Elysium pour Homme Cologne
Roja Dove (2017)

This basically smells like a niche version of Bleu de Chanel Parfum or Sauvage. With that said, it's not a bad thing at all. This actually smells very good. Fresh and citrusy, with a chemically induced vetiver. It's just that you can get the same thrill for less with BDC EDP or Sauvage. If I would see this at a lower price, it's as good as purchased. 7/10

Sharp citrus, dry, vetiver, weak

Opens with a very astringent dry citrus that has moderate projection for about 30 minutes. After that, it stays very close to the skin, with occasional wafts for about 2-3 hours.
Smells like watered down Sauvage mixed with Sycamore.

The scent itself is a very well blended natural citrus and vetiver. No sign of synthetics. I can see how this smells high quality, but the positives end there.
The fact that this sells for $300+ is absolutely laughable. The longevity and projection is probably the worst on any scent I’ve worn. So weak.

This is the worst value of any fragrance on the market.

Scent: 8/10
Longevity 1/10
Projection 1/10
Price 0/10

Just to be clear: this smells good! Thumbs up, positive review then.

There is some things that seem to complicate it for people trying it however...

The main thing might be the fact that it is an exclusive Roja Dove scent. With that comes a price, and an enormous one too. It is a Parfum Cologne. What is that? I have not tried the original parfum so I don't know how far off this one is from that.

Aventus is often brought up when discussing this. Are they close? No, I don't think so. But they are in the same ball park. So, paying a lot of money, getting high expectations from a perfumer like Roja Dove, and you end up with a crowd pleaser smelling like a relative to Aventus. I do get the mixed feelings this causes. I don't think I will buy a bottle but I definitely enjoyed wearing up a decant. It has a really nice base that can be enjoyed the morning after a SOTE application.

Take it for what it is, I think it smells great.

I really wanted to love this.

I heard great reviews and hype on this fragrance so I thought I would give it a try. I was hoping this could be my new Spring/Summer signature.

When I received the sample directly from Roja Parfums I was pretty excited to give it a wear.
I heard this compared to Aventus which in my opinion, is not the case.

On initial spray I get a blast of polarizing fruits, it smells unique and is my favorite part of this fragrance.

On the dry down, to me it becomes a very designer-esque fresh woody leather. Reminds me of your typical Abercrombie or Percival by Parfums de Marley. The kicker with this, and why I give it a thumbs down is that there is a creaminess in this scent that makes me nauseous. I got a headache/stomachache while continuing to smell this on my wrist. It became annoying quickly and had to scrub it off. To me, it's only unique on initial spray, great opening. The dry down is nothing special to me in any way.

4/10

The positive reviews make me wonder whether I have a genuine sample or whether there is batch variation.
First this fragrance is VERY mild.
Dua do a clone which is better and with a stronger identity and much cheaper. Well still expensive considering its £50 for 30 ml.
The opening is typically zesty and it settles quickly into a light woody vetiver. I have Roja Vetiver Extrait and putting the two side by side and by recruiting several volunteers none of us could distinguish much difference at all. And the price? A joke.
I strongly suspect there is a halo effect of this super premium brand and you can't just read reviews because it depends on the reviewer's taste and experience. Its why you can't trust TripAdvisor and why a cynical wry smile plays on my lips when I hear people barely articulate and with no taste sending their compliments to the chef in an overpriced restaurant. (at the specific establishment in question I preferred the bread to anything on the menu. The bread was delicious).
I am ordering another sample just to be sure and if its still the same story I will leave a really bad review.

Fragrance: 6.8/10
Projection: 7/10
Longevity: 7/10

There is something inescapably ironic about a mass-appeal fragrance from a house that sings the praises of being the most exclusive and luxurious one on the planet, but let's not kid ourselves, so do a half-dozen others at the price point within where Roja Dove dwells. Seeing a scent like this is also something of a surprise, since typical Mr. Dove himself eschews modernity for the density and redolence of antique forms, making a great many of his perfumes as homages of sorts to classic styles. Obviously, there is a bit of detected cynicism in the decision to make something modern young upper-class professionals would seek out when his previous mode d'emploi was effectively to sell perfume to the CEOs, oil magnates, and celebrities of the world, so consider Elysium Pour Homme Cologne (2017) as his "downmarket" entry. Now, that isn't to say this is cheap, although it is cheaper than a bottle of Creed Aventus (2010) and covers much of the same ground, even drawing comparisons to Bleu de Chanel (2010) by most. I don't much get the latter, and feel a scent like Elysium wouldn't be redundant for people who own the Chanel, but it is triple the price for roughly the same performance. What exactly does $300 in Roja Dove's pocket get you with Elysium Pour Homme Cologne? Well, turns out the answer is a fairly complex modern fresh generalist with only average performance even compared to designers, but it's all in the execution that will decide how you feel.

There are far too many notes listed as with most Roja Dove perfumes, and "Roger" shows yet again that he learned how to make perfumes by reading documentaries on Jacques Guerlain and playing mad scientist with ingredients until he gets it just the way he likes it. The opening is very Aventus-like with the bergamot and many citrus floral notes. Artemisia and musk also come into view, but the comparisons to Bleu de Chanel are only briefly justified in the heart. Here, we see pink pepper and another half-dozen fruity floral notes like blackcurrant and jasmine hedione executed with great balance against drier notes like vetiver, with no smoke or pineapple like Aventus but a similar sharply-fresh vibe otherwise. The base is an aromachemical kitchen sink of the usual ambrox and norlimbanol, but blended to perfection alongside the more natural essences to hide the seams better than any designer. A dry woody/leathery/sage kind of thing like the later Montblanc Explorer (2019) also inhabits Elysium, but everything is more transparent and diffuse rather than beating you into anosmia, which I can appreciate. This stuff is full, yet light, and the ultimate mixtape of designer masculine tropes selling for obviously much more than a designer. This could be a great daily driver for those with the cash, and you'll smell a cut above the Dior Sauvage (2015) guys that flood the office spaces where Elysium Pour Homme Cologne is most at home. Sillage is a bit short but this is a "cologne" (closer to an eau de toilette) with uncommonly long wear time to make up for a brief projection before becoming a personal scent. Roja Dove also makes this in parfum concentration if you want it to perform like his usual fare.

If one applies Roja Dove's love of "overdoing it" to the modern masculine landscape like he has traditionally applied it to his exercises in reimagining perfumes from Gilded Age and 1970's/80's/90's, then it's only logical to reach a conclusion like Elysium Pour Homme Cologne, but I'm not 100% sure a market exists for this. The kind of guys this targets are dead-set on brands like Creed, MFK, or Parfums de Marly for their fix of olfactive confidence sauce, and the extremely hoity-toity set of hardcore Roja Dove fans out there who gush about his exclusives might see this as a sellout. As for me, I'm more or less "general hobbyist" which encompasses niche, designer, vintage, and all the various shades of the market, so I view this as another high-end modern generalist in a crowded field, albeit one made with a pedantic obsession for blending and complexity as is Roja Dove's trademark. Considering I already have plenty of petite bourgeois freshies from this category for my work needs, I might not necessarily reach for it, and Roja Dove's "Emperor's New Clothes" vibe tends to make me roll my eyes, but my hat's off to the amusingly ostentatious and melodramatic UK perfumer for getting his hands "dirty" with the clean modern style. If you're in the market for an expensive modern freshie that's more multi-faceted than its peers and won't drive you noseblind, give this a sniff. Who knows? It might be your gateway drug to waxed foreheads and embroidered smoker's jackets too? Thumbs up.