Ralph Lauren Polo Red Parfum: A New Take on a Fan Favorite

Ralph Lauren has had its share of success in the fragrance game. From Polo Green and Safari to Polo Blue and Polo Sport, and most recently the Supreme Collection (which is actually fantastic) and Polo Red. The question is, how will the iconic American brand keep adapting when it’s mostly only making flankers? It seems to be the trend though, flanker upon flanker, which can be dull when there is little variation from the predecessors or there is no trace of them at all. Enter Polo Red Parfum, which seems to deviate from the brand’s schematic for this line almost entirely, while keeping some tried and true accords featured in previous editions.

The new parfum version looks to be a different beast. Gone are the trademark cranberry and coffee accords that are signature to this line, although it does retain the opoponax and lavender from the EDP version. It also uses the blood orange accord from Red Extreme.

Bergamot and blood orange greet your senses at first sniff, but I assume these will be on the sweeter side. A rosy bite of hot pink pepper leads into a heart of absinthe. Herbaceous diva lavender with orris root rounds out the heart. A base of warm cedar, musk, and opoponax finishes the scent off.

Overall, it’s a different take. However, this could be too different. It lacks the cranberry-coffee combination that made this line popular…and absinthe? I am not entirely sure how absinthe relates to red. The marketing says there is “an overdose of absinthe”, which leads me to believe this will be a main player in the scent. Absinthe is a hard note to pull off, therefore it’s not used as often. The fennel and anise-flavored accord certainly make this one worth a look.

Top – Bergamot, Blood Orange, and Pink Peppercorn

Heart – Absinthe, Orris, and Diva Lavender

Base – Musk, Cedarwood, and Opoponax

The bottle comes in a somewhat see-through red bottle as the EDP version did, but the red color is darker, and the edges are more squared. The cap has been upgraded and stamped with the company’s name. The bottle looks like a deeper and richer version, so it fits that aesthetic perfectly. I have always liked the simplicity of the Polo bottles, while also holding somewhat of an elegant vibe.