The Ralph Lauren Polo fragrance is 30 years old this year, so don’t complain about how popular it was in your high school years or we’ll all start calculating your age. Polo Modern Reserve, a new, ‘updated’ edition of the 1978 Polo fragrance, was created to: 1) celebrate Polo’s birthday (it is an accomplishment to make it to age 30 in the crazy, fickle world of perfume) and 2) appeal to original Polo wearers’ male offspring — men between the ages of 25-30. Polo is still one of the top 15 men’s fragrances in the U.S.* so WHY imply it’s “dated” and for ‘old’ guys?

Polo contains artemisia, basil, bergamot, chamomile, cumin, juniper berry, geranium, carnation, jasmine, ‘pine needle,’ rose, thyme, tobacco, amber, cedar, leather, musk, moss, patchouli and frankincense. That list of WHAM! BAM! POW! ingredients does not read (or smell) “old” to me; Polo is vibrant and interesting and blows most mainstream, and niche, male fragrances out of the eau (de Toilette).

Polo Modern Reserve takes Polo’s formula, erases the tingly, bursting-with-life green notes, replaces chamomile with cardamom, tobacco with vetiver-leather, juniper berries with pimento berries, and frankincense with myrrh incense…

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