Hallelujah! We have a new monster beast mode fragrance that follows the right pathway that all elixir fragrances before it had pioneered. With the Parfum version being so close to the EDP last year, I couldn’t with a clear conscience recommend you spending $100+ dollars of your hard-earned monies for something that was that similar. This year though, Ralph Lauren hath redeemed themselves.
For the opening you get a really dry overabundance of citrus but that cardamom and orris root really come out and take over very quickly. Orris is a powdery earthy scent and has floral notes as well, mostly Iris. The top notes also include grapefruit but my nose doesn’t pick that up at all here so it could be mandarin. It’s not fresh like a lemon or lime but you can tell it’s in the background mostly to brighten up that earthy tone to keep it from sticking too close in one direction. There’s a touch of lavender in here as well and it’s just overall very pleasant - miles away from the opening of its predecessors. So far, so good.
The mid has more of that orris as well as some geranium, lavender and sage but is surprisingly not so overbearing with the floral notes being so prominent. It’s subtle, dry and a bit sweet mixed with woodsy notes with those hints of floral notes. I’d say the combination of all the specific notes here are what this fragrance really needed but it’s the dry down where I think it outshines the Parfum and EDP, but may also hold a weakness?
The dry down notes of the two previous fragrances were predominantly vetiver in both. The Parfum version snuck in patchouli, but I really didn’t notice it. The Elixir version replaces the vetiver with a beautiful balsam fir and adds touches of leather and olibanum (Frankincense). This really makes this fragrance stand out on its own amongst the crowd. A fragrance in 2023 that doesn’t smell like it’s a copy of something else and is something you can wear just about any day out of the year and any situation? Yes, please! But there’s a catch (at least in my testing).
Final Thoughts
The state of fragrances lately has been crazy in my opinion. There are some good fragrances out there but the new bottles that emerge every year get tougher and tougher to recommend if you’re a collector, but if you’re an average user, it’s all about preference and these will work perfectly for you. For us collectors, it’s mostly about having a wide breadth of fragrances for literally just about ANY occasion.
While Elixir is mostly perfect in the scent profile for me, it’s the performance that’s subpar. Again, it may be my current situation, skin type, etc., but when you think Elixir the only thought that always comes to my mind is Sauvage Elixir. Now, maybe we got spoiled with Sauvage Elixir. Maybe they came out to the party too strong and maybe they ruined it for the rest of elixirs to come. But my brain always goes to that level of performance that ALL elixir fragrances should uphold. I should be able to smell Ralph’s Club Elixir pulsating off my skin but I’m just not noticing it as strong. Compliments are great and people CAN smell it, don’t get me wrong, but Sauvage Elixir, Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Elixir, these fragrances you keep getting nose tickles of the fragrance throughout the day letting you know it’s still there and doing its job.
Give this one a try without question though. The scent alone is absolutely amazing and smells nothing like what I’ve smelled in the past. It stays away from the same scent profile that the previous two Ralph’s Club fragrances hung around in and it’s a solid 8/10 for me.
Have you tried this fragrance yet? Did you have better performance than I did? Let us know in the comments below. And as always, I’ll see you guys in the next one!
