English Fine Cologne (1984)
by Yardley

This is one of the best Eau de Colognes out there.

Even better than Acqua di Parma!

Not in the same league as Eau Imperiale, but just as good!

This one is softer and longer lasting than the other colognes, and it does really have an old-world London smell about it...Also reminds me of Kent, for some reason...

Very nice. I out of production, ufortunately, but chemists and Mid-level dept. stores have been selling it for $10 bucks to get rid of it, so I purchased the remaining 3 bottles from my local chemist.

btw, something interesting to note here: one of the bottles I purchased featured slight colour, font and description changes on the bottle and the box, and smelled much more intense, clean, crisp and herbaceous - it made it the best Eau de Cologne I have EVER smelled; none of this watery-orange-poopy-rubbery-sharpness featured in so many other Eau de Colognes, just crisp, clean, very much alive.

So I took it to my aunt (a trained nose), and she discerned "...lemon, bergamot, bitter orange, lavender, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, neroli, vetiver, patchouli, oakmoss, cedar, juniper and sandal... and a hint of benzoin and musk...the same as in the others, but with something else...quite airy, crisp and clean...can't figure it out..." I have concluded that it must have been an anomaly with that batch...BUT FOR THE BETTER.

I wish they put this back into production, with the anomaly in notes...

This is a very refreshing cologne that has the intensity of an EDT.
It’s very, very lemmony, made in very classical way, and it does have an aura of “old world” and soft comfortable late afternoon summer sunsets in a lemony field.
The top notes cosnsit of lemon, orange and bergamot, the midnotes are of lavender, rosemary and roses and the basenotes are made of very light musk and benzoin.
Of all the top notes, the lemon is the most obvious one, followed by a soft, demure and very shy semi-sweet orange, the bergamot gives it all a sense of coolness to it. The most present not in the midnotes are both the rose, wich is a very “green”, not in full bloom one, and of course the lavender, wich is treated here as a sidekick to the rosemary wich is one of the most happy rosemarys I have smelled in fragrance.
Never bitter, this is a very smooth blend.
The musk and the benzoin give the whole composition a dirtier, grittier feel but it’s not in any way nasty or un-elegant. I think it’s very well made.
For scents with a similar “vibe” you might want to try the more innocent Le Petit Prince, wich is really a verbena-lemon version of this one, and the less classy but brighter Pierre Balmain’s Monsieur Balmain(the new one).
Another scent that has a very elegant take one lemons: Boucheron PH (both the EDT and the EDP).