My Queen
Alexander McQueen (2005)

The initial mix of orange blossom and heliotropes - with hints of a dark lime-neroli mixed in at times - offers shaded freshness of a restrained nature. Nice.

The drydown takes a floral turn, with iris being given richness by a darker violet impression. Soon the base rings in with a pleasant vanilla impression, which has caramel characteristics initially.

I get moderate sillage, very good projection and eight hours of longevity on my skin.

A scent for spring days and evenings, this composition is not particularly creative, but it is blended very well of ingredients of very good quality. Very solid. 3.25/5.

I was surprised to find the almond listed so prominently. Almond is one of my favorite scents and I didn't notice any.

For me I smelled a lovely floral with a nice bit of pepper from the violet, but a little too blended to make out what specific flowers I was smelling.

After a while a rose scent came out.

Later (30-45min) I got a patchouli leather like scent that occasionally had an unpleasent poo like note, but just every so often

After the first hour it morphed into a sweet vanilla.

I love that it changes, but while each level is interesting nothing is amazing enough for me to fall in love.

I've known this fragrance for quite a while, but I only had a microscopic dab sample which wasn't really enough for a review. Now I finally managed to get a full bottle and bath in this, finally having the chance to explore it better. My first and last word on this: amazing. My Queen by Flipo and Ropion smells and wears just amazingly good – perfect quality, perfect composition constantly floating between dynamism, liveliness and quiet elegance. It's opulent, but graceful and mannered, a sort of subtle opulence slowly, but consistently revealing itself as hours pass – like a “slow-release” potion.

All iris-violet-heliotrope fans can't really miss this, as it's basically a triumph of that triad. Iris, violet, heliotrope, almonds, a hint of neroli and a perfect, Guerlain-esque (masculine) base of woods smelling crisp and clean enough to tone down the “heaviness” of the main notes and keeping My Queen weightless and unisex enough, if not almost masculine, perfectly balancing freshness and powderiness. Spices concur to this too, as there is some clever, really subtle cumin-pepper that adds just the right tangy “sparkle” to the floral accord, and so does musk – which is quite subtle here, but helps in tilting the balance to the unisex side. And finally orange blossoms, which add a perfect, delicate hint of tart, slightly creamy citrus leafiness, again helping in taming down the power of the iris-gourmand heart of My Queen.

But most of all it's all about iris, which has here a fantastic, extremely sophisticated talc texture that I really haven't found anywhere so far. It smells powdery and slightly “lipstick” buttery, realistic and high-quality to say the least, but if feels like they did a fantastic precision job in toning down any possible “dirty” or heavy facet of iris, or anyway any excessive thickness, making it smell dusty and impalpable. Not light, though; it is vibrant and substantial to say the least, just with a transparent substance effortlessly blending with its “pastel” sibling – Parma's violets – and with both almond/heliotropin's sweet and floral-pasty texture, and the sharp, crisp woody base. The drydown – which is refinedly persistent for quite some hours - feels predictably a bit more woody, dusty and less “plushy”, with a really pleasant iris/violet-infused fresh vetiver and cedar accord paired with a zesty, and again slightly creamy orange blossoms-musk nuance (a bit similar to the drydown of Dior Homme, just a bit “more violet”). If you're familiar with the (few) nicest works by Ropion you can imagine how good this smells.

My Queen is quite complex if you dig deep exploring how magnificently they blended and crafted the notes, but the final result smells smooth, simple, irresistibly refined. And contrary to what you may think from the notes, really versatile and easy to wear – for men too. It can enhance any mood and any outfit, thanks to how perfectly they handled the several facets of iris, a flower that can smell “innocent” and “luscious” at once. And it projects clearly without being heavy. Pure heaven with an outstanding quality and (back when it was available) a cheap price – the discontinued prices of today are still completely acceptable for this quality anyway, as it's really fragrant gold. Some broad comparisons may be Galliano EDP from 2008, a hypothetical less gourmand, iris-centered version of Villoresi's Teint de Neige, or a sort of dreamier, more powdery-pastel flanker of Dior Homme. A sophisticated, amazing mood-uplifting unisex wonder.

9/10

The fragrance just add class to a wearer, who can carry it off. Feminine but strong, classy but approachable, and unique. People wonder what fragrance you are wearing!

Upon spritzing, my immediate reaction to MY QUEEN was: "How many of these light woody florientals have been produced on behalf of clothing designers over the past couple of decades?" I'd venture to guess that the number lies in the dozens, but it may even be hundreds...

Yes, the story of MY QUEEN seemed initially to be the same old hum-drum refrain: slightly sweet wood blended in with "abstract florals". However, as it developed a bit, I suddenly remembered what this one reminded me of, in particular: Trussardi JEANS. What marks both MY QUEEN and JEANS off from the rest of the crowd, is the inclusion of liatrix, or so it seems. They both also contain violet, but probably the most significant link is...drum roll...(I can report after having returned from a factfinding mission): Anne Flipo designed both! Dominique Ropion is said to have had a hand in this creation as well, but the similarity to JEANS makes me think that Anne Flipo was really calling the shots.

The liatrix (tobacco-esque) note is far more pronounced in JEANS than in MY QUEEN, but combined with the violet, I cannot really deny the appeal of this composition. I'll buy a bottle not because I find it unique (it's not), but because I love JEANS! Give me violet and liatrix any day. Thank you again, Anne Flipo!

l bought my bottle not long after this was released, & the scent still reminds me of that period of my life; a period of great upheaval but also of romance. Therefore l love it for sentimental reasons, as well as olfactory reasons.
l get a big burst of lush violets from this, but instead of being overly sweet, they are balanced & given depth throughout by the patchouli, cedar & vetiver. The orange blossom gives it sparkle, & in the far drydown l get the sweetness of vanilla & heliotrope. There is much talk of this being a skin scent, but l get great sillage from it, especially on a warm summer evening, & have received many compliments on it. lf you want violets with a twist, l highly recommend this lovely fragrance.