L'Homme Idéal Cologne Forte

Guerlain sums up Cologne Forte in three words: bold, fresh and woody. The composition works the collection’s almond hot and cold, between the bitter sparkle of citrus and a woody backdrop.

Top, heart and base

The house names four materials: grapefruit notes at the top, which create a bitter interplay between almond and citrus, and vetiver and incense as a backdrop, which give the fragrance a woody imprint.

The notes are arranged here as follows: grapefruit, lemon and bergamot at the top; almond and cinnamon at the heart; vanillin, vetiver and incense at the base. The ingredient list confirms lemon, bergamot and cinnamon oils, as well as vanillin.

Another list

Harrods and Cosma’s British store publish a different pyramid: almond, grapefruit, bergamot and pink peppercorn at the top; incense, neroli, guaiac wood and a dried fruit accord at the heart; vetiver, a leather accord, patchouli and rockrose at the base. These materials remain in prose here.

What the label declares

After alcohol, fragrance and water, the list opens with tetramethyl acetyloctahydronaphthalenes, a woody, ambery molecule, limonene, and bergamot and lemon oils. Patchouli oil and bitter orange peel oil appear close by.

Benzaldehyde, which smells of bitter almond, appears midway down the list, along with cinnamon bark oil, isoeugenol, eugenol and cinnamal. Two UV filters protect the liquid, which is tinted by four colorants: CI 14700, CI 60730, CI 42090 and CI 47005.