Safari (1990)
by Ralph Lauren

I'm at a loss for words with this one. All I can say is that I woke up this morning craving it. On me this smells like a somewhat green vintage chypre with galbanum and my beloved oakmoss (think Chanel No. 19) and all. Supposedly this was discontinued and then reissued (and most likely reformulated), so if you haven't yet tried this and want to, try to search the internet for one of the tiny, "vintage" 4 ml pure parfum minis ( which is what I'm wearing now) if you want to experience what I've described and to know what perfumer Dominique Ropion's original intent was. This has wonderful sillage and is unisex, in my opinion.

17th November, 2011.

I adore the dry, green character of this fragrance, but I am not a lover of white florals and I found it difficult to wear in parfum formulation.

Regardless, Safari is unique. I really wish it would have worked for me personally. I understand how others could love this. I had it in the parfum: It was long-lasting (12+ hours). I often regret putting it up for swap just so I might take a sniff every once & awhile.

You can still find parfum refills available at a good price online ... gotta hunt though because it's becoming harder and harder to find.

UPDATE: The parfum refill is most difficult for me to wear. However, I found a part-bottle of vintage EdP and it is EXCELLENT and more WEARABLE. On me, Safari wears like the top notes of Van Cleef (1993) and the basenotes of Gianfranco Ferré (1984). Safari EdP still has white florals that are a bit pesky but I find this vintage formulation quite likable. Happy to have it in my collection.

1st July, 2011. (Last Edited: 4th November, 2011.)

I am sad I can't really find this anymore. I always liked it. To me, it smelled like DIAL soap! I know that may sound weird, but it was a very clean and airy kind of smell.

30th May, 2011.

This is great aroma.Warm and fresh at the same time!
Glorious woody green and flowery!Fine oils mixed with nice florals!
So precious and wild!Earthy,classy and refined!
Definitely a worthy trying perfume!

30th April, 2011.

Why was it discontinued? Even if this is not the masterpiece I expected I think it could have always had a market. I didn't like the opening that was pungent and retrò. After few minutes safari opened up into a beautiful fragrance full of flowers, classy and well balanced. Unfortunately the drydown isn't very interesting. Patchuly and moss do not develop very well and stay to the skin withou blooming. But a good parfume anyway. Thumb up for me.

19th January, 2011.

I hadn’t known that this was discontinued until I started to write this reflection. I’m of a couple of minds about Safari, but I’m sorry it’s d/c’d. It’s an interesting alternative to other widely-available, mainstream florals. It starts crisp and grassy. It’s heavy on the galbanum, but the high-pitched green florals (especially hyacinth) keep it from seeming chalky. The midnotes categorize Safari: green, woody floral. I’ve read a lot of comments calling this a chypre, but I don’t see it. It might well be an issue of iterations and formulation, but I don’t get moss or any similar accord.

I do like Safari for its crisp coolness, but this snappiness slowly fades. It remains cool to the touch, a great feature in a hot climate, but gets sweeter over time. The sweetness works well with the grassy, almost fruity topnotes (mandarin?) and gives that feeling in the nose of taking a shot of wheatgrass. By drydown, though, the sweetness lacks dimension. Overall, Safari is an extremely coherent design and has remarkable longevity.

A note: I haven’t the least idea how this fragrance relates to a safari. The typical Ralph Lauren notion of surrounding yourself with the trappings of privilege from a past that’s dramatically distorted by mythology is particularly horrifying here. If what Africa provides for North America and Europe is a cheap vacation (“safari”) why not go whole hog, stay a bit, and call it Colonialism?

29th November, 2010. (Last Edited: 26th January, 2011.)