Cologne Bigarade
Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle (2001)

(Newer formulation, c. 2023)
This is a very pleasant orange citrus cologne, giving you plenty of rind oils, flesh, mild sweetness, and juice without any of the piquant sourness all underpinned by a very gentle white rose and a hay-like base. It is full of light, air, and space just as you would expect of JCE. Very pretty indeed, but not as good as it once was (thanks, Lauder, for toning it way down and making it a bit insipid), and Bigarade Concentree is better, which is perhaps why that is still being sold and the cologne discontinued. That's about all there is to say, really. More on the Concentree later.

The bitter orange hits me right from the first moment on, and it is very well executed. Very tangy, bitter and quite fresh. It is orangey and hence a bit darker than those bigarade impression found in the ultra bright and zesty lemon-based bigarrades like Creed's brilliant benchmark Citrus Bigarrade. The latter somewhat toned down and layered with Roger & Gallet's Bois d'Orange would come closer to this Cologne Bigarade.

Additional freshness is provided by a very judiciously applied set of aldehydes that blend in smoothly with the citrus core.

After the first half hour the orange zest is gone, a woody background is revealed. Towards the end whiffs of the orange return transiently, paired with a minimally spicy undertone - the latter is very discrete and well-integrated into the whole blend, and much weaker than in, for instance, Creed's Orange Spice.

I get moderate sillage, adequate projection and a longevity of about four hours on my skin - not a great performance but very good for a summery fresh daytime citrus Cologne. 3.5/5.

Genre: Citrus

A "dirty" citrus, not unlike Creed's Orange Spice in general concept, but with a much brighter, rounder orange opening and an altogether different drydown. I very much like the juxtaposition of deep bitter orange with cumin, just as I like the cumin-leather counterpoint in Eau d'Hermes. The cumin note introduces some animal warmth to the compositon. In fact, it manages to humanize what might otherwise have been an very "clinical" fragrance.

The orange actually holds up rather well on me - a good two or three hours. That's about as good as it gets for citrus notes (Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier's remarkable Bahiana and Fraicheur Muskissime excepted). Once the orange peels away (ouch!) I'm left with a gentle, woody skin scent. This is Cologne Bigarade's least distinctive aspect, but I forgive it since it is, in fact, a cologne, and hence not expected to go out with complexity. A strong entry in a genre I don't usually care for all that much.

I tend to sway with my opinion on this one, but contrary to it's marketed 'freshness' I always find it very dry and dusty. It's probably the spices going a bit bonkers on me; a bit like smelling 20 year old spices from a spice rack you find at a car boot sale.I have to absolutely slather myself in it if I'm in a odd enough mood to wear it. Longevity is very poor, but it is a cologne. On the plus side, unlike a lot of colognes it doesn't have that 'dipped in vodka' undertone - it is all scent - and if you want a light but dry and spicy orange it may be good for you.

This is a beautiful sweet sensuous fragrance that makes me think of Joan Collins in her hay-day. It is floral and flirtatious and a bit provocative. This is a scent for men? I don't think so, unless the bloke does a great Joan Collins impression.

Well, this one is a definite hit. It is a very luminous and optimistic fragance without being sickening floral or sweet. It has a very nice opening and then it dries down gently and lasts quite some time on me, despite the warnings of previous contributers that it is short lived. It is a very elegant and one af a kind fragrance without being bizarre. It reminds me of nothing, which to me means that it's not one for the crowd but one for the lover of individuality:) I haven't fall in love like this since 'discovering' Un jardin sur le Nil, by the same Jean Claude Ellena who created Cologne Bigarade.