{Perfume Q & A} with Clement of Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie - Tastes of Summer: 2007 Bestseller Summery Fragrances
We are continuing our world tour of trend-setting perfume boutiques founded by people who are known for their exceptional dedication to the world of fragrances. Today we visit Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie located at the Urban Retreat at Harrods in London. The Haute Parfumerie is one of the most select venues for fragrance discovery, education, and shopping in the British capital city but also probably in the world. It is the brain-child of Roja Dove (pronounced like Roger), a perfume expert of international renown. He has been active in particular in bringing back long-gone masterpieces of perfumery and has recently launched his own perfumes called Scandal, Unspoken, Enslaved......
Let us commment en passant that it is fascinating to us to gather information that is so ephemereal in its very nature. To be able to have material that will be the sustenance of our dreams, especially the ones that will develop in the future and to be able to imagine how certain streets or corners of streets in London possibly smelled during the summer of 2007 is of course to try to capture the aroma of the Zeitgeist, of the l'air du temps and to make, if in an illusory yet to some extent efficacious fashion, time pause for a little while.
But back to earth. Here are the answers from Clement of the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie who has a great tip for applying perfume.....
* As we have come to experience the dog days of summer (but maybe not in
your area) what have weve been so far the bestsellers of this 2007 summer season?
S. Burlingham Truly. A fragrance
* Any perfumes or products that you regret customers have not paid
enough attention to, although they would be great to wear or use now?
Jean Charles Brosseau Fleurs d'Ombre Collection, namely Rose, Violette Menthe, Ombre Bleue, Jasmin Lilas. The Different Company, Bergamote, Jasmin de nuit, Osmanthus. Nina Ricci, Farouche, Coeur Joie, Capricci and Fille d'Eve.
* Apart from the fragrances that you carry yourself, any others (such as
classics, foreign fragrances, hard-to-find perfumes) that you can
recommend for our readers to seek out?
The extremely hard to find Roja Dove Perfumes.
* For the non-snobs: what is the least expensive perfume that you could
suggest, from your store, that is still great quality and appropriate
for the summer (if the conventional seasonal divide makes any sense to you)?
Fleurs d'Ombre fragrances as above. Lalique, Perles de Lalique, Le Parfum. Serge Lutens Fleur d'Oranger and Fleurs de Citronnier.
* For people with exclusive tastes: what is the most expensive perfume
that you carry in your store that you recommend as a must for this summer?
Roja Dove perfumes and Xerjoff (contact us for details)
* Do you have any celebrity tips that you can share with us? Who bought
what this summer?
No comment...
Alternatively, any fragrant tips for this summer would be great too!
When available always apply perfume extract, a touch on the wrist, a touch in the bend of the elbow, a touch in the hollow of the collar bone and possibly behind the knee. Then as a V shape across the chest apply 4 to 5 pump of eau de toilette or eau de parfum, depending how much volume you want to give to your fragrance. To give an extra soft feeling to the skin and increase the lingering quality of your favourite scent finish by applying the body lotion or cream depending on your texture preference.
I hope you'll find these tips helpful!
Absolutely, thanks!
You can visit the Urban Retreat website for more information about the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie.
Photos courtesy of Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie and Vivre
His answer to almost every question was "Roja Dove fragrances"
Scandal by Roja Dove... hmmm, I am not pleased to know that the name of this masterpiese of Lanvin was "borowed" though it's possible that there was no more trademark issues on that (after so many years).
Though I'm sure that "legally" his perfume is OK I'm not sure it's ethical/moral. But it's not so rare nowadays in the business :))
Even Unspoken was a fragrance from Avon (1975).
I found this link about the fragrance descriptions. Curios to smell them all.
http://www.cosmeticsbusiness.com/story.asp?storyCode=1670
When available always apply perfume extract, a touch on the wrist, a touch in the bend of the elbow, a touch in the hollow of the collar bone and possibly behind the knee. Then as a V shape across the chest apply 4 to 5 pump of eau de toilette or eau de parfum, depending how much volume you want to give to your fragrance. To give an extra soft feeling to the skin and increase the lingering quality of your favourite scent finish by applying the body lotion or cream depending on your texture preference.
He either loves a big sillage or wants us to buy all formats of every scent we wear. Either way, spend as much money as possible, preferably at Roja Dove boutique.
Faizanjax,
I think there is one point where he pulled the answer in the direction of the Roja Dove fragrances when I was asking for "outside" fragrances. But on the whole, to be fair, he gave varied references. He did not say that their bestseller was a Roja Dove fragrance:)
Octavian,
I must say that I feel pretty jaded regarding name borrowings and such. My expectations are very low. I consider it progress when it's not just eponymous, with a number, or something hard to remember because it is so impersonal.
One can hope that he did his homework regarding trademark issues. If it's available, then why not? Should he have added an "e" at the end to differentiate it? This trio of names is intriguing I must say.
Benvenuta,
I think that customers who frequent RD Haute Parfumerie are well-to-do and would not mind buying several incarnations of one scent. Clement is suggesting a thorough process of perfume layering that you don't have to follow to the letter.
One of the great joys of a perfume lover, for me at least, is to smell an incredible sillage on the street coming from a woman who wears a perfume that suits her body chemistry in a superlative manner. It is a divine experience, one that I feel thankful they share with others. I am aware though that it is not politically correct to do so nowadays, especially in the US and Canada. Also if that happens with a bad perfume, you're done for.
I agree that customers of RDHP are probaby well-off. The problem is, that money does not equal class... There`s no RDHP in my country (Slovakia) and closest place one can buy niche scents is in Vienna. So one can meet a person with money but without class who layers fragrance in described manner (or perhaps just oversprays) but chooses the scent that does NOT suit them. Meeting a woman like this doesed in Addict in hot summers streets of Bratislava is quite an experience. Oh well.
I hear you. I prefer to remember three extraordinary sillages I smelled this summer rather than the cheap trails I also came across. It did not just smell very good, it was *divine*.
Roja Dove didn't do his homework. Scandal is still a french trademark owned by Lanvin.
you can check here:
http://www.icimarques.com/
go on lanvin trademarks and it's so clear!
Thanks for the link Octavian. I'll take a look later.
So what could happen next?
It's only the owner who can decide to do or not something... usually an agreement, the fragrance change the name or...straight to the court.
a small scandal, a big one... or nothing if lanvin doesn't care about a small fragrance business.
I think that it depends on the scale of the affair. If there are 100 bottles... that's nothing, you buy them all and don't bother about the rest. If it's 1 million than that's an interesting issue. But I'm sure that the fragrance will not be available in Paris !
Thank you very much for your input -- good to know.