King of Clubs

[darklorelei]

The Queen’s Consort: Lord of the Wide and Fertile Land. Patient, laborious, and clever, though preoccupied with material things. A perfect compliment to his Queen: deeper, darker earth notes with dark musk, tobacco leaf, oakmoss, amber, leather, sage and vetiver with fig and bitter almond.

I'm sorry this is so short, but this is from my notes taken way long ago in October at the Chicago Meetup. But any little bit helps?


I should also preface this with the fact that I have a really, really unusual reaction to oakmoss and myrtle, and vetiver is always a shot in the dark.

Shirley Temples. The marachino cherry kind. Yes, I know. That's literally my only note, and I can still remember Kate's face from that observation. Edited February 7, 2006 by Shollin

[Aurelius]

Damn you, bitter almond! Man, I really wanted Macha's reaction to this. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. At first I smelled fantastic: dark, earthy, a bit naughty. And then...just off. Another fatality of wonky body chemistry.

[Ryvre]

In the imp: Spicy and sweet. Amber, tobacco, and some sort of wood note.

 

Wet: Wood and tobacco. I can smell the leather a bit also. Very earthy. This would be dead sexy on a man.

 

Dry: Earthy. With a touch of mint.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

on first sniff... months ago... all i could smell was almond. and i can't stand almond... so i thought i'd let this age a bit.

 

and i decided today would be the day to try it again!

 

wet in the bottle the almonds had calmed down a bit... leather, bay (leaf or rum, i'm not sure), vetiver...tobacco?

 

wet, ALMONDS and Cherries.

ugh

 

on drydown, there was a lemonymint stage which was scary

 

and now, about an hour later...

Pine needles and potting soil...and still a little lemon.

but very faint, almost no throw. i have to smush my nose against my wrist and sniff carefully to get anything -- and i can only imagine how wierd that looks.

 

not a bad smell, i certainly won't mind it for the rest of the day, but not something i'll pine for (erm. i didn't mean to do that) when the bottle's gone.

 

i might put this on the boi later -- it might be uber yummy coming off him.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 1/5

Summarised in a word or two: Dirty almonds.

 

Preconceived notions: My hopes aren't getting very high with this: earth, dark musk, oakmoss, sage and vetiver? Eep.

 

In the imp: Sweet, almondy dirt.

 

On skin, wet: Sweet, spicy dirt. Distinctly Zombi-esque, this one. I definitely get almond, amber and musk, but they're buried beneath a thick coating of earth.

 

On skin, dry: Dirty almonds. There's really nothing else I can say except, well, dirty almonds.

 

Conclusion/Notes: This was one of those "Hmm. Well, I might as well give it a try" scents. Didn't work out.

[edenssixthday]

King of Clubs - When I first apply this scent, it’s a horrible musty and dusty scent that reminds me of The Rat King in the way it makes me recoil. This is exactly what Queen of Clubs smelled like on my skin. However, I’m quite surprised that after about an hour, this scent becomes an entirely different fragrance. I no longer smell dust. Rather, I smell many things: turned-up soil, the slightest hint of dark leather, the thickness of moss, and the sweetness of meaty fig! As time passes, the fig becomes the dominant note, and I end up absolutely adoring this blend! It’s so simultaneously earthy and sweetl I am really amazed at the difference between the top and bottom notes of this blend. Truly spectacular! (It reminds me somewhat of LUSH Figs & Leaves soap, for reference.) It does stick very close to my skin, but it lasts several hours.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Sweet almond and dirt. How very odd! It’s the dry, dusty earth note from Penny Dreadful, not the potting-soil scent of Graveyard Dirt. Dust puffing up around the sweetness.

 

Wearing: There’s a very dry leather note that develops as it dries, but it also gets fruitier. This guy is a try-again; I adored his lady and I’d like him to work with me.

[moon_lemming]

I ADORE Queen of Clubs, so I was hoping her man would be just as successful. Or maybe I was hoping the opposite, since hunting down a bottle would be a pricey proposition.

 

Anyway, King of Clubs is a lovely earthy oil on my skin, with a hint of tobacco and none of the fruitiness that I pick up on in Queen of Clubs. It definitely feels like the "masculine" version of QoC.

 

Sadly, it fades very very quickly on me.

[supremegoddessofall]

Hmm...now this is interesting...I'm getting a lot of tobacco and leather, with some bright amber hiding just behind it. This is handsome rather than pretty. Lightly musky, but not overpoweringly so.

[argylexsoul]

I LOVE this! so complex and so sexy.. this is earthy and deep, with the dark musk to make it sexy and and the fig keeps it from being too dark and scary. I love how well blended this is. I get more of an overall feel from this than I do specific notes. It's a deep, dark burgundy and I love it. This is too heavy and too sexy to be worn all day but I'll put it on when I go out at night.

 

Cranberry was soooo nice as to give me an imp of this, and I fell in love so I promptly bought a bottle on ebay. I wish I had been around when this came out...

 

 

edited cause I missed a word when i was typing fast. haha.

Edited November 20, 2006 by argylexsoul

[shadesong]

In bottle: Woo, dark musk! Musk and tobacco.

 

On me: Mmmm. The amber and oakmoss come out, too. This is *nice*. Touch of leather, touch of sage. Earth. Yum.

[sterlingspider]

in bottle: very fast morphing, dusty leather then almond, suddenly a mossy greenness comes out, very promising

 

wet: sweet for just a second and then sharply earthy, very warm but with a hint of soapiness to the background, just a slight bite in the sinuses

 

as it's drying: I think the musk and amber is taking over as I'm starting to get a bit of babypowder soap

 

Dry: yep, babypowder getting stronger by the minute, off to the bathroom to wash it fof before it makes me sick

 

Bleah, that one really had a lot of promise at first. I just can't get past that musk+amber=babypowder effect.

 

*sighs* 2 out of 5, another one for the swap pile

[Meg]

In the bottle: A deep, complex and dark earthy blend, with oakmoss, bitter leather, fig and other things I can't quite identify but that seem very familiar.

 

Wet: A lovely mix of oakmoss, leather, sage and very discreet earth notes that start coming out more and more - yum.

 

Drydown: A very deep herbal and earthy blend, sage dominates with clear touches of tobacco and fig, possibly some vetiver but nothing too obvious, leather hovering bitterly in the background, and earth notes wafting above. Hmm!

 

Overall: It dries down to a musky, dusty earth blend that sort of glows with warmth, but also has a sharp, strong and a bit bitter side. The sage is clearly the master of the blend, it's strong and herbal, fresh and earthy. I really like this blend, it's very well balanced and represents lots of things I like in a man: strength, stability... and a bit of bitter snark.

[Naamah_Darling]

Oh! This is musky, mossy, and herbally green in the bottle, with a hint of warmth that is either the leather or the tobacco.

 

There's not a single note in here I don't love, so I have hopes this will smell as lovely as it sounds. And it does. It's much less assertive, much more low-key, and much earthier than I had expected . . . there's not a lot of throw to it, it's a very close-in and personal scent.

 

It's so subtle that I can't really describe it . . . the tobacco, amber, and musk form one end of the pole, with the herbs and moss on the other end. The rest is a smooth grade, more middle-note than topnote, green and yet very easy on the sinuses

 

This is really a mellow, spicy, earthy scent that, properly applied, could be easily mistaken for a person's natural scent. It's extremely appealing, very smooth, and much friendlier than I was expecting.

 

Arrrgh! Fucking limited editions. They're so yummy and tempting and unavailable!

[forspecial_plate]

I really liked this for the first 10 minutes or so.....a regal, polished sweetness atop herbal, gritty earthy notes. Then came a very sweet and heavy powdery phase that lasted way too long for me to get any wear out of this. I know my skin will rev up sweet notes like crazy sometimes, but looking at the notes I don't know what is causing the powder. Maybe amber, but I thought I could wear that. Or the musk but I like musk too. Who knows, maybe just a combination. Much later a lot of the powder wears off, and what's left is fig with a little almond. Not bad at this point but I just can't take that middle phase.

[dirtytrip]

The sage and oakmoss come shining through, with a deep ground of leather tinged with musk. Reminds me of walking in the woods and passing under thick leaf canopies that make midday look like twilight. As it dries, I was surprised to note a bit of sweetness. Too bad I wasn't around to get a bottle of this. Hopefully it will return, but until then, I'll make do with Luperci. I'd really enjoy this on a man, too. And then I'd enjoy the man!

[zankoku_zen]

This one was an oddly fruity masculine blend. I definitely got a sweet earthy fig, with notes of dark earth, tobacco, a hint of leather. It was spicier than I remember Queen of Clubs, and oddly masculine. But yeah, a fruity musky blend.

 

My husband didn't care for it, and called it 'odd'.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Very dark and earthy, and also a little sour/astringent. Soil, tobacco leaf, oakmoss, sage, vetiver, leather - these are all present in force. Not much musk or amber at this stage, but hints of fig and more so the almond.

 

Wet: Sweeter, with loads more bitter almond and a bit more fig. More oakmoss, and the soil is more sweet as opposed to sour. The tobacco and sage have a more distinct herbal, spicy edge. I get sort of a sparkling fresh ginger note, making this reminiscent of Eau de Ghoul. Definitely nicer on the skin.

 

Dry: Slow to dry, with the soil note dominating - tobacco, leather, and vetiver are just behind. The fig and bitter almond have backed down slightly, but are still strongly present, and I continue to get the semi-sparkling ginger note. The sage is medicinal, and I'm getting tons of sexy musk that amps.

 

Later: It fades quite rapidly, with the soil, fig, and bitter almond dying the most. I'm getting a bit of perfumey-powder from the amber, and the sage has gone to herbal soap. The vetiver and tobacco have taken on a darker, vaguely smoky edge, and the oakmoss has emerged.

 

Summary: Dark, slightly bitter, astringent and smoky earthy notes with soapy-clean-medicinal sage, chemically-plasticky leather & powdery amber, and a little sweet and nutty fig and almond. Definitely masculine, and a morpher that's not unpleasant, but not me, either. Good throw, fades fast.

 

 

[Monster]

In the vial: Rich earth with sweet almond

 

Wet: Gorgeous wet dirt (just like QoC) with smoky vetiver, tobacco and a sharp moss note. The almond keeps everything in line, just adding enough sweetness to prevent the King from turning to a Dictator on my skin

 

Dry: As it dries the musk and amber provide a dusty, powdery bed for all of the smoky/earthy notes to lay on. I'm not really detecting any leather in this at all. Gah! I can't stop huffing my hand...this is gorgeous. I really need to track downa bottle. Love love love

 

Overall: KoC is a perfect companion to QoC (which is one of my favorite perfumes....ever). This is a rich, earthy musk of Maybe this whole cards series will pop up in the Mad Tea Party section one of these days? Yes? Yes?

[bheansidhe]

I have a seriously aged partial imp on my hands that I just tested.

 

BETH, OH, PLEASE, BETH, BRING BACK THE KING AND QUEEN OF CLUBS!! It's not fair that they came and went before I ever discovered them!!

 

 

King of Clubs, in his current incarnation, is seriously aged, soft, well-worn leather, grown over with green moss, covered in damp black humus-y earth. There's a gentle sweetness from the dark musk and almond. I don't get amber or fig, or if I do, they're one with this amazing blend. The drydown is a little dusty, but again, that may be because he's five years old at this point.

 

WANT BOTTLE!

 

[bloody sore]

In the bottle: That sharp tang that is all I smell when a blend has dirt. Not a smell I like in the bottle, but I love most on my skin.

Wet: Dirt. Sweet, deep, amazing dirt. I love it when it's wet and for about the first two hours.

Dry: I think something is going wrong with my chemistry. This gets VERY powdery. Very, old ladyish, and not something that I'm sure I like. I think it's the combination of the amber and the musk that is doing this. But I still think I like the throw, so I think this might do well as a scent to wear, but not something to huff. If that makes any sense.

I will have to layer this with the queen of clubs, as they seem like they would layer well.

[Gin]

Even though I knew it wouldn't work, I had to try King of Clubs. It's definitely not my style--dirt, vetiver, musk, and oakmoss are just too much for me.

[theseagrows]

starts off a bit dirty and slightly herbal/medicinal smelling, probably the sage, earth and bitter almond. it seems very woody-earthy to me. i am not like the musk in this, it's just too bitter for me. the bitterness stays around and then i guess tobacco and leaf and vetiver come through? there is an odd powderiness in here, i guess it's amber but i usually like amber...but maybe it's due to the combination of notes. glad i finally got to try this one, but it's just not for me.

[rayvn1]

I ended up buying a decant from theseagrows, and it's a whole different scent on my leather-loving skin. This is pure earthy-leather so far with a waft of vetiver and a hint of sweetness from the fig. I wish it had more throw, because this is manly and gorgeous