King of Diamonds

[pekeana]

Blindingly handsome, imperious, and gleaming with crystalline light. The perfect mate to the Queen's shimmering hauteur: a white chypre shot through with shards of translucent musk.

Well, I'm glad I didn't buy this for myself. I bought it for a birthday gift, and, well, it'll be much better on him than me. In the vial, it's delectable. On me, it's Glade plug-ins on top of a bed of musky oakmoss. After a while, the oakmoss decides it hates my skin and turns to cat pee. Definitely not the scent for me, but it will be lovely on the guy I bought it for.

[oceandessa]

This is so lovely, like a masculine version of Snow White.

A cold musky smell much like the dry down of Cheshire Cat, only a bit sweeter without the florals. Work of art, this is. And much like the Queen, this is an all-year-long scent, though a nice wintery smell for sure.

 

I am very glad my implusiveness won over my logic and that I ordered a bottle of this. It is very light, so I will have to apply heavily. Should have ordered a second bottle.

[TheDarkMother]

I got the King and Queen of Diamonds because I was so in love with the King and Queen of Spades.

 

In the Bottle: Slightly musky with a hint of citrus. I keep thinking of bubbling peach nectar or something similar.

 

On Me: A white musk with definately a peach or necatrine after-effect, though a decidedly male scent. Very masculine, in fact. So masculine but light that I think I'll try it on my son.

 

Wow, on me it was very peachy, but on my son its very light and sparkling, not too overly musky or very fruity, but a perfectly light yellow blend that just swirls around him without being overbearing. The difference in scents is amazing! While I like it on myself, I really love it on my son. Its very innocent on him, while on me its very masculine. I am really happy that I got a bottle of this, and I have a feeling that whenever I wear it, my son will too.

[inkstone]

In the bottle: Cold musk. There is definitely some citrus in here though.

 

Wet: Very masculine. It's white musk and a note that I think is oakmoss. I'm not entirely sure.

 

Drydown: There's something fruity in here. *sniffs again* Yes, there's definitely something fruity. I think TheDarkMother is right when she says it's something peachy or nectarine-y. It's something along those lines.

 

Final thoughts: He's the perfect complement to the Queen of Diamonds. Now I'm smelling him more closely, I'm not sure it is very me. That musky oakmoss note has come out again, and it's become masculine again. When it's like this, it doesn't really fit me. Hmm... I'll try it out a few more times before I make my final decision.

Edited December 24, 2004 by inkstone

[jj_j]

Crystalline is a very good descriptor for the King of Diamonds. He's cool and clean and glitters a bit in my nose.

 

Not a complicated scent, but not a simple one, either. Clarity like this must be hard to acheive in a fragrance, and there's no sweetness in the blend to help that impression along.

 

To me, oakmoss always smells like new dollar bills, and I don't get that out of King of Diamonds at all. He's not a green scent so much as he is citrus combined with the freshness of leaves, and it's a beautiful interplay. There's a subtle earthy quality to this, but only enough to make it grounded and masculine without being heavy in the slightest.

 

King of Diamonds is what a man should smell like in the summer - clean, fresh, and attention-getting without being soapy or weighted down by woods or spices. Refreshing to the wearer and those graced by his presence. I'm looking forward to smelling it on my fella as soon as the weather gets warmer.

[pkwench]

King of Diamonds

 

Pulled my review off the of the LJ community.

 

I'll be honest upfront and admit that I recognized the scent of chypre, but didn't have a blasted clue WHAT it was. Best I can figure from a quick stab at AskJeeves (don't laugh!), chypre is a combination of oakmoss and citrus. (Please feel free to educate me if this is incorrect.) It makes sense to me, because I do get a tempered, sauve sort of citrus high from the King. The musk is a brilliant combination with this. On first sniff, the King is bright and mighty. In the bottle, he actually smells pretty manly. Which is no bad thing. *G* Once on, it sizzles down to a gorgeous, mellow scent. Light musk with that vague, slinky citrusesque thing going on. He's bright, yes. Regal, definately. But, on my skin he's a lot more subtle than the Queen.

[Northernminx]

A little bit citrus, sparkling and bright in the vial. On me this was very musky, and very masculine, golden smooth, and sophisticated but masculine. This was sort of a non-vanilla Golden Priapus to me, very rich and heady and as with Queen of Diamonds, I get the scent of what I imagine a ritzy upper class commerical perfume SHOULD smell like - but never manages to. Gorgeous but decidedly male so I think this one will either get tried on Jake or swapped.

[shelldoo]

i gave kod to my dh and it smells fabu i have no clue exactly what chypre is but whatever the notes certainly smell clean, and handsom on him (he liked it too) i could detect a faint citrussy smell but didn't really smell the musk...generally i am not a huge musk fan but this was a great scent musk and all

Edited December 30, 2004 by shelldoo

[ChupaChup]

My honey got King of Diamonds for Christmas. He has always liked chypre scents but when I sniffed it in the bottle, I thought it might be too musky for him. Well, it is very musky but dang it smells great on him Very fresh and clean, but sexy at the same time. Lucky for him it's a little too masculine for me, he won't have to share it !

[antimony]

My favorite perfume before BPAL was O de Lancome, which is kind of an oddball, since it's a women's perfume with chypre, which is quite uncommon.

 

Anyway, just reading the descriptions of the King and Queen of Diamonds had me *swooning* that between the two together, I would finally have my citrusy chypre-y fabulousness again. And I do, kinda.

 

There's just one thing that makes me so sad about the King... He's gone in half an hour. Just nothing. poof. But he smells sooo good at first!

[Astarte]

The king and queen of spades worked out quite well for me and my boyfriend last time, as he loved king of spades and I loved queen of spades. So I definitely bought these two to see if the same effect happened again.

 

Testing the King of Diamonds on myself, makes me realise, this combination is great, smells sweet from lemons and asexual from the oakmoss. It's fantastic, quite light and yummy.

 

Definitely worth trying if you get the chance.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

I got an imp of this from Eoywin.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

When I think of "chypre," I think of woodsy, so I'm hoping this is at least somewhat woodsy. I'm guessing there'll be some sort of citrus in here, too, to compliment the Queen. I think this one's going to be hit or miss, what with the citrus (assuming there is citrus in this) and all.

 

First sniff:

 

This is pretty much what I expected. To me, this smells like oakmoss, musk and some sort of citrus. I don't think it's lemon...it may be orange or white grapefruit or both, it's hard to tell for some reason. I'm not sure I'm going to like this. I think the citrus may be too prominent for me, unfortunately.

 

Wet on skin:

 

This is a lot less citrusy once it's on me, but now it smells like generic men's cologne rather than the slightly woodsy citrus I got out of the imp. This has overtones of both Vicomte de Valmont and Villain for me. They all seem to share a sort of generic, vaguely citrusy smell and I don't really love any of them. I just would rather not smell like generic men's cologne is all.

 

Dry down:

 

This is very similar to Vicomte de Valmont on me. It's pretty non-descript smelling in the same way that most commercial men's colognes are non-descript to me. This isn't a bad scent, just definitely not me.

 

The bottom line:

 

I'm glad I didn't buy a bottle of this. It's not unpleasant by any means, it's just too generic smelling for my tastes, unfortunately.

[feline.by.design]

The King of Diamonds is a very light, clean fragrance. I smell something a bit metallic, reminiscent of lavender when the oil is wet on my skin.

 

I had used up like 20 percent of the damn bottle because I can't put on the oils without reducer caps, so I was really glad that the King was so light. It wasn't overwhelming on me at all, and in fact after a short while the fragrance disappears a bit until one gets her/his nose up close to the skin.

 

In fact, the experience on me was just basically a "skin, but better" scent. Nothing really popped out. It could work well for both a man or a woman, in my opinion, as well as everyone in-between. I liked this fragrance, however I need to get some method of application much better than the one I've got right now.

 

-doreen

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: Citrussy woodsy musk. There is no way this will smell good on me, but I'll give it a try anyway - test everything once! This smells like a classy men's cologne.

 

Wearing: I absolutely cannot stop sniffing myself. Take a note which always works with my chemistry (citrus), add a note that never works (white musk), and an unknown (chypre) for good measure. What do you get? A slinky, sexy, musky paperdoll! The woodsy musk turns quite sweet on my skin as this dries - the citrus dissipating into sugar as time elapses. Striking and gorgeous.

 

Final Impressions: I was pleased with the Queen until I met the King. I just cannot describe how sexy this scent is... second only to Vixen in my book! When I sniffed in the bottle, I was sure this was going to be passed on to my fiance. He can't have it. It is MINE! My funky body chemistry has done a Very Good Thing with this scent...

[goddessrobyn]

So I finally got a little net access... and what do I do... reviews!!!!

 

I KoD but as someone said he doesn't last long

 

He starts out like what I remember CKOne smelling like (its been a while...) fresh and clean and citrusy but not like the orange isle at the local grocery store

 

Then as he dries he's wonderfully peach-y...

 

Its nice... soft... very CLEAN smelling... will be nice for days when I can't smell overly smelly

[Diana]

There's just one thing that makes me so sad about the King... He's gone in half an hour. Just nothing. poof. But he smells sooo good at first! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I had the exact same thing, unfortunately. I put it on and 20-30 minutes later, it was all but undetectable!

 

In the bottle it was a lovely musky-citrus. Going on it had a piney, almost juniper-smelling note to it, with a nice grapefruity underlayer. It was divine. Then it was gone.

 

I'll give it another shot, but if this doesn't want to stay on me, I'll just have to swap it. This royal couple didn't like me too much.

[hypothermya]

King of Diamonds

 

Well, through a funny coincidence, I ended up with two bottles of this. Which actually isn't a bad thing. I probably won't use quite that much perfume, though, and since my boyfriend isn't fond of wearing it, I'm probably going to look for a home for the second bottle. On the other hand, I love this scent a ton and will be adoring every drop from the bottle I keep.

 

Initial Impression

 

Oh, yum! Grapefruit and...lime? Maybe it's just the earthy, green oakmoss I'm smelling, but something about this scent screams "green" and it makes me think of lime also. Lots of fine, earthy woods and a gorgeous musk. I can't wait to put this on. The citrus smells sweet enough to almost be candy, and the rest of it is green, masculine, and makes me think of lush forest groves.

 

Wearing It

 

An explosion of bitter, tart citrus and wood notes. It's sharp and green when it hits my skin, and then immediately calms into a nice pale musk laced with grapefruit (and I swear there's lime there too!), oakmoss (very light), and wood notes. And, this is why I love my skin so much, it turns out that on my skin it's a lot less masculine smelling than it was in the bottle. It's as though it is Whitechapel or Villain's match -- instead of the elegant, upperclass scent of lilacs or lavender, there's the earthy, almost swarthy, scent of wood and moss. It's the grounded, more strong and regal brother of those other hauty fragrances. And on my skin, the citrus becomes more sweet and smells more of the zest than the actual fruit. Mixed with the earthy scents, this is delightful. Just delightful.

[Theravada]

This is so lovely, like a masculine version of Snow White.

A cold musky smell much like the dry down of Cheshire Cat, only a bit sweeter without the florals. Work of art, this is. And much like the Queen, this is an all-year-long scent, though a nice wintery smell for sure.

 

I am very glad my implusiveness won over my logic and that I ordered a bottle of this. It is very light, so I will have to apply heavily. Should have ordered a second bottle. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I 100% agree with oceandessa, but I'll put it in my own words too:

 

I bought this from RHM's Tsunami acution. I really only got it because I wanted to buy something in order to contribute money to the fund, and I thought I'd take a chance on this even though it didn't sound very "me".

 

Oh. My. God.

 

This is amazing. In the bottle it's a bit sharp and uninviting, but that quickly fades once applied. This mellows into a delicious, creamy and fresh citrus scent. It also reminded me of a masculine version of Snow White. It has the same chilly feeling to it with a hint of green citrus mellowed by the smooth creamy note. It's really difficult to accurately describe this one...given the notes listed in KoD this isn't at all what I imagined it would smell like. But I'm so pleasantly surprised!!

 

Bottom line: This is one of my all-time favorite BPAL blends and I will have to find myself a second (or third) bottle of this because I will sob like a broken-hearted child the day I run out of this perfume. (ETA: Which means if you don't want your bottle PM me and I'll buy it from you!)

Edited February 11, 2005 by Theravada

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Chypre! Well, that woke my nose up a bit. The oakmoss seems especially strong, and a darker, almost animal musk complements it nicely.

 

On me: I don't expect to like this so I'm only putting the tiniest dab on my arm. (Oakmoss and I aren't friends.) It's a man's scent, and on the right man I think it would be quite sexy. On me, it's sharp and bitter. No citrus notes at all.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: musk, musk, musk. lovely.

on: very citrussy, but with tons of musk. interesting.

1 hour later: a little more sweet and powdery and almost a bit soapy. i like this.

4 hours later: this is really nice. soft, a bit sweet, and a little musky.

overall: this is a great, subtly sexy scent. i'm so glad i got it.

[Bard]

I received this as a decanted imp, and when I first opened the vial, I was fairly sure I wouldn't like it. The oakmoss was very distinct and it reminded me vaguely of trendy commercial colognes that I don't care for very much. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try and I was pleasantly surprised.

 

On me the scent was too sharp for about a minute, and then it mellowed into a heady blend of musk and citrus. It was a most pleasant transformation. This scent, to me feels very cerebral, very left brain. Clean, crisp, logical. If Mr. Spock wore a fragrance, it might be King of Diamonds.

 

It conjures images of a man: tall, imperious, fair-haired and slim, with chiseled features and a hawk's nose. A calculating man, stern, commanding. There is the barest hint of menace in this scent.

 

Overall, I liked this scent a lot. It lasts a few hours on my skin, and it remains pleasant the entire time. I will be looking for a full bottle of this.

 

 

King of Diamonds Haiku:

The King of Winter

Upon the cold earth bestows

Glittering diamonds.

 

 

Your humble and obedient Renaissance Man,

 

Bard

[Sheila]

This is indeed bright and white. On me it's a blast of something sharp and citrussy (almost lemon--enough to burn my nose), then it dries down to a light, bright musk. I like the drydown, but this fades very quickly on me (it was gone in an hour). I'm glad I got to try the King, but I think I'm going to swap him.

[anmorata]

King of Diamonds:

 

Wet: Woodsy, masculine. Somewhat green. I don't smell the citrus that most people are referring to here.

Drydown: Gods, this scent is familliar, like I've smelled it on someone in my past but I can't quite place who. Still smells green, but in a different sort of way than most normal "woodsy" notes. I like it.

Longterm wear: Definitely not for me, and as my husband doesn't wear -any- oils or cologne, I'll have to suffer with him never smelling like this. So I'm passing it on to someone that will appreciate it more.

[Shollin]

Thanks to ChupaChup for the decant!

 

First sniff: Sharp citrus over glittering ice.

 

Wearing: Beautiful white-musky citrus. I really, really like this scent.

[Spastik_Kitty]

In the bottle: White musk, pine and citrus. Very clean and cool smelling

 

First on: Stays true to it's initial scent

 

After a bit: This gets rather soapy and sweet with some powder tones.

 

Not the perfect match to my QOD that I was hoping for.

 

Off to the swap pile.