Roja Parfums
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Litsea cubeba's peppery citrus explodes first, sharp and almost medicinal, with bergamot and lemon creating a crystalline brightness that feels less perfumed and more botanical-grade. The citrus dominates entirely, offering zero indication of the woody base to come—you're briefly convinced you're wearing a citrus fragrance full stop.
The aldehydic citrus gradually recedes as grasse jasmine emerges, though it arrives in muted form, shadowed by galbanum's persistent green metallic quality. Celery seed and caraway rise unexpectedly, introducing that almost savoury herbal character that separates this from conventional florals, whilst oakmoss begins its grounding work, anchoring the composition's centre of gravity decisively downward.
Multiple cedarwoods and amyris dominate, creating a pale, slightly austere woody base where vetiver itself finally becomes perceptible—earthy, slightly smoky, harmonising with labdanum's leathery resin. Everything contracts tighter to the skin, the spice mellows into something gentler, and within hours the fragrance becomes little more than a faint woody-herbal second skin, barely detectable beyond intimate proximity.
Roja Dove's Vetiver is an austere meditation on green herbalism, a fragrance that treats vetiver not as a creamy base ingredient but as a protagonist demanding centre stage. The opening bristles with litsea cubeba's peppery-citric snap against bergamot and lemon—a sharp, almost militant freshness that immediately establishes this as a fragrance uncomfortable with comfort. But the true architecture emerges in the heart, where grasse jasmine and cistus create an unexpectedly floral counterpoint, though never softening the composition's essential austerity. The jasmine here doesn't bloom; it whispers against the galbanum's green, almost metallic edge.
What makes Vetiver Roja Parfums compelling is how Dove layers spice atop herbal green: caraway and celery seed introduce an almost culinary quality, whilst nutmeg and pepper add warmth without sweetness. Pink pepper's brightness cuts through oakmoss's earthy, slightly animalic presence. The base is where everything converges into something genuinely distinctive—multiple cedarwoods (needle, standard, amyris) create a complex woody scaffold, whilst labdanum and gaiac wood add leathery, slightly resinous depth. This is vetiver for those who find typical vetiver fragrances too approachable, too balanced.
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3.9/5 (129)