This is an easy wearing, extremely pleasant Green, woody fragrance with some pepper. Easy to wear and really unique too!
its VERY peppery. Even in the dry down. Not my ideal scent profile anymore. But if you can find a way to layer it or like pepper, it works.
Elysium is really stunning, I wasn’t overly impressed when I first got it but it’s really grown on me. The heavy dose of juicy grapefruit in the opening is so realistic and delicious, as it combines with a cocktail of countless other citruses and fruits. Most prominent to me is the grapefruit, lemon, juniper and blackcurrant. Once it settles, heavier notes of vetiver, pink pepper and cedar are thrown in. Roja’s classic combination of rose, jasmine and lily of the valley is present which you will see in most of his scents. While not specifically detectable, they add that signature sparkle that’s identifiable in all his releases. The grapefruit and vetiver carry through the life of the scent, greeted by a beautifully salty ambergris and a slight touch of leather in the dry down. As I said, this has really grown on me. It’s one of my favourite openings in a warm weather fragrance and just smells quintessentially masculine and fresh. I’ve found longevity has improved with age of my bottle thankfully, and the scent has matured gorgeously. It’s not Roja’s best fragrance, but I can see why it’s his best seller. This is simply a must have for any freshie-lover.
I'm going to start out with my initial thoughts on this perfume and it was...oh...it's another Aventusesque perfume from a nose who I know isn't in the business of jumping on a bandwagon, regardless of what you think about him. It can't be denied though that this is one of Roja Dove's more mainstream style, masculine fragrances. That's not a bad thing either because this stuff cannot fail to have broad appeal. I started off with the Creed Aventus comparison but please don't be deceived by this initial impression because in fairness Elysium has it's own character and masses of hidden depth, something which I think haters of this brand and perfumer are quick to dismiss in many Roja creations. It's a creeping kind of fresh and uplifting opening with the extra bitter, sharp dimension of grapefruit and juniper, then more of a blackcurrant peeking through as it dries down. The body of the fragrance is of incense and I mean in the broader sense as it's difficult to detect exactly what is there? Maybe lighter stuff like elemi and olabanum but I also know that Dove is fond of using Labdanum. The base is cedar and vetiver giving a touch of the smoky earth to the base which might be conjuring that Aventus Birch. This is a composition which sounds simple but when you smell this perfume, I'd say it's more effortless the way the accords are permeable, bleeding into one another. Comparisons with Bleu de Chanel are valid when you look at the note brakdown and Creed as I keep mentioning, so it's in good company really. The issue comes with performance, which incidentally I found to be quite good, but I'm assuming Elysium is very expensive so anything other than massive, won't do for most consumers. I really liked it and the longer it went on the less I wanted to make reductive comparisons because this stuff stands up by itself. I won't be buying but I think it's a very fresh, High class, citrus fragrance with tonnes to offer and hard not to like really.
This is a great green citrus woody summer fragrance! Works really well and it definitely is worth the hype!