Polo Explorer
Ralph Lauren (2007)

Explorer is a nice, woody, generic crowd-pleaser that has above average longevity and projection. Has a bright opening that settles down within an hour and then remains pretty linear to the end.

A harsh mountain breeze
Faint over rocks and pine trees
Not for all noses.

I received this as gift shortly after it came out. Back then I thought it was good, but didn't really care to wear it. Now that I really appreciate fragrances, I love it. It is extremely generic and 'designer', but very pleasing. The fragrance is quite sweet for being in the woody category. The subtle leather note is nice touch, too. Longevity is about 8 hours and extremely linear. Sillage is great for the first 4 hours.

A solid offering from Ralph Lauren. A winner that is different from the usual mall juice produced now from the big name designers. A fall / winter scent and wearable on cooler spring days. The juice itself is a nice blend of citrus and spice with decent longevity and projection. A buy for sure. Enjoy!

Orange and Bergamot to kick it off, subduedly fresh and pleasant. Fairly soon a coriander arrives that is a tad flat and unexciting on my skin. Woodsy notes arrive in the base and a light insipid amber towards the end - all a bit too generic and synthetically-predictable to really make an impression. With adequate sillage, fair projection and nearly five hours of longevity, this scent does not reach beyond pleasant mediocrity. Overall just soso.

Genre: Fougère

The pyramid makes it sound like someone added aquatic notes to Cartier's Déclaration, but that's not what Explorer smells like. The dusty, spicy coriander note dominates the citrus top notes at the start, a well-rendered bergamot only emerging as a distinct entity after a few minutes' wear. I'm happy to report that the pyramid's “aquatic accord” doesn't make much impact, so Explorer dodges both the chemical harshness and the shampoo flavor that come with so many attempts to recreate the seashore in a bottle. Instead, Explorer's center of gravity is defined by an off-dry combination of woods, resins, and brisk aromatic notes.

Bergamot remains conspicuous for a surprisingly long time, adding sweet counterpoint and balance to what would otherwise be a parched olfactory landscape. A faintly smoky leather accord (is that labdanum I smell?) peaks out after an hour or so, adding warmth and a welcome layer of complexity to the overall composition. It's after about two hours on the skin, when the bergamot fades out, that Explorer begins to unravel. The composition's balance falters as the exposed woods take on a rough, chemical edge that grows more blatant and disruptive over time. The leathery element and spices are next to go, leaving only the dry, woody aromachemicals in their wake. What remains in the end is yet one more of those harsh, pencil shaving drydowns that seem to be the common destination of half the commercial masculine scents composed since 1990. A promising start, but a downhill journey.