Romance Perfume

Chamomile is an unusual note to lead with in a fragrance called Romance, and Ralph Lauren uses it to keep things from turning saccharine too early. Chamomile, sungoddess rose, ginger, marigold, yellow freesia, lychee and lemon open this Romance Eau de Parfum with an herbal edge against all that fruit and flower. Nightblooming daylily, white violet, lotus, violet absolute and carnation build the heart, a dense floral bouquet leaning soft rather than sharp. Exotic wood, white musk, oakmoss and patchouli settle into a grounded foundation. Marketed as Romance Perfume, Ralph Lauren classifies this Eau de Parfum as floral, and it's built for evening occasions where its considerable floral weight has room to unfold slowly. The nightblooming daylily is a distinctly rare inclusion, a flower that opens specifically at dusk in nature, and its presence here reinforces the fragrance's evening orientation on a conceptual level as much as a practical one. Released in the late 1990s, it stands as one of the more literal attempts to bottle the concept its name promises, and largely delivers on it, holding up as a dependable choice for anniversaries and other occasions where a fragrance needs to carry some emotional weight alongside its scent.