Queen Mab

[Delirium1009]

Warrior, Trickster and Goddess of Magic and Poets, she is one of the Tuatha De Danaan and the Queen of the Faeries. A very complex scent, both shadowy and fierce: black orchid, sandalwood, night-blooming jasmine, osmanthus, Somalian rose, and Chinese musk.

In bottle/imp: Perfumey florals and sandalwood.

Immediately on skin: This is a thick, sweet floral scent. The black orchid, jasmine, osmanthus and rose mixing together create something very floral but also smoky, rich, sweet, and syrupy at the same time. This is very complex, and all the notes seem almost mashed together. The sandalwood is thrown in there, trying to smooth everything together, but I don’t think it’s doing a great job. The osmanthus is giving this almost a peachy feel, while I think the combo of flowers plus musk is what is making it smell so perfume-y.

After a little while: This becomes a lot more blended as I wear it. I can smell the orchid, jasmine, osmanthus and rose separately still, but they’re more of a sweet, smoky and almost fruity floral scent now. The sandalwood has permeated the whole scent, giving it a nice lightly gilded feel, while the musk blends in more at the base.

Overall Impressions: If you couldn’t already tell from the description, this is mainly a floral blend. The flowery notes don’t mesh well at first, but they start to blend really nicely after only a few minutes. Unfortunately osmanthus is an odd note on me, and it comes out too strongly in this blend for my liking. However if you like complex, sweet floral blends with a bit of depth from musk, you may really enjoy this. Edited October 20, 2008 by Delirium1009

[voodoocatwoman]

This is lovely. 12 hours later, I can still smell the scent of soft florals sprinkled with musky incense.

[Gaidig]

In the bottle: I recognize the jasmine, blended with some other floral notes and deepened by the musk & sandalwood. It is hard to pick out individual scents.

 

On me: Jasmine like crazy. Gives it a perfumy feel. Not much throw.

 

1 hour+ later: soft jasmine

[Veronica]

This reminds me of another BPAL I recently wore, though I can't remember which for the life of me (Ladon?). It's a very complex, deep scent. Floral and musky, but both balance each other out. It's sophisticated and mature, and turns more and more jasmine towards the end. I like it, but not enough for a bottle.

 

EDIT: I am SO glad I gave this scent another shot, it's deep and floral and gorgeous. Very sexy! I love it!

Edited November 12, 2009 by delighted

[milica]

very complex, feminine scent. it's mostly jasmine, rose, sandalwood because I tend to amp them, and a bit of orchid and musk.

as I love jasmine, rose and sandalwood, this is

and it lasts for hours and hours, sandalwood likes me.

[MCS4096]

In the imp: Very light.. and I don't find this shadowy at all, it's warm and creamy. A nice blend of florals and something creamy and ever so slightly medicinal.

 

Wet: Mostly rose, with orchid and sandalwood. Also a little juicy (which is vaguely fruity)

 

Dry: This is a juicy wet rose.. flowers in a hot house. I really really like this one, but it wears awfully faint and close to the skin, and I prefer a bit of throw.

[tajana]

Wet, the initial burst is of a soft floral perfume, very much like something I'd expect from a department store. The blend of rose, osmanthus, and orchid smells nice as far as flowers go, but I don't get much else besides the flowers at first. Jasmine, my nemesis, is here, but swirled up with all these other florals it seems to calm down a little. It still adds that inevitable headachey touch, but it least it doesn't smell like cat pee doing it. After this dries down I can smell he sandalwood, which is nice and adds a grounding element, and there is definitely a light, sweet musk here, too. Ultimately it's a nice, unassuming floral without much waft. Very light. Disappears very quickly, which is odd, since sandalwood can be a very enduring note on my skin. Since I know the name it reminds me of fairies, but if I didn't, it might remind me of little girls or of grandmothers. Not my style at all, so it's off to swaps.

[stellans]

well, isn’t this just crappy. Jasmine strikes again and turns this lovely-sounding blend into sourness and strife on my skin. Sidhe beag-Sidhe Mor, anyone?

And I had such high hopes for the black orchid and sandalwood, and I won't even mention that the rose note never even shows up...but the final word: who needs a Faery War going on right on their very skin? Not I!

Oh well. Edited June 5, 2010 by stellans

[catattack]

Wet: A sweet floral with a ginger-like note. (could be how my nose is interpreting the sandalwood)

Drydown: The ginger-y note is gone. This smells of sweet and tart fruits. Later, becomes floral.

Overall: This is a morpher. It's okay on my skin. It's not anything that I'll reach very often for.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

 

 

Imp: jasmine and sandalwood

Wet on Me: more sandalwood than Jasmine.

Slight hints of the rose.

Drying Down: buhbye sandalwood, buhbye

jasmine. The rose woke up and tromped all over this. My

body turns it to air freshener rose on me.

Dry: baby powder and rose now. At least the

rose is not so sharp. I’ve tried it, but this is not for me.

 

[sylvanusurban]

 

In bottle: STINKY overpowering perfume. DO NOT WANT. I think this is the pungent sickly-sweet chemical smell that’s been stinking up the whole bag of perfume. Is it the jasmine? Everyone complains about jasmine – maybe this is what they were talking about.

 

On me, wet: The stench turns to an exotic floral smell. It may still be a bit much, but it’s certainly not as acutely offensive as the in-bottle aroma. In addition to the exotic floral, I detect a soapiness.

 

Review truncated: I had to wash it off. I have a migraine and the jasmine was making me want to die a little. I'll not write myself off as a jasmine-hater yet, though -- maybe this just wasn't the right time.

 

[Bluestocking]

In the imp: Mmmm, nice! Surprisingly bold and clear for that long list of florals—sweet, but not too sweet, and appealingly complex. The deep, almost fruity orchid is strongest here (the same orchid as in Phantom Queen), with maybe a little whisper of jasmine, grounded by spicy sandalwood and musk. It's a womanly, beautiful and powerful scent—and I mean powerful in the "I will mess you up" way, not in the sense that this perfume will knock over everybody who sniffs it.

On, wet: Black orchid, nicely subdued rose and sandalwood with a touch of really subdued jasmine. Oh, rawr! This is so pretty and feminine and clean, but it is fierce. It's sort of darkly glamorous but merciless. I keep picturing this drop-dead gorgeous woman who knows how to get what she wants and stops at nothing to get it. It smells DIVINE.

On, dry: Perfectly blended orchid and rose with sandalwood and musk. What very little jasmine there was in this blend is basically gone by now. The orchid is still the heart of this scent, but the sandalwood adds a great woody-spicy undercurrent, the musk adds sensuality and the rose really blends beautifully with that orchid, adding another dimension to it. Fantastic floriental.

Later: Clean musk and florals with stronger sandalwood.

Overall: I really need to stop finding new orchid-centric blends to love, because I already have way too many to justify. Having said that, I'm in total love with Queen Mab, and I intend to slather myself with her whenever I want to feel attractive and powerful. She's the more polished and exotic sister to Phantom Queen. She's lush, darkly beautiful and she just radiates confidence, at least for me—nothing even remotely powdery or meek here. I got compliments all day long on this one; it's most definitely a head-turner. She's probably not for those who hate orchids or floral-oriental blends, but I adore her. Best. Frimp. Ever.

Edited June 29, 2009 by Bluestocking

[decenda]

this scent doesn't work on me... as some other have stated, it ends up reminding me of cherry cough syrup. I wish it smelled like everyone else described

[gypsyjolie]

Lovely, dark & deep floral - a shadowy nighttime purple sexy floral. I hate rose and jasmine, but Queen Mab is totally entrancing my nose! I don't like florals as a rule, but this may be an exception (along with Xiuhtecuhtli). perhaps it is the sandalwood that is calming the rose and jasmine and keep them from amping Old Lady on my skin? I do love some sandalwood! Whatever it is, Queen Mab is on the bottle list.

 

I would never have believed it from reading the scent notes !!

[HKB]

At first this is really tart and fruity, like I wish berry notes would smell. But it's overlaying something else that's spicey and musky, it's complex and rich and I'm loving it.

 

and then.. it just starts to smell exactly like some Febreze air freshner in my past. I really do not like it.

 

A big change of mind on this one after about 20 minutes.

[rayvn1]

Holy crap this works on me. I wasn't really expecting it to and I can't really explain what it smels like, but it's a sweet, powerful scent that makes me feel feminine and sexy. Wow. Great throw. Vaguely floral even though I'm not a big floral fan. This is one of those special bpal's that break the rules

[Diva Urd]

In the imp, this is a beautiful, otherworldly floral - removed from reality by its freshness, but grounded by a hint of powder.

 

On me, it's fresh powder, with an almost fruity undertone - apples, I'd say. Goes quite faint and more into powder as it dries... uh-oh.

 

Later: Gone after less than an hour. Too bad, I liked it in the imp... Swap pile.

[HamletsKeeper]

Bottle Sniff Fresh cut flowers, juicy, green and slightly fruity. Promising.

 

Wet Generic handcreme. Oh, oh, what happened to this scent? It has almost no smell at all. Like the traces of a supermarket handcreme, just slightly green.

 

Drydown It has disappeared completely. Even if I inhale my forearm I can smell nothing at all. I swear there is no exaggeration here. I can literally not smell any difference between the patch with this scent on it, applied heavily twice and my clean skin. Maybe I naturally smell like Queen Mab....? This is weird.

 

 

[odalisque]

I really thought I had tried this one a while ago, but I guess not. When I put it on, I was flummoxed because I couldn't put my finger on what I was smelling at all until the musk came out, and then all I could identify was musk and ... something else. I feel better now because I see that so many of the other notes listed are ones I'm totally unfamiliar with -- black orchid, night-blooming jasmine, osmanthus.

 

On me this is fruity, so much so that I thought it must be a berry scent with the musk backing it. It dries down to the faintest breath of something subtly, duskily floral over musk. Like many musks, it's congenial on me with good staying power. It smells a lot like Egyptian musks I've tried from other companies, that bare almost-edible edge to it (maybe this is the inclusion of jasmine, which it seems many Egyptian-themed blends have, although night-blooming jasmine is definitely a different creature from the jasmine I've smelled before, Eos for example).

 

It doesn't morph much, just the fruity aspects mellowing out and becoming more quiet and subtle. Very retiring for a musk, tickles in the back of the brain. Well-blended, hard to pick out separate notes, a very smooth whole.

 

The colors I imagine for this blend are pale gray-brown like sealskin for the musk, with translucent hints of purple and blue-toned reds like berries and something slightly cool and misty green. It's a very light scent for a musk and such dark exotic florals and I am thinking of keeping it around, or getting a bottle, for springtime wearing when my usual favorites seem a little heavy and warm.

Edited November 7, 2009 by odalisque

[emily2531]

To me, Queen Mab is sweet spicy musky rose. There is a mix of other florals, but the only one I can pick out is rose. It's much lighter than I thought it would be. I love Queen Mab.

[ralenth]

Source: Lab

 

Imp: Spicy floral with sandalwood undertones. Very lovely.

 

Wet: Sharp, bitter - rats, there is rose in this.

 

Drydown: Sickly sweet baby powder, which granted is better than the thorny mess I get from roses, but not really my thing.

 

Dry: Baby powder all the way.

 

Overall: Good in theory, not in practice.

[Invidiana]

This is really appropriate for Queen Mab--it comes out on me as sugared florals and musk, and I swear there could be some vanilla in there but maybe it's just the way the notes combine on my skin. Sweet and ethereal.

[starfish327]

in the imp: this really reminds me of a floral blend that i used to use to scent candles with when i made them in high school. it's not a bad association, but it's slightly more perfumey than a lot of the blends that i really like.

 

wet: yep. there's rose in this. i have no idea what else is in it, but there's definitely rose. it reminds me of a good, upscale rose scent soap- it doesn't go soapy so much as just reminding me of soap

 

drying down- spicy rose. i guess i'm getting the sandlewood out of this.

 

dried down- slightly sweet, slightly rosy florals. it's not a bad floral, it didn't go soapy or cleanerish the way that a lot of rose blends do on me. it's pretty enough. i'm just not sure that i'll get a lot of wear out of something this...feminine (and i also don't think of a blend this feminine when i think mab either but i may just be an odd one) but i could see myself wearing this in spring before it gets too warm.

 

it's not going on the auto-swap or friimp pile, but i'm not really attached to it either. reading the note list i was hoping to get something closer to mata hari (though i know it couldn't be that warm).

[Lorelai1945]

In the imp this smells softly floral with a hint of some spiciness or muskiness. When I first put it on, it is very light- not much throw, and hard to detect. For the first minute or so I smelled soft floral- not particularly sweet or sour. It was like a very soft rose. However, something in this is turning nasty on me. I swear I now smell a cheesy/ranch smell over top of the floral. Like Doritos. It's soft, but gack. I don't know which note is doing this to me, but definitely makes it a no-wear.

[impolight]

:::QUEEN MAB:::

 

Queen Mab is a preternaturally well crafted, light green scent.

Having never heard of Queen Mab prior to finding BPAL, and not having the Lab's description on hand, guesses as to what this fragrance contains will be fumbling, at best.

Queen Mab seems to be mostly made up of Melon, Cucumber, and Celery by first impression.

There might be Plum in there somewhere, along with a dew-spattered grassiness that is dulcent and refreshing.

On the skin, a fleeting, floral sweetness comes to the fore; somewhere between Tuberose and Violet.

Queen Mab has more of a dainty and coquettish presence than an imperial one.

Sweet, soft, and subtle.

Turbo-girlie.