Police — To Be Green
Essence
To Be Green is the eco-positioned entry in Police’s skull-bottle To Be collection: an inexpensive, unisex woody-aromatic by Mane perfumer Véronique Nyberg, certified as an Eco-Designed Fragrance under Mane’s GreenMotion process. Its distinction is mostly positioning rather than smell: the brand’s usual neon skull is pared down to clear glass holding pale green juice, with eco-certified packaging and a Madagascar-vanilla hook. In the bottle it is a clean green-citrus freshie with a soft floral middle and a warm woody-vanilla close, built to compete with affordable fresh designers rather than niche.
Scent Profile
The opening is the most interesting stretch: a cool, slightly metallic green-citrus accord of green lemon and mandarin lifted by cardamom, which adds a faint spicy-watery edge. Many wearers also report a watery, mineral, even apple-like facet up top that the note list doesn’t name, a common effect of bright synthetic citrus materials. Cardamom stays mild, more seasoning than gourmand spice.
The floral heart of violet, jasmine and peony is largely submerged and abstract. Peony supplies an aquatic-floral tonality, jasmine a thin sweetness, and violet a powdery green whisper rather than a distinct flower, so the middle reads soft and transparent.
The drydown shows the composition’s real intent: a soft, creamy woody-vanilla base of cedar and sandalwood sweetened by vanilla, which surprises wearers expecting something purely green. After the first half hour it runs close to linear, settling as a clean green-woody skin scent with no single bold signature; the through-line is fresh green citrus over creamy light woods.
Performance
Performance is modest and typical of the To Be line. Longevity lands in a satisfactory but unremarkable range, often cited around six to seven hours, with subtle, close-to-skin sillage; the woody-vanilla base lingers longest while the green opening calms quickly. It is best treated as a moderate performer, applied generously, with midday reapplication likely if projection matters. It thrives in warm weather and can thin out fast in real heat.
Wearing Context
This is a daytime, warm-weather, casual scent suited to spring and summer, the office, errands, school, and outdoorsy daily wear. The cool green-citrus opening reads fresh and unobjectionable in heat, while the creamy vanilla drydown keeps it from being purely sporty and nudges it slightly toward evening-casual. It skews masculine-leaning in perception but the soft floral-vanilla base makes it genuinely wearable by anyone. It is not a formal, date-night, or cold-weather fragrance.
Comparisons & DNA
The useful references are mass-market fresh fragrances rather than niche. Within its own house, the original To Be (2011) is drier and spicier, while To Be Super[Natural] (2024), also by Nyberg, leans more peppery; the To Be line broadly chases the fresh-aquatic-citrus template of designers like Acqua di Giò. To Be Green diverges by being greener and softer on top and creamier and sweeter in the base thanks to the vanilla. Wearer comparisons to a cheaper take on PdM Greenly and a better-done Rasasi Royale serve as directional anchors toward green-fresh and faintly sweet rather than exact matches.
Reception
Consensus is a decent cheapie, nothing special. Written coverage is thin and split, with praise landing on the attractive clear-skull bottle, the pleasant cool-green opening, and the low price. Criticism is consistent: middling longevity, a generic character some describe as smelling of not much, and a polarizing top note, with at least one wearer reporting a sharp synthetic facet while others find it clean and green. The two axes of disagreement are performance expectations and whether the synthetic green opening reads as fresh and distinctive or cheap and generic. The blind-buy verdict is favorable only at a discount, for someone wanting an inexpensive warm-weather freshie who isn’t counting on all-day projection.
Versions & Reformulation
Single composition with no known reformulations. It is part of the broader To Be collection of flankers but is its own release and should not be confused with To Be (2011), To Be Rebel (2016), or To Be Super[Natural] (2024).
Acquisition Notes
This is a discount-tier designer fragrance, routinely found well below list price. It is sold in 40 ml, 75 ml and 125 ml EDT, with the 75 ml the common size and the 125 ml frequently stocked by US discounters; street prices typically fall in the mid-teens to low-twenties dollar range. Counterfeiting is unlikely given the low price, but buying from established or authorized retailers ensures fresh stock, since the delicate citrus top can turn harsh in bottles left in heat or light. Store it upright, away from heat and light.
Notable Facts & Lore
- It is positioned as an Eco-Designed Fragrance certified through Mane’s GreenMotion sustainable-sourcing process.
- The usual brightly colored Police skull was stripped to clear glass with pale green juice to signal the eco concept.
- Packaging is pitched as recyclable transparent glass with an aluminum pump and an FSC-certified box with inks reduced by more than 90%, and the fragrance is VeganOK certified.
- The eco marketing copy and Pure Jungle Essence branding drew open mockery from wearers, including jokes about a Kermit-the-Frog skull.
- The perfumer of record is Véronique Nyberg of Mane, who also composed the later To Be Super[Natural].