Kingdom by Alexander McQueen, 2003

Am I the only one who thought that a fragrance with the name KINGDOM would be intended for men? Am I the only one for whom this odd assortment of oriental notes ends by smelling like a reduction of redwood oil in the drydown? Honestly, this is one of the strangest creations I've ever sniffed! How do I get a woody-spicy perfume from an assortment of notes NONE of which is wood? The ever-so-brief citrus opening of KINGDOM holds promise, but what happens next is an inexorable march to a pseudo-wood oil drydown, which becomes clunkier and woodier over time. I've worn this composition a few times, with the same final effect: the woodiest fragrance I've ever worn--yet it contains no wood whatsoever?! If the categorization of perfumes into feminine and masculine makes any sense at all, KINGDOM really is destined for men, it seems to me. I am not put off, as are some, by what they are identifying as cumin in this composition, for in my case everything blends with everything else: celery seed, oakmoss, rhubarb, mint, carnation--you name it, it appears to be in here--as though mashed together with a mortar and pestle to produce something that is not in here at all! Weird, weird, weird. Although I do believe that this composition is unique, when I put it on I find myself wondering: 1) when will the wood chips stop flying into my face? 2) can I actually wear this anywhere? 3) wouldn't this be a nice time for a bath? For the record: this smells *nothing* like DUNE to me.

When a fragrance, despite being sin in its deep substance, despite festering otherworldly secretions or aphrodisiacal seminal liquid of dragon, at least for the main part of its development, notwithstanding gets the greatest effort ever conceivable to enter itself in the human contemporary fashionable parameters, well talking about balances in spite of that accomplished miracle is like breaking the spell, like replacing its perdurable, supernatural trait with a material bore. That critical exercise becomes therefore a vulgar manifestation of olfactory chauvinism in the case. Kingdom in the course of its evolution discloses itself as "ultra-dimentional" potion able to teleport me in a medieval steaming contexture, in a world of Holy Inquisition, decadent castles and fortifications by drawbridges endowed. A vague world in grey comes to mind, a world of secret loves consummated in the hidden rooms, a world of damsels and carriages towed by robust horses. Certain fragrances hardly aim to perfection of balances and long indeed to uphold the dirty, the obscene, to convey a message of debatable luxuriousness. Kingdom manages certainly to become a contemporary fragrance but is a scent that lives a struggling conflict between obscurantism and modernism and is one of the most womanly ever cause it is absolutely true it reminds , even just due to its obscure background, the smell of anatomy of women, the whiff of sweet sweat of woman, the aroma of consummated sex and secretions. While the off-putting whiffs in Allure slide in to disgust and rancid here indeed evolve in to pheromonical smell of the sin. The bitter-sweet smell of passions, the controversial waves open at once the doors to the surprisingly modern glamour trait in a scent conceived for the women of the Kingdoms court. The vulgar and animalist accord of citruses-neroli-ginger- cumin-pepper,the soul and core of the fragrance i mean, is the gothic, acid and decadent feature of the scent, is the otherworldly face performed by witches and fairs, is the sabre of scandal. The cumin is prominent, overwhelming, spicy, sultry and dirty, it is circled by the other soldiers in the mission of rising human secretions, animal molecules and disappeared odors in the night of the ages. Rose and jasmine must strain themselves in order to counterpoise the animal, acid trait with their sensual and current wake. Is like to tame a crazy bull, a furious blooding beast but the flowers couldn't manage to get it in loneliness, they need a support. The creamy, woody, musky base achieves the strenuous attempt to link the potion to the new world, to the contemporary age, in order to step from the imagination up to the real, to give texture and consistence to the sultriness, to support the flowers in the attempt to fence in the animal. The stout sandalwood, supporting flowers and balsams, manages in its task, achieves the mission, tames the animal giving stableness to the madness. The outcome is a contemporary pheromonical, dark rose-woody scent which manages to wave from the gothic to glamour, from animalist to modern chic at once doing all with wonderful sillage and a great longevity. Kingdom, accomplished the transition, will anyway be in our olfactory memory for its hidden core of left over age and not for the final modern outlook appearance.

Well this fragrance has been so largely discussed that i don't feel capable of adding something substantial to note analysis etc. I can speak only about my relation to it. Surprisingly, Kingdom turned out to be one of my most versatile scents, maybe topped only by Mugler Cologne. I can always put it on without any special occasion and without too much thinking as it fells right most of the time. And I have this abstract connection between Kingdom and Mugler Cologne, not by notes but - not sure how to say that - some kind of sensual freshness. Mugler Cologne has its citrus top, almost like real cologne would, but then it goes the the Eastern way with musk and then something which give an alien, sci-fi fell to it all. Kingdom does the same with its sweet citrusy opening which then reveals some kind of oriental structure but again, it's fiction not pretending to be authentic or classic, it's the sci-fi remake of an oriental base. Rose and jasmine, myrrh and raw vanilla, they blend beyond recognition. As about cumin, hasn't it been discussed so vastly everywhere, i would never focus on it, i think it blends perfectly within the slightly smoky base. And I don't think I'm so tolerant to cumin in large doses: I can't stand for example the latest Al Oudh by L'Artisan Parfumeur. Definitely not body odor to my nose in Kingdom. In fact, no extremes at all because of its smooth blending, so smooth it even feels a bit defocused; which just makes it more wearable as it doesn't speak instead of me when I wear it, it just complements me, adds a beauty aspect to the air around me. Not happiness, mind you, not even joy; it's this beauty that always evokes longing so we never say we enjoy beauty as we'd also rarely admit beauty can make us sad. Me, I don't actually know how to feel about beauty. It's just there with its roses and myrrh to turn prose into poetry.

I was swanning about in a department store when I first smelled Kingdom - and to my 17 year old self it smelled of absolute sophistication, womanly, and sexy. Sadly, everyone else I encountered thought the stuff was positively rank and I stopped wearing it. I came across the gorgeous (though annoying and impractical) bottle in a box of old things recently and decided to try it again. It was love all over again.

There's nothing shy or cute about Kingdom. Immediately after it's sprayed there's a royal blast of sparking intense citrus and cumin that is not for the faint of heart. After a minute or two I notice an additional floral note in the background that takes some of the shock value out of the top notes. As Kingdom begins to settle down, that sparkling citrus thing completely dies away from me but the cumin takes over and its incredibly dark and sensual and lasts for several hours. In its dying phases Kingdom gets warm and much more floral, in a way that is enchantingly subtle and a complete surprise after its bad-ass beginnings.

I consider Kingdom to be the perfect scent allegory for a great night out - it starts big and intoxicating, gets incredibly sexy and finally drifts off to a beautiful floral with enough personality to linger on the sheets in the morning.

I understand where the complaints of a body odour scent might come from, but for me Kingdom is much too cold a scent for that. Cumin aside, something in the mix keeps Kingdom slightly sweet and too perfect smelling to be dirty or sweaty. I wouldn't call Kingdom sophisticated any longer but it's definitely adult and quite a statement fragrance. I'm glad I didn't throw out my bottle and am finally able to truly appreciate it.