Roja Dove

With the excitement and fanfare one would expect from perfume royalty, Roja Dove and his exclusive line of fragrances have finally arrived in the United States! So, start spreading the news, New York City is raising a champagne glass (or a bottle of Scandal) to welcome the newly-appointed ambassador for the GREAT Britain campaign as he unveils Roja Parfums exclusively at Bergdorf-Goodman on Fifth Avenue.

Courtesy of RDPR Group

I was very fortunate to meet Mr. Dove earlier this month at the fantastic Sniffapalooza event when it kicked off at Bergdorf-Goodman. When not swooning over the icon himself, attendees were swooning over his creations. Yes, it quickly became Swoonapalooza. Despite his larger-than-life appearance, I found Roja Dove to be very approachable and rather soft-spoken; he radiated pride, but it was accompanied by equal measures of gratitude and love for the art.

New York City seems like the ideal location to introduce this expansive line of perfumes to Americans. This city, like Roja Dove's collection, is diverse, alive, often glamorous, often scandalous, but there is always a cohesiveness, a united field that connects it all. If someone were visiting New York, I'd recommend they explore it slowly, noticing the immensity and the grandeur, but taking the time to see the nuances, and the beauty in unexpected places. With this in mind, I later returned to Bergdorf-Goodman, thoroughly excited to intensely explore the world of Roja Parfums.

Having been previously captivated by Roja Dove's Vetiver extrait (which generated big buzz among the Sniffa crowd) I decided to start by examining this sub-collection of three extraits: Gardenia, Neroli and Vetiver. Each of these potent creations highlights their eponymous accord, but there is undoubted complexity and nuance to each.

Gardenia Extrait

Photo by Roey Yohai

I began the journey with a generous sample of Gardenia extrait and a contemplative walk along the perimeter of Central Park. At times, I was unsure if the sublime bouquet that filled the air was emanating from my skin or if it was the breeze blowing through the Shakespeare Garden, lush with spring flora.

Gardenia opens with a sumptuous, virtually-real gardenia accord that made my heart skip a beat. I say "virtually-real" because reality is patently imperfect whereas this gardenia is realism forged into paradisiacal perfection, an artist's actualization of the unobtainable.

This glorious gardenia accord is, in fact, an illusion created by an ingenious blend of rose, jasmine, mimosa, violet, orange blossom, and heliotrope. The florals are lifted by fresh bergamot and supported by cedar and sandalwood. Peach leaves (brilliant!), styrax and elemi add depth while a sensual musk pulses throughout the composition.

As I continued my walk through Manhattan's diverse neighborhoods and capricious spring weather, I came to discover that Gardenia transforms itself in sync with one's surroundings, one's mood, style and spirit. There is a hushed tension while it unfolds, an uncertainty where it will take us.

Shown through the prism of one's heart, this fragrance can pivot from blissful to bashful to heartbreakingly beautiful. As I look toward Fifth Avenue, I think of the rooftop garden above Rockefeller Plaza. I envision a bride and groom looking to the sky at an unexpected spring shower moments before they say 'I do.' Will this bring tears of heartache or will it bring tears of joy as they surrender to nature's blessing and kiss through laughter in the pouring rain?

I've always been one who chooses a fragrance to befit the season, place or occasion, rather than allow the season, place or occasion to befit the fragrance. My experience with Gardenia helped expand my heretofore closed-minded approach and see beyond the obvious. Roja Dove graciously shared his ideology with CaFleureBon: "If you find the scent works on your skin, the scent becomes part of you. And it's you who goes through each season."

While getting to know Roja Dove's Gardenia, I wore it for three days in a row, each day a new experience, a new discovery, a new excitement. A new favorite.

Vetiver Extrait

At the center of Bowling Green Park in lower Manhattan sits a tranquil, cascading fountain encircled by a skirt of fresh flowers and impeccably manicured vegetation. This unexpected arcadia is precariously situated next to Wall Street's iconic brass statue of a charging bull. Roja Dove's Vetiver extrait shares a similar juxtaposition: tailored and welcoming, but with cojones.

Top notes are bergamot and lemon, giving way to patches of jasmine and rose. All the while, the bull is contained, but you can feel it breathing. In come caraway, cedar, celery, galbanum, guaiac wood, litsea cubeba, nutmeg, oakmoss, pepper, labdanum and of course, vetiver.

Roja Dove proudly shared with me his inspiration behind this full-bodied chypré: "Many vetivers today have been lightened up and lightened up and lightened up and in the end, they don't smell of vetiver at all, they smell fresh. Most sales staff even describe them as green, vetiver is not in the least. Vetiver as a raw material is earthy, smoky and leathery, it's a root from the grass. So what I've done with this fragrance is shown off the vetiver in counterpoint with the freshness of the bergamot and lemon. The hesperidic notes make you feel fresh, but underneath you have the virility and strength of character of the vetiver."

Vetiver extrait is an assuredly modern composition which proudly advances forward while it knowingly glances back to a bygone era in perfumery, a nod to those who've gone before. Quite fitting for a fragrance centered on "roots." Roja Dove's Vetiver extrait should appeal to a new generation of Mad Men. Or, for that matter, Mad Women, as this would smell incredible on a lady.

Neroli Extrait

One can always expect superlative ingredients in a Roja Dove perfume. After that, expect the unexpected. At first, his take on neroli seemed fairly straightforward: an incredibly natural neroli accord takes center-stage, nothing but a spotlight. With a neroli of this quality, it was a brilliant decision to give it room, allow it to shine, make it the star.

I think of an unrecognized Broadway understudy taking on the leading role for one magical performance. She starts the eleven o'clock number unaccompanied. One instrument at a time, the orchestra joins in. At first, a piano. The upper keys are gently played: notes of bergamot, lemon and petit grain. The woodwinds and brass join in sotto voce: notes of violet, orange blossom and geranium. Finally, the deep, rich tones of the string section round out the score: notes of oakmoss, ambergris, olibanum, musk and styrax. A star is born. Roja Dove, composer and conductor, beams from the podium.

The extrait line is a dazzling example of what can be done when a master perfumer creates from the world's finest raw materials. The concept is simple, the results are extraordinary.

Each of the extraits costs $325.00 for a 50ml spray bottle. They are available now at Bergdorf-Goodman in New York City or through Roja Parfums online store.

Disclosure: The above reviews were based on samples generously provided by Roja Parfums. Special thanks to Carlo Tedeschi, Andrew Wright and, of course, Roja Dove.

–Michael Devine, Senior Contributor