Queen of Spades

[darkling]

A contemporary incarnation of the tarot’s Queen of Swords. A card of decisive action, strength of Will, progressive action, justice, and, sometimes, revenge. The scent is a sophisticated, deep, and smoky floral with a decidedly exotic spice. Moroccan myrrh and black amber, with muguet, opoponax, deep black plum, cyclamen, galbanum, and wild blackberry softened by pear blossom and a swirl of exotic wood notes.

In the bottle: Dark, sweet cherries.

Wet: The scent is very think and sweet. It still smells like dark berries and juicy plum.

Dry: The Queen becomes more complex as it shifts between dark plum and sweet berries sometimes with an edge of rich woods and other times with a hint of spice. Occasionally, the various notes blend together so I catch a whiff of spicy plum or berries ripening in a forgotten forest.

This scent has incredible staying power and lasted all day. Whenever I was having a tough moment at work, I took in a deep breath of the Queen and felt simultaneously strong and calm.

The Queen of Spades is an exquisite scent and I know that I will be pining for more when I finish my bottle.

[pkwench]

I always knew that I loved amber. Bruja taught me that I love myrrh and amber and myrrh as a combination too. Queen of Spades just reminds me, deliciously, over and over.

 

It's such a rich fall scent. I've had several people tell me that I smell very festive and autumnal today. As for me, I feel like I'm in a dark, red dream and that when I open my eyes I'll find myself sitting on an open bedroll in front of a bonfire with a hefty glass of mulled blackberry wine in my hands. Ah, it's love all over the place here.

 

Special thanks again to Pekeana who helps me try all of these scents that I've missed out on.

 

(Edited because myrrah is not quite what I meant to type. LOL)

Edited November 1, 2004 by pkwench

[kimberlygem]

I love Queen of Spades. It is rich plummy goodness dipped in black cherry liquer. Yum and then some. I also have been putting a few drops of the preciousness in a brass lightbulb ring to scent my room and it is just loverly. I wish I had gotten a ten ml as this scent is just fabulous.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Sharp. Clean and perky, like it's got eucalyptus or mint in it. (But I don't actually smell either of those notes in this, it just has that same invigorating feeling.) My especial favorite plum is wafting up, with the blackberry and something I'm pretty sure must be amber.

 

On me: Hooo boy. That just came pouring out (I gotta get used to reducers) and drenched the back of my hand, as well as the notebook paper I originally wrote this on. Anyway...myrrh. Fruity myrrh. This mellows out into a light blackberry fragrance. It isn't a cheerful berry, but a dark and brooding one. But talk about lasting power! Queen of Spades just goes and goes...if it ever comes back, I'll definitely get another bottle.

[Larila]

This one going on wasn't dark on me at all. I smelled a little of the blackbery and that was it beside te lightness about it.

20 minutes later i could smell the blackberry and there was a sweet tone about it. Also the amber,myrrh and in the background the pear blossom with a tip of spice. My skin was loving this very much and the lasting power was outstanding. I like the king and the queen equally, love it.

[Shollin]

Thanks to Emu Nymph for the decant!

 

First sniff: The colour of this oil is fantastic – it’s a sort of pinkish-orange coral, and I expect it to be very girly just based on that. Fortunately (because I generally don’t do girly), I’m wrong. In the vial, Queen of Spades is sweet, but aloof – she’s a benevolent ruler, but still intimidating. And just barely fruity enough to be classified as such; the deeper notes give this one a nice grounding.

 

Wearing: There’s an initial burst of warm sweet fruitiness that deepens quickly to dark velvety plum, with a dusting of spice. I’m really enjoying this.

[sihaya09]

This blend is a sophisticated fruit blend. It's all pinky-purple plum and berry, very sweet and juicy. I didn't think that this was a particularly dark scent, as it is so smooth and velvety, but it definitely has layers. I smell a nice base of interesting spices, but none of the florals or incense notes. Just as well, I love how this one works with my skin chemistry-- it lasts quite a while. Lovely.

[silverangel]

Noir with blackberry. I've actually kept the reducer around for random sniffing while on my computer! It's dark, and elegant, powerful, it gives me confidence. It is definitely a "Queen" kind of scent. It's my second favorite oil right behind Noir...now if only I could find a favorite that wasn't an LE or discontinued.

[miss apple]

Queen of Spades - I love the little card picture on the bottle! First sniff, mmm deep and purple.

 

Once on this develops in to a dusky fruity scent, a little plum, a little sweetness. This is a cool weather scent good for pairing with warm velvets, dark and intense with an undercurrant of seduction. It's a strong oil that last for hours and yet is never overpowering. Simply wonderful, I do wish for the return of this lovely perfume.

[sarada]

I'm so glad to have an imp of this! I wasn't paying close attention to the updates when this came out so I missed my chance to order it. I would definitely have done so, at the time, based on the description. I love complex scents, it's fascinating to see them unravel throughout the day, revealing all of the layers.

 

The plum is the first thing I smell, and in the bottle it reminds me of Megaera, because fruit smells tend to come to the forefront for me, particularly "purple" ones like plum. They're also the first thing to go, once it hits my skin. I put a lot of this on my wrists and behind the ears so I could be sure to enjoy it for awhile before it started to burn off. This is like a much, much more complex Megaera, darkened by the myrrh and woods, but I don't really smell them much...I just know that something is deepening the mix, while the amber sparkles in the distance.

 

After the plum burns off, the amber and myrrh remain as an incensy aroma that I can smell when I sniff my wrists (a compulsive habit that I have now, as the people I work with can attest to...I must look like some kind of maniacal junkie going in for a fix every time I sniff my wrists). It's a pity that fruits positively evaporate on me, and unless there's something stronger underneath I have to reapply constantly.

 

Another one that I just want to drink. Can the lab please make drinkable oils?

[Rheliwen]

QoS smells much more like what I was hoping Hunter Moon would smell like on me, minus a bit of the wildfire.

 

In the bottle it's a very sweet plum/blackberry mixture. It's not in-your-face, more sweet and understated. This is a good thing!

 

Wet: It has a lot of warmth to it. I get the same warm fuzzies from Dia. It's a very plummy scent, deep and dark. There is a green, bitter medicinal bite that's lingering in the background when I take a big whiff.

 

Drydown: After wearing this a couple of hours, the fuit dies down a bit, though it remains the first smell that reaches your nose when you breathe in deep. It's a bit more floraly now and has also turned a bit crayon wax (but that is happening to every single BPAL I own at the moment).

 

Verdict: I'm not a huge fruit fan because it tends to get a bit strong and pungent for my nose. But QoS is a nice, deep, mellow plum scent that's no nice for these cold months. Yum!!

[UltraViolet]

Wet

Oh my. I smell sharp floral, with blackberry, plum and amber making it all round and warm. It is indeed a darker scent just as the card is a darker suit.

10 minutes

Sharp Floral....with a capital F. As sometimes happens with scents I like initially, they turn piercingly floral on me very quickly to something quite opposite of the notes I initially smelled. Hopefully I'll be lucky as some blends do seem to turn around once again and settle down.

20 minutes

I think I can take my saddle off now and say that the floral has calmed down with the dry down and the plum and the blackberry are being allowed to reach out and touch someone. I'm finally smelling some fleeting myrrh but none of those "Exotic wood notes" we hear tell about. This is a pity because I quite like the wood notes in Beth's blends.

If this was less floral I'd buy a bucket of it because I can tell that aside from the sharp floral note what's left is really lovely, deep, dark and inticing. Not quite a berry scent, the plum is lighter and less acidic, the plum mixes extremely well with the blackberry, and the amber gives it a mellow, rounded faintly sweet note. Much deeper and darker and thicker then the bright, yummy, fresh floral of "Bewitched".[/color]

[inkstone]

I swapped for a decant of this from the lovely Hadaverde.

 

In the vial: Deep, fruity berries mixed with wood. It's darker than I remember KoS being.

 

Wet: The plum and berries pop out, but so does the myrrh, wood & spices. This is definitely darker than KoS.

 

Drydown: It lightens up and sweetens, much like KoS did on my skin. I think that's the amber at work. This doesn't have the same creaminess that KoS did on me, but the fruitiness is delicious.

 

Final thoughts: I love this! I'm so glad I managed to snag a decant!

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: This scent is black with a softly glowing muted purple light at the center. It is fruity and woody and Dark. It is regal without being haughty and deep without being menacing.

Wearing: When wet this is almost sharp in its intensity. As it dries, the fruits and myrrh overtake the wood notes. This remains dark, but it has a sweet core. It softens and blends beautifully throughout the day, the fruits grounded by an incensey backdrop.

Final Impressions: I love, love, love this!! I would compare it to Venom - the Queen, however, is softer, older, wiser, and has seen more shadows than Venom. Beautiful!!

[isyche]

I've been wanting to try this since it came out and cursing myself for not ordering it, and then kithrobyn kindly swapped me a bottle.

 

Queen of Spades is in the same “deep purplish scent” category as Mabon and Blood Countess, both of which I love, but it's more fruity on me than those two, and the later stages are different. It's also a bit like King of Spades, except there was an undernote in that that made it go vaguely icky on me – vetiver, probably.

 

QoS is a dry winelike fruit scent, not a sweet sticky one, so the fruit works for me. I recognize the plum and blackberry right away, and as it dries the black amber, myrrh, and wood notes emerge. After a few hours, just the amber is left, which reminds me of the drydown of O.

 

It's dark and complex and shadowy and regal. I love it. Much more "me" than Queen of Diamonds was.

Edited January 22, 2005 by isyche

[Theravada]

I think I prefer the Queen to the King. She has less of the animalistic musk note that I got from the King.

 

This is such a complicated blend! Musky, resinous, sweet, fruity, and floral all at the same time. Usually blends like this don't work well for me, but the Queen is lovely.

 

Overall I get a pleasantly tart blackberry scent mingled with a warm, sweet amber/vanilla and a dark cloud of resinous myrrh. The spicey woods come out on the drydown. Stunning. I think this would make a great perfume spray because a little goes a long way.

 

ETA: If you can't get QoS, try Bewitched. It smells very similar to this. It has the same lovely balckberry scent, just no yummy woods or myrrh.

Edited March 2, 2005 by Theravada

[diabolique]

the same thing that happened with the king happened with this blend-- her royal majesty's base notes failed to make an appearance on my skin and left me with a dark red-colored berry scent that wafted quite well. when i initially tried the king and queen, i liked the queen better, but now i realize that the king is more my style. one of the notes manages to turn plasticy on my skin and eventually it starts to smell like heavily waxed berry lipgloss. alas..

[olympia301]

 

I just got this, and it was THE ONE scent I was itching to try. The second I tried it on, I started to think,"It smells like something...like...something I've used before...it's...it's...it's..." This thought has been driving me crazy all afternoon. I finally have it-- it reminds me of Dior's Poison. That's what makes it smell so "purple".

 

This would be a fabulous scent for someone who could wear highly complex dark blends. I am not one of them, alas. The bottle is wonderful, the ingredients are out-of-this-world but coming together on my skin is emminently forgettable, confused and sad. I gave the bottle back to the person I got it from (who loves it and can wear it). Oddly enough, I have received a lot of good things in return for that. Maybe it's Queen of Spades karma, I hope so.

Edited July 2, 2005 by olympia301

[warmfuzzies]

without having read the reviews: in the bottle, THE QUEEN smells plummy; wet on my forearm it smells plummy, but with some musky feel, or something that darkens & keeps it from being "plum lite." it's really lovely, and now that i have read the description, i can detect blackberries. as for cyclamen, pear blossoms, etc....mmmm...if you say so, but whatever it is, it is no less than DIVINE. a perfect compliment, and very similar i might say, to his majesty THE KING. so happy i took a stab & got a 5ml!

[fragrantgrasse]

I ordered 5 ml of each of the King & the Queen.

 

At first I preferred the King of Spades and wore that one and used it my candle burner.

 

Today - months later my eye fell on the Queen and I decided to give it a try. Smelling from the bottle it is unremarkable to me.

 

But upon application I am liking this more and more! It is evolving and moving quickly to reveal a happy mixture of berries and florals.

 

As Queen of Spades dries it becomes more warm and spicy, and I think I can detect a clove-ish note in the spices. I love the faint undercurrent of jamminess of berries - that on me - is mixing with the amber which I love. Myrrh is emerging now and is bring with it a note desert dryness, smoothing the florals and making me love this....

 

On me the Queen is more sophisticated that the King, decidely different and....majestic.

 

All hail Beth!

[Pixie-elf]

Queen of Spades, I traded for a Decant of it.

 

In the Vial: Mostly I can just smell the spices....

 

Wet: I can smell a bit of the Almond, and some of the Spices...I could swear I smell Sandalwood in here, too...

 

Dry: As it dries, I can smell the almonds much better, and less Spices.

 

Conclusion: I like it, I'll use up the imp, and possibly get another one, but I dunno about a bottle.

[phaedrine]

I got an imp of this from the lovely Theravada.

 

I really, really like what it does on my skin, all blackberry and myrrh. I've not been too keen on any fruity blends before trying this one, but now I want to gobble up anything with blackberry in it.

 

The only said part is that it doesn't last too long, maybe an hour or two, so it'll go in my "imps that I use for a pick me up but probably won't buy in a bottle" pile.

[Lina]

Just when I thought I figured out what I wanted big bottles of- this has to be a LE. CURSES!

 

This is incredible! So well blended I cannot even guess what wonders surround me. 8 hours of wearing it and I still smell divine. This is slightly sweet and spicy, a little deep earthy tone too.

 

*bows to the lab*

 

Where some of the other scents morph on me to bring out single notes...this is the perfect blend from start to - well at least 8 hours later.

[shelldoo]

wet this was just like glitter on me, smelled just like juicy fruit gum.

 

as it dries it becomes sexier, spicierand deeper, i get cloves, and possibly saffron, amber, absolutely beautiful! i wish i had a big bottle

[Sheila]

This is lovely, and thank you jj_j for letting me try some.

 

On wet, this smells like plum--but less strong and animalistic than the King of Spades.

 

When it dries, the blossoms come out, and so does the myrrh and the muguet. This is a lovely, deep, almost-spicy floral layered over rich plum.

 

The King of Spades is decadent and depraved; his Queen is more regal, with a core of strength and majesty.