The King of Hearts

[Bagfish]

Rosewood and black cherry with white musk, red rose, red musk and a spark of lavender.

King of Hearts has to be one of the most changable BPALs I've ever tried. In the imp and on first application it smells very sweet and almondy (I imagine this is the cherry). All of a sudden after a few seconds, the lavender rushes out and mixes delightfully with the cherry-almond scent and the very sweet smell decreases and becomes more refreshing. This stage of the perfume is really, really lovely, it's like smelling a fragrant herbal tea or eating a light sugary confection.

Gradually the almond sweetness disappears completely and the rose and lavender mix together and become far more herbal and eventually the scent of lavender declines just leaving a rather sad and sour rose/rosewood behind.

This happens over the course of about 2 hours. If the delightful first 15 minutes was the whole of the scent, I would be going for a bottle of this, however, the sad rose is not for me.

Edited to add scent description Edited April 20, 2008 by Bagfish

[coldandsleepy]

In the imp: cherry-o-rama. I have a moment of doubt about applying this to my skin.

 

On me, wet: phew, there we go. Most of the cherry burns off instantly and makes way for a gorgeous incense-y/smoke-y scent. There's nothing in the notes list that explains it... it's a little bit lavender, but not predominantly. It's not particularly rose-y, though maybe a little. Could be partially the rosewood, but again, that's not most of it... anyway, I can't quite place what the incense smell is, but I'm loving it regardless.

 

On me dry: much the same as wet.

 

Throw and duration: strong throw, though not overwhelming. Lasts for seriously over 14 hours on me, so yeah, very good duration!

 

Overall: King of Hearts reminds me of something that I can't quite place. After hours of puzzling, I finally decided it must smell like an after bath powder my mom used to apply. Which is weird, as it's not particularly powdery on me.

 

It's all regal and lush and stuff. I'd say it's heady, and perhaps even intoxicating! And downright beautiful. I feel like I'm travelling in a cloud of soft awesomeness when I wear this. It's not at all what I thought it'd be from the notes list, but it is pretty wonderful.

 

Definitely a keeper for me. Maybe even a bottle purchase eventually.

[stardreamer]

Wouldn't have gotten this for myself because rose and red musk are both downchecks. But hey, I'll always test a freebie -- I've been pleasantly surprised more than once.

 

In the imp / fresh on: Hey, that's not so bad! A little sweet, a little floral. The rose doesn't come out and smack me in the face, and the red musk isn't even noticeable.

 

Drydown: Still not bad. Maybe I'm going to get lucky with this one. I think it's mostly the black cherry I'm getting here; it's slightly reminiscent of The Red Queen, which is good.

 

Long-term: Oh, damn. Believe it or not, now I'm getting that "fresh sweat" note that I noticed with Ave Maria Gratia Plena. Damn, damn, damn.

 

Bottom line: *sigh* No go. For once, I wish something faded a little faster; if it had disappeared before hitting the sweaty note I'd be delighted with it. As it is, swap pile.

[hkhm]

imp: cherry and musk with a hint of rose.

 

wet: cherry roses. the musk and lavender are doing something beautiful in the background. fingers crossed this doesn't go soapy on me.

 

dry: the musk and lavender win out in this one with just the barest dab of cherry in the background. no rose at all to ruin the effect. yay!

[charshark]

In the imp: Bitter cherry and musk.

 

Wet: Smells sort of like licorice root to me for some reason with a hint of rose.

 

Dry: More of a lavender scent now, with musky overtones. And a hint of cherry.

 

Overall: I guess I'm not that much of a fan of lavender unless it's in a candle or something. I do like the smell of cherry, though, but I think this would be more suited on a guy.

[Lamia]

In the bottle, very pale. Opening the bottle, spoiling fruit. Wet, spoiled fruit goes away immediately and it smells very familiar. A man's cologne? A body spray? VERY FAMILIAR AND MADDENING.

 

Fades quickly, in less than 5 mins, but swells and fades over the day. Like this a lot.

[ankhfangirl72]

Straight away, on skin, this smells exactly like cherry bakewell tarts but fades quickly into a light, slightly soapy cherry. I like it but it's not a scent I'd want a whole bottle of.

[ladyver]

in bottle & wet on skin: wood, cherry floral; spot the musk; there is lavender under there but not dominant (which is good for me); I can't decide if this is incredibly feminine or a little bit masculine at the moment!

Later it reminds me of a scent that would be used in a really lux face product or makeup.

Even later, definitely feminine, very intriguing, sophisticated scent.

another one that i like, but am not sure i do it justice because to me it seems so sophisticated

[mooncityminx]

In the vial: lavender

 

Wet: Cherry and lavender, that's an interesting combination! There's a slightly powdery smell mingling as well which reminds me of a scratch-n-sniff book I had as a child. I think the panel I am remembering was supposed to smell like licorice. This does sort of smell like licorice, but I think it's just the cherry and lavender combo.

 

Dry: I would have expected this one to be masculine but it's a pretty floral with a fruity quality. It's very unique. I don't know what else to say about it. It would work on a man though.

 

ETA: This would make a lovely linen spray.

Edited May 25, 2008 by Tempest

[Indigo78]

Wet, this is ripe, juicy black cherries in a gathering basket. Mmmm.

 

The King of Hearts was kind of a softy in the story, right...? The Queen ran the roost, chopping off heads, etc., while he just agreed with everything. I don't get that soft note from this oil - at least not immediately. I get a sense of "high royalty" as elegant rosewood rises through the cherries. This phase is sooo nice.

 

During the drydown, Lavender comes through to predictably powderize all of the other notes. Boo to Lavender and my skin's sordid relationship -

 

I can't help but agree that as a linen spray, this would rock. Although it is not well matched to my skin, I'll use the imp to try my hand at a little DIY.

Edited May 28, 2008 by Indig0

[savage_rose]

No cherry of course because of my skin chemistry (cherry turns to powder on me). But the rose lavender, and the rosewood...it smells very grounded and earthy. Very rich and red without being too fiery.

[isisonearth]

In the imp I smell the rosewood and a sweet syrupy cherry made even sweeter by the rose.

 

On my skin it smells exactly like red licorice to begin with.

 

As the scent develops the musk and lavender begin to add a little edge to the sweetness. I never quite lose the cherry candy note though.

 

A fun and silly scent. I don't wear it often but sometimes it is just the right day.

[UploadedLobster]

Amazing. Uncanny. Bewildering, even!

 

All airplane lavatories smell the same. That scent spans airplane make and model, airline, economy class, business class, and first class alike. Identical. Faintly floral, faintly soapy, mixed with the soft ambient waft of Scotchgarded polyester seat fabric and the dark blue chemical disinfectant in the waste tank below.

 

Turns out that smell is King of Hearts. Now I just need to figure out whether the bathrooms smell like King of Hearts or King of Hearts smells like the bathrooms: it's a very chicken-or-egg sort of question.

 

 

Lobster Rating

better than: a water landing

[undream]

in the vial, this is very herby, almost medicinal. i'm guessing that's the lavender.

 

i get no cherry. no rose.

 

first applied and on drydown, the king smells almost exactly like ... love's baby soft perfume! it's very sweet and very powdery. it's really lovely, but i already went through my love's baby soft phase as a teenager, so it's off to a better home for this one!

[spybarbie]

It was love at first smell, really.

 

Started out really sweet but faded into something soft and undeniably feminine without being overpowering (what's jumping out at me is cherry with just a touch of rosewood).

 

I think it goes without saying that I'm excited about this one, and adding it to my list of bottles to buy.

[Victory]

In the imp and immediately on my kin, the King is a strong almond scent (which must be the cherry, since I know those two scents sometimes smell very similar) but once the oil sinks into my skin, that scent is gone. There was a couple of seconds' worth of strong white muskiness, then the scent moves into a stage where I can only describe it as one the border between white and lavender (the color, not the smell). My nose has a very hard time picking up rose scents, so I wasn't surprised not to smell that, but I was pleasantly surprised not to smell the red musk, which often smells of peanut butter on me. I didn't pick out the lavender or rosewood notes particularly, just that they were supporting the scent. It faded very quickly, and I was going to write the King off as a non-noteworthy blend, but later on, what I'm guessing is the rosewood shows up. The woodiness combined with the white-lavender floral lingered for a while longer. I would up liking this scent more than I thought I would. It's delicate, feminine, and gently girly.

[starwild]

I was frimped this by the Lab, unfortunately their cherry note has never worked on me, but we'll give it a spin.

 

Imp: Cherry cough syrup.

 

Wet: Sweet cherry with a bit of musk.

 

Dry: Cherry scented shampoo.

 

I think I like this, doesn't do much on my skin but would be great as a hair scent. Thanks, Lab!

[innocent]

First on the King is all wet sweet cherry, very yummy with an almost chocolate undertone (I'm not sure where -that's- from, the rosewood? the musk?). Unfortunately the cherry goes away very quickly. Fortunately what's left is a nice rosy-musky blend with a hint of wood. I never got any lavender, I'm beginning to think my skin devours it.

 

It seems to be fading pretty quickly, which is too bad since I like it. I'll be holding onto this imp.

[TeaLeaf]

I am really sad over this one it sounds amazing to me, but all I get from it is a very mediciny cherry cough syrup and musk booooo urns.

[eanewsom]

This starts out sweet, with the cherry giving it a warm almondy glow without being overwhelming. Instead, it blends harmoniously with the lavender and rose and makes a really lovely scent.

 

Until about 15 minutes of wear, when it turns into roses and flea collar. The rose note washed off but the flea collar note would not go away. I can still smell it faintly, 12 hours later.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Rosewood and lavender

 

On Application

Rosewood and musk

 

Dry Down

This is an odd scent. The rose is barely detectable, the rosewood is dry and woody and the lavender spikes through every now and then. 5 minutes into the drydown and it's gone. I like it but it needs to have more staying power.

 

Rating (0-5)

3

[Poenari]

I finally tried my frimp from the lab. Rose-ish scents aren't usually good on my skin, though I like the smell of roses, so I decided to try it in my oil burner. But first I had to try it on my skin to be sure. At first, it was overwhelmingly cherry-almond, but that faded in seconds, and then the rosewood came out and immediately turned to soap on my skin. As I expected.

 

In the burner, however, it's a mild rosewood. So mild that I used the entire imp mixed into 1/4 of a melted tealight in the burner, and can still only smell it when very close to the burner. It's very nice and soothing, however, and would be a great scent for someone who likes a softer rose scent that is not overpowering.

[anguissette]

Weirdly ... this didn't smell like much of anything on me. I tried it twice and got a little bit of rose, but just very faint and weak. My skin usually amps rose like whoa, so looking at the list of notes I was confused but ah well. To the swap pile it goes.

[jizatt]

I thought I had already reviewed this....

 

I really like this one, even though it is very soft on me. It's blanket comfort, all sweet and whatnot. I smell cherry (but not the evil kind), lavender, and maybe white musk. It is very sweet and powdery, in a good way. It smells girly on me, which is weird given the name, and I don't get the rosewood, or the rose, at all. I was worried, because rose goes sour on me, but this is very pretty.

 

My original description at trying to explain this to someone was that it smells like cottony blankets, but that's nowhere near correct. It is blankety somehow though.

[Schmoozy]

I can't pinpoint this scent if my life depended on it. First off I get cherry almonds. After that fades away I smell roses a hint of red musk and rosewood. Normally I detest red musk, for some reson it smells good, but once applied it goes wonky. Now in King of Hearts, the red musk is very gentle, almost nonexistant. The essesnce of musk is there though. Right at the end I get whiffs of lavender. It is a morpher that's for sure!