Jean Marie Farina (1806)
by Roger & Gallet

It opens with a rosemary / citrus opening that is unlike the bright, clean citrus openings of the many of the more modern fragrances – I get more rosemary than citrus, substantially more and I am loving the difference There is a kind of bitterness to it that I find refreshing and clean in a pleasantly different sort of way. It certainly contains a lot more substance to it than the lighter, modern accords, and it is a refreshing change. I expect the opening to be gone in a few minutes, but it lasts longer than I expected. It isn’t until a half hour later that I begin to pick up the florals from the middle. Because of the neroli and the Petitgrain, the heart accord has more of a citrus effect than the opening, but a rose note shows up in the background to grow to eventually take over in the base. The spices from the carnation and the cloves never expose themselves on my skin, and I don’t really miss them. This scent is a joy to experience and use. Of course it has poor lasting power, but the scent is so enjoyable that its longevity is an inconvenience, not a problem.

If you look up "Eau de Cologne" in the dictionary, it will refer you to this stuff. This is what cologne smells like, behaves like. Napoleon went through gallons of this stuff each month, which should tell you something about how long it lasts. A little bracing on contact, but good for stress.

There is old-school and then there is really old-school! Jean-Marie Farina is one of the earliest of the modern colognes. It is worth checking out for its history alone. It is a delightful classic EDC. It has excellent lemon-bergamot notes, bolstered by the green freshness of rosemary. Phase one of the scent is sparkling green citrus. Phase two is a slightly spicy dry floral. The carnation gives a hint of clove and a fresh ‘bite’. The orange blossom and rose are gentle flowers, not too sweet. The rose drydown is very good. This is an excellent unisex fragrance, certainly one that any man could wear and enjoy without qualms

I agree that if you like 4711 you'll like this one too, it's good stuff, very french with some italian fresh springtime hints, very very fresh, and it works very well in the summer and heat, the only bad thing it's that its longevity is very poor. Get the big-bottle version cause it'll run out quickly! It makes me happy.

I was given a bottle of this when I was still in high school and it was my introduction to something better than Aqua Velva and English Leather. I liked the clean, dry lemon fragrance. It smelled "elegant" to me. It no longer has the same cachet, but I do like it.

At first whiff, this stuff completely knocks you back. The good news is that the strength of this fragrance dies down after a few minutes. The bad news is that it smells like your everyday, cheap, unoriginal cologne. The only thing that sets it apart from other colognes is its emphasis on a "lemony" scent, but it just doesn't do the trick. There are worse, but there are also a whole better.