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The fragrances we encounter throughout our lives are more than fleeting sensations; they are profound markers of memory, emotion, and identity. A single whiff can summon long-forgotten moments, evoke the warmth of a cherished embrace or transport us to places etched deep in our hearts.
For Roja Dove, fragrance goes further than just a smell – it’s a silent language of feeling. “Fragrance ignores age, colour, creed, and gender,” he says. “It is totally non-judgmental, and it is kind to everyone. It transports you to wonderful places in your life, and it does so willingly and happily. What’s not to love?”.
Here, Dove takes us on an olfactory journey through the key scents that have defined his life, from the sweet nostalgia of childhood aromas to the family smells that have shaped his creations today, these are his scents of purpose.
The scent that makes me feel like a child again is…
ice cream. Anything that’s got that vanilla custard smell will do it. It’s a very English, very old-fashioned thing, but my grandmother used to make baked custard, and I loved the smell of that and ice cream. I never have ice cream in the house though, as I have no ability to moderate how much I’ll eat. Even when I know that I’ve had more than enough, I will take another spoonful [laughs]. But it reminds me of all the things that ice cream makes you think of – treats, childhood, summer holidays, carefree times.
The scent that saw me through my teenage years was…
Eau de Lavande by Balenciaga. My mother used to get it for me from Paris because it was very hard to buy. I thought I was the chicest thing in the entire world [laughs], and I was very, very upset when they stopped making it. Although I don’t think I’d want to wear it anymore. It’s interesting, as when I look at my early taste in fragrance, I see this theme of lavender on an amber base running through a lot of the scents I liked. I can see this olfactory
fingerprint, if you like, in the fragrances I wore.
The scent of someone I’ve lost is…
Coty’s L’Aimant – a perfume you can still buy today, although it’s so far removed from the original. It was a very important fragrance and the scent my mother always wore. Most people don’t realise that Coty was the person who shaped modern perfumery. He created the chypre and the amber – some of the biggest harmonies in perfumery. He was also the person responsible for conceptual perfume packaging and had the famous collaboration with Lalique, who was a jewellery designer up until that moment. When my mother died, the one thing I wanted from my family house was the bottle of L’Aimant, and I still have it. I smell it rarely, but when I do, it takes me back to a very special place.
The scent that got me addicted to fragrance is…
Guerlain’s Jicky. When I used to get a weekly wage, I’d spend one third of it on a 15ml bottle of Jicky perfume. I can’t imagine spending one third of my income on perfume today [laughs] but that’s what I did every week when I was 18 years old. It was my great decadence, and I was always so excited to open it week after week.
The scent that makes me feel safe and comforted is…
a very particular type of cake my mother used to bake when I was a child, which had sweet spices in it. She always used to cook it in the evening, so I’d go to bed with this beautiful, sweet, spicy smell, knowing that the cake would be there to enjoy the next day. I can’t imagine anybody not liking the smell of baking. I think there’s something very comforting about it. But when it has the mix of soft, sweet spices, that will do it for me, very happily.
The scent that makes me feel powerful is…
my signature scent, ROJA, because it makes me feel comfortable. I think the more comfortable you feel, the more confident you feel. And if you’re confident, that gives you power. I’ve always believed that if someone finds the right scent, you can watch them walk a centimetre taller, without the need of a heel. I believe that strongly. I think one of the greatest compliments is for someone to say you smell fabulous, and one of the greatest insults you can receive is somebody saying you smell horrible. Someone could turn around and say they don’t like the top you’re wearing, but that’s just taste, isn’t it? But if somebody told you that you smell dreadful, imagine how terrible you’d feel.
The scent that transports me to my favourite place in the world…
is a mixture of two things – the smell of lavender and the smell of jasmine. But this particular lavender is one that’s really baked in the sun, like in the South of France at the end of summer. It gets this slight leathery note behind it, and if there’s jasmine in the air, it’s the most wonderful combination. It takes me specifically to a tiny little town called Théoule-sur-Mer and makes me think of many happy summers I spent there with friends.
The scent that got me through a tough time is…
an imaginary smell, which is one of all my closest friends, combined in my head. During COVID, everyone thought our industry wouldn’t survive. In fact, the sales of fragrance went up globally. I think that’s because scents take us to special moments in our life, and therefore special people. What would always get me through a hard time would be just that – the support and love of my friends. So, I would need to try to concoct in my mind the smell of everyone who is dear to me.
The scent I wish I could bottle forever is…
the scent of the woodland floor in springtime. The smell of bluebells and hyacinths always takes me back to my childhood. I think these two spring flowers, the freshness of one and the narcotic headiness of the other, and the smell of the woodland floor itself – the smell of the earth, the smell of decomposing leaves and mosses – really shaped my olfactory fingerprint and my taste. My grandparents’ garden turned into a woodland at the back, and I used to love going into it and being on the woodland floor with the smell of nature.
The scent of my first heartbreak is…
the smell of a Cocker Spaniel we had called Ruby. She was the gentlest dog. A dog’s hair holds fragrance, so she had the smell of my family and everyone on her. I was heartbroken when she died. Her smell embodied so much more than just that of a dog – she was the smell of my family, and she always carried the scent of us on her.
The scent I want people to associate with me forever is…
My fragrance Great Britain. I am exceptionally proud that I am one of some 30 cultural ambassadors for Great Britain. We’re a funny nation, and we’re very good at being self-deprecating. The GREAT Campaign is wonderful because it celebrates all that is great about our country. I was asked to create the scent of Great Britain, and it made me think, how does my country smell? Of course, it depends on where you are. I was born in London, where
we have more green space than any other capital in the world. We have a love of plants and flowers. In our public spaces, we have ancient trees. In the Houses of Parliament, we have wood and leather. The symbol of our monarch and of England is the rose. So, I started to think of all these different raw materials, which for me were very English and that captured Britain.
We have more nationalities than any other country in the world, and one of the things I love is that you can be the most delicate human being, but the strength and might of the country will allow you to flourish. I’m very proud to have been asked to make this scent and that I get to go around the world and wave the flag for what makes us great. Scent breaks down all sorts of boundaries. When you smell a scent, it evokes a reaction, which has nothing to do with politics or language. It’s its own language, so it allows us to share, to talk, and to understand more about different races and places. It’s more than just a smell – it symbolises something much bigger for me than just one thing.
ART: Kimberlee Kessler
“Scents of purpose” IS PUBLISHED IN THE 15th EDITION OF GRAZIA Middle East. ORDER YOUR COPY HERE.
