Diaghilev Roja Parfums 2010 Parfum

1000€. That takes your breath away. For that price, others buy a used car, go on vacation, or both. The question is how credible I am when I bought a fragrance for 600€ list price a few weeks ago? The explanation is simple. The Xerjoff Homme costs 600€ for 100ml at list price, but I only paid "only" 440€. That is a personal pain threshold that I only tolerate in extremely rare cases. For this price, a fragrance must impress me sustainably, not let go, and captivate me. A simple "smells good" is no longer enough.

So when I say that the Diaghilev is not worth this price tag, that is, of course, highly subjective. However, I will try to substantiate my point of view a bit.

I have never fully understood Roja's pricing policy in particular. We are talking about luxury goods, no question about it. But it seems that Roja Dove knows no limits here. I kindly received a sample of the Diaghilev from a dear Parfumo (AlexW). Greetings and thanks once again to you.

The Diaghilev is a classic chypre as it should be. And here we already have the first problem. Roja Dove has drawn inspiration from "models" that have existed for decades and has now published his definition of a chypre with the Diaghilev. The only downside is that a fragrance like Mitsouko does not smell worse, costs less, and also has the advantage of being the original release. The Diaghilev starts off similarly citrusy to the Mitsouko. I perceive the lemon most strongly. Nice and zesty, hardly any sweetness, and wonderfully staged. The fragrance then becomes too fruity for my taste with a strong focus on peach. Already here, the Diaghilev drifts too much into the agreeable for me and becomes too feminine. This impression intensifies when the remaining floral elements emerge. In the base, the fragrance tries to change this progression a bit, to give the scent more edges and corners. But even when the fragrance pyramid reads after a spicy peak with all sorts of weight, the Diaghilev remains on a leash and is not released. There is no trace of animalic notes despite civet, cumin, and leather. Although the Diaghilev gains a bit of profile towards the end, it still cannot deny its rather conservative orientation.

The longevity, on the other hand, leaves nothing to be desired. 12-14 hours, the fragrance is extremely noticeable. What is personally almost too "loud" for me, I would have preferred in the fragrance profile instead.

Who will buy the Diaghilev? People for whom 1000€ for a fragrance is no problem and who therefore do not have to eat dry bread every evening for the next 6 months. Those who have the financial means and want to buy the Diaghilev should do so. However, one should not approach the fragrance with the expectation that for 1000€ one gets a scent that one has never smelled before. Because the Diaghilev is nothing that has not already existed in this form. Ultimately, it is nothing more than a status symbol to say "I wear a 1000€ fragrance."

Many try to justify such expensive fragrances with the quality of the ingredients. However, in my opinion, this equation does not add up. No one can tell me that they can smell the quality of individual ingredients in this dense fragrance structure. No one will say, "this bergamot oil smells significantly more valuable here in relation to the kilo price than in a fragrance that costs only a tenth of the Diaghilev." You simply cannot smell that with this multitude of notes. This quality could most likely be smelled if one focuses on a single fragrance ingredient and smells it in isolation. So that you have 2 different oils of bergamot in front of you and can directly compare and say that sample A smells more high-quality than sample B. So please stop always coming up with these hypocritical arguments of the sort "but you can smell the quality." They simply do not hold up beyond a certain point.

In the end, the Diaghilev could not convince me, regardless of the price. After the nice opening, the fragrance drifts too strongly into a feminine direction for me, which does not correspond to my fragrance habits in any way. If I am being very harsh, I would say that the Diaghilev smells like an elderly, wealthy Russian woman. And I personally do not want to be perceived that way.