shirt collar that's too tight or an out-of-tune brassband you want it to stop, but it won't. Such a shame. Thumbs up for the lemon, thumbs down for the rest, makes a neutral.

11th March, 2007.