Jo's Scent Notes: Acqua di Parma Colonia Il Profumo Millesimato
Acqua di Parma are having a marvellous time celebrating their 110th anniversary. If you haven’t caught the video of Michael Fassbender in ‘The Art of Living Italian’ video that he made for them (find it on @acquadiparma’s Instagram, roughly three weeks ago), then you’re really missing something fabulous. Makes me want to up sticks, move to Parma and even get a bicycle.
To celebrate, they’ve brought out a limited edition – all the zing that Acqua di Parma-lovers are familiar with, from creators of that quintessential, splash-it-all-over, awaken-the-senses Cologne.
Like many Colognes, Acqua di Parma’s original Colonia is something of a will o’ the wisp. Ephemeral. Now you smell it, now you don’t. But Colonia Il Profumo Millesimato Eau de Parfum has a really interesting twist that I’m finding rather compelling; with this edition, they’ve added some materials that not only give a twist to the fresh, citrus and rosemary aspects of the fragrance, but seriously fix it on skin. And I love it.
First of all, a particular – slightly unexpected note – swirls at the fragrance’s heart: ylang ylang, from Madagascar. It’s complex, rich, intense, rather animalic. (It also happens to be a key note in Chanel No5, and once you know it’s there, it really stands out.) Now, people sometimes talk about ylang ylang having notes of banana (yup, really), or creamy custard, or honey. But to me, it’s all elegance and exoticism, rather than anything edible.
Each year, Acqua di Parma create a special edition that showcases a particular ingredient that has enjoyed a special or abundant harvest. Now, I wouldn’t have thought of adding ylang ylang to a Cologne – but that’s the perfumer’s art, isn’t it? The particular flower extract which stars in Colonia Il Profumo Millesimato Eau de Parfum comes from an exceptional Madagascan harvest in 2024 of ylang ylang flowers – which was down to gentle rainfall and gentle warmth, teasing out a particular luminosity in the ingredient. The flowers were expertly distilled over 24 hours, then ‘fractionated’ (a physical process which removes elements of an ingredient that aren’t wanted, for a particular composition).
The rich floral intensity of ylang ylang doesn’t last long on my skin, actually – but it’s at that point it started to get really, really interesting, for me, because there’s a strong woodiness that drifts into this fragrance. Slowly, it becomes aromatic and grounding – almost masculine, thanks to those woods. (That certainly won’t stop me wearing it; I’ve been wearing so-called ‘masculine’ scents since I bought my first bottle of Dior Eau Sauvage, aged about 14 – and since then, anyway, all notions of scent gender have really gone out of the window.)
I deliberately didn’t look at the notes before I spritzed, but am so not surprised to find Acqua di Parma Colonia Il Profumo Millesimato Eau de Parfum’s earthiness and woodsiness come from vetiver (a grass that smells like a wood), and patchouli. (I am firmly in the ‘lover’ camp with that divisive ingredient, and mad for vetiver, too.) What they do is give amazing structure and backbone. This is a fragrance to embolden you to hold your ground through a tricky meeting, or help you through a tough day. (And is it just me, or are there a lot of those, at the moment?)
So, just one last thing. While this is super-pricy (sorry!), it has astonishing staying power and projection, from just a couple of spritzes.
And hey, it’s still cheaper than moving to Parma.
Acqua di Parma Colonia Il Profumo Millesimato Eau de Parfum/ £250 for 100ml – buy here
