The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
No. 23 is part of Roja Dove's Pierre de Velay collection, a numbered series that has become coveted among fragrance devotees across the world. This particular entry, the twenty-third in the lineup, was launched in 2019, and it stands as one of the most florally extravagant compositions in the catalog. A classical blend of jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, violet, and orange blossom shimmers through aldehydes and bergamot before revealing a warm, complex base held together by civet, ambergris, leather, and tobacco. The structure is old-school on purpose, the kind of aldehydic floral that demands attention rather than blending into the background. Nothing here is accidental.
Each numbered entry in the Pierre de Velay collection treats classical structure as the starting point, and No. 23 leans hardest into that approach with civet and ambergris anchoring the drydown. Those animalic materials lend the florals depth, warmth, and a faintly dirty undertone that makes them feel alive on skin. Civet, in particular, brings a musky, almost leathery intimacy that modern compositions rarely attempt. The aldehydes up top provide a counterweight, sparkling through the heart and keeping the animalics from tipping into something too raw.
The evolution
The first ten minutes belong to the aldehydes. They lift the whole composition like a wire brush over velvet, sharp and fizzy against the bergamot and mandarin. Then the florals arrive in a wave. Jasmine, rose de Mai, ylang-ylang, violet, and orange blossom open in unison, dense and slightly soapy in the best possible sense. The aldehydes never fully leave; they keep sparkling through the heart like sunlight on water, lending a perpetual effervescence to the bouquet. An hour in, the civet and ambergris begin to surface, and the florals darken slightly as the animalics take hold. Clove adds a spiced warmth, and the tobacco note drifts in like someone lit a cigarette three rooms away, smoky and distant but impossible to ignore. By the three-hour mark, the leather and labdanum are fully present, and the composition has settled into something deep, warm, and unmistakably animalic.
Cultural impact
No. 23 sits in a small but devoted corner of the fragrance world, worn by people who appreciate classical aldehydic structure and don't flinch at animalic basenotes. It rewards attention and rewards skin chemistry, revealing itself slowly over the course of a wearing. The civet-and-ambergris foundation gives it a polarizing quality, and that divisiveness is part of its appeal. This is a composition that knows what it wants to be and refuses to dilute itself for broader acceptance.
