The Red Queen

[eanewsom]

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

The moment I opened the imp I fell in love. Rich, sweet, bright red cherries. I put it on, and smelled like deliciousness. Lovely, happy, cherry deliciousness. Way too soon, though (maybe 15 minutes), the cherries dried away and left wood. Pencil wood. Hamster cage wood. I wanted the Red Queen to be my new best friend, but she just won't play nicely with me.

[vegasblueblood]

I love Alice in Wonderland so I'm always excited to try any of the Mad Tea Party oils. I also love the lab's cherry and currant so I was definitely looking forward to trying Red Queen. In the imp, it's all cherry with some currant. Yum! There is a very slight hint of woodiness. Not long after applying, the mahogany and woods come out and it's very, very woody. It actually reminds me a bit of Anne Bonny but Anne Bonny's woodiness is more of a salt-sprayed wood while the Red Queen's wood is a rich, dark, red mahogany chest or wardrobe. I still detect a hint of the currant and cherry and hopefully this will re-emerge after a while.

[Jenesis]

Wet: Rather nice cherries, not very sweet, more "real" cherries than those glace ones drenched in syrup.

 

Drydown: A weird mix of sour, tart currants and cherries.

 

Dry: Sadly, it was not meant to be. It's not an "Eugh!" scent, but it's nowhere near as nice as, say, Bloody Mary. The cherries remain, but there is no sign of the rich woods, and the currants smell like they could use a few more spoonfuls of sugar on top.

 

Final Verdict: Fruity, slightly tart pie with no sugar.

 

Rating: 3/5

[ashariel]

First impression out of the bottle and on my skin, wet: cherry Swisher Sweets. Thankfully, that faded after about 10 mins and mellowed into this sweet woody scent. It reminds me of winters spent in a wood-paneled den.

[taramarie]

In the imp and on my skin, The Red Queen is sweet cherries and nuts. I don't know where the nuts are coming from, since they're not listed. As it starts to dry, the woods come out. At one point, I get a whiff of cedar. Dry, the cherries have settled down and are mingling well with the woods.

 

While I don't think it's really me, it's a very nice sent, one I'll definitely keep around.

[porcelina]

sticky sweet maraschino cherries and dark wood. the cherry in this is what i wanted bloody mary to smell like. it's sweet but the wood deepens it and makes it a really elegant, adult perfume, in my opinion.

 

edit: unfortunately, after a little while the cherries seem to evaporate completely leaving a dry cedar sort of smell. the initial stages are lovely but i'm not into smelling like a wooden box. alas.

Edited June 6, 2007 by porcelina

[CrazyPretzel]

Hmm. Wet, this smelled like red candies -- cherry Jolly Ranchers, maybe, very strong. On the drydown, all the sweetness disappeared and I was just left with the smell of china cabinets.

 

Just can't do wood.

[windzswept]

In the Bottle: I smell Cherries, lovely nice smelly cherries.

 

On my wrist: Cherries! Cherries! Cherries! As it dries the wood comes out and mingles with the cherries. I just want to sniff my wrist all the time. My Cat also likes it, or at least that is my interpretation of her rubbing her head against the back of my wrist (not where the perfume is, the other side). I love this

 

Just after writing: Wah! No more cherries! But woods, lots and lots of woods, freshly chopped wood and freshly waxed wood. I love this. Even when the cherry goes it's lovely.

[akabob]

I have this one on today. This is a fun scent because it morphs all over the place and then settles into a really sexy sweet smell that kind of floats around me. My office smells like a cartoon princess lives in it.

 

At first, the oil smelled like Luden's Cherry throat lozenges in the imp vial. AWESOME. I love those things, and eat them by the boxful, to many people's horror. I was thinking, this is going to make me smell like an apothecary! But, NO.

 

When I put it on, the smell evolved immediately. I could smell woody smells. Nothing green. This was a smell of pure, polished, clean wood. This is when the smell is at its fullest...the wood mixes with the tart of the cherry and currant and it almost smells like chocolate cherries mixed with oil paint and wood panels. Forgive me, I'm a painter.

 

Then it fades, and I'm left with this cartoon princess smell...the smell of my old My Little Ponies and Jem dolls. The smell of my Strawberry Shortcake doll. Sweet, faint, sugary tart goodness. I think it is currant and not cherry...the cherry was far different.

 

Fun! A rollercoaster of a smell.

[Miseraya]

Hmm, well let me preface this by saying I was taking a chance with this one, woods just don't work on me but I was holding out hope....

 

In the imp: Something both astringent and musty. That's... odd. I can't pick out specific notes here, but I am getting a wood with fruit aura from this.

 

On the wrist: Ok, I know this is going to sound strange, but this smells like freshly washed rat. I used to have a rat named Rasputina who smelled just like this after a bath. Odd. Seriously, buy a rat and wash it, it smells just like this. Well, almost, rats are a little less medicinal smelling. A little more musty.

 

Drydown: This is not working on me, aside from the reminiscent qualities (I miss Rasputina!) this smell is just not doing it for me. Swaps.

[underline2]

I do get the fake-cherry-flavor type smell when I first open the imp, but when I put it on it immediately calms down. The woody notes come out and blend wonderfully with the fruitiness of the cherry. It's a truly delightful scent that just screams spring, contentedness and dignity. Unfortunately, my skin just eats it up. It only lasts an hour or two before fading into obscurity. I'll keep the imp, but with the lasting power there's no way I can get a bottle.

[neuilly]

Fruity woods from the moment is hits my skin...very consistent. Definitely a cherry syrup type of fruitiness and the woods is all cedar on me but I tend to amp cedar. But cedar just reminds me of my guinea pig cage. Alas.

[starwild]

Another of the imps bethany sent me!

 

Bottle: *cough* that's...strong.

 

Wet: OH NO I am being assaulted by buckets of cherries! Ack! The cherry tart revolution is clamoring for my head!

 

Drydown: You know what this smells like to me? Those scratch and sniff stickers I used to get on homework assignments back in the 1980's-early 90's. It is bringing back some serious memories. This scent is insane, just like the Queen. It smells like cherry-flavored insanity.

 

Later: Ok, now I'm getting some cedar/woodsy scent.

 

I love the name and I love the concept, and I even rather like the scent, but not on me, if you know what I mean. I'm afraid this one might be getting sent on to someone who can handle the cherry.

[hellomoonglow]

In Imp: Dusty cherries.

Wet: Dark, dusty cherries. Currants and something dark and rich, not sweet but rather cold. I know, it’s weird. That’s what it smells like to me.

½ hr. Dry Down: The Red Queen is telling me a secret. And the secret is…..don’t buy a bottle of me! I’m way too complex for you! Stick with Alice, dear. She’s much more your speed. So, alas, The Red Queen is not for me. I get an icky talcum powder with cherries which is not at all the scent I’m looking for here.

[n3m3sis42]

In the imp:

Sweet cherries.

 

Wet:

Sweet cherries still, not the cough syrupy cherry scent I got from Kabuki when I first put it on, but a really nice cherry scent. My skin chemistry does this scary thing with a lot of BPAL's wood notes, where after the first 5 or 10 minutes, all other scents are overpowered by this massive pencil-shavings odor. However, I've found that with most blends, if I wait it out, the pencil shavings thing will calm down and sometimes it comes out okay. Fortunately, this was the case with Red Queen.

 

Dry:

After drydown, this smells of currants with an undertone of woods, and it's very pretty. It seems to fade to almost nothing on me within a few hours, though, so I'll have to try slathering this more next time.

[mollipop]

Wow. This screams "CHERRIES!" And not fresh cherries, either - artificial, cherry lollipops. But after a minute or two, after the dry-down, the cherries disappeared! Now I smell like a polished oak armoire. Ick. I'd give it a 1.5/5.0, but only because of the delicious, cavity-inducing cherries!

 

Boy, was I wrong! This is actually my favorite scent, besides Obatala (which is completely different, mind you). It definitely is very "Disney princess"-esque and makes me feel like I want to play with dolls. It's sweet but not TOO sweet. I like the girly image, so this is heavenly for me. Hopefully I can get my hands on a 5ml quick! The Red Queen gets a 4.5/5.

Edited August 18, 2007 by mollipop

[LittleMissAspie]

I like this. When I first put it on it smelt like chocolate covered sweet marzipan, it reminded me of Christmas sweets. That soon faded though and now it smells like cherry wood. Literally like wood infused with cherry juice. It is fading very quickly which is a disappointment. I think the smell would suit a shower gel or soap better than being worn as a perfume, but I will definitely put this on my wishlist and maybe figure out some other uses for it.

[dragonrain]

When sniffed from the imp, this reminded me of cherry-flavored cough syrup. Not the best first impression. But on, it smells just like candy. After a few minutes I can smell the wood, but the candy is still at the forefront. I don't really think of cherries when I'm wearing this, just candy. And now my sweet tooth is aching.

[alicia_stardust]

I smell mysterious, sharp, juicy cherries and currants that have a deep and commanding presence thanks to the woods in there. This was love at first sniff, and the skin test only heightened my adoration of this scent. It is regal, dark, mysterious, strong and so very RED.

[JenM]

The Red Queen

 

In the imp: pure cherries. Sweet cherries, with a kick of blackcurrant.

 

On the wrist: exactly the same as the imp. Wow. Nearly Jailbait-like in its sweetness. On drydown, on the left hand the woods come through really strongly, but less so on the right.

 

Fades to a vaguely cherry-wood after an hour or so.

[gwynethr]

I got this in a pile of imps from someone, most of which were not good for me, and I'd assumed that it would be rose-based, just by the name and the fact that most of the other imps she sent were rose heavy. Wow, what an incredible surprise! I love fruity scents and wood scents (as opposed to woodsy, like pine and fir). The good wood ones always remind me of my old boyfriend when he was doing woodwork. And I adore the scent of dark cherries and currants.

 

I get that right out of the bottle -- the notes are all there, prominently, none taking over the other, and they fortunately stay that way on me for a long time. It's got great throw and lasts for hours. I was beginning to despair of the Mad Tea Party scents -- only Tweedledum and Tweedledee were at all pleasant for me, and rose figures in so many of them. Now I have a MTP scent I can get a bottle of and wear all the time. This is what I love about BPAL -- just that a perfume of such an unusual combination could even be conceived of. I have never smelled anything like it!

[madeleine]

In the bottle, it smells like nothing so much as cough syrup. (Robitussin, maybe. Been a while since I had any.) On me, it starts that way by becomes sweeter and deeper - I suspect the currants and mahogany. But I can't like it: it's too insecure and babyish. The Red Queen is the perfume a starlet might choose if she's just starting out. Her make-up is flawless and she's got great posture - to look at her you'd never guess she's faking. The scent gives it away.

[pugmom]

yum! This is my first experience with bpal woods.

 

In imp - cherries, strong cherries.

 

On skin - Very strong woods overcome the cherries. The woods are generally present, but I do tend to get a little cedar vibe every so often.

 

Long into drydown - the cherries and woods are now balanced. I like this stage a lot. It doesn't smell blended too much, I smell cherries and then wood, not cherry wood if that makes any sense! I wish this part of drydown came sooner and was stronger.

 

Overall - maybe keep the imp, but won't need a bottle.

[jolarocknrolla]

Yup, it's wood alright. It's not a "green" sort of wood, it's an old wood sort of smell, possibly even rotted woodland wood ... but that's not bad! it's an outdoorsy sce=nt to me, like the woods in wintertime before the snows. I don't get any cherry beyond the very wet stage, just glorious dark rich wood.

[Honor]

This very easily could be the perfect scent for me. Indeed, it has many of the components I listed in my "forum name" scent (which ism y ideal scent).

 

Sadly however... part of those "rich, velvety woods" includes sandalwood and/or cedar which almost never fails to take over and ruin a blend for me. There are a handful of scents w/ sandalwood in them that work, but I think it's because there are a plethora of other notes to "Get in the way". Here, sandalwood is a main player and pushes everyone else off the stage...

 

 

In Bottle: Cherries! But darkened w/ current a hint of something I can't identify... I'm guessing the mahogany.

 

On Skin: The cherries rise up at first, but then very quickly fade away to leave the sharp, dry pencil shaving scent of sandalwood. Ah, you nemesis you.

 

Dry: Same. Dry, pencil shaving sandalwood. There is no getting around this one, and for me, none of the complex elegance I was hoping for.

 

Overall: While my intial impression was lovely, the sandalwood amps too much and this is not to be.