Top Notes 
Basil
Lavender
Bergamot
Heart Notes 
Coconut
Heliotrope
Grasse jasmine
May rose
Violet
Base Notes 
Clove
Tobacco
Cinnamon
Vanilla
Benzoin
Cedarwood
Ginger
Musk
Oakmoss
Pine
Pink pepper
Vetiver
Patchouli
11/18/2024
IdleExpatter
18 Reviews
IdleExpatter
Very helpful Review
5
It's my perfect fragrance. It may or may not be yours.
Let's get it out of the way right off the bat: this is my favorite fragrance. Full stop.
Out of the mountain of fragrances I've smelled or sampled at this point, Manhattan is the one that feels most like a perfumer rummaged around in my brain and came out with this scent. To my nose, it's a gorgeously blended tapestry of most of my favorite notes that creates a warm, intoxicating mélange. My brain won't let me have a single signature, but this one would certainly be on the cold-weather shortlist.
Of course, in typical Roja fashion, this fragrance lists about fifty thousand notes, of which I can notably detect maybe five or six. But setting the notes aside, as an EXPERIENCE this sings.
Another reviewer, Tiago, used the word "sparkly" to describe the fragrance, and that's what the opening is to me: a surprisingly light and sparkly pop of citrus and lavender, something just a bit boozy, and a warm, toasty...coconut?! What's that doing in here?? Not the note you'd expect, but wow it works: enveloping the effervescent opening minutes in a lightly sweet, warmly roasted base.
As the opening fades, you sink into a world of warm baking spices, vanilla, sandalwood, and a quite lush tobacco. It's much more graceful than those notes might make you expect, though. I wouldn't call this fragrance LIGHT, but Manhattan has a much airier, loftier presence than something like Tobacco Vanille, which has similar notes but in my experience sits much darker, heavier, and closer to the skin than Manhattan does.
I get excellent longevity and presence from this, but of course your mileage/bottle/batch may vary. I know the Roja bottles are love-em-or-hate-em, but they don't bother me. The only place I can knock real points off here is for price: the value proposition in any Roja is gonna be for you to decide for yourself, but even for the already-inflated world of fragrance costs in general, Roja's prices can make your eyes water.
Out of the mountain of fragrances I've smelled or sampled at this point, Manhattan is the one that feels most like a perfumer rummaged around in my brain and came out with this scent. To my nose, it's a gorgeously blended tapestry of most of my favorite notes that creates a warm, intoxicating mélange. My brain won't let me have a single signature, but this one would certainly be on the cold-weather shortlist.
Of course, in typical Roja fashion, this fragrance lists about fifty thousand notes, of which I can notably detect maybe five or six. But setting the notes aside, as an EXPERIENCE this sings.
Another reviewer, Tiago, used the word "sparkly" to describe the fragrance, and that's what the opening is to me: a surprisingly light and sparkly pop of citrus and lavender, something just a bit boozy, and a warm, toasty...coconut?! What's that doing in here?? Not the note you'd expect, but wow it works: enveloping the effervescent opening minutes in a lightly sweet, warmly roasted base.
As the opening fades, you sink into a world of warm baking spices, vanilla, sandalwood, and a quite lush tobacco. It's much more graceful than those notes might make you expect, though. I wouldn't call this fragrance LIGHT, but Manhattan has a much airier, loftier presence than something like Tobacco Vanille, which has similar notes but in my experience sits much darker, heavier, and closer to the skin than Manhattan does.
I get excellent longevity and presence from this, but of course your mileage/bottle/batch may vary. I know the Roja bottles are love-em-or-hate-em, but they don't bother me. The only place I can knock real points off here is for price: the value proposition in any Roja is gonna be for you to decide for yourself, but even for the already-inflated world of fragrance costs in general, Roja's prices can make your eyes water.
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