Isola Blu

I cannot smell anything when it is sprayed on my hand, really. I must have some sensory loss, or I got a fake. Bottle looks legit from Fragrance.net.

Received a small sample from Roja and as expected, the quality is top-notch. Whatever your thoughts on Roja's pricing, there's no denying the brand knows how to use premium ingredients and blend a fragrance. Everything feels polished, seamless and luxurious. It's a fantastic fresh alternative to the ever-popular Elysium and Burlington 1819. The citrus and fruity notes take center stage, creating a smooth, silky and incredibly easy-to-wear scent. It has that bright, expensive-smelling freshness without feeling sharp or aggressive. Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room - the price. If you have an abundance of disposable income, a healthy disregard for your credit card statement or you're a Roja die-hard collector, by all means, go for it. It's a beautiful fragrance. As for me, I have bills to pay, cats to feed and mortgages that stubbornly insists on participating in my financial decisions. As much as I enjoyed Isola Blu, my cats have made it very clear that fancy citrus fragrances rank below cat food on their household budget.

This is ridiculously overpriced for what it is, which is an entirely expected blue aromatic profile. At least half of the almost THIRTY notes are a faff. I don't smell apple, grass, orange blossom, amber, champaca, coconut, mate, lily, anise, tonka, or vanilla, or at least nothing cognizable as those notes distinctly. Coconut? Really? Between the notes list and the price, it's pretention manifest. It's fine, but it's not special. It smells well-made, but it doesn't smell luxurious. There is nothing interesting or innovative here that would justify the price, and I would probably pass on this even if it were 50% off. 5/10.

Not to start shit but cptxxx - what the fuck are you talking about? It doesn't take a genius to understand perfumery, especially when you have veered past the designer fragrances, which you seem to have. You do understand that you are not smelling one note, you are smelling multiple notes which compliment that single note you get. Another consideration for you is that these notes are used in different volume, not all of them are equal in used amount. Not all of them show immediately on the initial spray and last as long. Like if you are so into linear scents why not just create your perfume with single note, all it takes is get yourself the aroma chemicals (base notes) or essential oils from any of online sellers, get perfumer alcohol and mix that to the % perfume you are comfortable with and leave us all of free of your absolute nonsense. As for the scent, ever since I sampled it I cannot stop thinking about it. Nothing to do with terre d'hermes as much as people claim it to be, far more closer to sospiro's basso than anything else.

This smells like TDH x Wu Long Cha X... high quality and not bad by any stretch but its not a statement maker or anything, so I fail to see the where the hype and the exorbitant price are justified. I would just wear this in the office or something. Which ordinarily wouldnt be an insult coming from me, as I tend to really like "safe" office type fragrances, but considering the price and hype surrounding this its slightly disappointing.

With apologies to Elysium, here is another "soup" of a perfume from Roja Dove. It’s a "take your pick" situation—they threw in whatever they could find; the idea is that if you happen to like just one of the notes, you’ll end up liking the perfume itself. What I don't get is—unless I miscounted—what stopped the creator at 29 notes? Why not throw in 129? I’m a "clear-cut scent" kind of person, friend; I want to know exactly what I’m getting. Why are we paying for this? :) If you ask what it smells like: a pale imitation of *Terre d'Hermès*—and nothing more.

@seagreentangerine Says the person that owns multiple bottles of Tom Ford. Overpriced designer drivel. All that whining and nothing about the actually fragrance scent. I’d hate to see your face when you learn of Clive Christian. Niche perfumery is exclusive and always has been. They don’t need to change their business practices just because you now know of them.

This is peak summer vacation scent. Smells like an oligarch parking his yacht in Monaco. $200 for 50ml is a lot, yet I could not find a better citrus scent. Basso is the dollar-store version of this, don't bother. I really wanted to like Basso due to low price, but it just smelled of artificial cheap chemicals. This one smells natural and high quality. Also, nicest bottle and cap I ever seen.

Roja Dove is one of the most overhyped brands out there, just like Creed (post Aqusition) or should we call it GREED. In my opinion Roger is the King of Dupes and marauded many niche brands from back in the 1960s and 70s and perfumes that are discontinued by current brands. The products don't perform, they are weak, you will get a beautiful 30 minute opening on some of them and that's about it. Most of us are very aware that perfume does not cost that much to produce, even the "niche" stuff... you would be a fool to pay these sky high prices for liquid you can buy in a pharmacy that's possibly better. The Arabs must laugh at westerners spending money on water when they know pure oils are where its at. ANYWAY... this perfume is a big failure like the rest and I am sticking to the Arabian companies these days, much better quality for a fraction of the costa they last for hours.

Sharp, bitter (but also sweet) citrus opening. Very snappy green from the orange blossom & oak moss, I also get the apple & black current scent, the latter being lighter than the former to my nose. The dry down is smooth, green, still sweet, & quite woody. I prefer this dry down to B1819, I also think I prefer it to the opening & heart of this fragrance as well. 9/10

I was super excited to finally get this fragrance - but sadly my wife and ladies at work do not like it. I also feel torn as its not horrible, i think its close to wu long cha nishane - or bergamask orto parisi- it has that "tart" fruit/airy smell(bergamot?) but if I take into account the price which is just about $200+ depending if you get tester/retail. I just cant justify this one...If this was $80-120, sure. I don't always need other people to like the colognes I wear but I certainly take it into account. On top the fact that I personally am not in love with it - I like it but for reasons states its a "no" for me - that's just my opinion - sadly this did not hold up to expectation.

I know fragrance is one of the most subjective things in the world. Everyone’s olfactory is unique and of different construction but with Isola Blu I will never be able to understand why it’s so highly rated and so desired. This is one of the most pungent and medicinal smelling citrus dominant fragrances I have smelt. There is nothing in this fragrance that is appealing to me.. In my opinion Isola Blu is way overdone. It has way too many notes and the overall construction of it is just a jumbled up mess. This fragrance hardly makes any sense note wise and smell wise. It’s truly quite vial, most of the appeal for this fragrance has to be about the presentations and Roja Dove himself with the name.

Similar to Terre d'Hermès and BASO

It smells ok.. ppl Talk about suncreen vibe ? Thats what I get from this.. Imagine the worlds most expensive suncreen.

Such a beautiful smell.

opposing to what most people seem to write on here, i actually think the drydown is surprizingly boring and very close to TDH. I like TDH but you get what you get with that one and it's way cheaper. Isola Blu/Oligarch seems to be so complex and opens up with one of the most beautiful openings and early dry phases i have smelled to date but then after 30-40 minutes, it turns into a stale earthy citrus mixed with the earthy woody TDH smell, not completely but enough for me to be put off by the high price tag. At it's current price it could be sold in 100ml's and it would be about as worth it as burlington 1819, so overpriced but still worth it for the quality and longevity. TLDR: It has an incredible opening that seems to be worth the money at first but dries down into something more simple, too simple for the money. I would love to own this but hate to buy it as it's the same price as Midsummer and 1819 but only half the amount of juice.

This is a great scent, and while similar to others at a cheaper price point, this has its own touch of character and is done much better than the others! What I don’t understand is how no one has made the comparison to Mancera Intense Cedrat Boise?! It shares so many notes with Intense Cedrat Boise, with some of the notes in different layers of the scent profile for Isola Blu. Notably they share Citrus, Juniper, spices, leather, patchouli, oak moss, white musk, and others. Immediately at the opening, it is very different from ICB but you can still tell the similarity, but it quickly dries to a less abrasive ICB on my skin…to the point that Mancera ICB becomes redundant in my collection. To me it is closer to ICB than Sospiro Basso and any others it is often compared to, and just like the others, Isola Blu is done better IMO. This is an easy 8.5/10 for me.

licorice_goat every fragrance you dont like you trash like a teenager. You must spend all your time comparing scents you dont like to cleaners, poo, and whatever other negative reviews you compare. I have a negative review of dumb hats, i think they make people look like assholes. Im absolutely not saying you or anyone else is one though. Only people in dumb hats with bad attitudes qualifies for this, i think we all agree. this is a beautifully arranged fragrance. Fruitty awesomness in a bottle. Although I am gonna pass, only for price. I can match a similar scent for lower price point. TDH is close, I have all 4 though.

I dont know what people crying about. It is oligarchs repackaged. Smells great to me. It is a bitter orange fragrance with sharp citruses in the opening. Imagine the orange pill from Terre d'Hermès but without the vetiver and earthyness, with a lot of citruses on top, and a slightly woody dry down with ambergris and some creaminess and clean florals to round it up.

I finally decided to finally get this because I really like Terre D'Hermes and have a jumbo bottle. It does smell like that but much smoother and less projecting. Up close it reminds me of Chanel allure homme Sport eau extreme, but without whatever sharp rosemary or whatever that plant is giving it that green sharp spice. This is smooth and a total citrus explosion.

Very nice fragrance that evolves beautifully. Too masculine for me personally and from the Isola line I prefer Verde and Snow, which is good news for my wallet.

I don't ever call perfume bug spray but have to agree with @licorice_goat it does reminds me of herby mosquito repellent for children I use to work in backyard. AND the price... FOR THIS...? Maybe it was meant for billionaires who go to their fancy backyard and do not want to use $10 natural mosquito repellent with herbs because they are too good for it. Brilliant.

@licorice_goat all perfumes are bug sprays to you. Give yourself a break my friend.

I rather Sospiro Basso than Isola Blu. On quality, has a shiner bergamot, and its way cheaper. Provenzano masterminds Roja on this one.

I went to Europe in 1973, the summer I turned 18. While at Printemps, I got a body splash/eau de cologne of the original Madame Rochas. Upon first spray of Isola Blu, I was transported to the moment I sprayed Rochas and knew I wasn’t in an American department any more. So citrusy and green, with that j’ne sais quoi of freshness within exotics. It’s not something I’d wear everyday—-more the one when I want to be bold and assertive despite summer’s heat, to make people wonder what just passed by.

I guess I'm just not a citrus fan. I like oceania but man this is pretty overhyped. I can see people who like imagination by LV liking this, which is a fragrance I don't like myself. Headache inducing lemon or whichever citrus is inside both of those fragrances.

Charging over 500$ for a 50 ML of this perfume is taking the piss in all honesty. Shame on Roja. People below me have compared this to expensive cleaning products and I totally agree. Who wants to smell like cleaning products? Unless you want to smell like that cleaning lady that has been working her ass off the whole day and I’m saying that in the most sincere and respectful manner possible. I thought it was a joke when I first smelled this one. This should cost 100$ max. But we all know that with Roja you pay for the bottle design and the beautiful blending technique. The rest is just stealing people’s hard earned money and it’s a disgrace

I’m not trying to be quirky and better than everyone by saying this, but isola blu smells like eucalyptus bug spray. High quality at that, but eucalyptus bug spray nonetheless. 1/5

Expensive cleaning product, which is what alot of rojas smell like to me. They’re incredibly blended so you can’t pick up the notes individually but just the overall scent profile reminds me of an expensive cleaning product. Elysium is the same way it’s really well blended and expensive smelling but it reminds me of a new car not something that i’m gravitated towards. Willing to try more Rojas tho maybe one of the darkers DNA

I reminiscing about my first spray of Isola Blu. I was concerned does it truly lean masculine? First spray.... Lime. Juicy lime and coconut vibe. First minute is tropical. After two minutes I would describe it as green and green citrus. My fear of it leaning feminine is gone. Some jasmine comes up to say hi but more in the background. Masculine woods a beautiful birch adds solid depth and foundation to the fragrance. Once the grass note takes over the foundation it goes even more masculine. You would mistake it for a unique vetiver. Performance is good not quite great. Zero complaints. You smell the quality and master blending. Smells very expensive.