The King of Hearts

[slave1]

`How do you like the Queen?' said the Cat in a low voice.

`Not at all,' said Alice: `she's so extremely--' Just then she noticed that the Queen was close behind her, listening: so she went on, `--likely to win, that it's hardly worth while finishing the game.'

The Queen smiled and passed on.

`Who ARE you talking to?' said the King, going up to Alice, and looking at the Cat's head with great curiosity.

`It's a friend of mine--a Cheshire Cat,' said Alice: `allow me to introduce it.'

`I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: `however, it may kiss my hand if it likes.'

`I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked.

`Don't be impertinent,' said the King, `and don't look at me like that!' He got behind Alice as he spoke.

`A cat may look at a king,' said Alice. `I've read that in some book, but I don't remember where.'

`Well, it must be removed,' said the King very decidedly, and he called the Queen, who was passing at the moment, `My dear! I wish you would have this cat removed!'

The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small.

`Off with his head!' she said, without even looking round.

`I'll fetch the executioner myself,' said the King eagerly, and he hurried off.

Rosewood and black cherry with white musk, red rose, red musk and a spark of lavender.

In Bottle: Dark sharp rose.

On Skin: This is the most unique rose scent I have ever smelled. It is dark and rich, so elegant and regal. The lavender gives a “spark” of a metalic note that helps break up the dominant red rose feel. The rosewood is warm and deep, the black cherry is dark and syrupy, the white musk is soft and helps blanket the scent, and the red musk is pure decadence. This is a very sexy scent and I normally don’t like rose so that is a pleasant change. I also feel this scent is gender neutral, I’d love this on anyone I think. The throw is light and the wear length is pretty short, I think you’d have to slather this one. I’m very curious to see what pthers think about this scent since I’m the first to review it….

[LiberAmoris]

King of Hearts is my new favorite lavender blend!

 

In the bottle, I smell the astringent kick that lavender has---that herby sinus-clearing blast---and cherry, which has that almost almondy edge to it. It's a strange combination, but I know how different things are on the skin, so I take the plunge by applying liberally.

 

The lavender and cherry are really strong on my skin as well, but about ten seconds later, the edge on both those notes starts dissipating and suddenly it's gorgeous. The rose is really light here---perfectly integrated to warm up the lavender without overwhelming. The white and red musk blur the overtly herbal quality of the lavender, making it deeper and sexier, more complex. Finally I can smell the rosewood, which is also very subtle here.

 

On the drydown I'm left with a very complex and tempered lavender. All the edges are rounded off by the musk and it's gentle but not generic. Honestly, I had no idea that lavender could smell like this. Even my boyfriend, who finds the smell of lavender to be medicinal, likes this.

[filigree_shadow]

I know lots of people went nuts over Eat Me and Drink Me in the last update, but The King of Hearts was the one I was most looking forward to because of the red musk (). I was a little worried about the lavender, but I figured "just a spark" meant it would barely be noticeable.

 

Alas.

 

Wet it smells like lavender. Strongly. Of course whenever I try anything with lavender in it I walk around in a little lavender cloud, so I don't know why I thought this would be different. Just hopeful, I guess. When it's dry it smells like a woody white musk but it still has the lavender undertone. It's kind of nice but very faint.

 

My beloved red musk apparently went scurrying off in horror from the lavender. I can't smell it AT ALL. Couldn't really detect any rose or cherry either. Argh, my treacherous skin chemistry strikes again!

 

Oh well, I guess I'll pass this over to the hubby and see what his skin does with it. He can wear lavender just fine, the lucky duck.

 

Oh, and I agree with slave1, very short wear length.

[erin.kogan]

All lavender right onto skin, then melds with the musk and the rosewood. I never really see the cherry or rose, but it's fairly pleasant. Would be more so if I really enjoyed lavender, which my skin seems to amp. It's nice, but unfortunately not for me

[shelldoo]

in the vial:lavander and sweet cherries. an odd combo.

 

wet:mostly cherry & a hint of rose

 

as it dries. wow. the lavander has burned away (thank goodness) and i have a cherry, rosewood, dark scented rose, w/ a hint of white musk adding a crystaline quality. this is one scent that is amazing me because i am not a fan of lavander or cherry, yet this scent works and is a beautiful medley of notes.

[LittleGreyKitten]

Sigh. I liked the scent in the imp; my skin amps lavender like whoa, though. The King is no exception, sadly. All lavender, on my skin. I let it dry and linger around too, to see if it would burn off like the almond in Bastet; no such luck though, it merely cranks up more and more. If I liked lavender I would like this blend, but I don't, at all. Glad I got an imp. If the lavender remained a spark, and not the whole show, I'd enjoy it. Might be worth trying in a scent locket, should I get one eventually.

 

For me, 3 out of 5.

Edited May 24, 2006 by LittleGreyKitten

[Diana]

I love this!

 

It starts out as a muted cherry, overlaid by soft pink flowers. It's not overly fruity, or overly flowery on me (quite the opposite of Titania). The one flower that I can really pick out is the rose, which smells somewhat like Blood Rose or Two, Five & Seven, but at about 1/3 the intensity. The rosewood isn't very strong, and just adds a deepness to the cherry note. I can't smell the lavender at all, oddly enough.

 

As it dries, the musks come out an add a beautiful layer of sweetness, like clean skin & sugar. The throw was quite nice early on, but it didn't seem to last very long. I'll have to give this another try with a lot of layering and/or use it in an atomizer. I'm glad I got a 5mL of this right off the bat; I can see this one going into heavy rotation!

[PurringPulsar]

The King of Hearts

 

In the imp: lavender and cherry/almond. It reminds me of Queen of Hearts with lavender, for now.

Wet on skin: I like the combination of lavender, cherry and rosewood I'm getting here…and I also smell white musk.

Dry on skin: ohh, I really like this! I'm getting a wonderful light airy lavender and white musk scent, with a lovely dry woody base of rosewood. I don't get as much cherry now (it still hangs around though), nor do I get rose or red musk yet…just a lovely lavender musk, almost like Villain. Mmm! I love the white musk in here, it's got a wonderful airy quality to it.

After a while: the lavender retreats and the scent becomes a woody white musk scent, with a hint of rose to it. The scent is very soft and smooth, and almost ethereal. Despite the presence of rose, this scent isn't too feminine, in fact, I think this is very unisex. It also reminds me very much of Ode on Melancholy now. The only problem with this scent is it's very faint…but I do like the smoky woody drydown I get at the very end of this scent's duration. I don't get any red musk from this scent at all though.

Verdict: this is a very nice scent. A lovely lavender-woody-musk fragrance, it reminds me of Villain meets Ode on Melancholy, with a hint of Queen of Hearts' cherry to it. I love the white musk here-it's a gorgeous, light and ethereal musk, smooth and almost airy, and I love white musk paired with fragrant wood, like in here-it gives the scent a slightly smoky drydown. The lavender does fade after a while to leave that light woody musk scent, but there are two drawbacks. It is a bit faint and doesn't seem to last very long, and I was hoping for red musk to make an entrance and to add depth and staying power to the scent, but alas, it's nowhere to be found. But it is a gorgeous scent and I think it would be lovely on a man as well. Keeping the imp of this.

Emoticon rating:

[CapricornSister]

I had very high hopes for this one since I love Red Musk. Wet all I could smell was the lavender though I'm not a fan of lavender in perfume. It burned away quickly though and I was left with a warm, sweetish scent. I really liked the drydown, but as a few others mentioned it doesn't last very long on me at all. The King broke my heart!

[Little Bird]

On me, this is definitely more than a spark of lavender. I get a hint of cherry for about the first 30 seconds, and then it's all lavender. Sweet, cool lavender. I'm not getting any musk at all or any rose.

 

After about 15 minutes, I'm getting some rosewood in with the lavender. Unfortunately, rosewood doesn't smell very good on me (okay, it smells acrid like vomit, honestly).

 

The sweet lavender in this is pleasant enough, but it's too much lavender... and not good at all on me paired with the rosewood. I'm afraid I'll have to find a new home for my imp

[UltraViolet]

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/lush...ofHeartsbot.jpg

 

In the bottle

hmm. Different, more of a masculine scent. I smell Red Musk primarily with of bit of cherry.

On

I smell lavender, rose, Red musk, but I don't like the combination at all.

30 minutes

I don't know, I had to wash it off. I normaly like to at least wear a blend even if I don't like it for 30 minutes. But no, just no.

Throw:

average

Scent category:

Summary

I get that it's along the lines as the Red Queen but I just don't like it.

Purchase again?

No.

1-5 rating (5 being best)

1

[olympia301]

Everything that everyone else has said and more. The lavender really showcases cherry and fruit in this one. Really a nice nice man's blend and I would recommend it for lesbians. I have never said that before but I really mean it. There is something masculine but feminine in King of Hearts, like the intersection between male and female. This is done very well, I would heartily (oops) recommend it for summer wear, and the rose is really subdued in the imp I got, and adds it's unifying power to the whole. A remarkably good fragrance.

Edited July 4, 2006 by olympia301

[Rhowan]

King of Hearts kind of made me nauseated just smelling it out of the imp. It smelled like Red Queen gone very toxic. I got the very sweet smelling part of Red Queen and then this very nauseating scent that I can't place my finger on.

It took me a while to finally try it on my skin but when I did, it smelled even worse but I kept it on knowing that Beth's oils do morph. It disappeared in two minutes and an hour later hadn't reappered. A very odd scent.

 

I am very sad that it smelled nothing like the other reviews. I wanted it to be lovely and all those different scents! Alas... it was not to be for me.

 

Don't give up on it because of my review because just before it disappeared, it morphed inot something very cool and masculine that had a lot of potential and then *POOF* it was gone. I might have to give this another go around just to be fairly sure....

[inkmonkeys]

Oh my goodness.

This is a gorgeous rosewood-lavender-cherry on my skin, lightly fragrant but persistent.

 

I LOVE it. Big bottle for sure. My favorite of the new Tea Party scents so far!

[opaleyes]

I'm in love with The Red Queen, so I was eager to try this one, as they seemed fairly similar. This one started out as lavender, musks, and rosewood on me. It was definitely very masculine- strong and sharp.

 

Shortly after though, it morphed into a soft and sweet combo of roses and cherries. Hours later there's still a sweet rose scent lingering on my writs which is nice.

 

I like this one a lot, but it's got nothing on The Red Queen to me.

[brownbear]

This one starts out as cherry. Cherry with a teeny bit of lavender. Then onmy skin it gets rosy and very very confusing. It's kind of um, plump. Odd.

[sarada]

A lot of my favorite notes are in this one -- except cherry, which I don't care for, but I'm ready to try anything.

 

In the imp, lavender and cherry. A very sharp, astringent lavender. The cherry fades very quickly on my skin and what I think is rosewood comes out a bit more. It goes through an amazing stage where it resembles Dee or Old Scratch (the rosewood in Dee, the musky lavender of OS) briefly then dies down a bit, becomes a bit like soap and a faint swirl of lavender incense smoke.

 

I really love red musk and rose but I smell neither in here, and the oil is clear, whereas red musk always lends a deep, rich blood-colored tone to most oils so I'm a bit surprised by that.

 

Ultimately I think I'm set with Old Scratch as my smoky, musky lavender scent but this is a nice one to keep in the arsenal. It makes me feel like my mind is clearing and focusing ... must be the lavender. I feel like I could really get things done wearing this, freshly scrubbed, well-rested and ready to go.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: sweet, heavy cherry, a mix of musks, and sharp lavender. interesting.

 

on: the cherry and rose are mixing with the red musk. it's an interesting combination, but i'm not sure if i like it. the herbal lavender scent isn't as strong as in the imp and is hiding out in the background.

 

half an hour later: vaguely herbal. i think my skin is eating this one.

 

4 hours later: pretty much gone.

 

overall: my skin just ate this oil up. it's a shame, really, because the combination fo the cherry and the lavender was intriguing. i added a bit more later and the drydown was nice, but not as strong as i prefer.

[songtoisis]

In the bottle, the cherry is overwhelming everything else. It's like a cherry slushie gone bad, syrup spilled out on the pavement, soaked into the wood mulch of a flowerbed, unsalvageable. Luckily the sweet/tart karate chop-cherry burns off pretty quickly and what is left behind is a strange mixture of heady florals with a warm, masculine kick. It doesn't inspire anything in me. I don't feel prettier or smarter or lighter on my feet. It doesn't remind me of a past lover, a dream, a beloved place, or a favorite food. It just is what it is. A floral men might consider wearing. On my skin, through my nose it just isn't working any magic.

 

I asked my husband what he thought. He answered almost immediately. "It smells like that pink public bathroom soap. You know--the pink kind. I'm not saying it is good or bad, just don't wear that as your super-sexy fragrance" With that in mind, I have to agree. It does smell sorta like that cheap pink soap.

 

Once it has dried completely, its woodsy-floral scent, while pleasant, says "just another perfume". It isn't a wow on me.

[ChupaChup]

I tried King of Hearts knowing it might not work because of the red musk. And I was right, that note rarely works on me. I really like the rest of this scent though, the combination of cherry and lavender is surprisingly nice, I hope Beth uses it again with a different base.

[GypsyRoseRed]

Once again, lavender kills a blend for me. In the imp, this was all cherry and I had no idea the evil lavender was lurking in the background, but as soon as I dabbed it on... *sigh* It smells vaguely medicinal on me instead of the pretty, light cherry I was hoping for.

[edenssixthday]

King of Hearts - This is one of the most underwhelming BPAL blends I have ever encountered. Sniffed in the vial, all I smell is sharp, bright cherry. When I apply it to my skin, the cherry note is still the first note I detect, but it almost immediately fades and is replaced by a dull rosewood scent. Beneath the rosewood is a touch of musk, and there's absolutely no personality or charm to this scent in the least. It's really "blah". It's not bad-smelling, it just has no spark. Once the cherry fades, the oil sticks very close to my skin and is extremely subtle. It fades quickly. I tested it several times and the first time, it only lasted about 20 minutes. The longest it lasted was 40 minutes. This will be going to a new home. It's definitely not for me.

[lookingglass]

Cherry, lavender and musk...clean and sweet and sexy. Unfortunately it dried out to something remarkably similar to mildew on both me and DH. Is that the rosewood? You know I can't do wood, right... Another one that I so wanted to love...

[PilotKitten]

Mmmm… here’s that cherry I missed from Kabuki… without the nasty anise ruining things. I definitely get the white musk as well… it’s reminding me of the more expensive store-bought perfumes that always have that fruity white musk mixture. A hint of my favored rose as well. A very good scent but my skin soaks it up like there’s no tomorrow and it seems to be the first BPAL to ever fade so quickly on me.

[Em-]

This is a very red scent. It is bright creamy cherry, but not overly sweet...while that is the only note that really jumps out at me, the other notes temper it into something that is playful, yet sophisticated. Another that I am glad to have chanced a big bottle.