New EDC: 4711 Nouveau Cologne

No real thoughts other than I'm looking forward to trying this one.
Thanks for the info DULLAH

Nouveau Cologne. Hmm.

I have good associations with the original, so I'd seek this one out for a sniff.
Thanks DULLAH.

Love that it was launched 4 / 7 / 11 Clever people!

And the little NOUVEAU touch - someone had their little thinking cap on

Smart, sophisticated marketing people - who wouldn't be caught DEAD wearing 4711 . Unfortunately the flacon design isn't far enough removed from the original to attract anyone under 55, at least in Germany.

Very clever. My first thought was "Nooooo!!!!" I hate messing around with classics! Upon second thought, the notes seem great. I'll definitely give it a sniff if I encounter it around here.

I suppose it had to come. How can anyone leave a well known product that goes back to 1792 alone?!!! It IS cologne. Koelnisch Wasser means Cologne Water. So by taking that name, we are tampering with an institution that survived Napoleonic Wars, The Franco Prussian War, WWI and WWII. And for good reason.

But hang on, now, it's too cheap. Must be crap!!Our mums, dads and grandparents used it. Can't be any good. Need to update, of course. Bring it to the 21st Century. Next we'll take the Canalettos out and throw some paint spots on to make it a little more like a Jackson Pollock. Bollocks to this representation stuff.

"Just watch us", say the young dudes. "Hell, we can do better than that".

And on top of all the other marketing reasons for creating a 'nouveau', there is of course that prejudice that so many feel about the grand old product. It's passe, it's of another time, it's not cool. Let's put in some banana, a little whipped cream, some worcestershire sauce and a dollop of lychee. Hang on, we've missed something, cumin and gravox. Cologne that is gloriously refreshing and reviving in a hot climate. Who needs it?

If we can conquer the market, using the cache of a similar looking bottle, the good name of a company over 200 years old, some sex (preferably cleverly simulated to seem like the real thing), and a couple of cool You tube videos, we ought to be able to open a whole new market to 4711. And eventually, no one will need that old stuff anymore.

If they ever succeed in discontinuing the original product, I will man the barricades, alone if need be. Hands off, dudes!!!!

I'm happy for you liking 4711, and you'll be glad to know that this new product is a flanker, not a replacement of the regular 4711.

But please note:
4711 was never an original. It was a copy-cat product illegally produced under the name of Farina (the original producers of Eau de Cologne in Cologne) until that was prohibited by law. All of the stories surroundingit about old monk's formulas and the like are marketing fiction.

What you buy today as 4711 is an industrial product principally made of synthetics that has nothing to do even with the 19th century copy cat product. Natural Eau de Cologne was a luxury product available only to the very wealthiest persons, as synthetics became available 4711 became on the first mass market perfumes. Both in content and in nature, 20th century 4711 thus has little to do with the original tradition of Eau de Cologne. That shouldn't prevent anyone from enjoying 4711 if the like it, but as a historian I just like to set records straight. Cheers!



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I don't like when they mess with classics!!!
Gary

Hi The Good Life
What you tell me about the history of the product makes no difference to how I feel about this subject. Yes, it may be synthetic, it may be a stolen product long ago, but it is universally acknowledged as a classic, and we all know how the perfume industry loves to tamper with wonderful things, and ultimately cease production, when their experiments fail.

The industry nowadays is less about product and more about penny pinching 'suits' who create spreadsheets and graphs to justify some jolly peculiar decisions. They wouldn't know a good perfume if it came up behind them and bit them on the backside.

I am just suspicious of anyone who attaches 'nouveau' to anything or 'light' or any number of other prefixes to try to market something well known to newcomers. By all means produce something new, but leave the associations with the old out of it.

This trend in many of the fine French houses has led to compromising the quality and integrity of the original product. Sometimes it has led to the quick demise of some wonderful classic. Is it any wonder I am suspicious? If it sounds like paranoia, perhaps that's because it is, and with good reason.

The man on the street couldn't give a toss about what happens to perfumes. It is we who are the true lovers of the traditions of perfume around the world, and we who love the finer things in life. And yes, I think 4711 is counted among them. I wouldn't be without a bottle, especially here in the semi-desert climate that I live in. There's nothing that can hold a candle to this (synthetic concoction) and as passe as it might seem to the niche connoisseurs, to me it's up there with the best.

Cheers
LiliB

I'm fond of 4711. . . very much looking forward to sampling this one, too. . . thank you to the basenoters who've selflessly sampled this, and shared their thoughts with the community. Any others who've sampled it, please chime in.

I tried it today at the pharmacy. It is a godwaful, nose-clogging, 100% synthetic piece of low-end perfume trash, a synthetic floral-aquatic smelling like the worst kind of air-freshener, febreze product or aggressive fabric softener. Functional perfumery all the way. DIS-GUS-TING. At least now I know why those women in the commercial are drowning themselves, but my suggestion for the ad campaign would be this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGTyq...eature=related

Actually this only has the faintest whiff of the original (which is far better). This is just another generic drugstore fragrance. In that respect, there's a fuzzy red berry connotation, but of course not even as "natural" as in artificially flavored yoghurt, but your typical cheap air freshener style. Maybe this is a low-budget rip off of Creed's Original Cologne . Trust me, it isn't even worth a second of your attention.

Lol!

My impression about 4711 is a good one, I would gladly try this if this were unisex

Some may call it blasphemy , but when testing it I was surprised to find a remarkable similarity between this and one of my favorite scents, Creed's Silver Mountain Water. It's a tad fruitier but to me it still projects the same lightness and freshness as SMW. Thus it was an instabuy for me.