Romance Ralph Lauren 1998 Eau de Parfum

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6.8 / 10 163 Ratings

A perfume by Ralph Lauren for women, released in 1998. The scent is floral-fresh. It is being marketed by L'Oréal.

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Main accords

Floral

Fresh

Powdery

Fruity

Woody

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Rose

Chamomile

Freesia

Lychee

Pot marigold Ginger

Ginger

Heart Notes

Lotus

Lily

Violet

White violet

Base Notes

Exotic woods Musk

Musk

Oakmoss

Patchouli

Perfumer

Harry Frémont

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

6.8163 Ratings

Longevity

6.4117 Ratings

Sillage

6.0105 Ratings

Bottle

6.8105 Ratings

Value for money

7.544 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 07/07/2025.

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Reviews

5 in-depth fragrance descriptions

01/19/2012

5
Sillage 5
Longevity 6
Scent

Missk
1357 Reviews

Missk

Helpful Review 2

Basic clean floral; not overly romantic

Romance is a pleasant, clean-smelling fruity floral, yet it is a little too soapy for my liking.

It tends to have that generic shampoo type scent, which although refreshing and no doubt attractive to the opposite sex, I feel that it has been done and re-done in fragrances way too many times.

Do I feel that Romance is a romantic fragrance? No, not really. A romantic scent in my opinion is something that smells intense, passionate and warm. Romance is more likely to make one feel conservative and reserved.

While Ralph Lauren does tend to produce some lovely and incredibly popular fruity floral scents, I feel that they've played it safe with this one.

However, I must add that Romance has great sillage and lasting power. Had it been given another name and been promoted as a bright, refreshing and Spring-like scent, I may have liked this fragrance a little better. Unfortunately, Romance has left me disappointed and underwhelmed.

06/22/2023

Stacia
134 Reviews

Stacia

5

Basic "clean girl" vibes

I used to think Romance was boring and generic. This was back in the late 90s and it really did smell quite similar to other fragrances that were being mass marketed at the time. Now that some years have passed since it's launch, I have a newfound appreciation for Romance. Crisp semi-sweet florals that initially threaten to bring on a sneezing fit soon gain composure and find their assigned seats as the soothing chamomile note supervises the action. Romance is one of those "freshly shampooed hair" scents to me and really... who can find fault with smelling clean?

09/02/2018

4
Bottle 5
Sillage 5
Longevity 1
Scent

Oriane
139 Reviews

Oriane

1

A Surprisingly Really Bad Floral From Ralph Lauren

Romance was a fragrance that I looked forward to testing because I love Ralph Lauren Safari and had reasonably high expectations for Romance, but Romance is definitely not another Safari. Where to begin?

I really do not enjoy giving any fragrance a negative review, but Romance is a very synthetic mishmash of notes that smell more like a very inexpensive floral-type air freshener than anything else, and it gave me a bit of headache. I would not want to smell this even in a public convenience much less on myself or anyone else in the room with me. I am thoroughly disappointed as well as sad that the legendary Ralph Lauren's name is on this product. I am glad I did not purchase it blindly and only had a sample of it which I will promptly pass on. This is one of the very few fragrances that I would not wear even if it were gifted me.

Fragrance: 1/10

Projection: 5/10

Sillage: 5/10

Longevity: 5/10 (Thank goodness!)

07/01/2024

5
Pricing 8
Bottle 5
Sillage 4
Longevity 4.5
Scent

MrsGuerlain
442 Reviews

MrsGuerlain

1

To the citric side

Apparently, Romance and romance to me is not the same. The fragrance is citric and the rose is somehow synthetic. Which means I do not believe in the scent. I believe in romance, though.
This scent has several of my favourite notes, such as ginger, violet and patchouli (in the right amount). But Romance does not work. It has a sharpness that has been the top in many good scents - I love Burberry Brit Sheer, for instance - but here it is too sour/fresh in a way I do not like. Or maybe the scent does not like my skin…
The bottle is lovely. Simple and great design.
356/365

04/16/2020

9
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Pollita
252 Reviews

Translated Show original

Pollita

Top Review 37

I'll break a lance

When I tested the JS Sunlight the other day, the heart note of it reminded me a lot of Romance. So, quick quick flash by the romance here and - what? That's not yet possible. Why does it have such a bad rating? Has it been so badly reformulated? I must confess, how the current version smells, I can't tell you. I bought the 98 when it came out, my third year of college. Stumbled across a fragrant leaflet in one of my mother's women's magazines (do they still exist today? Today I only have trade magazines of the industry in my fingers. And there you can't even sniff the machine oil - what a pity ;( ). I liked it on this one and then I got it quite fast.

Romance used to be unlike anything I usually wore at that age. No Oriental, no vanilla - no. A really delicate, slightly fresh flower scent bedded on clean musk. Kind of heralded my other side, hehe. I'm not an avowed fan of flowers, but he had me very quickly anyway, because the freesias, roses, lilies and violets never become too opulent or even madam-like here. No, the fragrance always remains very transparent from the top note to the base, which I already liked at the time. Many of my favourites today are characterized by exactly this delicate transparency. Especially in spring and summer such a thing is wonderful, because even as a young girl I often got too much of my oriental hammers like Classique and Co. They only went out in the evening and on weekends when going out. But in college? Nope. In college, Pollita mostly wore romance and always felt perfect.

When I think of this fragrance today, I see myself strolling through the city in spring or summer in the Unipark or with Komillitonen, sipping a coffee or tea in a street café somewhere. Beautiful images that I like to replay in my head. The weather is perfect for it now. But the scent never let me down, because it always stayed with me the whole day. Maybe the formula of today can't keep up with that anymore?

After one bottle it was over with us both, but it was a nice time together with Romance. If I still had the bottle, I would of course still wear the fragrance today. I even think there are plenty of fragrances in the high-price segment today that are heading in this direction, but which easily start at 100 euros or even cost a lot more. Would you like to tell me what the reason for this lousy rating is? Too boring? Too mainstream? Never mind. I liked it anyway