Acqua di Colonia

[cfbugsbunny]

I was in Barcelona a few weeks ago and my wife stumbled upon the name of a famous apothecary in the gothic quarter of the city. Many of you may know this as the satellite of a famous apothecary in Florence.. La Galeria de Santa Maria Novella. Here recently in 2012 they celebrated their 400th year anniversary... wow thats a long time to stay in business. Well.. the wonderful lady in the store began introducing us to the many fragrances that were made. I asked what the more popular one was and she provided me with a sample of Santa Maria Novella Firenze 1612. It was fantastic and I managed to buy one of these. I think there are outlets for these products here in the US but it was really nice to see one in Europe. It made it rather special. As far as the scent.. its unisex and is a much more much more refined version of 4711. I really wouldn't put it in the same class as that as this is much more strong.. longer lasting and a better scent overall IMHO.

 

[The Chandos]

Anyone else see someone on the slippery slope of SMN? One of my favorite houses, cfbugsbunny, I literally have dozens of different fragrances. My first experience with SMN was with their Peau d'Espagne and I too was hooked immediately.

 

[never2close]

Very nice house. SMN's Imperial Lavender, and Lavanda Ambrata are terrific, rich lavender scents.

 

[never2close]

Peau d'Espagne is my favorite in your face leather scent.

 

[Cuttingboard]

I'm glad you brought this up, I love SMN shave cream and have been wanting to try the colognes but have no idea where to start. I really like Creed Royal Scottish Lavender and Floris santal scents, any suggestions?

 

[mistercitizen]

Thank you for posting your experience with SMN. I use the crema da barba and I have their vetiver aftershave. Oh, and I have their ivory colored shave mug. Definitely more products from them that I would like to try..... especially their fragrances.

Ben

 

[The Chandos]

I'm glad you brought this up, I love SMN shave cream and have been wanting to try the colognes but have no idea where to start. I really like Creed Royal Scottish Lavender and Floris santal scents, any suggestions?

I haven't tried their lavenders but they get good remarks. The difference will be in the drydown. Creed has a nice amber drydown while SMN is typically a very dry, herbal drydown, but that would be a great match for lavender. Their Sandalwood is very different from Floris and doesn't scream sandalwood at all. In fact, like many of their scents, their version of sandalwood is nothing more than the Acqua di Colonia pictured in the OP with sandalwood added or substituting for something else. (The same would be true for a lot of their florals as well as their Colonia Russa - the notes are there but subtle.) Only a few SMN's really stand out to me and those are Tobacco di Toscana, Acqua di Cuba, Peau d'Espagna, Eva, Nostalgia, Marescialla, and Potpourri.

 

[Cuttingboard]

Thanks for the great info Britton! I love the smell of Tcheon Fung Sing (TFS) Tabacco Verde shave soap, I wonder if SMN's Tabacco di Toscana has a similar scent?

 

[Cheeva]

although ,Im not to familiar with the SMN line, I did try a sample of Peau d' Espangne and it nearly burned all my nose hairs off.
Having said that, I like Acqua d'Cuba . ,and very interested in sampling Firenze 1612.