Reviews of Safari (1990)
by Ralph Lauren

I love this dry, crisp chypre. It seems to live for the hot, dry summers here in California. At other times of the year I feel more so-so about this scent, but when I wear it in July and August, it really shines and I realize all over again how truly stunning it is. It does seem to conjure the scent and feeling of dry grasses and open, arid plains. It's not a casual fragrance-- what chypre is? But I think it is one of the more easily wearable fragrances in that ofttimes challenging fragrance family. Hoarding is a good idea for this reasonably priced classic.

I've got half a bottle of the3.4 ou EDP and another stashed. I'm sad this fragrance is discontinued. It's a victim of it's own elegance in an inelegant age.

I often fall for the resinous note of galbanum, which is the note I think other reviewers mention as mysterious and possibly also in VW's Boudoir. It is also in Rochas' Mystere de Rochas, a dry woodsy/violety chypre which has a couple of notes in common with Safari.

Safari seems to have significant rose at her heart. Who couldn't imagine the Baroness von Blixen wearing it? I'd always wished the gracious, beautiful EDP bottle had a cap which could be unscrewed so I could reuse the bottle.

Safari lasts and lasts. It's rich but never vulgar.

Very concentrated, intensive, and strong perfume.
It is a Floral - Green type of perfume.
Smells powdery, woody, and citrusy with leather, moss and green notes.
There is something common between it and ‘English Leather’ perfume by Dana. I’m not sure which one of the above notes.
My husband thinks it is good, I don’t (sorry). It is just too strong for me.
For those who are sad that it is discontinued, you might find it in eBay at very expensive prices.

Pretty, but too sweet smelling on me and you know what the sweet smelling juices do to me--stomach churning, not good! The men's is nice, though!

A beautiful green chypre with solid woody notes thrown in for moderation. Beautifully blended, very much along the lines of Chanel #19.

For at least one reason, I can see why RL discontinued this one. Simply put, it was a fragrance out of its time. It did not fit into the "one size fits all" homogeneity of so many Nineties fragrances. It was lush and feminine and distinctive at a time when Tommy Girl and other bland, bottled banalities ruled the day.

Like Tovah, I have hoarded it as well.

I seem to be lost in the late 80s/90s scents.

Astonishingly, I wore this in the summer when I lifeguarded, so I associate it w/ summer (I know its pretty heavy for summer). I love the cedar and musk in association with a nice tan!

I guess I'm biased towards this one as it was always my mothers 'going out' perfume when i was younger. So i immediately associate it with happyness :) Smells very similar to Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood to me, which is the closest I can get to it seeing as it has been discontinued. Any chance of reissuing it at all Ralph? Hehe!

Um, how boring, how perfumey. Makes me wish I had my bottle of Bandit with me for a do-over.

Unmistakable (in my opinion), has all the marks of a good fragrance. I associate it with money as over here in the antipods it is a bit of a 'power-frag'.

In my opinion this is a would-be lovely scent completely ruined by the overuse of aldehydes. Could have been a winner, but quite an unpleasant drydown. A little heavy on the vetiver, and not one of the nicest vetivers, either.

Wow, I am totally in the minority here! This is not appealing to me in the least. Extremely dry chypre with too much vetiver and aldehydes for my taste. But, since so many people seem to love it, I can't help but think I'm missing something here...hmmm. Oh well.

Safari is one of my all-time favorite fragrances. It's sensual, multifaceted, and stunning. I've hoarded some of this, because it's getting frighteningly hard to find. It's beautiful, and I hope I never run out of it!

Love it and I couldn't be more thrilled that it works so well on my skin! An unusual green, floral, chypre. Imagine Chanel #19 meets Biagiotti Roma. I have the EdP and find it lasts incredibly well, resulting in an addictive drydown.

A romantic, long lasting woody classic. If you can find all the other matching body products be sure to indulge! The packaging is beautiful too; heavy cut glass containers with ornate pewter lids. This scent is heavenly and long lasting. For some reason Safari always reminds me of the movie Out of Africa.

A wonderful fragrance and such a shame that it's apparently been discontinued. My girlfriend used to wear this and I loved the scent on her, it was undeniably classy, sensuous, romantic and mysterious. One of the classics, as is the male counterpart which I wear a lot of the time. Perhaps someone in RL marketing can be persuaded to re-release Safari as a rebranded product, as the smell was indeed quite unique.

This is one of my favorite scents - and one of the few that I purchased soley becuase it was heavenly on another woman. I adore this scent, albeit it's stronger than most of my perfume stash. It always gets a very positive reaction from both genders.

This has been one of my favorites for quite a while, long before I became seriously interested in fragrances. I'm a chypre person, and on me this works well, coming across as sensual, earthy-dry, active, sporty-casual, easy going, but complex. The florals in this scent are submerged to the service of the fragrance as a whole, and aren't major players. It is quite versatile, being one I'm able to wear at most times, and most places. It is a sensual fragrance in spite of its casualness, and has a sense of style about it, which gives it a note of class. Some sites list it as a green floral, some as a woody chypre. I think it definitely falls down on the side of chypre. This is one of my mainstays, and as many perfumes as I've tried over the last several years, none have replaced it in its category in over a decade.

I will never get over the fact that Ralph Lauren discontinued this fragrance. I remember the first time I smelled it, in 1991, like it was yesterday. I was powerfully affected by its beauty - I just swooned! It was my signature fragrance for many years. After some major life changes, Safari went away too, and when I was ready to wear it again, I discovered it was discontinued. Unbelievable. And Ralph Lauren's newest efforts are so dull. The bottle for Safari is just gorgeous and the fragrance itself is slightly powdery, feminine, green, orange blossom, almost chypre, and has a distinctive note that I've only found in one other fragrance: Vivienne Westwood's Boudoir. I've searched for years to try to figure out what Safari's magical note is, but so far I've been unsuccessful. I just hope that some day Lauren will decide to resurrect this beautiful fragrance that was so much a part of the younger me. If you can find this anywhere, don't miss out on giving it a try.

In the same family I'd say as Amazone, a green floral with alot going on. Dry green, woodyness, a rich heart a bit fruit and flowers to satisfy a craving for sweetness. Very classic, but not worn by the multitude, always gets compliments without being too showy. One of my personal favorites.