Queen of Diamonds

[little_galaxie]

A glittering icicle of a woman, regal, proud and cold: shimmering white grapefruit, pale flowers and lemon bark with orchid, rose and a dash of mandarin.

This smells a lot like commercial perfumes you find at department stores...which isn't a bad thing at all in this case, because Queen of Diamonds is GORGEOUS. It has a crystalline quality to it, but the notes are so well blended i can't really pick out one specific floral or fruit.

ADDED Feb. 15:

Oooohhh, this is one of my favorites. It's actually pretty commercial-perfume smelling, only better, of course. It's so gorgeous, and absolutely "crystalline." Very evocative of a beautiful, vain, icy queen.

I get grapefruit, white musk, and white florals, but it's so seamlessly blended I can't identify one from the other. I think this just might become my signature scent, if only I can hunt down a bottle...


ETA: wow, am I a dumbass. Mods, just delete the previous post. I like this one better.

merged --Shollin

[Melantha]

Grapefruit amps on my skin, and doesn't like me. 'Nuff said.

[myoubi]

This reminds me a lot of Ice Queen -- there must be at least one common ingredient, surely, because they both have a very cold, hard-edged tone to them. like little_galaxie, I also think this smells like a very high-end conventional fragrance.

 

SCENT: This starts out reminding me strongly of Ice Queen. It's very grapefruity, but it almost reminds me of white musk for some reason -- both fragrances have a brittleness and a hardness to them. As it settles, the grapefruit dissolves and lets the mandarin warm the scent a little bit. This is a floral, but not an obvious one -- I don't get the orchid sweetness or the gentle mellowness I associate with rose. I don't know what lemon bark smells like, but judging from the chilly nature of the scent, it may be that that I am smelling. Then, after 10 minutes it changes again: the freezing citrus backs off just a touch, opening the gates just slightly for a mellow orchid mandarin.

 

TONE: This is not a nice happy perfume. It's not friendly. It's not agressive. The Queen is cold and high and hard and incredibly aloof. It's also a demanding fragrance -- it's not something I'd just put on unthinkingly. This is one I'd wear if I was shopping in the most expensive district in town and didn't want anyone to bother me: it carries with it a sense of entitlement and hauteur.

 

VERDICT: Oh, I already have too many icy chilly scents. Why do I need another? But I really like the Queen, I do. I may get tired of her eventually, but right now she fills a niche well.

[theseagrows]

this is very shimmery and aquatic. the name really evokes the scent. in the vial, i can smell the grapefruit and mandarin most strongly, however on my skin i believe the pale florals and ozone come out most. there is something in this that turns on me, but i'm not sure what it is. this is just so very very ozone...unfortunately it's giving me a headache :/

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Very pale yellow oil. Floral soap. Maybe some orchid, but primarily soap.

 

Wet: More floral, less soapy, but still very clean. Fainter. A bit cologney. Maybe a tiny bit of extremely light grapefruit.

 

Dry: Slow to dry. Yeah, this is slightly soapy cologne. It's fresh and clean but extremely generic. It's a bit more floral than traditional 'male' perfume, but not by much.

 

Summary: Light, slightly soapy, white-floral cologne with a bit of heady orchid. Just slightly over the edge into masculine. I never got any citrus or rose. Low throw.

 

I was so disappointed by this one.

[dronzeka]

This is very, very soft on me. I get the same kind of grapefruit that's in Shattered, softened and sweetened by the other notes. On me, this is very well blended--it's difficult to distinguish the notes; overall, it's an elegant, cool sweetness. It doesn't smell like soap, itself, but it is a scent that you might find in VERY high-end (probably French!) bath products.

 

I REALLY like this, except it's such a skin scent on me--I so wish I had a bottle, so I could slather, but all I have is a treasured imp!

[Gin]

Citrus and flowers. Nice, but not amazing on me. Queen of Diamonds is one of those scents I feel like I should like/wear more than I do. I like the notes, I like the scent, but I never choose to wear it.