The Red Queen

[ipb]

Deep mahogany and rich, velvety woods lacquered with sweet, black-red cherries and currant.

wet, it's cherries with something tart and woody that i've not smelled before - it's not the currant, so i'm guessing it's the woods. i'm not cherry's #1 fan, so i'm not sure if i care for it wet...

i'll update later, when it's dry..

[cuervosueno]

I got this as an extra imp in my recent order and tried it yesterday. First scent--I liked it. It was rich wood tempered with sweetness, but not cloying. I could really smell the black cherries, which gave it a sensuousness I liked.

Drying it became a bit sweeter than I liked... so I gave it a couple of hours. it dried down less sweet and a bit powdery, which is something I like, but overall it was still a bit too sweet for me in the end. I'll probably use the imp, but don't think I'd get more.

That said, I was once told by a perfumer in New Orleans that I was one of those people whose body chemistry turn everything sweet--probably why I don't like florals as they usually becoming cloying on me. This is a nice balance of sweet and wood, and might work well on someone else.

It very much did characterize the Red Queen to me.....

[pekeana]

In the vial: cough syrup! In the very best way, this smells like Robitussin.

 

On me: The cherries go so very sweet and overpower the woods for about 20 minutes. Then the mohogany comes out and tries to temper the cherry, but it's a losing battle. The cherry sticks to the back of my throat and I had to wash it off because my throat was tingling and starting to burn.

 

This sounded like it would be perfect with my crazy chemistry, but it was a disaster waiting to happen. Pity, because I loved it when it wasn't trying to kill me.

[Red_Hot_Mama]

My darling man, who loves chess btw, has eyes of mahogany brown with tiny flecks of gold & rimmed with moss green. His eyes are one of the first things I noticed about him.

 

The Red Queen reminds me him, eyes focused on the chessboard. Mmmmm

Oh my, I best review the scent, instead of day dreaming.

 

There is a rich "creaminess" to this. Yes, I smell the black cherry & currant but it isn't strong on me. More noticable when first applied then when it dries.

 

The overall impression is more like firelight dancing on polished wood. Cozy but with undercurrents of intensity.

 

This mellows as it drys & I like it...a lot. Wonderful "staying" power & "throw"!

 

Not a scent for warm summer days but stunning for Fall & Winter.

 

Updated 8-30-04 The Red Queen likes her privacy. I mixed her with a few "BPAL friends" with disasterous results. She's regal & aloof. I think I'll keep her that way.

RHM

Edited August 31, 2004 by Red_Hot_Mama

[heartbeast]

Yay! My very first Mad Tea Party scent!

 

This is luscious, and very straightforward with only a slight morph from wet to dry. Wet, it's almost like chocolate covered cherries. Dry, it's a little closer to cherry pipe tobacco. But it's nothing more or less than the description: Rich, dark wood and black cherry, with some currant thrown in for piquancy. I adore cherries, but dislike most cherry-flavored things; there's a bitter acrid back of the throat quality that most artificial cherry flavors have. But I love the cherry in Red Queen; it smells just like the ripe fruit. A rich, warm scent. It'll be nice at Christmastime!

[diabolique]

i was in love with this one on first sniff, but i'm not so sure now.

 

i slathered some on from my imp today. at first, it was medicinal and sickly sweet. it smelled like a room full of little kids sucking on cherry lollipops. the drydown was beautiful. the mahogany and woods started to come out very playfully, and i was reminded immediately of the way jane eyre described her den/living room at gateshead. i can see the blazing fire and the rich, crimson drapes on the windows.

 

unfortunately, i can't smell anything now. i put it all over both of my arms, but i have to get right up to my wrist to smell anything, and it's just the faint smell of cough syrup. i'm practically thrusting coffee beans into my nose now, hoping that i'll be able to smell this again. maybe it disappeared because i still had some traces of hamadryad on.

[Sarah]

I decided to get this in a swap because it had cherry and currant notes in it. Wet, this smells like cough syrup. Not the sickenly sweet kind, but the thick, medicine-y concoctions you dreaded to take as a child because it tasted so foul. When I first put it on, it also reminded me of the Asian balm that you would put on sore limbs.

 

It's very woodsy on me. I am glad it turns a little sweeter when dry. The end result is Cherry Coke. I am not fond of this scent. Perhaps if the mahogany was something like red wine, I would like it.

[supasonicsage]

Really, to me, this scent is just the reason I think Beth is such a master. I can't imagine cherries smelling like anything mature at all... they bring up ideas of little girls, sno-balls and the like.

 

The cherry in Red Queen is sophisticated. It starts with a slightly medicinal smell, but quickly morphed into a more cherry tobacco type of smell. This isn't a pipe a man is smoking though, as Red Queen stayes very feminine on me. The mahogany pops out after about an hour and mellows the tobacco smell right out.

 

It is very special and very interesting. I don't know that I will buy a 5ml bottle of it, but I could see ordering imps everytime I run out. This makes me feel very intelligent and whitty and coy.

 

That's the best I can do, being that notes are not my forte'.

[TygherRayn]

Oh my gods, that's red. Rich, cherry, sticky cough syrup red.

 

As soon as I opened this one, that's all I saw. I could have closed my eyes and seen bright red, juicy cherries dancing about. Not that that's a bad thing .. it would only be bad for Jason's sister, I think. but for me .. I like the smell of cherry. I love cherry flavored Ludens ... eat them like candy, I do.

 

After putting this on it mellows a bit .. which despite really liking the bright cherry smell is a good thing, as I'm not sure I'd want to smell like vibrant crimson dancing cherries. Something a little darker. I thing I detect a woody note or two in there, but they're fleeting, overpowered by the delicious cherry note.

 

Aw heck, this is making me hungrier than Hunger did! It's really very delicious though. Smooth, like cherry cough syrup. Maybe a little bit like cherry menthol drops, but I could be imagining that. Overall, this one really does succeed at being the Red Queen .. crisp, curt, sweet when it cares to be.

 

Where's the white rabbit? And the Flamingoes?

[VorpalBunny]

This scent is VERY cherry. Almost smells like cherry cough drops when it first goes on. After it sits for a while, it mellows and gets an almost smoky scent. An intense, rich scent, with still a heavy cherry overtone. I enjoy it quite a bit. It definitely smells RED. I don't think it makes my Top Ten, but that's only because my list of favourites has gotten too long. The longer I wore it, the nicer the smell got. Definitely rich and queenlike, and less cough syrupy.

[TheDarkMother]

I got The Red Queen as a freebie, and had already ordered it for my next order that's coming in. This means I have two imps, so I will be sharing. I'm halfway tempted to keep them both, though.

 

In the Bottle: Cherry! And not the candy sweet cherry like Dragon's Blood, but a dark black cherry that you get in season and eat off of the stem. I love cherries like that, even if I am just pitting them and making them into a cherry tart, which is also what this reminds me of. This is natural cherries, not marchino, and I am loving every minute of it.

 

On Me: At first it does come up thick and powerful, like cherry cordial, or straight grenadine. There is a slight acidic twinge to it, that blends it all together so perfectly. This is beautiful and I am spared the cought syrup scent that most other people have been sniffing. A big bottle for me, please!

[LiberAmoris]

Like Perversion, Hamadryad, and Kali, this blend was one that literally made me utter out loud: I have never smelled anything like this before. For no other reason, I feel so lucky to have sampled The Red Queen, because it is a testament to the quality of BPAL oils and Beth’s innovative formulation.

 

The Red Queen is truly bright red berries and fresh hewn mahogany. It reminds me of a nice mahogany chess set on a table under a window pooled with sunlight, next to a glass of dark red wine. It’s an extremely evocative scent.

 

On my skin, the smallest dab from the imp sent the odor throbbing through the room, and it was gorgeous. But in the end, I think I’ll enjoy it best as a room scent, as it carries so nicely on the air.

[Northernminx]

In the bottle, cough syruppy sticky cherries. This unfortunate robitussin scent hung around on my wrists for a few minutes before it dries down into... wow oh wow. Rich mahogany undertones and the currant adds just a touch of something else to this blend. Formiddable, strong, and regal, no two ways about it.

 

Sadly this didn't want to stick around on me and while I was thinking of swapping it, the initial impression is enough to make me keep it around for a second try.

 

Edit: I ended up trying this again because I really wanted to love it. A lot more mahogany this time, making this a very rich, almost earthy scent. The currant was still sticky and sweet though and none of it lasted very long so I think I'll just concede that the Queen and I don't get along and send her off to someone else.

Edited January 20, 2005 by Northernminx

[ChupaChup]

I got The Red Queen in a swap, great trade! At first, it smells of cherries, dark and not too sweet. After about five minutes, I can smell the woods blending in. It really smells of cedar to me, like the cedar in Tombstone and Intrigue, which I also love, although the description says mahogany. Not that I know what mahogany smells like! The scent is soft and doesn't have a lot of wafting power, it's more of a second-skin scent on me. I love it and it's one of the oils I rotate through for sleeping. It's very dreamy

[grrrlennyl]

at first: woody, yet sweet. i definitely smell overripe cherries in there. it smells rich, maybe too rich for me.

on: hmmm...this smells like nibs, those cherry liquorice things. however, when i smell more closely, i smell all sorts of wood scents.

half an hour later: woody, but with some sort of sweet, dark fruits. very nice.

2.5 hours later: sweeter now, which isn't a surprise. however, i can still smell the red fruits and the woods. very nice and different.

overall: this is very different. normally, i think of woody scents as masculine, but this isn't at all. it's a very full, womanly scent. i'll definitely be using up my imp, but i don't think it's made enough of an impression for me to buy it again.

[leslie260]

In the vial....like Robitussin. (kudos to whomever made that association)

 

Freshly dabbed on the skin....it has morphed into a Hall's cough drop smell. At this point, I was near tears because I wanted to love it. But I waited....

 

After an hour....gorgeous! The cherry and wood smell has merged into a deep, sensual perfume. I hate to make the comparison, but it smells a bit like the perfume oil that the Body Shop used to issue called Dewberry. I had a roommate who wore that constantly and I am overcome with good memories when I wear The Red Queen.

 

Again...a scent that surprised me.

[Nehushtan]

I loved the way Red Queen smelled in the bottle--it reminded me of a dark wood table with layers of Murphy's Oil wax built up on it. Very dark and homey and delicious. Unfortunately, every time I put it on my wrist it smelled like cherry Ny-Quil and did not fade or change upon drydown. I liked the bottle smell so much I've used up nearly the entire imp hoping to get a better scent once it's on, but no such luck. That makes me sad because I love the old wood-and-red fruit smell.

[darkling]

In the bottle: sweet and fruity but not very strong

 

Wet: artificial cherry-flavored horror

 

Beginning to dry: an exquisite mix of deep, luscious cherries and rich woods

 

Dry: powdery vanilla that has lost all trace of fruit or wood

 

I was incredibly disappointed that this scent did not maintain the cherry-wood smell that was delightful.

[antimony]

Wow. The perfect scent of Robotussin. ;-)

 

The cherry-ness mellowed over the course of the day, and it definately got more wood-like. This middle time reminded me a lot of Cathedral.

 

Now that it's dry, it's just a little vanilla-ish.

 

This one lasted for most of the workday on me, which is definately unusual.

 

I don't think I want a 5ml of this, but I have this weird feeling that it's going to grow on me.

[sarahmarie]

This didn't smell remotely cough-syrupy to me. For me, it was a very sweet cherry smell - overpowering and first, but then the wood came out and evened things up nicely. My skin seems to like to bring the wood out in things, and it works out well here. It's a very dark, very red scent, and I picture dark cherries in a bowl, on a table of dark wood, and a red dress in a dark room. This is due in part to the lab's description, but the scent really does evoke those things - it matches up very well.

 

After a little while, this turns almost creamy on my skin. It's still woody and I can still smell the sweetness of the fruit, but it goes deliciously smooth and just slightly sweeter. It's very regal - I would want to wear this when I need to feel womanly or confident, and it's not really a casual scent to me.

 

I think this is such a cool scent. I can't say yet whether it's something I want a big bottle of, but I'm going to keep using the imp and see what happens.

[Larila]

The Red Queen from Mad Tea Party, now this was a lovely gift from the lab and I thank them.

 

 

During the wet process I was getting sweet woody cherries It took about 28 minutes for It to change.

 

 

drydown there was a rich woody cherry aroma with a sharpness, I think It was the currant and also It just had a reddness about It, I like this one but the staying power on wasn't long enough, not a problem I'll just reapply, I want this scent because of richness about It.

[Shollin]

First sniff: The Red Queen is a much subtler scent than I expected. It’s cherry, there’s no question of that, but it’s a deep, understated, mature cherry – the richly sweet black cherries that come out in summer, not the candied things you put on sundaes.

 

Wearing: A bit brighter on my skin… now the texture is more like cherry candy than the actual fruit, and the edges are a bit sharp. Sniffing my wrist directly I definitely smell the dark smooth wood underneath. It stayed subtly sweet for several hours. Lovely.

[omly]

I think that I am allergic to Her Majesty, the Red Queen. This wasn't as "cherry-y" as I expected in the bottle. There is definately some there, but it isn't the almost almondy syrupy cherry, but rather like the fruit. The currants add some tartness that is really interesting as well. When it is on my skin I start to turn bright pink right away, and the cherry goes almost anisey. I am not sure what is in this that I don't get along with, I think that the mahogany is the only note I haven't used before though.

[Lady Ravenglass]

Wet, it was a lot like the dry cocoa of Vice, of which I wasn't overly enamoured. For the first hour I kept my nose away from my wrists (and stuffed it into my cleavage, where Blood is nestling). Now it's dried in and settled down, the woody notes are coming out - it sort of has a hint of furniture polish on a dark, shiny table - or perhaps I'm just mad. The sweet, dark cherry scent is lounging on top of it lazily.

 

On first sniff I detested this, but now I think it'll be a keeper. I'll certainly keep the imp in any case.

 

 

ETA: Hmm. Wearing this now I smell like a table. I'm not sure that a nice eventual scent is really worth an hour smelling like a Georgian pembroke, to be perfectly frank.

Edited October 19, 2004 by Lady Ravenglass

[Belladonnastrap]

Waaah the Red Queen hates me!!

 

First sniff

Cherries and almonds. And something else? It certainly smells very red! Very sweet as well. Makes me crave a cherry italian icee.

 

When wet

I smell like Luden's cough drops! Still very much cherry but theres also a medicinal scent as well...I can't place it. It's quite strong.

 

Drydown

...ohh no. Medicinal smell is stil there and its going a bit ick now.

 

Aftermath

Boo this was too syrupy sweet for me. I hope her white counterpart will fare better whenever she comes out!