Mad Kate

[Summerpixy]

Honeycomb, red currant, freesia, vanilla, rose geranium, thyme, and gardenia.

Sweet and fruity floral. I love the mixture of honey and red currant, its very easy to fall in love with the complexity of this scent. It is also very wearable as it doesn't overwhelm you but softly drifts in and out of your awareness. If I didn't already have a bottle of Swan Maiden I'd be hunting this down as my perfect Gardenia scent.

[alianthe]

In the bottle: Herbal, a little juicy, with a floral note that feels sort of half-smelled, like how you can't really see a blacklight and can't hear a dog whistle at all because they're out of your sensory range. Sort of like that.

 

On me: How do I describe this?! Herbally florally juicy, but in a different way than it was in the bottle. And, which of these descriptors is more prominent is a thing that changes from time to time as it's worn. I'm actually shocked, now that I read the description of the notes, at how well the freesia and gardenia play together with my skin, considering that I tend to turn sweet florals into stomping slobbering rampaging flower monsters. When he first smelled it, Himself said that it was lovely and he liked it, but it smelled like "somebody else," as in somebody who wasn't me. And, I'll grant him that it's not for every day, but it's delightful on days when I'm feeling a little off-kilter. Personally, I like it.

 

Conclusions: Delightful, light, pretty, and yes, a bit mad. Stays close to the skin, but lasts a while.

[filigree_shadow]

When I first put on Mad Kate, it was entirely freesia and currant. I couldn't smell anything else. I happen to like the nice bright fruity florals a lot better than heady florals, so I thought I had found another keeper. However, after about 30 minutes, it turned into the sort of heady floral I usually avoid. (I honestly don't know whether it's rose geranium or gardenia because I'm not 100% sure what rose geranium smells like.) The bright beginning morphed quite a lot. It showed a lot of promise there at the beginning, but I'm just not a fan of the dry phase.

[Little Bird]

I'm always hopeful for blends with currant in them, so I wanted to give Mad Kate a chance on my skin, even being wary of the floral notes in it. In reality, I don't get any currant from this at all. I get a hint of honeyed sweetness that tries to calm down the florals, but mostly I think the freesia and gardenia are amping up on my skin.

 

Mad Kate is honeyed white florals initially, but the florals quickly take over the blend entirely. In the drydown this smells like a perfumey/musky, breezy, white floral, drugstore perfume on my skin. I get a generic musky-white-floral smell from a lot of floral blends, where I'm not sure that I could even tell them apart, and Mad Kate falls into that category for me. Leaving this blend on my skin, 3 hours later I'm left with a light dusting of powdery vanilla and musky white floral smell.

 

This is too much white floral for me to wear, so it's not a keeper for me.

[copyshopclerk]

In the decant: Rose and something almost citrussy

 

On: Almost all rose when wet. As it dries, it becomes a honeyed rose - maybe a bit like Lady Luck Blues?

 

Dry: It shifts - on some sniffs it's a lot of honey (which I don't like) and some rose (also don't like), and other times it's gardenia (which I love.) So I don't like this enough to keep, but it's interesting how it's oscillating. It's very fresh and springtime.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Sweet, fruity, floral and herbal! Red currant, honey, rose, and thyme pop out.

 

Wet: Softer, sweeter, and more floral. The red currant is GONE. The vanilla and gardenia are very much there. The rose is much weaker as is the honey. Still some thyme, and I like the emergence of the geranium.

 

Dry: The gardenia has taken over, and with the sweet vanilla, this is sort of creamy-powdery on my skin. The herbal notes and honey are faint, and the rose is completely gone.

 

Summary: After a few hours, it's pretty much straight honey, with a hint of vanilla and thyme. It has great throw. I'm not sure I can endure the powdery-gardenia stage though, and there are other honey scents (Litha, Gennivre) that I prefer.

[zankoku_zen]

This one was a strong, fruity floral. At the beginning it was much more of a rose geranium blend which I wasn't entirely too fond of. But after a half hour to hour, it's more of a creamy, berry kind of blend. I am getting more of the honeycomb/red currant combination and I am freaking loving it. Very tasty.

[ravenfeathers]

really gorgeous, lushly fruity but sweet and with a real sense of dignified innocence. the currant and honey were the real stand-outs to me, kept from being at all foody by the herbs. the thyme is an amazing foil to the sweetness of berry, honey, and gardenia.

 

i have to say, i don't find this scent to be a particularly amazing interpretation of the artwork, but it's beautiful in its own right.

[milo]

I don't know why, but I get apples from this. Strong floral gardenia and apples. I wish I got the honeycomb/beeswax, but I don't. It has dried down into something quite wearable, similar to Opuhi, one of my loves, but the 2 hours it takes to get there is just not worth it for me.

[Geminirubyshoes]

I put on Mad Kate at 1 pm today and it is now almost midnight and I can still smell it on my wrists. I am finding that honey scents become amazing on me. I think its the freesia that makes me swoon, its so hard to find a freesia that isnt overpowering and this one is mellow but still makes me be like, oooooh yeah. I cant explain it better than lush. Luscious flowery yumminess. Damn it! I must have it! arrrggh!

[Dark Alice]

All I smell is freesia. Which is a shame because normally vanilla and freesia mix well with me but in this instance, they don't. I smell like glade Freesia airspray. No black currant, no rose geranium! Where are all of the other notes in this that I love???

Edited August 23, 2008 by Dark Alice

[jizatt]

From such a dark painting - this is a remarkably pretty scent! I think I mainly smell gardenia and freesia, as its very fresh. There might be just a hint of vanilla there warming it up. I don't think I get anything fruity, but there is something buried in there that *might* be currant. I like it, but I think freesia isn't quite for me. Makes it too bright or something.

Edited September 1, 2008 by CaudaPavonis

[the_cat_goddess]

In the vial: Bright with a tinge of metallic. I have no idea. Maybe yuzu?

 

Wet: Yuzu and persimmon? For some reason this scent immediately brought to mind the place we stayed at in Costa Rica 10 years ago.

 

Drydown: A tad bit of incense in the background, but still mostly just a creamy fruit scent, but not really overly fruity. This is the worst review ever! I just have no idea what to make of it. I'm going to look at the notes now.

Okay, do not know where yuzu came from! I think that was the red currant mellowed by the rose geranium? Now I can find the honeycomb, vanilla, and gardenia. Very pretty!

 

Overall: Nice throw, pretty scent. Summery and great for feeling pretty!

[tartchef]

 

Oh damn. I kept back a dribble of Mad Kate from my decanting when the ROs first came out, and promptly forgot about it. I dug it out today on a whim, and holy Hannah, it's gorgeous! The gardenia's a bit much at first, verging on soapy, but given 10 minutes, the florals die down & a luscious red currant & honey blend emerges... tart but creamy smooth, with a touch of bitter green from the thyme. It's very similar to Fairy Wine, but far more elegant... red currants & vanilla orchids scattered across ivory satin.

 

If I weren't already married, I would wear this on my wedding day - it's that kind of beautiful womanly scent. Just stunning.

[pinkstardust420]

Wow, this is gorgeous. Sweet, but not foody. First note I get is the rose geranium...but not sharp..it's softened quickly by the gardenia and vanilla. So if you hate rose scents, don't let this one scare you! After about 10 minutes, it softens up even more....with the honey note coming in. Not getting much if any freesia in this blend, nor thyme. Really nice blend.

[vegasblueblood]

I absolutely love this blend. This is one of my favorites. It is so soft, sweet and feminine but it has some kind of an edge that makes it unique, different and interesting. It vaguely foody from the vanilla and honeycomb, somewhat tart from the currant, and softly floral. I get a lot of freesia and gardenia, not much from the rose geranium. This stuff also has great staying power. I put it on around lunch time and it's now hours later and I can still smell it. This is also gorgeously creamy. Amazing.

[msbcozad]

Mad Kate

 

I can't do honey scents. O and Agrat, fail. I can, however, wear Mad Kate because the waxiness of the honeycomb keeps the honey from strangling me. The rose geranium and gardenia were fairly powerful as this scent dried down. After thirty minutes or so, this scent is mostly vanilla and freesia with a light honey background. I think this will be a wonderful warm weather scent.

[boxinghelena]

I love gardenia. Probably one of my all time favorite floral scents. Mad Kate is luscious gardenia & a tad bit of honey & red currant on me.

 

I dabbed this on my wrist before I went to work this morning & have been sniffing myself all day! It's been about nine hours now.

 

Need to get my hands on another bottle, for sure!

[sofaking6]

Gardenia is so lovely. I never would have gone for Mad Kate if I hadn't fallen so in love with Torture Queen, so we have to start with that shout-out.

 

Now, Mad Kate starts out very floral..I got all gardenia and rose geranium and a little red currant at first.

 

As it dries, the honey and vanilla come out more and turn it from a straight floral scent into a creamy, sweet floral blend. Normally I really amp honey but this is nice, the honeycomb is more subdued and it allows all of the other notes to retain their character. Fantastic!

[marared]

In the bottle, I smell floral honey, although not the loud, sweet, syrupy honey that I've gotten accustomed to in other blends. On me, this is a vaguely sweet rose soap. No currant, no freesia... dratted rose takes over it all.

[Molls]

I have a decant of this that a sweet friend gave to me. On first application, it's mostly gardenia. Very pretty. Then for awhile, it's all honeycomb, which is my favorite part. This lasts for about 30 mins or so. After that, it's a light, powdery vanilla. Very nice, but I wish it stayed more of a sweet floral than the vanilla.

[gypsyjolie]

I don't "do" florals, and gardenia has never been my favorite because it is so heady, but it works here! The honeycomb is lovely and the vanilla is sweet to contrast to the brightness of the red currant. The drydown is honeyed, soft, and feminine.

 

Who knew I'd like, let alone crave, a white floral?!

[Antoinette]

I recently got a bottle of this on a lark. I like all of the notes listed but was a bit unsure about the honeycomb. I have to say, the honeycomb turned out to be one of my favorite things about this blend.

 

In the bottle it smells very floral to me and I can pick out the thyme just barely in the background.

Wet on my skin it turns into a honey, currant and vanilla scent with just a hint of the florals. I really like it.

Dry it morphs gently into a vanilla honey. Soft and sweet, one of the only honey scents I've tried that I don't find overpowering on me. I adore this!

 

Really happy that I took a chance on Mad Kate. She's lovely.

[plainjean]

This is absolutely wonderful! And to think: it was one of the Retail Only Salons that I thought I was going to like the least. On me, it's mostly gardenia, but tempered by honeycomb and red currant, and creamy vanilla. It reminds me of something from my childhood, but I can't quite place it. It's a very creamy and soft floral on me, rather than being powdery like so many other florals I've tried.

[Invidiana]

Mad Kate is mad alright, with insane rose geranium. It amped to infinity and overtook everything else from the wet stage all the way into the drydown. I can sense a certain sweetness behind the rose geranium, and I imagine that's the honeycomb/vanilla/redcurrant but it's really almost straight ghastly rose geranium on me.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Invidiana