Roja Parfums
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The artemisia announces itself with a sharp, herbal bitterness that immediately tangles with pink pepper's bright crackle, whilst bergamot provides just enough citric relief to prevent the opening from turning too medicinal. Within minutes, the rose begins its ascent, already tinged with the woody smokiness of oud and the waxy, honeyed facets of labdanum starting to seep through from below.
Here's where United Arab Emirates reveals its true character: May rose and Grasse jasmine create an intoxicatingly rich, indolic floral core, but the blackcurrant bud adds a tart, almost feline sharpness whilst clove and cumin inject a spiced, skin-like warmth that borders on provocative. The frankincense becomes more prominent, its resinous, slightly lemony smoke weaving through the petals, whilst the oud gains strength—not the clean, sanitised variety, but something with barnyard edges and medicinal depth.
The base settles into a magnificent amber-oud hybrid, where benzoin's vanilla-like sweetness tempers the more challenging aspects of the agarwood, whilst patchouli, oakmoss, and cypriol create an earthy, almost fungal foundation. The musk becomes apparent now, animalic rather than clean, holding everything in a warm, skin-close embrace that still projects for hours, with the guaiac wood adding a subtle, rosy-smoky quality that echoes the opening's floral opulence.
United Arab Emirates is Roja Dove's opulent love letter to Gulf perfumery traditions, filtered through his maximalist Western lens. The composition hinges on that fascinating tension between the rosa-damascena richness of May rose and the medicinal, almost feral quality of oud, with frankincense acting as the ecclesiastical bridge between these two worlds. What makes this scent distinctive is how Dove handles the cumin—rather than letting it dominate with its body-like warmth, he uses it sparingly to add an animalic pulse beneath the floral canopy, whilst the cistus and labdanum create a leathery, amber undertow that feels both ancient and immediately present.
The geranium and clove provide a spiced, slightly metallic edge that prevents the rose from becoming too plush or sentimental, whilst the artemisia in the opening cuts through with its bitter, almost absinthe-like greenness. This isn't a polite drawing-room fragrance; it's the scent of rose petals scattered across charred agarwood, of prayer beads rubbed smooth by devoted hands, of saffron-tinged skin after hours in a souk. The patchouli and oakmoss anchor everything with a earthy, slightly dirty foundation that speaks to old-school perfumery construction, whilst the pink pepper adds unexpected brightness to what could otherwise become overwhelmingly heavy. This is for those who want their florals served with smoke and resin, who understand that true luxury doesn't whisper—it proclaims. Expect strangers to ask what you're wearing, and expect to need only the smallest application.
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4.1/5 (357)