The Queen of Hearts

[babykitty]

Lily of the Valley, Calla Lily, stephanotis and a drop of cherry.

I don't review often, but I just HAD to add that I adore this fragrance!

I definately smell the florals, but not cherry. If I do, it's a fresh cherry fragrance, not marachino or black cherry or blossom.

If BPAL were fabric, QoH would be bright red velvet.

[Splendid Molerat]

The Queen of Hearts is a very Wonderland scent.

 

It's a place where the lawns and green things are hurt-the-eyes bright, and every bloom is perfection. When I applied this one I got a very fleeting scent of Red Delicious apples, followed by a blend of sweet and regal white flowers. The tart cherry (or is it cherry tarts?) hides behind the flowers, saving them from becoming too sweet.

 

This would be a fine scent for Spring, or on a perfectly white Winter day.

[sarahmarie]

I ordered this in my first BPAL order, when I had no idea what worked on me and what didn't. This, sadly, is one that didn't. In in the imp, it smelled very white. It was classic and pretty, very much a woman's perfume. Unfortunately, I thought it was too "perfumey", if that makes sense. I think it would be easy to wear too much of this, and on me it turned into an unfortunate hair-spray scent. My skin and flowers do not get along, as I have since learned. However, if you're a fan of florals and distinctly feminine scents, this one might be for you!

[jj_j]

Light and clear, Queen of Hearts is springtime in a bottle.

 

Oh, this is beautiful! Think dewdrops sparkling on a open white tulip, and you get an idea of the easy, breezy, and very graceful feel of Queen of Hearts.

 

Lily of the Valley always seemed a bit insipid to me, but combined with classic lily - I would have pegged it as stargazer lily, because of the sweet, almost fruity tone to it, but I guess that credit goes to the drop of cherry in here? - this is like a delighted little girl twirling and whirling with her arms out, dress belled out around her, and her face to the sun. It's just ... it's so ... unabashedly elegant and innocent, all at once!

 

I love the contradiction of haughty and heartfelt all at the same time. Queen of Hearts is even more impressive if you know that I'm not a huge fan of floral scents - and this is one I immediately bought a bottle of.

 

The only downside to this scent is the lack of staying power, at least on my thirsty skin. Reapplication was mandatory in about two hours, but Queen of Hearts is well worth the effort.

[luxuria]

First impression: A floral I like?! WHAT?! This is gorgeous, though! I'm shocked.

 

I smell a lot of light flowers and the drop of cherry is definitely there. I think it's the cherry that really makes this one for me. It's a perfect light, spring-time womanly but not wimpy scent.

 

However, as it dries down, it just smells like a typical 'clean floral' perfume. I want the cherry back, if it had stayed like that I would have ordered a bottle I'm keeping the imp in case I manage to snag some single-note cherry, though.

[judifruit]

Gorgeous, feminine floral that isn't sharp or green but yet not quite powdery either. Perhaps it's the cherry that gives it that sweet pop it needs to stay vibrant. If it's overapplied I can see it becoming overwhelming, I must always use a light hand.

 

I am not a floral nor cherry fan, so to consider this one of my favorite BPAL oils is quite a statement.

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Mmm, creamy cherries, with a gentle-but-stern lily.

 

Wearing: Wow, this has totally transformed on my skin. It's gone from almost edible to somehow quite dark! It deepens and swells out to a beautifully manic crescendo. For now, at least.

 

Later: Another transformation. The cherry has died down, leaving lilies in its wake. This has turned into a very sophisticated, classic lady's perfume. It's still deep, but in more of the way of a beautiful, wise woman with a calmness in her eyes. The slight creaminess is coming back from the bottle, and at the same time it's going kind of sour (which most florals do on me, but it's not too bad). I don't really know what stephanotis smells like, but here I think I can make a good guess that it's the element giving texture and greenness to an otherwise pastel bouquet.

 

Overall: For a floral, I love this. It's classy, and though I would have liked it to stay at its first dark, manic stage on my skin, I'm still very impressed. I will definitely keep the imp and wear it on my 1940s days.

 

Edit: The second wearing brought about an incredible smell of soap. Grr! I liked it so much. Off to the swap pile, eh?

Edited May 8, 2005 by voodoobaby

[Julilla Regina]

A beautiful creamy floral. It's a bit tart, but not as tart as the pomegranate in Persephone. But there's something just underneath that is creamy. It makes this smelly like what I think a milk bath with rose petals would smell like. It's quite lovely.

 

edited: I just read the description, and there aren't roses...so *sniiiiif*...ok, perhaps the creaminess is messing up my nose. But it's a floral. In a milk bath. I'm sticking with that part...

Edited February 8, 2005 by Julilla Regina

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: More cherry scents. I kinda clustered them all together in my imp box on the "To Try" side in the hopes of getting them over with faster. Floral with a cherry background note that kinda makes it smell like a cough drop. Hmmm...not bad but not terribly pleasing.

 

Wet: Cherry cough drop with some floral. I am unable to pick these floral notes out as I'm not familiar with any of them. They just combine to a rather generic floral that's kinda waxy. And then there's the cherry, which my skin hates.

 

Dry down: Floral top note with the cherry cough drop scent in the background. The floral is taking more prominence now, and it's really rather nice. Having to wait through the cough drop smell is unfoprtunate but might be worth it as long as it does not reappear. Although now the floral is getting kinda soapy. No, more waxy. I don't know how to even describe it other than waxy. It just makes me think of big, white waxy petals and a slightly...candle floral scent.

 

Dry: It's not bad. Most of the cherry cough drop is gone, but the candle floral is still there and even seems to be bothering my sinuses a little. I have to be very careful with floral scents for just that reason. It's not bad but something in it makes the back of my throat burn a little, and I'm not terribly fond of the overall scent of it on my skin. This is a little too heavy a floral for me, which is a funny thing to say as both rose and jasmine work wonders on my skin. I think I have problems with the lilies, but I'd need to check my spreadsheet to make sure.

[aurianrose]

Love, love, love, love, love.

 

The minute I put this on this morning, I fell in love. I'm not usually a cherry person (I really hate cherry flavoring), but this isn't a fake cherry scent. It's very much a fresh cherry scent. I really like florals, and this has that too, but something about the combination of the two together makes it smell heavenly.

 

This is going on my "Big bottle to buy" list!

[Longstofly]

I got this imp as a freebie.

 

I expected this scent to be a very deep red floral like roses would be. To me, it is more of an airy light pink delicate scent. On me I definitely get the lillies and stephanotis. That's about it. Cherry usually comes screaming out on my skin but I don't detect even a hint of it.

 

This is a beautiful very feminine scent. I don't think it is for me though. To the swap pile it goes!

[shelldoo]

wow wet this was all cherry ludens cough drops

 

as it dried it softened and became a floral w/ a cherry ludens kicker intresting

[inkstone]

In the imp: Florals.

 

Wet: Florals, florals, florals.

 

Drydown: You guessed it. Florals.

 

Final thoughts: In a weird twist of fate, the cherry didn't come out on me at all. I was really confused because it usually does. I don't know if it just couldn't compete with the florals on my skin or my skin's misbehaving today. This isn't really me though, so into the swap pile it goes.

[surf-tormented]

A floral Red Queen. I like Red Queen a lot better. It is way too flowery for me.

[girlmadasbirds]

this was super floral on with just the faintest touch of cherry. i think i might have liked it more if the cherry had been stronger. it's a pretty scent, but just too floral for me.

[cormeretrix]

dear god, the love.

 

i can definitely smell the cherry, but it's not in your face cherry, it's a nice soft cherry, sweetened by the flowers.

 

i love this. and must have more!

[helarctos]

Oddly, I didn't get any cherry from Queen of Hearts -- perhaps because I had a fairly old partial imp, acquired through swaps; maybe the cherry aged out of it? What was left was a strong, commanding floral -- too strong for me (again, maybe aging had something to do with this).

 

Those who don't like the cherry aspect of QoH but like it otherwise might want to try aging it and see what happens.

[theshapeshifter]

My first Mad Tea Party scent, and a generous gift from the Lab.

 

In the imp: Hmm, not sure this will be for me. VERY floral.

 

Initial application: There's a fruity/candyish smell that takes me a couple of minutes and many sniffs to place, but then I realize - bubblegum! It's not too promising (for my taste, at least) at this point; I'm getting bubblegum, and some kind of strong, almost-alcohol smell like old-fashioned aerosol hairspray.

 

After 45 minutes: It IS like the Queen of Hearts... trying to be friendly with me one minute, then "off with her head!" the next. I'm getting hints of the cherry now, and wafts of a floral I like, that's reminding me of something in The Living Flame... but then it gets overpowered by a different flower, that's more old-fashioned-perfumey and not so much my thing. I'm not sure which is which, though, since I'm not too expert at picking out specific flowers.

 

Edited to add: As the day wore on, the bits of the scent I didn't like died off, and the elements I liked hung around, so I wound up enjoying the Queen of Hearts more than I thought I would. I still think it'll go to swaps, though, since I simply have so many other scents that work better on me, and the Queen deserves a better home.

Edited May 6, 2005 by theshapeshifter

[Tytania]

In the imp: Augh! An overpowering reek of cherry cough syrup. It seemed to overpower every other fragrance in my imp pack. My mother recoiled when I held the Queen of Hearts imp to her nose.

 

Wet: A sharp whiff of cherry that dissipated within seconds, revealing a floral undertone

 

Drydown: A gorgeous floral mixed with cherry. It is feminine but also wily and unique.

 

After an hour or two: The scent faded into a lovely floral with the barest hint of cherry.

 

Conclusion: This is quickly becoming a favorite scent. I've already re-applied it once and I'm still in love. I think I'll be ordering a bottle.

[OdetteOdile]

Queen of Hearts

 

Mostly I smelled the cherry, but it was a subdued, pretty, gently floral cherry - not blaring cherry cough syrup. Sweet floral with a fruit base. It almost smelled like plums on me.

I wore this on one arm and The Red Queen on the other, and they enhanced and balanced each other beautifully. I am more and more impressed with the whole the Mad Tea Party collection.

Edited May 20, 2005 by OdetteOdile

[zankoku_zen]

I'm excited about this. I like the cherry smell of Hollywood Babylon and I love the lily smells from Goneril and Juliet.

 

In the Bottle: I can smell the lilies. And something sweet and fresh, like an apple.

 

On Skin: The lilies predominate but there is an underlying sweetness to it. There is also the hint of something green, which I'm assuming is the stephanotis.

 

On Drydown: I can smell some of the cherries coming out. It's not predominant like in Hollywood Babylon though and it's an interesting mix with the lilies. Unfortunately, it fades fast from my skin.

 

Verdict: I like this. The scent isn't overpowering and domineering like I would associate with the Queen of Hearts. There is something very elegant and appealing to it. However, because of its limited staying power, I would have to slather this on. It may be better off at another home.

[Carmencita]

In the bottle: Almond extract! That's what I smelled. A little bit of the cherry, but mostly almond extract was my first impression.

 

On my wrist: Very floral and cologne-like, the cherry was gone. So was the almond.

 

After a while: I can smell the lilies and this powdery baby type scent.

 

Overall impressions: Now very powdery, adult, too adult for me I'm afraid. Regal enough for the Queen of hearts I suppose.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Cherry floral

 

On Skin: All I smell is lily. Very elegant but very strong. The cherry has faded to the back, just slightly sweet. This still is a “white” scent to me, the cherry doesn’t even tint it. If I really liked florals I’d keep this, but they feel to “formal” to me. The lily in this is a bit ozone/soapy as well, very clean.

[komakino]

Initial Impression: Right after application, a wonderful and slightly bitter scent of cherry.

 

After Wearing It: After only a couple of minutes, the bitterness of the cherry faded to a rather mundane sweet and soapy scent. It seriously smelled exactly like regular soap, complete with that slightly dry and bitter tone hard white soap has.

 

Final Impression: Unfortunately, it does not work with my skin at all. All I get is an unpleasant smell of soap.

[Northernminx]

Cherry sweet and bright in the imp, I was surprised that the cherry note totally dissapeared when I put it on. This is surprisingly upright and womanly and assertive, a strong white floral with a touch of lily but mostly that other flower whose name I will not attempt to butcher for you here. It's strong, a little too strong if you over apply as I did on first swipe, but mellows into a classically dignified floral. Pretty but nothing in it is screaming loud enough for me to get a bottle.