Anyone knew someone that reeked of Polo. Yet I approached the original Polo fragrance with an open mind : I’ve never worn it. Ralph Lauren Polo was designed in 1978 by perfume big-name Carlos Benaim. I know that some people make fun of Polo and refer to it as either the ultimate WASP fragrance or a scent that conjures “the wild excesses of the late 1970s and 1980s” - what a disparity in imagery ! (I guess one of those handsome preppy polo players could have hopped off his pony after a match at Meadowbrook Polo Club and continued sweating and breathing heavily at Studio 54 ?).Polo’s bold opening smells of mixed vegetation -grass, daisies and dandelions, crushed juniper berries, ‘green’ wood, waxy pine needles (and sap). Halfway through Polo’s development an “apothecary green” scent emerges : it’s as if the juice from all those plant materials had been blended into a petroleum jelly base to create a miraculous aromatic body rub : “Apply on knees, ankles, elbows to cure joint pain !” As Polo’s greenery fades away, a silky-sweet, slightly musky talc note becomes apparent and combines with a mellow cedar accord to produce a soft, soothing and lovely finale.
Polo maintains its freshness from the top notes to the base notes and it has outstanding lasting power and sillage; I would think a small bottle of Polo would last ages since only a few mini-spritzs are necessary -and advisable- per application. Many men's fragrances today have lots of fruit (citrus) and floral ingredients that take the edge off of the stronger, sharper components. Polo does too, but other stronger notes overpower them. As mentioned above, it starts very strong with coniferous scents and actually has a very slow dry down. The change between notes takes much longer than more modern fragrances. The woody, coniferous notes never go away; they are there for the life of the fragrance. But the other notes you take in subtly change to floral then to the base of patchouli, leather, musk and oakmoss. The floral notes are there, but hidden behind the woody notes, so the fragrance stays very masculine. A grand scent. A must-have.
