Crypt Queen

[Delirium1009]

As sweet as death, as deep as the grave: pomegranate, raspberry, gardenia, plum, and rose with patchouli, black pepper, rose musk, and a hint of blood accord.

In the bottle, I get sharp fruitiness and dust.

As soon as I apply, I can smell something like Seance on my skin, only dustier. There are strong wood and rose notes, but it's extremely dusty and dry. The fruit comes through on me as a very powdery Sweet Tart-esque note; it's very tangy, but powdery as if they were chopped up and you tried to sniff them. This blend makes my nose tickle horribly and gave my husband a headache, so it's definitely not a keeper.

The drydown is the the same, until it turns into a slightly floral dusty scent. It's just not "me" for sure. Edited September 28, 2007 by Delirium1009

[phantasmmysteria]

I ordered this scent on impulse, and I was fully prepared for rose hell and gardenia migraines. I experienced neither -- this scent is really beautiful.

 

In the bottle: Sour fruit. All the fruits in this bled are right in your face. I really can't smell anything else from the vial.

 

Dabbed on: Watch out, we've got a morpher! The fruit starts backing off immediately and the florals start to blend in with it (though the fruit stays fairly prominent upon my skin even upon drydown). As it dries I can begin to detect the warmth of the patchouli, while the pepper (and perhaps the musk) are what's giving it the dusty feel. This settles into a slightly sweet, floral, and dusty perfume... it is very evocative of dried flowers in a mausoleum.

 

When I tried this on straight from the shipping box last night, I could not stop sniffing my wrist all through the homeowner's association meeting I went to right after (which I'm sure attracted plenty of funny looks from neighbors ). It's just so different from what I usually gravitate toward, and it thrills me that the rose in this blend is tempered by the other notes. While the fruit sticks around on me for the life of the scent, on a coworker who tried it there was significantly more pepper and patchouli -- it smelled altogether different upon her.

 

I am very happy with this scent, and even happier that I've managed to swap for a backup bottle!

[tasty]

I don't get any floral from this blend. It's pure pomegranate & raspberry kool-aid on my skin. I almost didn't order this because patchouli almost always dominates with my chemistry, but in this blend it's not noticeable at all.

 

3/3 with the BPTP blends tonight!!

[edenssixthday]

Crypt Queen - Oh good Lord this is gorgeous. G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S. Dammit. I was hoping I'd hate it since I really can't afford to keep it! But I love it! It is definitely fruity, but doesn't smell juicy or artifical or like Jolly Ranchers or Life Savers, so those of you who are afraid of the ultra sweet fruity scents, this one isn't remotely like that. The patchouli creeps in during the first couple minutes, giving the scent a dry and woody scent. There is an absolutely perfect balance between the dry wood scent and the raspberry and pomegranate scent. I smell no gardenia or rose, try as I might, and I'm usually quite sensitive to black pepper in blends, but can't detect it in this one for the life of me. The "blood accord" must be the slight metallic scent I'm smelling that is a remarkably nice companion to the patchouli and red fruits. This scent does tend to stick somewhat close to my skin and it has below-average staying power, which surprises me since patchouli usually grounds a scent to my skin for a long time. Still, it's really gorgeous and very unique.

[bulletslc]

Was gifted a decant of this from a wonderful friend!

 

In the imp it smells like juicy bubblegum...don't let that fool you!

 

On me.....it dries to a lovely light floral (roses? Roses love me!) with a dry woody background and a hint of pomegranate juice. I don't do well with dry woods normally but this wood smell (I'm thinking its a combo of the patchouli and pepper) is fantastic! And it lasts forever on me!

 

Weeps that I only have a wee decant!!!!!! (*edit*....well....I've tracked down a bottle in swap....Yay!Edit again.....make that two bottles! The Queen=<3!)

Edited January 20, 2008 by Bulletslc

[grrrlennyl]

at first: flowers, earthy notes, and fruit.

on: fruit, a blood note, and a nice base of flowers and patchouli.

6 hours later: slightly flora, slightly fruity.

overall: this is just ok on me. i wish the fruit notes were stronger.

[alicia_stardust]

CRYPT QUEEN

 

Wet: In the bottle I smell a deep red, tangy scent mixed with a sharp bite of pepper.

 

Dry on Skin: Immediately I smell a sweet, juicy, glistening red scent. I expected that the pomegranate would rule this scent for me, but I smell the raspberries right alongside the pomegranate. The plum deepens this scent, and the gardenia and rose complement those fruits with a sweet, light touch.

 

After a few minutes I smell the black pepper. It strongly contrasts the glistening red fruits and spreads a layer of dark and foreboding over them. The patchouli is not forgotten and it works with the black pepper to counterbalance the gorgeous fruits and florals.

 

This is an alluring scent that is full of depth and duality. Despite the duality, it keeps a strong cohesiveness. It is simultaneously sweet, light and sexy, yet is also evocative of dark crypts and the clods of earth that blot the light out as they cover them.

[mystery213]

In the bottle, this smells truly like peppery bubble-gum! A fruity gum with a bite to it, if you will...

When on, it darkens a bit, and becomes a sweet but forbodingly dark scent with that peppery bite that tickles the senses. It is all dark red and purple fruits on me, (I don't get much for florals from this) with the ever so slight background of damp earthiness of the crypt and a tinge of the coppery blood accord. Everything is very well blended in this one, and it drys down very similar with the pepper and blood becoming a bit more prominent as it does.

I just adore this blend! So dark, mysterious and stunningly beautiful....

[Honor]

Whilst I was just bemoaning I missed out on Crypt Queen, a kind forumite swapped me it. So here goes:

 

In Bottle/Wet: Is reminiscent of juicy, wet, "red" fruits... berries, and blood red juices, with a hint of earthy patchouli underneath. I couldn't help but make a comparasion to the fresh, wet red blood of life, but with the hint and promise of decay simmering underneath.

 

On Skin/Dry Down: The morphs down into a beautiful, but subtle "dusty" scent of musky dry woods, and dried florals. The florals are reminsicent of fall (to me, anyway) and it all blends together nicely, while each component still gets it's due.

 

Overall Effect: I agree with others that the throw is moderate at best, and despite the patchouli, seems to fade easily. Still, I am quickly becoming enamored with her. While some BPAL blends evoke imagery in me, others do nothing more then smell nice on me. Crypt Queen however quickly embraces one and captivates not only with her scent, but her meaning as well. Definitely will be using this for creativity purposes.

Am SO glad I was able to get a hold of her.

[Rhowan]

*~ CRYPT QUEEN ~*

 

I was so happy to recieve my CQ today! It is so beautiful inside and out and all the goodies that were included just made it even that much more cool!!

 

In the bottle: Deep, dark, sanguine fruits and lovely patchouli!

 

Wet on my skin: Love, love love! Purple;/black plum and deep pomegranate sit on a base of dark patchouli and blood red musk. I even detect a warm note of amber although it is not listed in the notes. This is absolutely gorgeous!!!

 

Complete dry down: Holy Godesses!!! I am freaking swooning over myself! After wearing for an hour, I was left with a very soft resinous bottom note with heavy red fruits on top- they all blend together to give it an air of mystery and seduction. Just beautiful.

 

Conclusion: I was deathly afraid of getting this because of the rose notes. I amp rose and it's ugly on my skin - plastic rose-old woman-yuk smell usually. I was also aftraid of the Gardenia because I amp it BIG TIME! and it usually overpowers the rest of the notes when I wear any blend with gardenia in it. Not this time! I didn't even detect any type of floral note at all!!

 

I have to say that this is the most beautiful oil to come around in a long time for me! It has perfect throw (right around your personal space!) and long wear! I am wishing that I would have purchased 2 of them now!!!

 

 

ETA:spelling

Edited October 13, 2007 by Rhowan

[jolarocknrolla]

it's going to be impossible to describe this lovely scent - it's so many things all at once, and so perfectly blended AND so morphy i'm not sure where to begin!

 

Well, when it's wet, it is wonderfully fruity. Sugary sweet plum (yes, you can pick out the plum at first!) and berries, and i could have sworn something like very ripe tangerine). The rose is the most well behaved rose ever, this is NOT the rose in Zombi or Rose Red, this is very subtle it's like dusty rose off in the distance. it's also slightly woody, resinous and spicy. it gets more dusty and peppery (like mort qui dance), though it never quite loses all of it's floral or slight berry notes, they just seem, very far away. Despite the "far away-ness" this one lasts a long time.

 

this one is worth the hype - get it if you can!

[oedipa]

The Queen has finally arrived! After waiting for what seems like an eternity, I pull the coffin lid back...

 

Wet on skin: Wow, berries! And some sort of musty undertone - definitely crypt-like.

5 minutes: Dusty sharp smells with a slight berry undertone and now, wait...rose?

10 minutes: Lots of rose! Rose rose rose! With a sweet and sharp afterbite.

30 minutes: It's...umm? This scent morphs like CRAZY! Now the berries are back - I strain for pomegranate (oh, how I love thee!) but get a nosefull of gravedirt instead.

2 hours +: It finally ends up as a mishmash of sweet berries and spicy, almost peppery, dirt.

 

Overall, the Queen is probably not for me. I may keep her just so the coffin can be properly occupied, or I may see if I can find her another, more loving, home.

[filigree_shadow]

This is lovely! It seems like mostly a dark fruit scent, but not sweet-and-juicy fruity. Dry fruit. I can smell the pepper in it, and although I thought pepper with fruit sounded like an odd combination it actually works really well. The dryness of this reminds me a bit of Chrysanthemum Moon. It's kind of hazy a little bit like that one was, too. The rose musk in this is fantastic. The whole scent smells so rich and warm.

 

Brilliant. This is wonderful.

[ACVail24]

Crypt Queen

 

In the bottle:

kind of musty roses & some just-about-to-turn-rotten fruit

 

On my Skin, Wet:

Pepper! Patchouli! Roses!

The patchouli is stronger than I was hoping for - but thankfully it's not "hippie" patchouli, just kind of

earthy & grounding.

The pepper tickles my nose a little - but not enough to make me sneeze

The roses smell like they are just slightly dry (like when your bouquet is a day or two away from becoming papery)

 

On my Skin, Dry:

Roses & Raspberry(?)

The rose note is fairly noticeable, though not overpowering. Still a little on the dry side.

I don't think I've come across a perfume with raspberry before (even in BPAL! ::gasp!: so I'm not positive that

the fruity note is raspberry; but I can say that it doesn't smell like pomgranate to me

 

3 - 4 Hours later:

Pretty good staying power, though after puttering around in some dusty old books, I think the dust overrides CQ somewhat.

It still smells like drying roses, but also the pepper comes back out a little - and kind of flashes back and forth with the raspberry note.

 

Verdict:

Very interesting & thankfully not patchouli heavy!

I really am interested in the raspberry note - it's so pretty & subtle.

the roses have that GREAT quality of being borderline papery - it's an astounding note! Well done, Beth!

 

8 of 10 ranking!

 

Note on the coffin:

The moss was a great touch!

The coffin itself is nice and substantial with some beautiful golden finishes on it.

Lovely & perfect for Halloween!

Edited October 5, 2007 by Akurarei

[deleahrium]

This is all pink peppercorns on me. THAT'S IT. Pepper, pepper, pepper.

[storme]

In the imp: wow, fruitier than I expected, with a muskier warmth underneath.

 

On me, wet: dark, rich fruits with a musky rich earthiness beaneath. Very delicious.

 

On me, dry: everything seems to take a turn at centre stage before it all calms and merges into a rich, dark, floral-fruit-musk-earth.

 

Verdict: mm, very nice, and the SO approves too - glad I managed to get a bottle of this!

[Hayet]

I am totally a patchouli lover, and this is a blend that really showcases how lovely and versatile patchouli can be. It tempts you inside with warm fruity pomegranite (mmm, I can smell a hint of swank in the background, yum!), then quickly reveals its true colors: dry dusty cedar and earthy patchouli. Really, REALLY nice. I can see the comparisons with Mme. Moriarty but this one doesn't have a bit of that snake oil vanilla sweet to it. MMe. M has been sucked dry in this one!

[Megara]

This is very much like Madame Moriarty on me, but with a little more raspberry and a smoke note underneath. I do get a lot of pomegranite too. Crypt Queen's pachouli is a very leafy green patchouli, not the headshoppy kind of patchouli. A nice blend of all ingredients, not too feminine or fruity but just the right amount of everything.

[The_Merf]

I really hemmed and hawed over this one initially. In the bottle and initially on my skin, this is a dead-ringer for Alecto. Honestly, in the bottle I cannot tell them apart, which to me indicates that my nose hones in on the raspberry and patchouli. Now, the fact that CQ smelled so much like Alecto isn't a bad thing in general, as Alecto is one of my favorite GC blends, but there's no need in having two perfumes that are virtually identical. I was pretty sure that I was going to list CQ for sale, but I decided to wait for a few days and give it another try. When I tried the scent again (and all subsequent times I have worn it), the blend had settled enough to allow the pomegranate, rose/plum and pepper to become more prominent. The result is a gorgeous, more merciful version of the "leaf" scents like Alecto, The Jersey Devil and Lear. I would say that Crypt Queen is the most feminine of all those scents and it is definitely the rose, plum and pomegranate that do it. This is a red blend, but unlike a lot of the other "red" blends, like Scherezade, Mme. Moriarty, Loviatar, Fenris Wolf, etc., this one is more ethereal; it is many shades of red, ranging from deep plummy reds, to the bright reds of roses, to the cool, juicy red of raspbery, and instead of one shade of red being constant and giving the scent an unrelenting force, the shades move through quickly and constantly--sometimes you catch the plum, sometimes the rose, sometimes the raspberry, sometimes the pomegranate--and the flexibility and mystery make this a really cool blend.

[djnevermore]

Wet, this is deep fruitiness with a kick of well-behaved florals. However, if I sniff really deeply, I smell something creepy, dark and sinister that wants to climb up the bottle wall and bite me on my nose. Since it can't do that, it just turns my stomach a bit.

 

So I let it sit and try to score a Treat in partial trade.

 

Then I decide 'what the hay?!' and try it on. I don't remember what it smelled like wet, but 45+ minutes later, it's dirty, dirty, dirty, in the most pleasant way possible. I HATE headshoppy scents, so the fact I keep sniffing my wrist is perplexing. I think because it smells so very dusty, creepy and dirty, I'm drawn to it. I've never smelled dirt so convincingly, except PERHAPS with Shanghai Tunnel.

 

This is drier dirt than Tunnel, however. But it's dry without former rot. Very strange, very haunting. Not my cup o tea for perfume, but it's an amazing result, IMO!

Edited October 9, 2007 by djnevermore

[purplemoonshoes]

In the imp, I get lots of pomegrante with undernotes of pepper and dirt. Wet, it's pomegrante, but dry it's pepper tempered by rose. Like, don't love.

[midnight_aeval]

I'm a simple girl who is not very good with words...

 

Crypt Queen is sweet, almost rotten, but also very dark. I get a great fruit smell from the raspberry and pomegranate, and then a stale aged darkness creeps over the sweetness. It's a bit woodsy, probably the patchouli... It almost smells like pencil shavings on me, but because I'm odd, I really like that smell!!

 

Most of the notes are on my no-no list, but for some reason they all blend together so well. Truly a scent to be cherished.

[steelxrose]

In the bottle, Crypt Queen is tart.. with just a hint of spice (pepper?). I think I can smell a bit of the patchouli in there, but it's very faint.

 

On my skin, she goes very earthy.. just how I would expect a crypt to smell. Surprisingly, the patchouli and rose don't come out much at all. It seems to be all pepper with the faintest kick of raspberry, which is such a relief to me. I'd hate for her to be all old granny rose.

 

Great job! I've been looking for the perfect Halloween scent, and I think I've found her.

[The Dark Lady]

Crypt Queen = Posthumous Mme. Moriarty.

 

On application - Mme. Moriarty's funeral. Her casket is draped with blood red roses and a few gardenias. A child drops a raspberry candy which is quickly crushed underfoot by the procession. A toast is made. Someone spills wine on the coffin.

 

On drydown - A few days later. Mme.'s essence is beginning to fade. The close air of the tomb is permeated with the heady scent of still-fresh roses. The wine has started to sour.

 

After thirty minutes - Several years have passed. Mme. Moriarty has turned to dust - only her mineral-rich bones remain. However, like her spirit, the roses prevail, and, in fact, have grown more potent with time. Their cloying scent mingles with sour tang of vinegar - choking and oppressive.

[amyw]

I wish Crypt Queen worked for me, especially since people have compared it to Mme Moriarty, but instead on drydown it does what oils like Queen have done. It gets very harsh and then explodes into bright, sneezy floral. It also reminds me of Hurricane a few hours later. Maybe it's the pepper?

 

For a few minutes it's lovely, but that doesn't last.

 

I will try it one more time to see if it works any better, maybe at a different time in my cycle. I'll edit if so.