Scandal Pour Homme Parfum Cologne

I love this fragrance. Unfortunately, my skin absorbs it in only an hour, and nothing is left. On me, it opened with heavy herbs that faded to very nice amber, cloves, and wood. It's gorgeous. I love Roja Dove and think he's a genius. I have one FB of Enigma/Creation E that wears for an eternity on me. This is very expensive and worth every penny if you can afford it. Edit to add: I disagree that Eau Sauvage is a substitute for Scandal. ES is a chypres. At least on my skin, Scandal is definitely a fougere. It's very herbaceous. ES opens with a blast of lemon that fades to floral then to musk and vetiver and finally settles in musk. Edit again: I pulled my sample vial out of the box I'm sending to my best friend and tried it again. This is a symphony. It's lasted longer on me this time. Settles down to vetiver, moss, and sandalwood. I can't resist. I must have this. I live in the tropics and wash my shirts after just one wear, so I'm going to try spraying this on a shirt to increase the longevity. Final verdict: I have received a FB. I get good results from it for the first hour with 2 sprays on each forearm. (I don't know how long the sillage lasts on my neck.) There is decent sillage for an hour when it becomes a lovely skin scent that lasts on my skin for another 3 hours. This is very expensive juice but worth every penny in my opinion. If you're looking for something a little similar, try Guerlain's Heritage EDT. It's woodier but also a fougere. 11 Dec 2021: I wore this at a party last night and received a compliment from someone I'm hoping is noticing me. It was only one spray on my throat and a mist on my shirt a couple of hours before he said anything, so I believe that settles my concerns about longevity. This fragrance is stunning and by far one of the most versatile I own.

Scandal starts off very bright and invigorating: a burst of juicy lemon and aromatic lavender take charge ahead of a green backbone of mint, petitgrain and basil. A soft and sparkly heart of jasmine, violet and Rose de Mai then gives the scent that classic Roja signature that he does so well. The lemon, lavender and mint stay strong throughout the life of the scent, but in the dry down they mingle spectacularly with soft oakmoss, sparkly ambergris and earthy vetiver. Scandal is the perfect iteration of the modern fougere. It smells very classical and masculine, but at the same time is very mass appealing and contemporary. The lemon and lavender in here smell photorealistic as if the real thing is right in front of you, while the oakmoss and ambergris lay a soft and slightly powdery bed for everything to rest gently on. Scandal is undoubtedly a mature and sophisticated scent for a modern gentleman, but the Parfum Cologne version seems to be brighter and more youthful as all the scents in this collection are. This is a must have if you’re a fan of fougeres, it does this classical French scent profile fantastic justice while still keeping up with the times, all with fantastic quality throughout. A must have for spring in my opinion.

Wow. Noticed most of the PC/EDP line was missing from Roja’s site. Contacted support and they confirmed that the entire Scandal, Danger, and Vetiver lines have been discontinued. :’( This is particularly sad for me with Scandal. There’s nothing that quite fills this niche. And I had just decided it deserved a place in my top 10 for life. It’s like Eau Sauvage but modernized and more luxurious, made more spicy (especially clove) and green, prickly to the nose, or spiky even, and far better performing. There are layers to unpack that most modern perfumes no longer have with their simplistic and minimalist architecture. Dare I call this a masterpiece? Yes. Over the requisite time, this could join the ranks of “timeless masterpieces”. Further, this discontinuation has a larger impact. If the house of Roja will discontinue several of its “signature scent” style fragrances before they’ve even had time to garner the respect over the necessitated timeframe to become “timeless” then the consumer loses trust in the house. The act tells me that they are chasing fads and sales rather than respecting and trusting in their past creations. So thus, I lose respect and trust in Roja.

This is the fougere/barber shop scent style i have been hunting for so long. Amazing burst of citris and lavender on the opening. Ultra sharp and masculin. Think Creed Viking without the rose or pink pepper. It has a bit more kick that stays around for longer. Similar to Creed Bois du Portugals opening however the pleasant smell in this sticks around much longer and then instead of drying down to a lemon and mothball type of scent like BDP it becomes a very handsome, fairy floss type musk and woody scent with a bit of moss in the background. Edit: I think i just realised the Rhubarb note is what i am smelling in the base to give it the fairy floss like musk. I think this one is truly remarkable and deserves much higher marks than what it gets here. It is actually my favourite Roja fragrance out of the dozen or so i have tried. If you don't like the powdery barber shop scents this may be for you. This is sharp, sophisticated 90’s barber shop pure masculinity. Sample as always. I think it is a masterpiece - 9.5/10

So I got an opportunity to buy this one heavily discounted - and as I love a nice clean fougere-style fragrance for the office, and being a reckless blind-buyer, I had to go for it. I was a bit worried that the clove listed would cause some funk in the drydown, but no - this is a clean, classic, gentlemanly fragrance for those days where you just want to feel like you got your life together. It's fresh, with that proper amount of warmth to it, making it a nice complex, yet extremely well blended fragrance. No sharp edges or anything making this hard to wear. It lasts me a complete day at work, without being beastly, which makes it a perfect pick for an office-setting. It leaves a really pleasant scent-trail throughout the day. (I've been told) Even though it's modernized, it's still a classic mens fragrance - so you have to appreciate a certain level of old school perfumery to rock this one. If you do though - this is a good one. Really good one.