Hideous Heart

[indybear]

A macabre Valentine: wild black cherries, licorice root, and cinnamon.

I'd say cough syrup, too - but I actually like cough syrup! I never did get licorice or cinnamon, just cherry cough syrup that shaded more toward plain cherry (but luscious and juicy cherry) the longer it was on my skin.

What I'm sad about is that it is fading fast. It's disappearing after about 15 minutes.

I may get a bottle just to see what happens as it ages.

[tragedy]

I wouldve been happy with cherry cough syrup.. or cherry anything...

I get cinnamon red-hots after an initial beautiful spiced cherry..

I swear it was only there to tease me

[Ajila]

In the bottle - The sweet, almond like scent of the cherries with just a hint of the cinnamon

 

Wet on me - The liquorice root rises up behind the soft sweet cherries

 

Dry on me - A lovely, sweet, lightly spiced cherry

 

Overall - What there is of it is nice, but it's quite faint and doesn't last very long

[violetgrimm4]

I have decided I need to review this one because I have a different opinion on it.

 

When I first sniff the bottle is sweet cherries and I got it the same time as the other cherry Halloween and this was super sweet I put this down to the licorice since they add it to herbal teas to sweeten them.

 

Now once on all I smell is cherry which as it dries the licorice starts to mellow and smell more like regular licorice and the cherry mellows out also it continues to mellow until everything balances and the cinnamon comes out to take the sweetness down and add its yummy spice.

 

One this is dry it lasts ages on me it sticks to my clothes and sheets and lingers all day I like it very muchly I think I'd like more cinnamon and because of its sweetness I have to be in the right mood to wear it!

 

I give it a 8/10 over all.

 

If you like cherry sents this for me doesn't beat bloody mary but it is perfect with a bright red dress and red lippy for a playful rockabilly look!

[Brianne]

I love this - with the exception of the fact that I don't get any licorice in this at all, it's exactly what I hoped it would be!

 

It DOES smell like cherry cough syrup in the bottle. It goes on much sweeter though - it's sugary sweet and syrupy cherries, like a freshly opened jar of maraschino cherries. It's so thick and sweet, you almost imagine that it's *pulpy* with cherries inside the bottle.

 

The cinnamon certainly peeks through on the drydown and it's a red hot cinnamon, not a subtle cinnamon stick. This is very sweet but totally gorgeous, I imagine this will age very well

[benthic]

Wet on my skin, it's Twizzlers. If there were such thing as a Twizzlers SN, this would be it. Surprisingly, I like it a lot. I'm usually not a fan of smelling like recognizable candy (BPAL's chocolate blends often smell like Tootsie Rolls on me, and while I don't dislike that, I feel really weird about it), but I would wear this, because it's a lovely candied cherry licorice.

 

As it dries, there's the cinnamon. Cinnamon is a bad note on me in general, whether it's the "red hots" candy type or the cinnamon stick type. This is probably the best cinnamon I've tried, but the cherry all but vanishes, and . . . red hots! Another recognizable candy scent, but one which I'm not as fond of. And it's quite strong. I wish I could get that first minute of this blend back. That cherry was amazing, but it's all gone now. I have this issue with all spices, so it's no surprise. Onto the swap pile, I think.

 

On a strange note, on part of my arm I have this accidentally layered with Glitter (I'm testing several at once to see what to keep). The cinnamon note with the white wine note is frankly fantastic. I'm going to have to see if a blend like that exists anywhere.

[miss_rynn]

This is not the same cherry as is in most BPAL scents, to my nose, for which I am thankful! Don't be scared of either the cinnamon or the licorice - they are not pungent or overpowering in the slightest. On my skin, this is very much like dried cherries; not glace, but actual dark, musky, slightly tart dried cherries. The cinnamon is barely there, just enough to give it depth, and the licorice grounds the scent very nicely. It doesn't have a huge amount of throw, and it wears very close to the skin.

 

I'm a fan

[Fright]

I got this today, and mmm..

 

In the Bottle: CHERRY. OMG, cherry. Maybe alcohol?

Wet On Skin: Cinnamon. Red hots.

Dry On Skin: Spiced cherries.

 

 

 

I love this. Absolutely love it. I'll be hoarding bottles of Hideous Heart. My husband likes it too, which works for me. I keep sniffing my wrist. Mmm... this is soooo good.

[blktauna]

Wet: Charms sour cherry lolly. Completer with stick.

Dry: Cinnamon hearts burns the cherry right off.

Later on, the lolly returns, only it's sweet cherry... then it rotates with the cinnamon hearts, to and fro.

 

I love it! Makes my mouth water right up.

[filigree_shadow]

First it smelled pretty evenly like cherries and licorice, and then CINNAMON. I can still smell some licorice under there, but I think the cinnamon put cement shoes on the cherries and tossed them overboard.

 

All three of these notes -- cherry, licorice, and cinnamon -- are notes I'm picky about, but every once in a while I find one that works really well. Not this one. This one's kind of a mess on me.

[Gin]

I can't seem to say no to Beth's cherry blends. Hideous Heart is very strongly cherry, morphing into fierce cinnamon. Very interesting, but ultimately not a scent for me.

[virusq]

Wet on the skin it's sickening-sweet cherries. It smells like cherry flavored cough syrup, to me. But it mellows out quickly.

 

I never quite got a blend of cherries/licorice/cinnamon, but other people commented on the cherry/cinnamon scent. So. Effective, just not for me?

 

I liked it, but there really wasn't anything as memorable about it as I'd hoped.

[Lyssa]

In the bottle, it smells completely like cherry cough syrup or cough drops or even NyQuil. It's very medicinal and very cherry. However, after applying, it really becomes more like a candy. I do feel like cinnamon red hots, or cinnamon candy hearts. The cherry is there, making the cinnamon nicely fruity, but that cinnamon has a real kick to it and is now the powerhouse of the fragrance. I think the cherry makes it seem more candy-like, as this is definitely not a straight-up cinnamon or a spice overload (in the most delicious way) like in Autumn Cider.

 

Within about 10 minutes, the licorice finally makes an appearance. Honestly, it just emphasizes the candy feeling. Then, without warning, it all dies down and becomes very subtle.

 

I guess this one is a slatherer. It's pretty faint now. Smells good, but way more delicate than I would imagine a hideous heart to be. Usually I hope for lighter scents, but I wish this one stayed darker and juicier.

 

I like it, and it has a kind of nice little throw as it's giving me echoes of cinnamon candies every now and then. If it's going to be eaten by my skin so quickly, though, it might find more love somewhere else.

[lohengrin]

In the vial: Cherry. Not much of anything else.

 

On skin, wet: The cherry goes cough syrupy. May be the licorice doing that, but it's hard to say for sure.

 

On skin, dry: Cinnamon has become by far the dominant note, and the cough syrup note has calmed back down to proper cherry.

 

After an hour: Cinnamon with an undernote of cherry.

[Larinessa]

Love cherries. Love anise. Love cinnamon. The three together are a no brainer. Spicy syrupy dark cherry licorice. Deep and rich on me, and the perfect scent for Valentine's day tomorrow.

[Roogna]

I seriously AMP this!

I smell candy! cinnamon like red hots, some cherry and licorice.

it's just too strong for me

[hecate_jones]

First sniff, this is like full-on Amaretto, like, not just amaretto, but WHAMaretto. Wet on skin, it's still very amaretto, but now it's like someone dropped a handfull of cinnamon redhots candies in it. And there's a waft of cherry, but it's not really what I think of as black cherries, this is sweet maraschino cherries. Then I'm assaulted by the "Hi! Want some cinnamon redhots?" again.

I'm not getting any particularly noticable licorice notes from it, but this is good, me and licorice, we don't get on well.

 

Dry for about half an hour... it totally smells like I had a mixed drink of cinnamon schnapps and amaretto with some maraschino cherries in and poured it all over my arm. It just *smells* like a sticky frou-frou drink. Not that this is a bad thing, I'm really loving this scent.

[sunqist]

I have a love/hate relationship with Kabuki, and this is exactly what I keep hoping Kabuki will smell like every time I wear it. Where Kabuki is sharp, Hideous Heart is smooth and almost creamy. Doesn't last long at all, sadly, but I'm more than happy to reapply. Time to buy the big bottle.

[vanilla323]

Sadly this was mostly black licorice and cough syrup on me. I didn't get much cinnamon which is odd because usually it's strong on my skin. Maybe the licorice and cherry are just too much here.

 

I don't really like this one. It's just not pleasant and kind of stinky to me. Medicinal.

 

Again I think I love the idea (and eating) of black licorice but shouldn't wear it. It doesn't work well with cherry either. Maybe a hit of vanilla would of helped balance it out not cinnamon.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Boozey cherry and cinnamon! Good combo. The cherry gets less boozey and more candy-like. Not cough-syrupy, which is good. Cherry is iffy on me, so I was taking a risk with this, but so far I really like it. Sweet spicy cherry!

 

 

Dry: Nice! Spicy cherry. In the same vein as The Phantom Calliope and Enraged Groundhog Musk on me. I love this type of fruity/spicy mix.

[Soupy Twist]

In the bottle: Cherry! a really gorgeous cherry. Goes on as a great cherry (cough) syrup. There's a brief note of dry, spicy cinnamon, but it doesn't stay long. The entire lovely thing disappears in under an hour. I might try it in a locket. No licorice at all.

[theseagrows]

i received a frimp of this on a swap. it starts with sweeeeet cherry and a hint of cinnamon. definitely cough-syrupy as others have mentioned. i believe there is a tiny hint of licorice, but i can barely sense it. overall too sweet and fruity for my tastes. 

[Thuy]

I'm dying trying to find a good thick cherry scent, and this smelled like it from the imp! Thick, syrupy black cherry with a hint of spice....but only for a moment.

The cherry poofed as soon as I slathered it on, and it became a tempered red hots candy. That lasted for barely an hour. poooooo. guess I'll have to see how it does in a scent locket.

This is very similar to my Blood Squib SN, but more candy-like. Guess I'll just hang with this decant.

[doomsday_disco]

Hideous Heart features a strong black cherry note. It is somewhat cherry/almond at first and kind of makes me think of a darker version of the inside of a cherry cordial, but the scent then teeters between that and cherry lozenge on me. The licorice root in this is really well-behaved and doesn't make this scent smell licorice-y on me (thankfully, as I dislike licorice and its brethren). The cinnamon was missing at first, showed up for a while during the middle phase, really spicing up the cherry, but then became really light by the end of the day, never burning me once.

 

I don't think I would reach for this over some other cherry scents in my collection, but I'm glad I got to try it (and that that it wasn't licorice doom)!

[Missanneshirleyofgg]

Every once in awhile I find one cinnamon scent that truly is candy on my skin. I find the term “red hots” tossed around for a general disdain of cinnamon but I seldom actually sniff that candyish scent in a perfume. BUT WHOA DADDY, I JUST FOUND IT IN HIDOUS HEART. 

 

Perhaps the cherry accord used here in combination with the cinnamon is what is so cinnamon candy like? As it dries down the cinnamon becomes smoother and the cherry stronger, but the hot cinnamon candy effect remains.

 

No licorice for me at all. Bummer, as I love licorice! 

 

Smells like a fall craft store as it continues to dry. Like cinnamon broom. 

 

At this stage I get the above cough syrup references….

 

Meh.