I have a love-hate relationship with cologne. I love the idea of the clap of a tart, citrusy cologne and how it wakes you as surely as jumping into a swimming pool. I love the luxurious ritual of a splash of cologne between shower and dress. In Perfumes: the A to Z Guide, Luca Turin summarizes it well:
A good cologne is the perfumery equivalent of a postconcert encore: brief, familiar to the entire audience, which sighs with pleasure when hearing the first notes; and completely devoid of any ambition beyond transient joy. It is also one of life’s absolute necessities, perfume for when you don’t feel like perfume, before going to bed, to splash on your kids after the bath and introduce them to life’s finer pleasures, etc. In short, cologne is a cleanser for the soul.1
How could you not want some of that…
