Cologne is a famous city in Germany. But word cologne is more associated with a perfume. In many countries the word cologne is used as perfume also. The story of eau de cologne is pretty old one. It started in 1709 in city of cologne. Giovanni Maria Farina was an Italian perfumer. He wanted to invent a new perfume which will remind him of the ordure produced in early spring morning after the rain. It is common knowledge that early rain always creates interesting odors. Farina did some experiments and finally decided on one composition formula. He gave the name eau de cologne to that perfume.

This eau de cologne was used as perfume only in those days. It is said that Napoleon was a great fan of farina eau de cologne. This farina eau de cologne is produced even today by the present owners of the original eau de cologne. Even today the formula of this farina eau de cologne remains secret. His shop remains the oldest perfumery and Fragrance Company. There are different Colognes available by different companies. The word cologne is common in all these perfumes. But they smell different from each other. Presently the word cologne is used as a generic word. The paradox is that the original eau de cologne is today categorized as perfume and not as cologne. The perfumes containing less than 2.5 5 aromatic compounds are called as the colognes. The original eau de cologne contains more than 5 % aromatic compounds and hence it is called as perfume as per present definitions.

The meaning of eau de cologne in French is water from cologne. The category definition of colognes is that these fragrances should have approximately 2.5 % essential oils or aromatic compounds in it. These colognes are used by both men and women. Many men use this eau de cologne as after shave solution. As lot many men use eau de colognes as after shaves, many people categorize it as after shave lotion.

There is official definition of eau de colognes. They should use dilute ethanol as the base for its formulation. This base ethanol should have about 70 to 90 per cent dilution. In aromatic compounds it contains mixture of citrus oils. There is a long list of essential oils that are used in eau de cologne. But let us say that orange, lemon, lime, grapefruits are some of these citrus fruits whose essential oils are used. These eau de cologne s formulations can also contain lavender, jasmine rosemary essential oils in its formulations.

Though the original eau de cologne was manufactured in cologne, now it is manufactured all over the world and sold by different companies all over the world.

Recommended Reading:

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