Colonia Eau de Cologne

Acqua di Parma Colonia Eau de Cologne is the scent the house was built on, and it is still the one everything else in the range is measured against.

It opens the way a classic cologne should, with lemon, orange and bergamot together, bright and clean and gone from the front of the scent within the quarter hour. What follows is more interesting than most citrus openings deserve. Lavender gives it a herbal, slightly soapy calm, rose adds a little weight without sweetening anything, lemon verbena keeps the citrus idea alive in a leafier and more bitter form, and rosemary brings a cool camphor edge that reads as grooming rather than perfume. The base is dry and quiet: vetiver for that rooty, almost smoky bitterness, sandalwood for a smooth and softly powdered finish, patchouli for the earth underneath.

At eau de cologne strength it is not built for distance. Expect two or three hours of real presence and a faint, clean trail after that, which is the point of the format rather than a shortcoming. It rewards a generous hand and reapplication, and it feels at its best straight after a shower, which is how it was meant to be used. It reads as unisex, and it has always been worn as much for tidiness as for seduction. Warm weather suits it, mornings suit it, and it is the obvious choice for anyone who finds a modern eau de parfum too insistent for daily use. Nothing about it is fashionable and nothing about it has had to be.

Acqua di Parma itself dates from 1916, founded in the Emilian city it is named after by Baron Carlo Magnani, whose aim was a lighter alternative to the heavy perfumes of the period. The house, now owned by LVMH, has since extended into candles and home fragrance while keeping the hat box packaging that made its shelf presence recognisable.