The Red Queen

[slugbait]

Deep mahogany and rich, velvety woods lacquered with sweet, black-red cherries and currant.

An imp I recieved from Shanti. Thank you!

When I opened this, I can smell the lightest bit of cherries and peanuts. I think that is supposed to smell like woods, but it smells like roasted peanut shells to me.

While wet on my skin, still smells like peanuts. If I sniff really hard I can smell a trace amount of cherry, then it is gone!

When this dries, it turns into baby powder. It morphs no more.

I'm glad I got to try this, but it's really not my thing.

[emzebel]

I expected to really deeply adore The Red Queen. I like woddy scents. I like fruity scents. All of the notes soundsd absolutely delish.

 

In the vial, she is extremely sweet to the point that I cannot really pick out notes. I did not remember that this was described as mahogany or in conjunction with "woods" and do not get a sense of them at all, really. It is sweet. Powerfully sweet.

 

On my skin, the notes start to play together a little more. The sweetness mellows and I can smell fruitiness and cherries and hints of the darkness lurking. But only a hint. I think that this might be better for me layered with something a little muskier, perhaps. Because I do like The Red Queen. But I am not madly in love.

[empi girl]

I loved the Red Queen when wet. For the first 10 minutes she was a lush, sweet juicy cherry...and then developed into a used pee-and-desitin diaper bin...So very sad!

 

It did mellow out from the diaper stage, but retained a medicinal edge to it. Not a keeper.

 

ETA: I don't like saying a BPAL smells like a diaper, but this one did.

Edited August 26, 2005 by empi girl

[zombie_striptease]

This queen did some interesting morphing on me.

 

In the imp: All cherry. It's a nice cherry, too, not an artificial/cough drop sort. I've had trouble with fruits before, though, so I'm dreading what my skin may do to it.

 

On wet: It's still cherry! Yes! Though now it's starting to smell like.. Tootsie Rolls? Huh? I suppose the semi-cocoa smell is the woods coming out. They're warm and smooth, and are starting to dry out and seperate from the cherry note again.

 

Dry down: I'm not sure what-all woods are supposed to be in here, but almost all of them have fallen beneath a cedar note. I guess it's one of those notes my skin amplifies. Good to know. So now I mostly smell like cherry and cedar, which is a strange but pleasant combination. It's warm and red without being the least bit spicy, just mellow and sweet. Very nice.

 

Conclusion: A well-crafted scent, but not really suited to me. I realized with this scent that I much prefer my woods to be cold, as strange as that may sound. If I want a sweet-ish cedar scent I'll head for Alecto. Though I'm very happy to learn that Beth's cherry note stays nice on me . I'll definitely be adding more cherry scents to my list now.

[13bodies]

This was a freebie from the lab and I probably wouldn't have tried it on my own, as I'm a bit leery of berry scents--they tend to go all Bubble Yum on me.

 

This one though.....wow! It's all dark, sweet cherry in the imp and on my skin for about 1 minute, then it morphs into a rich woody scent with the faintest hint of sweetness. I wouldn't mind if the cherry hung around for a bit longer, though I think that's my wonky body chemistry since the cherry note in Blood disappeared in less than a minute, too. The scent isn't terribly long-lasting either, but I really like this. This is a strong contender for the big bottle list.

Edited September 2, 2005 by 13bodies

[mandalinn]

This imp was given to me by KittyFlop, thanks hon!!

 

In the bottle: Lifesaver cherry! Yum!

 

On wet: Deep, red cherry with a dry woodsy undertone and a hint of smoke.

 

Later: Very woodsy and dry with a hint of cherry marzipan in the background.

 

I like this scent a lot, nice and not too heavy.

[Essay 28]

In the bottle: strong, medicinal cherries with a hint of currant, very like Cherry Nyquil.

 

On skin initially: Wesson vegetable cooking oil.

 

After an hour: Still cooking oil. I'm still trying to figure out what note turned to the cooking oil, but regretfully, my chemistry doesn't like this one. Into the swap pile it goes.

[WidgetAlley]

Got this in a swap with the fabulous blood*rose*flowers.

 

In the vial: Holy cherries, Batman! Cherries, and bright, jangly cherries at that, but there's an underlying depth that makes this smell like real cherries rather than cough-syrup. Odd as it sounds, this smells like the texture of real cherries to me-- sort of firm. There's something underneath it, too, something dark.... vetiver, maybe? It doesn't smell like one of the "woods", so hmm. I'm not sure where the currant is. In there with the cherries, I assume. It's a thumbs-up so far.

Wet: Wow! It turned into wood and velvet and fruity sweetness.

 

Dry: .... This is so complex and regal and hard to describe. It's dry and sweet and smoky and smells like sleek, polished wood and royalty, and as weird as it sounds, chess. This makes me feel witty and sharp, and positively craving a challenging strategy game. The throw isn't great and it seems to be fading a bit already, but I love this.

 

15 min. mark: Noooo! Red Queen, where are you going? I know I only put on a teensy dab but come baaack!

 

I'll try slathering with the Imp, and if it stays around longer, it'll go on the 5mL list.

[youhavenoidea]

In the bottle: Cherry cough syrup. Yuck.

 

On my skin at first: this turns to powder on my skin almost instantly, but it's not overwhelming. It still has the sweet notes of cherry and the dark notes of wood underneath the powder scent.

 

On my skin dry: as time wears on the powder dies down and the darker cherry and wood smell come out. It's very sweet, but it wears well through the day.

[Blood onmy hands]

The Red Queen smells like black cherry kool-aid powder (tart, dry and artificial cherry) mixed with pencil shavings. It starts off heavy on the cherry and light on the pencil shavings, and dries down to tons of pencil shavings and a hint of cherry kool-aid powder. It's similar to the woods in Velvet, except this has cherry instead of chocolate.

 

Desk full of pencil shavings...

Edited February 13, 2012 by Little Bird

[Firewaver]

Haha.. I totally get the peanut shells from this when it's wet!

Actually, maybe not peanuts, but those red pistachios! Eww.

 

 

Now that it's a slight bit drier, I smell a tangy cherry smell, like the artificial inside of a cherry pop tart. Kind of a poopy smell is being uncovered as well. Not sure about this one, it kind of reminds me of the Port-a-Potties at the summer camp I went to when I was little.. they had this fake cherry smell that was supposed to cover up the.. you know, the poopy smell, but really just made it smell like cherry coated poopy.

 

 

Lol. this one is unfortunately not for me.

[carolinachiquita]

I didn't pay much attention to this scent this morning as I was in a rush but I have just smelt it now and it is really nice. Its like a creamy cherry smell - like a strawberry campino sweet but cherry flavoured instead!! I'm not sure if I like it enough to get a 5ml bottle though

[AliBabble]

the first sniff is very cherry-almond. same thing while wet: luden's cherry cough drops. this is not a bad thing, as i like the smell of cherry cough drops. but this smell goes away rather quickly, and is replaced by the woodsy smell - this was a real surprise to me. it's that same woodsy smell as i detect in cathedral and coyote: the one that reminds me of stone, or wet cement. i really like it. i dunno how it starts out so cherry, and ends up that yummy incense-y stone smell, but i like it a lot.

[Avery]

As an avid Alice in Wonderland freak, I was really hoping that the lucious sounding Red Queen would work on my skin. She does! I'm also finding that I can wear all the yummy cherry scents that I have tried so far - Yay!

 

I get really strong imagery from this one--those red opaque heart shaped cherry flavored lollipops. Definitely heart shaped. How funny! I definitely can understand where people are getting the Luden's cherry cough drops, as that is what happens first on my skin, too (but I like it). Then it changes to the aforementioned lollipop. But it's not all sweet innocent candy... as time goes by the Red Queen develops a bit headier and more sophisticated overall scent... she is girlish underneath, but also means business (this must be the wood).

 

This is the first catalog scent I've tried that I'm seriously considering a 5ml of.

Edited October 12, 2005 by Avery

[Miss Lynx]

Like Kuang Shi, this was a venture into testing how far my newfound liking for fruity scents goes. And it's a very interesting one. On first contact, it was cherry overkill -- incredibly strong and sweet and fruity to the point of being kind of pungent. But in the imp I'd been able to get an impression of other notes as well, so I let it settle in for a bit to see what it would evolve into.

 

Within a few minutes, the initial cherry blast had faded a bit, and all kinds of new elements were coming forward, making it unfold into something really rich and complex and hard to describe. I could definitely still smell the cherry and currant, but now they were intertwined with much darker, earthier notes, giving it a sort of bittersweet depth that I found very appealing.

 

Unfortunately, the staying power is not great --- within an hour and a bit it's faded down a lot, to the point where I need to put my nose pretty close to my wrists to smell it, but even as a subtle scent, it's pretty nice.

 

Grade: B/B+

[quimerula]

Wet it's a pretty strong cherries scent, sweet like a candy.

 

Drying down it becomes a more womanly scent, quite more interesting. I can smell the woody notes and they make a big difference.

 

This is the best cherry perfume that I've smelt, it doesnt' go too sweet and it doesn't seem too fake.

Nice cherry blend indeed.

Edited September 30, 2005 by quimerula

[maewitch]

Wet, this is like those supah-fake cherries they put on ice cream. Very juicy and red and fake. That fades out and is replaced by a strong wood note, which smells EXACTLY like this mahogany apothecary that I have. I mean, I couldn't even tell the difference. Which is not exactly great, since I rarely, if ever, want to smell like furniture.

 

An hour later this has softened into a very faint berry-ish note that is pretty enough, but sort of indistinct and very light.

 

The rough start and the undistinguished finish makes this one a pass for a bottle, and probably for the imp as well.

Edited October 9, 2005 by maewitch

[PennyPretty]

Wet this smells like cherry cough drops, the scent of which almost immediatly fades to a very woody smell. It's almost a cedar smell on me with a very faint fruit scent in the background. Nice but not exactly my thing.

[lookingglass]

Wet this scent is lush, blood red cherry. As it dries, splintered, heavily varnished wood emerges. They sit separately for a moment, and then morph together into the patinaed carved wooden chess piece that is the red queen. It is quite strong and odd. Dry, though, this is definitely a favorite. It comes to life on my skin, once absorbed, like the queen herself, through the lookingglass. The cherry fades, only sweetening the wood, and their is a creaminess that holds it to my skin. I am transformed. I will wear this when I want to feel a bit haughty, in charge, and embracing my madness!

[Ankhet]

The Red Queen:

In the bottle: Hm. This one's hard to place. The first impression I get is.. you know those chocolate-covered cherries with syrup in between the cherry and the chocolate? That taste? That's the first impression I'm getting. I should probably look at the site's description of it. Ah, yes, that'd be the black-red cherries and currant I'm smelling.

Wet: Now I'm getting the smell of the woods, with the fruits taking a back seat. It's...interesting.

Drydown: Well I need to shower, and it's still not completely dry, 5 minutes later. I'll have to try this again later, as it IS morphing, but ever-so-slowly.

Conclusion: Test later. For now, keep imp.

[Eros]

At first this is all chocolate covered cherries. Minus the chocolate, lol. It quickly goes to a beautiful woodsy scent & after a few minutes, there's a lovely undercurrent of wild, tart berries swirling around.

 

Very nice!

[Phaedra]

Wet this is VERY strong fake cherry!! When first applied it smells the same but with a woodiness to it- almost cedar. The cherry fades after about 30 minutes and it becomes softer and creamier. This really smells like a deep rich red color! Unfortunately this fades quickly on me so I don't think I"ll keep it.

[brownbear]

This smells so good in the imp. It's very cherry. mmmmmm

Once it's on my skin the cherry is still really strong and the scent gets deeper and redder. Then it gets smells like a tin of sucrets. Hmmm not so good. Kind of medicinal. Then it gets worse. It keeps changing on my skin and each stage is worse than the last until it fades out. I vow to one day find a very cherry scent that works on me. Sadly this is not the one.

[KieLocke]

In the vial all I got was cherries. On skin I still get cherries but then I smelled chocolate as well. Not milk chocolate but something closer to dark. As it dried it reminded me of cherries and chocolate licquor (is there such a thing?). In the end it was cherry menthol.

 

As much as I like cherries this was too strong and syrup sweet for me. Furthermore, I'm not a big fan of chocolate (especially chocolate covered cherries). I'll be passing this one on.

[lysithea]

Wet, this is a juicy cherry. Not quite cherry cough syrup, but without the added woods it probably would have been. The addition of the deep woods gives this blend a complexity that is hard to compare. It is dry and stays somewhat sweetish throughout the day. I hesitate to say that it smells like a wood box that has been used to house cherry pipe tobacco, but to me...that's similar to what it smells like. It does have a faint smokiness to it as well.

 

A probable winner for fans of woody scents: rosewood, sandelwood, the components of Cathedral that have been kicked up with a juicy fruity burst.

 

Cherry Kool-Aid spilled on an unfinished mahogany tabletop, perhaps?