¶ Fragrance Review
Hello everybody , welcome to a brand new episode of the Cologne podcast .
I'm Mike and I'm Ryan and we're two best friends . We're going on a fragrance journey , smelling brand new fragrances by Roger Dove and giving you our uneducated opinion .
Oh God , yeah , today we're going to be reviewing a little isolo blue Parfum . Yeah , you know , we were let down a little bit by the last Roger Parfum . It was my first time being let down .
Yes , we tried . Oh intense The Elysium that kicked us in the Grona loinis .
But not today .
No , no , no , no . This is a clean slate . Ryan , yeah , We still love Roger Dove . He's never hurt us . He's never rejected our emails to be on the podcast . He's still our hero . A lot of people claim and I think they're right that this is a rebranding of his original release Oligarch Yeah , because I got pulled down .
Right , yeah , because of the , you know . So this potentially could be a fragrance that some of you listeners have , but to us , we haven't even smelled that one . Yeah , so this is all new , brand spanky new . I've got some a little bit different for this episode . Okay , normally we throw a little bit of heat .
We like to blow a little smoke , yeah , when we talk about the online refuse . But I want to give one from each side . I want to give a positive . I want to give it not so positive . Is this maybe a new trend ? Maybe , we'll see . Okay , let us know . Listeners , do you want both sides ?
Do you like just punching somebody in the back when they're not ready for it ? All right , we'll start with the usual C dub five says if you want a $400 bottle of turdum , is this , is it ? So that's the negative , that's the negative . Okay , And basically he's saying this is an overpriced version of something that's already out there .
And you know what's funny is like I have seriously wanted to smell . People have asked us over and over to smell those . Let's get on the horn on that one and get a sample of that . We have a sample of it . What the we do ?
Yeah , we've got multiple ones . Why are we even doing this episode ? then You know what . Thanks for listening , guys .
We'll see .
J K J K . Okay , A positive note is that our friend cinnamon buns over on Fragrantica says I love everything that Roger creates . This will definitely be going in my summer wish list for my vacation in Dubai . She's obviously not concerned about the $400 plus price tag that C dub five was complaining about .
How do you know ? cinnamon's a woman ? Her avatar no-transcript . Well , she picked a really weird name . That's just a good looking woman . God damn . Cinnabon , huh Cinnabon or Cinnabon Cinnamon buns . She got blonde . She probably should have called herself Cinnabon Cinnamon blondes , yeah , yeah , maybe .
Well , they all got to smell it and we're going to , but first you know what we got to do . We got to have Todd play the music to that one night stand review . Hit the music , todd , yeah Yeah , one night stand review .
One night stand review . Well , mike , hmm , after spending the night with Wunder Vogel , we're not going to give you guys that . Yet That's what you want .
Yeah , you thought we were going to give you that . Actually probably didn't , because the last episode we spent quite a while talking about Molecule 01 . That's right , that's what you're going to get this one . We've got an upcoming super secret special episode that we're going to talk about 2787's , wunder Vogel And rule of 72 .
Yes , but this time we're talking about the alchemy of Molecule 01 , as Chris calls it . Yeah , that secret sparkle .
Yeah . What kind of made us want to do this , though , is because you got a voicemail from our friend Steve .
Yeah , Steve listened to the episode and he said this It's a funny fragrance type of Molecule 01 .
Because , like what Chris was saying , when he sort of just plays it himself , he doesn't really notice it , but what other people do is he's kind of like that . It's fucking weird , mate . I don't know if it's the biggest scam ever created or not . To be honest , i'm still not . I'm still dubious , i still think I'm just falling for this scam .
It's fucking weird man , i think to some people . yes , it is hard to really wrap your head around whether or not it's actually doing the thing .
My personal opinion is I think it's actually doing that thing , because when we first smelled it it was weird . We were both like I don't smell anything , didn't smell it . And then you came to me and you go , man , i was wearing this the other day and it was popping Like it was like nuclear to me . I was like really .
And then we were actually this is actually last year we were doing like a four month job project with this person But we had to go to the grocery store . We had to stage like this .
Oh yeah , okay . I was wondering where I was going with this . No , no , no . I was wondering where you were talking about the grocery , because you mentioned it in the episode with Chris . You said , yeah , he was an aisle over in the grocery store And I was like , when did I ?
I mean , I know it weird a lot , but I didn't remember that specific interaction till now . Okay , yeah , i do remember that .
Just so the few guys know , i have a pornographic memory . I can remember everything , everything . So yeah , we went to go buy some groceries to stage for the shoot , yeah , and it was like cooking outside and stuff .
Right , it was an outdoorsy type pick on a grill And Mike was walking like probably six feet in front of me And then he was like you know , there was that . And then it was a time when he was like an aisle over , i was like wow , i was like I went up to you , i was like dude , i can smell the hell out of this molecule of wine , right .
So ever since I'd been a believer . And then he gave me a little bit of his bottles not too long ago , just like a little bit , and he always gives me like Hey , i've got two mill sample left in this ball where you want to freaking slurp on that .
I give you more than that . It's like 10 mil . Here's my scraps , you peasant Yeah .
Eat these crumbs , yeah , but I wore it and I loved it . And we actually tried it with the . I don't know if we mentioned on the episode with Chris , but we tried it with even a mystique . Oh yeah , and I'm not kidding guys , what a killer combo . That is a nice combo , super badass combo , because we Super , yeah , i was shocked . I was shocked .
So I'm a believer in the alchemy , yeah .
My favorite part of that episode with Chris was he goes it's like the Empress new clothes Everybody's . That is probably the best take on this , and I feel like Steve is feeling that a little bit . Yeah , people are going on and on but there's nothing there , right , you can't see it . It's not really my favorite word palpable .
Yeah , You know That I think some people kind of feel that he has this . Is this a scam ? Is this a gimmick ? I smell something but I don't know that's doing much . But the combo of even a mystique did make me a believer , because that was really really nice .
I loved that combination , but I've been using it more at layering for the longest time , Up until probably that episode . I don't think I ever did layer it with fragrance Really . But after that episode I've been layering it with every fragrance , Trying to test it out .
Yeah , Some it does better than others , but I do notice that I actually spray it heavier when I'm layering than I do when I wear it by itself .
And just so , because I'm one of those people where it's like what do you do first ? Do you mince the garlic , or do you , you know , like , are you spraying on the molecular one first or after you spray on the main fragrance First ? I spray it first .
Okay , that's the most sense . How much is that bottle that you got ? I got the tester bottle and it was like 50 bucks .
That's for me , and knowing what it has done for me and for you , that's a steal . Yeah , so my one night stand review of that would probably be to say it's a buy for us .
You know there are places online , such as myfragmentsamplescom , where you can buy decants of it , so you don't even have to go deep . 50 bucks Oh , they already got . they got that on the website . That's where we got our first five mil decant from .
Really , Yeah , ok . Well , yeah , if that's available , go there , check it out , see . If you like it , slurp it up . I know for a fact , though majority of people , when you first get it and that's going to be the fun part Yeah , yeah , yeah , is you're going to go ? I don't smell anything . I really think majority of people don't smell anything , and it took .
it took a couple of wearings , but now it's like Mike could just be wearing that by itself and be 10 feet away . I'm like he's wearing it .
I think we open up a thread on Patreon Oh , that'd be interesting And tell us if you've already smelled it . The first time you sprayed it on , could you smell anything ? And of the people who haven't and they decide to go get , let's say , five mil of it and try it , tell us about your first time wearing it . Yeah , that'd be cool , that would be cool .
All right , there's our one nice review of eccentric molecules , molecule
¶ Isola Blu by Roja Parfums Review
01 . Now let's get on to our center of the day , the redemption arc . We've all been waiting for Isola blue , roger Parfum .
Does the hero come back ? in the end ? He better . We're going to find out . Spray it on my best mate .
Okay , Let me go ahead and mute my phone so that doesn't happen again .
Yeah that was embarrassing .
Oh , it's such a cute little dick . So , fun fact we got this sample from Roger Parfum's . It was attached to the 10 mil travel atomizer He sells . We bought that and we knew we're going to get anything extra . They gave us this . They were like Hey , don't these guys do something cool ?
We don't respond to their emails , but hey , give them this two mil decant . So there you go , we're about to do that .
They're just trying to copy after Mark over at myfragmentsamplescom giving you a free sample in every order . It is a good thing to do .
Here we go Okay .
Hey , i wish Steve was here to do this because this is his job , but I think I'm going to give you some of the key notes as we're smelling it . See if you can pick these up , ryan . You should be smelling lemon , bergamot , lime , apple , coconut , champaka , whatever that is , cut grass , pink pepper and leather .
I'm going to tell you straight up , guys , this shit is legit , it's really nice .
God damn Man , you know what my hope is Go ahead If this is like Territor Mizz , we can get it for cheap . Yeah , because this is really nice . You guys already know me . It is a nice citrus kind of summary Man , is it summary ? Yeah , you know , i was a little worried because we looked it up Isola is an Italian word for island .
Yeah , and the whole marketing campaign of it was around blue water . Yeah , i was like God there better not be marine notes in this . But this nice citrus summer type fragrance , do you feel like you're picking up like a lime , lemon , that sort ?
of thing I was going to say . I feel like this So Mike's number one complaint of the Elysium ooh , intense , that just came out . Yeah , it was like because that was his first he's been disappointed with Roger , but it was my first , but this was his first time saying this because we were having a conversation and this actually came up .
They were wanting to know what our opinion was And Mike was like this is the first time where I feel like it just wasn't like well blended , if that's the thing right .
Yeah , because you know me the master perfumer .
Well , you mean , you didn't really mean it that way , though , you were just saying it was kind of all over the place , yeah .
Like it did something on my skin that I'm not used to having a $400 fragrance do , especially about Roger Dove , which is Roger Parfum sorry , which is that it did this thing at the first where I liked it , but then it turned into some weird hairspray smelling thing And then it was good again And then it smelled dingy , like it was doing , like a bunch of
things that I was like , ugh , this doesn't smell and forgive me because I'm not the most nosely educated , it just didn't smell high end . At some points of the fragrance I agree .
Those parts that did smell good to me ? Yes , there were .
It was like a roller coaster .
Overall would you say it smelled good . Yeah , But it wasn't like It was 50-50 for me .
It was good for a little bit , and then it was bad for a little bit , then it was good again , and then it was kind of bad again This already . Well , i'm hoping this doesn't do that , because this smells amazing . God on the card it smells so good .
It's just like lemony and lime .
It's also a little , i mean it's a little masculine , it feels a little mature . Yeah , it's got like a spiciness to it that makes me think like kind of old school , which is like classic Rajaparfum type fragrance .
It makes me question why he released these two kind of next to each other out the gate the Elysium Intense in this , But I think he had to . I don't want to say he had to , but apparently is there some rebranding going on with this .
Yeah , for sure . I mean , we're not like the most politically tuned in podcast , but the assumption is that the previous name was oligarch , which ties into Russian whatever And obviously the issues over there with them and the Ukraine .
it was a smart PR move to probably not lean into that fragrance And if you have such as great smelling fragrance like this , it makes you go . we don't care so much about the affiliation with Russia . This is just a great fragrance . Let's put it out there as something different .
It smells incredible And it's really really good . And let me get into the price and trim a little bit Price . You know , guys , it's Rosha , it's expensive . I'll probably near build up for it 485 .
Yeah for a 50 mil . Yeah , that is huge price tag .
Hey look , just know you enjoy having your pants pulled down and paddled . when you're going to go in on a Rosha fragrance , They're going to take you on your money .
You can go the more affordable route . They do sell a travel atomizer . You can also use deep-dented sites .
That's $95 , by the way , for their 10 mil from his website And for whatever weird reason . as of this recording , saks Fifth Avenue has this thing on sale for 412 .
So you're like getting like an $80 discount , kind of pretty much .
It smells good And the trend . Obviously it's new , It's lifting off , It's up there . To me it feels kind of warranted . This smells really fucking good . It does smell really
¶ Summer Vibes Fragrance Review
good . So , and this episode's coming , I promise guys , we need to seriously just figure out what we're doing with that episode . But summer vibes Let's just let the cat out of the bag . Yeah , yeah , yeah , Don't you go on a summer vibes garb .
We didn't like it .
It's terrible to me .
Yeah , we were going to do a giveaway on Patreon . I don't think we've discussed this with all of the listeners . We did make a video and posted on Patreon , but to all the listeners . Ryan had bought a bottle of summer vibes . We were both excited to smell it because Light Blue Forever was pretty awesome fragrance . It came good . You bought a bottle of it .
We wanted to do an episode and then give it away to a Patreon . We started to record the episode . We got into where we both smelled it and we were like neither one of us was really feeling it . It lacked a lot .
It was like there was no passion from either of us , Negative or positive . It was just so blah .
The problem was I had a little bit of higher expectations for it . I thought it was going to be good . I expected to smell lots of citrus lemon . I was looking for that . I was looking for this fragrance honestly .
That's why I brought it up . This is what summer vibes should have been like . Probably would have been a lot cheaper .
I wish Yeah , but this is what it should have been , like It should have been . Let's just finish that story , though . We ended up saying , since we both don't like it , it doesn't make sense for us to then give it away to a Patreon . We're not excited about it , we don't love it , no use .
We went back to the store , you returned that , and then you traded it in for another new release that coming up in a few episodes . We're going to spray and we've already smelled it . We wanted to make sure that this go around out of fragrance that we really liked . It's newer fragrance . We're going to do an episode on it . We do enjoy it .
We're excited about it . Then we're going to give that bottle away on Patreon .
Yeah , a little bit about the episode .
Just to tease a little bit , we actually laved up and went into the store , yeah , so you're going to get a little bit of that Behind the scenes experience that you'll only get if you were to be hanging out with us shopping for phrases We're so cool .
I can't wait for you guys to hear it .
All right , so back on this fragrance , this is definitely your summer vibe .
This is what a summer vibe should smell like . This is so summery , this is so pretty . This is beautiful . I love this .
I'm going to say this , and you may be able to put the name on what this is , because I can't put my finger on it . This is not a bad thing . In a good way , it smells like some cleaner that I've smelled before .
I agree , very lemony fresh to me Yeah .
Which I love . I'm obsessed with pine saw . This isn't pine saw , no , it's not pine saw , but you are obsessed with that smell .
It smells good . I just can't express that enough . It smells really , really good . What are you smelling ? I know it doesn't have water notes , but I do get like lemon , very lemon , maybe a little bit of lime , and like breezy , like you're on the beach , breeze , a little bit of the ocean water hitting you , kind of scent Gotcha .
That's what I get , like this . That's why I'm like I'm screaming This is summer vibes , this is bad Yeah .
This is a great way to make an ocean inspired fragrance that doesn't have that nasty aquatic vibe to it . Absolutely .
So sharp , very mature , not too old , but it's mature .
So to me , rogers Burlington 1819 smells like a dark grapefruit tobacco , just a mysterious Yeah . This to me is like if you turn the lights on on that fragrance , oh okay , it's brighter , it still has that . To me feels like more of a grapefruit , yeah , and it might be that it's got such a sharp cut of that lime , yeah .
But like to me , if we didn't read these notes I would have said it smells kind of grapefruity , kind of spicy , clean , though brighter .
I agree with all that . I can't argue a point on that . That's really close .
I like that on the tester card , which is our way of like guessing what it would smell like . On our clothing , It smells amazing . And then on the skin , which is like a way for the fragrance to get warmer and to move around and project more , it smells great too .
It does , i will say . the card stock , though , definitely has more of the lemon lime breeze like brightness .
Yeah , that's where I get that sort of cleaner type smell .
God damn it . So sharp dude . Okay , Who's wearing this ? Because I don't want to necessarily say who's wearing it , because it is more . I thought this is more of a scene and we've done this before .
Okay , But I do have . after you know , we go and cut on the scene . I do have an idea of who's wearing it and I will say that afterwards , but paint the picture , Ryan . take me there , Okay .
And this is actually the words from Rajah himself . Okay , Doc .
In the Mediterranean , an exquisitely dressed individual steps off a private yacht . A day of relaxation at a private villa evolves into an evening of fine dining As the sun sinks into the ocean . A five star vacation captured in a fragrance . Just one spritz of this sophisticated citrus perfume surrounds you in the scent of endless summer .
Ooh , you know , his brand has always been good at that . Remember when we first smelled that original discovery set that you got , we pulled up the videos individually , so smart , and watched as he described the personality of each fragrance and we would smell and listen And that's what we loved .
I think that's part of why we really were taken to this brand , because it spoke to who we were . Yes , we loved the cinematic nature of it And you know what ?
Kind of a little . Let me grab Rajah's hand and smack it Now , maybe a cost effective reason why . But he really has dialed back on not doing those anymore . Oh really , And that was because all that stuff was kind of prior to the pandemic too . Yeah , But I missed that about that brand .
I missed like we did it with the male version and the female discovery set . When you got it it was an order of how he had the video , Yeah , And he would talk about each fragrance . Super smart , genius .
Yeah , and each scene was played out visually . It was really slick way to do it And I feel that I do feel this vibe , i smell it . I'll tell you who . I really do think who's wearing this thing . Okay , and generically I'm going to say it's a male 38 to 55 . I agree , dress is nice . Well , do you think dresses not like summer dressing up ?
Yes , yes , no , no , no , this is not like a suit and tie . No , this is like you care about how you're presenting yourself , even leisurely . You know it's like Daniel Craig on the beach . You know what I mean ? It looks a lot different than we look when we go to that dirty Gulf of Mexico water .
I think , ryan , if you were a millionaire , this would be your perfect summer scent . Oh man , i'd be one bougie son of a bitch Personality wise . Let's just extract the information about style and financial prowess . Yeah , this does feel like a fragrance for summer that would really fit your personality Absolutely . I love it .
Not your like exterior personality , but what you communicate in the fragrances you choose to wear . This feels like a fragrance If you had the means that you would choose to wear often in the heat and in Texas we got plenty of opportunity , got 11 and a half months of it .
Yeah , okay , so is it ?
a , skip it , sample it Or buy it . What are you going to do , ryan ?
Man , we've set this beginning of this season , or skip it , sample it by It's really got to mean it .
They got to mean it , baby , they got to make sense .
If you've got the money , it's a buy . If you're like me and you don't gots that money , it's a sample . It's a sample . I'd probably go , i think , a 10 mil and that'll hit me up for the summer . Yeah Then . But I will feel even that 95 , because it's going to have shipping on it , i'm going to feel that shit , that's brutal ?
Yeah , because that is a 100 mil bottle at almost retail for Lunarosa Carbon .
Absolutely . Yeah , for sure . It's a sample , just to experience it and know what this smells like . I mean , it's a sample , guys , you got to try it . What says you ? I'm ?
with you . I mean , if I had the money I'd want a bottle of it . I really would , because it smells so good . I know I would spray it on , i know I would wear , and it's not one that I go . Oh , i really like , i'd like to own a bottle , just to own a bottle . I'd like to own a bottle to wear it , and you know shame on us .
We even in our notes here . Hey , we should talk about the bottle more .
Yeah .
The bottle looks great . We should have talked about this when we first sprayed it on .
But it's kind of classic parfum by Rajah Bottle , though right , it's the same plate type . look same cap with the cap . color is beautiful . Yeah , i do love it It's a sharp as it has , like this turquoise , light , blue Ocean looking color , yeah , in the jewels in the cap And then it matches that in the fragrance name and stuff on the gold plate .
On the front It looks good , it does look good , it smells good .
So what are we going to tease for next episode ?
I think we're going to bring somebody in , okay , and we're going to talk to them about some troubling things in the fragrance community . Oh my , God . It could stir some things up . Just stop . We've got an interview coming up with a fragrance apprentice .
¶ The Fragrance Apprentice Expose
We talk about his new video that he had released a few weeks back .
No , no , no , Now they released a few weeks back . He won an award . I was talking about the YouTube video . Oh , i'm sorry .
I'm a fuck up dude . No , it's okay , we'll start over . Okay , we talk about his YouTube video that he kind of unleashes on not just the fragrance community but fragrance businesses and marketing everything . Yeah , it's like a hit piece on fragrance existence from the fragrance apprentice And it really affected us . That's the crazy part .
Yeah , it really got us talking . So we're lucky enough to be able to sit down with him . Chat about that Also . Chat about he released a short film right at Christmas time last year And he was in Chicago .
Yeah , kind of a small thing's going on there about it .
There's some big things going on , so we'll talk about that too .
Yeah , so join us next time when we talk to him . Yeah .
Another expose ad .
Expose fragrance apprentice And until next time , spray it up , y'all .