Roja Dove is having a sale and, since we were talking just yesterday about super-luxury fragrances and their prices, it seemed like a serendipitous time to mention it, particularly as the news appears to be less widely known than I had thought.
Tag Archives: Roja Parfums
Roja Dove Neroli & Lilac Extraits
Summer may be drawing to a close in many parts of the world, but Roja Dove has two Extraits that seem well suited to any time of the year. Each one is a pure parfum and soliflore, a fragrance highlighting one central note. In this case, it is Neroli and Lilac, respectively. Both are lovely fragrances, though not without their flaws. I thought I’d take a look at each one in turn.
Roja Dove Amber Extrait: Willy Wonka’s Amber
“Chocolate on My Mind,” by Pamela Van Laanen. Source: AbsoluteArts.com (website link embedded within.)
The joys of chocolate and sandalwood, encased in golden amber. That is only one aspect of Amber Extrait which merges the wonders of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory with the luxury version of a Starbucks line-up: Earl Grey tea, hot chocolate, a white chocolate chai, and a vanilla latte sprinkled with toasted hazelnuts, all enveloped in multi-faceted amber velvet. Yet, at its heart, Roja Dove’s Amber is almost as much about sandalwood as it is about chocolate or its namesake note. There is a Mysore-like bouquet that is, at first, milky, then creamy and spiced, before finally turning smoky. It is a significant part of the fragrance, and one reason why Amber is hardly the simple soliflore that its name suggests.
Amber (sometimes called “Amber Extrait”) was released in 2014. On his website, Roja Dove describes the fragrance and its notes as follows:
Source: Neiman Marcus.
“Seductive Enveloping Opulence”
RICH, SOFT, VERY SWEET, & WARM“Amber, a blend of exotic materials, crafted to give us a glimpse of the mysterious Orient. I blended a rich, velvety note of black chocolate with the soft sweetness of an amber accord to create an edible olfactive delight”. Roja Dove
TOP: Bergamot, Geranium, Lavender, Orange
HEART: Cocoa, Rose
BASE: Amber, Benzoin, Cedarwood, Coumarin, Labdanum, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vanilla.
Roja Dove Goodman’s
Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue. Source: skyscrapercity.com
Smoky vetiver and spiced woods lie at the heart of Goodman’s, Roja Dove‘s creation for the New York luxury department store, Bergdorf Goodman. It’s a pure parfum that ostensibly embodies the luxury and sophistication of the men’s section of the store. I must say, I can’t see it — and I’ve lived in New York (twice) and am very familiar with Bergdorf Goodman. Not only does Goodman’s not evoke either the store or “sensual,” luxurious richness for me, but I find it to be a deeply disappointing release by the standards I have for Roja Dove.
Bergdorf Goodman’s men store. Photo by Stephen Siegel at archinect.com
Goodman’s was released in 2014, along with a parallel version for the women’s section of the store called Bergdorf’s. Both extraits were originally available only from the store itself, but Roja Dove now offers them on his website along with other exclusives like the UAE fragrance that he created solely for the Emirates. Oddly, the colour of the liquid in the Goodman’s bottle he shows on his website is significantly paler than the one shown by Bergdorf Goodman.