ROJA PARFUMS
ISOLA VERDE
2025
mandarin
clementine
hedione
magnolia
melon
guava
davana
osmanthus
lily-of-the-valley
ambroxan
cardamom
pink pepper
rum
cedarwood
tobacco
Patchouli
sandalwood
‘A taste of the tropics has just landed exclusively at Harrods. Discover the new Isola Verde from Roja Parfums and let it whisk you away to sparkling shorelines and sun-drenched sand via osmanthus, guava and tobacco.’ – Harrods
Isola Verde is solid in my opinion, but definitely nothing more than that. It’s okay, but not ‘€465/50ml-Roja okay’.
With the direction the brand has taken in recent years and especially with the handing over to a new team of perfumers in 2024/2025, my concerns for the future of this brand have grown (in terms of delivering quality). On the other hand, the notes for Isola Verde really appealed to me and I think Isola Blu is one of the better Roja options currently on the market (of course, this was Oligarch, so that composition had already launched back in 2016). Isola Sol was okay to me as well, but I had higher hopes for Isola Verde.
That’s a long way of saying… Isola Verde isn’t as bad as I feared, but not as good as I hoped. I don’t think it’s remotely as nice as Isola Blu or many of the older Roja Parfums; it definitely fits the bill for some of their more recent launches, with a more modern, almost designer-ish lean (style-wise I’m reminded of Elysium Eau Intense). But it’s a pleasant freshie, that I could happily see myself wearing if it wasn’t as expensive as it is.
Isola Verde opens with the promised ‘tropical bliss’. Fruity, but watery and instantly on the fresh side. You don’t get full-on actual fruitiness or fruit juice here, but a light, airy and watery take, that I definitely prefer for a fragrance like this. It has some green hues (like underripe fruit skin), some more vibrant fruitiness (mango-ish) and for some minutes only, I get my favorite aspect; a creamy, orange (mandarin) sherbet-like hint. It’s a tad sweeter than I’d like, but I was happy with those initial minutes.
However, this all fades or changes way too soon for my liking. After several minutes, the fruitiness takes the backseat completely and I mostly smell metallic, airy, tart, green flowers. Still sweet at the same time, but in a hard to explain way. The way lemon juice can be sweet and sour at the same time; almost candied citrus. Somehow, the combination gives Isola Verde quite a grating, sharp feeling.
This is a typical type of tart, slightly aquatic floral that always smells rather cheap to my nose. Either way, I’m not a big fan of it and it makes for a more one-dimensional majority of the wear, taking Isola Verde down from a promising opening to a mostly okay, but also underwhelming overall experience.
It’s fresh enough from start to finish (the sweetness doesn’t overtake it fully), but for me, it doesn’t come through on the tropical side with fruitiness that I was hoping for after the first minutes. I also don’t get the booziness, rum, davana. Nor the osmanthus or the tobacco. Making for an interesting note breakdown on paper, but a much more common smelling fragrance, where the hedione and ambroxan probably take up more room than any of the those other notes combined (and the late drydown is quite heavy on the white musky, clean linen tinge too to my nose).
Honestly, this smells quite nice, but I don’t see it being worth consideration even if it was half its asking price.