The Old Fashioned & Outdated Polo (Ralph Lauren Polo)

Member Name: vinodgm

Product:	Ralph Lauren Polo
Date:	09/05/02 (381 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The bottle looks quite classy

Disadvantages: Very common smell associated with cheaper fragrances, not anything new or ingenuitive

I had mentioned in one of my recent opinions, on Drakkar Noir, that I had received a gift box containing six minature perfumes.

The set is sold by Prestige et Collections, Paris, France and they call it "Collection Homme", which basically translates into "The Men's Collection".

The collection consists of:

Armani Eau pour Homme by Giorgio Armani
Acqua De Gio Eau de toilette by Giorgio Armani
Polo Eau de toilette by Ralph Lauren
Lanvin L'Homme Eau de toilette by Lanvin
Drakkar Noir Eau de toilette by Guy Laroche
Minotaure Eau de toilette by Paloma Picasso

I have already written about Drakkar Noir and as mentioned, it used to be one of my favourites. As I also mentioned that I had almost finished half of the bottle at the time of writing that opinion. Well the bottle promptly finished one week later and I decided to try out another one from the collection.

This was the "Polo" Eau de toilette by Ralph Lauren and thus the inspiration for this opinion.

Lets have a look at the product first.

Appearance
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The appearance is quite appealing. The bottle is a "bottle green" colour and rectangular in shape. The edges are subtly rounded to provided a very elegant looking bottle. The round, knob like, gold top add's to elegancy.
The front of the bottle has a gold embossed picture of a horse mounted polo player, galloping with polo stick in hand.

The Smell
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Well this is certainly an anti-climax to the Drakkar Noir that I so love and adore. The smell has a somewhat medicincal aroma to it, although once put on this is soon replaced with a more adaptable fragrance.

The makers and fragrance pundits claims it to have a woody, green fragrance with citrus notes. Personally I'm not to sure about woody but citrus yes. I think a bit too much citrus, which may explain that medic
inal aroma.

What this smells like, to me, is a very old fashioned scent. It smells very much like those relatively in-expensive fragrances that you get from the U.S.A. and other countries not noted for their excellence in fragrances, as compared to France.
It totally lacks appeal and has a more deodorant type of essence to it.
Some people probably may find this type of fragrance to their liking but I can confidentally say that this is not for the new generation. It is something out of history that somewhat doesn't fit in this day and age.

The name Polo certainly is in reference to the sport of Polo and the fact that Polo is one of those sports with a very long history and one that reaches only a few in society, probably has something to do with the reason why it as been graced with this name.

The Price
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For those of you who have read my previous opinions on fragrances you may be aware that I never purchase anything here in the U.K. This is primarily due to the cost factor. Since I travel frequently I have the advantage of picking up fragrances, spirits and cigarrettes at the Duty Free either at the airport of departure or in transit at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.
I therefore have no personal experience of the price that this is being sold over here and since I have never had any intention of purchasing it, I cannot provide even the Duty Free price.
However for the purpose of being objective I have visited a few sites to try and provide you with some price information for those would be buyers.

The Eau de toilette comes in two sizes of 2 oz. (59ml) and 4 oz. (118ml). The 2 oz. bottles retails for between £20.00 to £25.00. This is another negative factor against this fragrance. It costs even more than many other leading and better smelling French brands.

My Conclusion
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I personally doubt that a majority of people would have any inclination of
using this fragrance. Not only is the smell one that lacks ingenuity but also the bottle has a little too much elegance and looks too old fashioned. Sure it looks quite classy but eludes a rather "I'm Too Good For You Look" or "I'm Not For You Look". The makers have produced a fragrance and presentation that looks out of reach for a bulk of would be buyers.

Looks like this one will remain almost untouched, in my little gift box, as today would probably have been the last time I ever use it.

Finally I wish to mention that Ralph Lauren are a very reputable company and have indeed quite a good range of fragrances, for both men and women. This unfortunately is not one of them.

Look out for my next one on Acqua Di Gio by Geogio Armani.

Summary: