Wednesday, April 13, 2011

SOTD: Ralph Lauren Safari for Women


Kitschy connotations and Colonialist aspirations aside, Ralph Lauren's Safari for Women (1990) has indeed suffered at least one cycle of oblivion - discontinuation and now possibly, a reformulation and silent re-release; has it quietly re-appeared anew on retail shelves or am I just seeing back-stock being sold as new? Diverging opinions of the scent's basic character make me think it's been reformulated somewhere along the line.

Perfumer Dominique Ropion created a master-work of 1990s sensibility- sharp, green floral with grassy/woody, amberic dry-down meant to invoke the scorching dry African Savanna. Unfortunately there's none of Bettie Page's tongue-in-cheek humor to lighten this one up - it is a dense and rather grand affair. Elegant and severe yet very feminine- dare I say, aggressive? That and it's imposing sillage make for the type of perfume your boss's boss would favor. Great for when you want to play boss, too- plus it smells really good.

You can see the full list of notes and pyramid details over at Basenotes.


The Vintage Perfume Vault, where the scent of yesterday's vogue lives.

2 comments:

Undina said...

I remember trying and liking it ... 12 (?) years ago but I remember neither the scent nor the reason I'd never bought the bottle.
Do you like it enough to wear now? Or is it only test-worthy?

Amelia said...

I like it- I wore it the other day but it still smells very familiar to me thanks to the wealth of other 90s scents that abound. I think appreciation of SAFARI will likely grow over time and I think it will be one of those scents that ends up being prized by collectors- both because of the bottle and because of the scent, which is quintessential of the 1990s style and of a good quality.