You’d have to be a beauty hermit not to have heard of Roja Dove. Does anyone in the world know more about fragrance? Probably not, which is why beauty editors hang on his every pearl of perfume wisdom. So: to breakfast at The Wolseley, to hear about the new website he’s worked on for World Duty Free: www.discoverfragrance.co.uk. The idea: it helps you choose an addition to your ‘fragrance wardrobe’ appropriate to your travel destination. (Currently, mostly cities – from Marrakech to Cape Town, Paris to Rome – but holiday hot-spots being added soon.) He’s spot-on: a fragrance that you love to wear to dinner here might be too crisp for a naughty weekend away, or too heavy or cloying for a business meeting. (In Japan, a spritz of Opium or Shalimar is actually an insult to their traditionally fragrance-less culture.) The site’s simple but clever. Give it a go. At the very least, it’ll explain in a bit more depth – thanks to Roja’s expert insights – about some fragrances you may not know, and at best, you may find a new perfume ‘love’. (Which they hope you’ll pick up in World Duty Free next time you’re heading for a foreign metropolis.) Of course, Beauty Bible couldn’t resist asking Roja for his best-ever fragrance tip, before we parted company. He took a few more sips of his frothy Wolseley cappuccino, and declared: ‘Never judge a fragrance by its bottle.’ Another pearl. Thanks, Roja. (Because he’s right about that, too.)
