Roja Scandal Pour Homme Parfum

Scandal Pour Homme is Roja Dove's version of a fougere, and it is one of the more disciplined things in a catalogue not otherwise known for discipline. Dove's twenty years at Guerlain, where he rose to Global Ambassador and acquired the title Professeur de Parfums, show up here as structure: this is the classic barbershop architecture, lavender over flowers over moss, executed with materials most barbershop fragrances cannot afford.

The house's own description points at the twist. Roja writes that it opens with lemon, spearmint and lavender, which then flirt with an unusual rhubarb note laid across a rich bed built around tonka bean. Rhubarb is the thing to listen for. It is tart, green and slightly stalky, and it sits at the join between the fresh top and the warm base where a fougere normally has nothing at all, which is why this smells familiar for thirty seconds and then does not.

The full official pyramid is generous. Lemon, bergamot, petitgrain, spearmint, lavender, basil and tarragon make one of the most herbal openings in modern perfumery, bracing rather than sweet. Lily of the valley, Rose de Mai, jasmin de Grasse and violet form a proper floral heart, which is what separates real fougeres from the blue sport scents that borrowed the shape. The base is long: rhubarb, cardamom, clove, nutmeg, moss, patchouli, vetiver, cedarwood, cashmere wood, sandalwood, tonka, labdanum, ambergris and musk. It finishes dry, mossy and softly sweet.

This is a cool-weather, well-dressed fragrance. A Cape winter, a jacket, an evening out. In Highveld summer the herbal opening is refreshing but the base can feel like too much clothing.

Roja offers it in eau de parfum and in a 50ml parfum. In parfum concentration expect ten hours or more with strong presence for the first three, and a mossy skin scent well into the next day. Note that the house also makes Scandal Pour Femme, a white floral, which is a separate composition rather than a feminine version of this one. Try both before assuming they are related in anything but name.