Top Notes 
Saffron
Cinnamon Orpur®
Blue lotus
Heart Notes 
Frankincense
Kyphi
Amber
Base Notes 
Sandalwood Orpur®
Tonka bean Orpur®
Myrrh
06/04/2025
Omnipotato
267 Reviews
Omnipotato
Helpful Review
3
The enigmatic queen
The Queen of the Night is the main antagonist in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. She first appears as a sympathetic character, setting the protagonist, Tamino, on a quest to rescue her daughter, Pamina, from an evil tyrant. The twist is that the "tyrant" Sarastro is actually a wise and benevolent ruler who is acting in loco parentis on behalf of Pamina's late father, and the Queen is a murderous psychopath who's real goal is to topple Sarastro's regime and doesn't care about her daughter's well-being, finally agreeing to allow a lecherous slavemaster to marry her just to gain his support in killing Sarastro. On top of being such an interesting character, she sings two of the most difficult and impressive songs in the entire repertoire. The enigmatic and mysterious qualities of The Magic Flute's Queen of the Night are recreated in this spicy sweet resinous dry amber perfume by The Merchant of Venice
Though the character or the opera are not explicitly mentioned in their promotional materials, they have a deep connection to the Venice opera house, their flagship store being located extremely close, and they have released two fragrances named after the theater, La Fenice pour Homme and La Fenice pour Femme. The Egyptian theming of this fragrance is I believe also down to Mozart's Queen of the Night. The Magic Flute, though a fairy tale, usually is staged in Egypt, since there are mentions of pyramids, temples, and they pray to the gods Isis and Osiris.
The scent itself also has the duality/duplicitousness of the Magic Flute character. Sweet warm vanilla and amber on one hand, smoky frankincense and leathery saffron on the other. I can see the comparisons to Babycat, but this is much less smoky. I think it is the lack of the pepper in the head notes that allows the sweetness from the vanilla to come through uninterrupted on first spray. I've seen a couple of reviews talk about the lack of vanilla from the notes pyramid; the fragrance is chock full of vanillin and ethyl vanillin for sure, probably as part of the "amber" accord which is historically mostly vanillin (the other constituent parts are benzoin and labdanum).
The addition of the "kyphi" accord plays on the Egyptian theming, but is mostly redundant, as the main notes in kyphi are listed as separate notes in this fragrance (cinnamon, myrrh, saffron) and the whole perfume can be seen as a sort of kyphi recreation, with vanilla replacing the honey in the ancient Egyptian formula. The "blue lotus" note is also just a fantasy note that is mostly there for marketing to evoke ancient Egypt, the blue lotus being a symbol for the sun and rebirth, and having a prominent role in ancient Egyptian religious ceremonies.
Despite the name, Queen of the Night is a squarely unisex fragrance, for anyone who enjoys a slightly mysterious smoky-yet-still-sweet amber. The bottle is beyond gorgeous. All of the Merchant of Venice bottles are amazing but this one takes the cake.
If you are like me and find Babycat too smoky or the black pepper in the opening too jarring against the sweet vanilla, give Queen of the Night a try. Very well balanced and executed, theming and presentation on point. Price might be a little high at over $200 at discounters but then again, Babycat is almost $300, and I prefer Queen of the Night.
Though the character or the opera are not explicitly mentioned in their promotional materials, they have a deep connection to the Venice opera house, their flagship store being located extremely close, and they have released two fragrances named after the theater, La Fenice pour Homme and La Fenice pour Femme. The Egyptian theming of this fragrance is I believe also down to Mozart's Queen of the Night. The Magic Flute, though a fairy tale, usually is staged in Egypt, since there are mentions of pyramids, temples, and they pray to the gods Isis and Osiris.
The scent itself also has the duality/duplicitousness of the Magic Flute character. Sweet warm vanilla and amber on one hand, smoky frankincense and leathery saffron on the other. I can see the comparisons to Babycat, but this is much less smoky. I think it is the lack of the pepper in the head notes that allows the sweetness from the vanilla to come through uninterrupted on first spray. I've seen a couple of reviews talk about the lack of vanilla from the notes pyramid; the fragrance is chock full of vanillin and ethyl vanillin for sure, probably as part of the "amber" accord which is historically mostly vanillin (the other constituent parts are benzoin and labdanum).
The addition of the "kyphi" accord plays on the Egyptian theming, but is mostly redundant, as the main notes in kyphi are listed as separate notes in this fragrance (cinnamon, myrrh, saffron) and the whole perfume can be seen as a sort of kyphi recreation, with vanilla replacing the honey in the ancient Egyptian formula. The "blue lotus" note is also just a fantasy note that is mostly there for marketing to evoke ancient Egypt, the blue lotus being a symbol for the sun and rebirth, and having a prominent role in ancient Egyptian religious ceremonies.
Despite the name, Queen of the Night is a squarely unisex fragrance, for anyone who enjoys a slightly mysterious smoky-yet-still-sweet amber. The bottle is beyond gorgeous. All of the Merchant of Venice bottles are amazing but this one takes the cake.
If you are like me and find Babycat too smoky or the black pepper in the opening too jarring against the sweet vanilla, give Queen of the Night a try. Very well balanced and executed, theming and presentation on point. Price might be a little high at over $200 at discounters but then again, Babycat is almost $300, and I prefer Queen of the Night.
axewound
Pettylabelle
IrinaSpalko
