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Sky
Helpful Review
7
A raunchy wood-fest in an indian restaurant
What a strange beast of a fragrance...with a little latent beauty.
The bottle is wonderful. The scent is intriguing, strange, savoury & at some points difficult, stomach-churning & disturbing. Overall, I like it. I respect it for its unusual, uncompromising & artistic take but I feel sure I could never comfortably wear it.
I find the start a little tricky. It is suprisingly sensual for a perfume that is all about the bitter spice - perhaps even verging on "dirty". I have never before tried a perfume that starts out so completely like an indian dish. Warm, citrus, vegetal, & heavily dosed with dry, unsalted spices....& then the HUGE cumin monster eneters. I can actually taste the bitter perfumed food in my mouth if I sniff too hard. There is also plenty of timber to be found. Combine this with a dank, metallic-blood note it is a veritable wood-fest. Warmth, depth, dry cumin...cloaks & daggers, midnight chimes, the witching hour & lascivious looks. This part is slightly uncomfy for this innocent wearer.
Luckily, as Kingdom settles the ride gets easier - it mellows & warms, the sillage increases & the cumin reaches a more wearable level. I get a nice amount of dusty old roses & jasmine with a thick, cosy feel. There is a masculine soapy note that gives Kingdom an old fashioned regal appeal - like walking into a wood-panelled room filled with hand-bound books, old leather chairs, dusty persian rugs, shaveing cream & bristle brush standing next to a wash stand & bowl. Odd, but classic.
I never got the body odour whiff that others declared - although it did go through a stage of harsh soap & stale indian restaurant curtains that was deeply unappealing. On my skin it developed a bit of 'ash-tray' in the dry-down, but I never found it to be a complete scrubber.
Wear this to stand out without resorting to glam, glitz, glitter or shock tactics. It is completely sexless (male, female & anyone inbetween could wear it if they possess the right attitude) & yet Kingdom is rather full of sexual innuendo & a taint of the night before.
WARNING: Cumin-haters - run fast & keep running. It's coming to get you!