Maharanih Parfums de Nicolaï for women

Not my taste, started off pleasant enough if a bit heavy on the patchouli, passed through an incense phase that was acceptable, but has dried to the vintage face powder accord that I have learned to fear in more classic fragrances - didn't expect it in this modern niche fragrance but there you are, it lasted about 7 hours doing various "OK but not my taste" things, and then turned into the same face powder smell I get with Habanita after 4 hours and with Tabac Blond after about 10 minutes. But at least the Habanita is really exciting for those 4 hours!

I was unsure at first about the very bitter and to my nose almost savoury top notes but it quite quickly softened to a lovely warm, slightly spicy citrus scent which by the end of the day I was completely in love with.

This is very nice fragrance. Perfect for spring, very comforting and cozy. There is a lot going on when it reaches your skin. First, an explosion of dirty citruses, mostly very juicy oranges. I couldn’t imagine before that citruses can be somehow dirty but it is happening. Second white flowers and a little bit of roses with carnation. Then the earthy patchouli and cinnamon but not too strong and not dusty at all. The civete is always present giving slight dirtiness and kind of metallic sting. Really I never had experience with other fragrance like this one. Worth try. But you should avoid it if you like mass-market typical fragrances. This is for people who is maniac :-).

Sometimes I hold onto my parrot's feet and swing my arm in big loops so he can get some flapping exercise. He does not like this, and will say, "What are you doing?"

And so it was wiht Maharanih, which came to me by way of a blind swap. I was so put off by the opening that I emailed my friend and asked, "What are you doing?"

She promptly emailed me back and said, "Wait a bit."
And this is my advice to you. Once the stink notes fade away you are left with a vibrant, edgy base. Now I love carnation, which is as crackling a floral as you can get, but when paired with patch and civet, ooh.

In short, this is an interesting scent. You will never smell anything like it or mistake it for anything else. I recommend trying, because "what else are you doing?"

This is very weird. There is an animalistic and sharp blood orange with bits of cinnamon at the opening. At the first moment I enjoyed this, actually, very much. When the carnation starts to appear the perfume gets REALLY weird, the carnation is very green and smells more like leaves not flower, so this green note kinda ruins everything for a moment.
The civet starts to appear more and more, and it's no animalistic any more, now it's urine. Sharp urine that someone tried to cover with some sweet freshnerer. Did not work.

UPD: But I might add that I steel feel tempted to sniff my wrist all the time. Did not know that I like stinkers.

I am under strict instructions from my dear friend Ash to quit malingering in my newlywed status and write more reviews, lickety-split!

So lets begin with Maharanih, a fruity little number with an slick demeanour.

Opening in a ghoulish 80s manner, vicious aftershave-esque tendrils reaching through time to bitchslap one wide awake, it is a most shocking sensation.

Snapped grudgingly into hyper-reality, I am soon perturbed by unbidden emotions of indiscriminate nature. How can such a simple sweet oily orange spinning like a top on a cinnamon stick manage to bypass my cynicism and get me right in the goolies (so to speak)?

I suspect the queen Maharanih is a Succubus, evoking emotion and feeding off it shamelessly, leaving only the dross of seediness behind - a sandalwood tree having been violated by a civet cat.

Maharanih - the world's naughtiest blood orange.

This is like if someone would try to marry Theo Fennell Scent with Guet Apens, plus add huge amount of sweet orange which is totally out of place here. Confusing scent, there are much better orientals.

Kinda meh for me at first application. But give it a few minutes and it warms up. I can definitely smell the orange and zest then while the immediate opening seems to be all flowers. Carnation fleets by too. Alas, it doesn't stay as interesting since it seems to be mainly oranges and I find myself wanting a little spice to well, spice it up. Soft sandalwood more evident in the drydown. Average staying power.