Tiki Queen

[ivyandpeony]

Monoi de Tahiti, vanilla, white coconut, tuberose, ylang ylang, white musk, red hibiscus, and neroli.

One caveat, the pollen counts in my area have been insane so I've been extremely congested! They've dropped enough that I've started to test my Tikis, though, and Tiki Queen is first up.

Of all the notes, tuberose dominates on my skin, and this is just fine with me. It's one of my favorite notes and I don't find it in as many blends as I would like. The monoi is there playing second fiddle but still detectable and it's a lovely companion to the tuberose. I believe the hibiscus is what provides the sweet-fruity-candy vibe, and as Tiki Queen dries down it becomes a unique and feminine combination of a fruity-sweet base topped with swirly white florals.

For me, the danger notes in TQ were the coconut, neroli and ylang ylang - none of them are complete deal breakers for me in a blend, but how they play along determines the final outcome. I'm happy to say that all three seem to be support staff and they surely contribute to the sweetness, but I can pick out none of the three individually.

All in all, this one is really a winner, a tropical floral like no other BPAL has released before. If anyone longs for tuberose the way I do? Order it immediately! And this is a must for any white floral fan as well.

[savage_rose]

Candied fruits...it smells lovely in the bottle, but on me the fruitiness gets obnoxiously loud. This might have to be a scent locket scent for me.

[coldandsleepy]

So the funny thing is, I picked up a decant of this knowing I'd hate it, because it sounded like just the thing my sister would like and I thought it'd make a nice present for her. Naturally, my decant of it showed up just hours after I'd placed my lab order which was, of course, Tiki Queen free.

 

And naturally, I absolute adore Tiki Queen. Agh!

 

I'd been expecting something big and vanilla-y and musk-y. Vanilla is the anti-me, and vanilla + musk = I want to die. It's one of those rules of the universe.

 

But you know what? I can't really detect the vanilla in here at all. Probably because it's hidden by the huge curtains of beautiful tropical flowers in this. I'm not familiar with a lot of the notes in here, but I can definitely pick out the ylang ylang, one of my true scent loves. There's some really strong note that's dominating this which is... tropical... and sweet... kinda like bubble gum, but in a good way. I think that might be the monoi de tiare? Dunno.

 

Anyway, this is a big beautiful bucket of tropical floral fun. It's definitely got regal undertones... I feel like I should be somewhere sipping a drink out of a coconut while people fan me with palm fronds. Awesome.

 

Throw's actually on the low end, which is okay, since I feel the inexplicable urge to SLATHER this one. Duration's excellent, though. I applied last night around 5 p.m. and could still detect it around 8 a.m. this morning. The scent doesn't change much on me over time... it just stays that big delicious floral. (The mental image that I get from it is distinctly of petals... clouds of big, soft, white and purple petals.)

 

So yeah, suffice to say... though it killed me to pay 6.50 for shipping for ONE lousy bottle... I loved this so much that I made a second order. Siiiigh.

[bellacalla]

I get very sweet tropical florals. Like smooth and warm candied flowers. Much sweeter than I expected - I love vanilla and coconut and was hoping for those to be more prominent - I can't smell them at all, I think they are what give it that smooth warm feeling. Even without the vanilla and coconut this is really nice - not going to order a second bottle before they go down but I'll definitely be wearing this a fair amount in the summer.

 

 

 

I tested it on one wrist, with Tiki King on the other and getting whiffs of them both floating up at me makes me think I might try wearing these together....smells like a flowery tropical beach.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is heady, white florals...

 

once applied the tuberose is hayoooooge and clingy for about 5 minutes and then

a lot more florals bounce about...i only get a touch of coconut and vanilla...

 

perfect for a sunset walk along a hawaiian beach...sultry, seductive at its best

[midnight_aeval]

In the imp, Tiki Queen is very much sweet tarts + tropical florals.

 

When I put it on, and in the drydown phase, it's straight up Monoi de Tahiti oil. I used to have a full bottle of the oil that my mom got for me from Tahiti (go figure!) and although the oil had a lovely consistency, I didn't particular care for the scent. It's almost like dust... I don't know how better to explain it, but not really for me.

[iiinterstate]

strangely, this reminds me a LOT of Zarita the Doll Girl. Creamy florals, only here the florals are creamy because of coconut, and have a hint of candy tartness behind them. My skin eats it up really fast

 

Its a nice scent, but I'm not in LOVE with it (and secretly glad...I've spent way too much money this past week and I've got a bottle of Zarita on the way.) I'm happy I got the decant though, it was worth a try!

[grrrlennyl]

At first: Surprisingly sweet and fruity.Lovely tuberose and neroli.

On: The hibiscus has really come out more now. It still has a nice base of tuberose and neroli, but with a bit of ylang ylang.

1 hour later: There's an odd sort of wood note in the background, but the rest is a beautiful, sweet floral blend.

2 hours later: There is something going a bit vegetable-y on me in this one. Poor me.

3 hours later: Yup...that odd, vegetable note.

Overall: Some notes just turn odd on me, and this blend must contain one of them. Stupid skin chemistry. I might try this in a scent locket or in another way, though. It's really beautiful when wet.

[gwynhwyfar]

*laments*

 

In the bottle, this smells like candy. Sweet, sugary, fruity, candy. It smells good enough to eat (and even my father commented on this one -- normally, he just says that he likes the smells, but he actually wanted to sniff this one for real rather than just my 'air pollution' while I'm decanting.

 

I was in love with this almost immediately from the bottle, but I waited to test it until I was finished decanting and got those mailed off. And then ... then, my reward ...

 

Or not.

 

This vanishes within fifteen minutes of me putting it on. It doesn't even smell like there's anything on that patch of skin.

 

So sad.

[dixiehellcat]

I was so sure this would be THE tiki for me...but it smells like Smarties. Now, I love Smarties. But I do not want to smell like them. Fortunately, I have a friend at work who adores it, and will happily take it offa my hands. For $ that I can spend on Marae or Upa Upa.

[widdershins]

In the bottle, Tiki Queen is lush, dripping florals.

On my skin it turns into me eating Sweet Tarts in Hawaii. The beautiful tropical flowers blend together with the sugary (I'm thinking it's the vanilla). It's very pretty, but I don't know if I need a bottle or not.

[maribouquet]

What a fun scent! I can't parse any of the notes, but I definitely get the Sweet Tarts comparison. Sweet and girly.

[Kimocean]

This is a very long lasting blend on me and it goes through multiple stages.

 

At the beginning, widdershins has it right, this starts out as Sweettarts in Hawaii. I'm amazed that this doesn't have more fruit in the description because it seems very fruity to me at first.

 

As it dries initially I get a sharp scent that I can't quite identify and lots of tuberose. I still smell fruit, maybe it's the red hibiscus.

 

After twelve hours of wear the queen is still very much present. She's softened up a bit though and the coconut and ylang ylang are gently wafting around. The tuberose is definitely still present and the hibiscus has moved to the background.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The sharpness I'm getting doesn't quite seem right on me.

[Iceblink]

Tiki Queen starts off as tropical flowers (think Hi'iaka). Nice enough, but the tropical flowers usually don't work on me, so I was ready to write the Queen off when she suddenly morphed into the Sweet Tarts/Smarties candy blend so many are getting. Wow! It's a womanly candy, though, not a little-girl one, and the florals are still backing it up to give it some depth. Sexy and sweet. I love it, and it also lingered on my skin a bit after showering. Long live the queen!

[jessu]

I don't get the candy thing. I'm getting... Kindly Moon's tropical sister. Flowers muted by musk and coconut, creating a sweet, heavenly cloud. I think without the coconut and musk maybe I could understand the candy comparison, but this just reminds me of Suave coconut shampoo. Not out of the bottle, but the kind of soft scent that radiates from drying hair.

 

I'm kind of regretting not buying a bottle. If it were just a little cheaper I wouldn't think twice. Usually I don't have such good luck with coconut.

[Ina Garten Davita]

Holy neroli Batman!

 

Tiki Queen starts off as a sweet, slightly fruity floral. Very pretty, very tropical. Then the neroli comes. And puts its feet up and stays. My skin tends to amp neroli and with Tiki Queen it's full throttle. I adore tropical florals so I'm not giving up on the Queen just yet. Perhaps a little age will mellow the neroli and give the other gorgeous notes a chance to shine.

[ambersparrow]

 

I love this. Although I wish the coconut and vanilla notes were a bit stronger, I still love this.

 

In the vial: Candy. Sweet, fruity candy.

 

Wet on skin: Fruity candies, and the florals are starting to come through.

 

Dry on skin: Monoi de Tahiti, YES! I can also smell the hibiscus and neroli. The candy/fruity smell has faded into the background.

 

Again, I was only slightly disappointed about the seemingly absent coconut/vanilla notes, but this scent is so beautiful that it doesn't really matter to me. I'm glad I got a bottle, as this will be my staple summer scent.

 

Average throw and wearlength.

Edited April 23, 2008 by BelligerentTart

[Brianne]

I was hoping on this blend that the vanilla, coconut and musk would balance out the florals (I'm not much on really floral blends). But none of those are making an appearance on my skin, so the result is definitely FLORAL! Very distinctly tropical though. I remember that when my Aunt and Uncle lived in Hawaii, they sent me a floral perfume from a local place that was very "Hawaii" to them. This smells VERY similar to that. I believe it is the Tahitian Monoi and Hibiscus that is the most prominent, and they are both rather sweet. I don't feel they are sweet in a candy way, but more in the way that fruit is sweet, it's very natural.

 

I think this is really pretty and even though it isn't for me, it's quite tropical and I imagine would make a gorgeous Spring and Summer scent for someone who loves florals

[zankoku_zen]

Did anyone get Sweet Tarts at the beginning. Now its settled to a lush, tropical, sweet floral. Nice.

[Little Bird]

I bought a bottle of Tiki Queen figuring I would love the label and hate the scent. Tuberose is one of my headache-inducing notes and I tend to dislike ylang ylang, hibiscus, monoi, and white musk. Something about this is really just fantastic on me though.

 

I thought that this would be an overwhelming, sharp, perfumey floral on my skin, but it's not at all. It's rather sweet, like an ultra-creamy, tropical, lush gardenia (the monoi), mixed with hints of sweet tarts and bubblegum. It's very creamy and tropical with an overall touch of sweetness on my skin.

 

Tiki Queen is a floral that I can actually wear with no sign of a headache forming. A perfectly tropical, summer floral with candied edges. And a tiny drop just lasts forever on my skin and has tons of throw (I wore a wee drop of this to the amusement park/carnival last night and it was still going strong when I went to bed). My boy loves this on me too.

 

I'm so glad that I have a bottle of this

[QueenFae]

Love at first sniff!! Oh this is sooo gorgeous, I am so glad I ordered a bottle, absolutely fabulous!

 

This is an exquisite floral blend, but unlike any floral I've ever smelled. I'm not sure what the monoi is supposed to smell like, so maybe that is what's making this blend so great on me. But, I'm thinking the red hibiscus is the top note on me, and it' scrumptious and ultra feminine. There is an amazing sweet mish mosh of undetones; a little vanilla, coconut and ylang ylang make this blend multi layered and complex. It's not foody at all, and I expected it to be, but I'm not disappointed. The floral note is so enticing it actually makes my mouth water anyway. I don't think I've ever smelled a floral note I like more than this. Practically indescribable in it's beauty.

 

Very long lasting and strong for a floral blend; it lasts on my skin for hours.

 

THIS ROCKS!!

[edenssixthday]

Tiki Queen - This is my favorite of the Atomic Luau Lounge scents and one of my all-time favorite BPAL floral blend. It is freaking GORGEOUS! It actually starts out a little weird on me while the Monoi de Tahiti figures out if it's going to amp or settle down on my skin. Fortunately, it settles down and lets the other florals mix with it and around it until the Monoi de Tahiti doesn't smell remotely funky on me at all. The tuberose combined with the vanilla and coconut is actually what makes this blend the most kick-ass scent on me. While it's not the dominant note, it's definitely the tuberose note that makes me fall head-over-heels in love with this scent. I wish I could describe how beautiful this blend is, but there are just not adequate words. It's got a strong bubble-gum-pink type scent about it and I have no idea where that's coming from, but rather than detracting from the scent or making it smell young-girlish, it adds sweetness to the scent that really brings out the sweetness of the florals. The scent is incredibly long-lasting. I applied it to my hair one morning, spent the whole day on a catamaran and then swimming in a pool, and right before I showered for dinner, I could still smell this scent in my hair, just as strong as it was when I applied it 10 hours earlier, despite all the wind, sea, and water that it had endured. I have since purchased several more bottles of this and definitely foresee using them all up.

[LadyLuckDoubt]

In the Bottle

Tropical florals and fruits with a dash of something dark and bitter underneath. Not sure how this is going to work on me.

 

On Me

Oh my GAWD. Something bizarre happens and this shit morphs. And it's not at all into something tropical and sweet, either, which is what I expected-- it smells like expensive shampoo I used years ago: intense and heady and very high-end. I think there's some type of orchid coming through, but there's other stuff in there. SOME kind of wood, I'm supposing, and hibiscus. All very exotic, but with a seriousness I haven't gotten from the other Tiki blends. All the others I'd wear out to a beach party-- this, though, is different. I'd slap some on before going out to a job interview or to something where I was meeting people I haven't encountered before-- it's very much a "power" blend on me.

 

It's lovely and feminine, but at the same time, it's got some serious moxie. What amuses me, too, is that of Tiki King and the Queen... the King is a lot softer and sweeter and more "easygoing" than this. This is high-amped expensive floral intensity. A total power suit blend.

 

(Funny, I did this review without reading the key notes, and it seems that I got the hibiscus!)

 

Also-- I never got the banana smell someone else mentioned (which I was sort of looking forward to) and the "tropical"-ness faded down the moment it went on my skin. Nor did I get the sweet tarts/bubblegum/candy smell other people have mentioned here.

Edited April 29, 2008 by LadyLuckDoubt

[terrenity]

In the decant: Tropical florals, with a very Spree's sort of aftersmell, as most people have mentioned. It's fun and pretty, but very faint to my nose.

 

On: The florals really bloom (pun not intended) and become very heady and sophisticated. Lovely, but I almost feel weird wearing it, like I'm not Queen enough. If a woman came my way wearing this, I'd pay attention!

 

Unfortunately, things got a lot more interesting from there...

 

Terr: (dashes out the door to class, not giving the Queen another thought, and then ten minutes later, standing outside...) What the heck smells like BOOZE? -looks around, then sniffs herself cautiously- Oh my god! Why do I smell like I bathed in wine this morning??

 

Five hours later....

Terr: -inhales deeply- Actually, this smells almost exactly like Smut. ...and there's a reason why I don't wear Smut during the day.

 

Tiki Queen finally disappeared about eight hours after application (an eight hours that included both class and work, to my dismay), which is completely unheard of with my skin chemistry. Even Snake Oil and Smut fade after four hours. Not only that, but the throw was STRONG. A nice change from my skin's usual sniffie-eating habits, but I don't really want to walk around projecting that AA-meeting aura.

 

Overall: What the hell?? I can't even figure out where the booze-smell came from... and no one else seems to be getting it. Tiki Queen definitely will require further testing... some time when I don't have to go to work. If I could get the pretty florals and spree's with the lasting power of the booze, I'll be a happy girl.

 

Color association: Pinkish originally, then a deep burgundy-purple.

 

 

ETA: Bear actually had one of the most positive reactions ever to this scent (he tends to think all BPAL smells similar, OH THE HUMANITY), and when I asked him to sniff he said he liked it and I didn't smell like an alcoholic. So maybe something is broken in my nose?

Edited May 5, 2008 by terrenity

[Catmint]

I ordered 2 bottles of this hoping for the fruity "sweet tarts" scent so many people were getting, or at least some coconut and vanilla, but I only got about 2 seconds of vaguely fruity floral in the bottle -- the second it hit my skin it was knock-you-over tuberose. I almost washed it off until my husband assured me that he couldn't smell it from 4' away so it was safe for me to go shopping without knocking people out. I was going to put both bottles on my swaps list without even a second try, but several hours later I noticed a faint musky floral smell and realized that Tiki Queen had dried down to something really light and beautiful and quite sexy. So I tried it again the next day....and the next...and now it's one of my favorite scents.

 

I'm definitely not a heavy floral person, so this is a very unusual scent for me, but I can't stop huffing my wrists when I wear it. It doesn't last long on me (and I never get any coconut or vanilla), but I like reapplying it several times throughout the day so I get a blend of the kick-ass floral topnotes and the sweet, musky dry-down at the same time. My husband also loooooves this on me, which surprised me because he doesn't usually like florals either. But this really is drop-dead sexy (in a very sly and sophisticated way) when it dries down.