I first came across Ralph Lauren's Polo Double Black in 2008, a year or two after its release. Until that point, my only exposure to the black/dark/night genre of suede and leather colognes had been the original John Varvatos for Men release, and I loved that scent. I expected that a double black scent would be even more wonderful, and so I shelled out the $75 or $90 or whatever-the-hell-too-much I paid for it.
There's nothing wrong with this scent, it's just wildly disappointing. You're paying for prime rib and you get Hamburger Helper instead.
It's not terribly complex, and I'd call it a very two-note composition. It's vanilla and leather. That's it. Oh, sure, there may be a bit of sweet mango as soon as you spray it on, but that disappears almost instantly, along with any other interesting notes listed in the recipe. You've got your vanilla, and you've got your leather, and by god, you got nothing else.
That would almost be ok, if not for the other issue, which is that the scent has zero projection and zero longevity. This morning, I sprayed once on each wrist, then three or four times on my neck, and I could barely smell it 20 minutes later when I got to work. Went home for lunch, sprayed twice on each wrist and another six or seven times on my neck, and the scent had disappeared within 45 minutes.
This is quite unexpected for a scent in the Ralph Lauren line, at least in my experience. I own the original Polo for Men, Polo Sport, Romance, and Romance Silver, and all of those project and sustain quite nicely.
Maybe my bottle of Double Black went south early somehow, and I should try another bottle, I don't know. But for now, it's a boring scent that won't even last an hour on my skin.
3/10 stars.
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