Jack of Hearts

[Seajewel]

Carnations streaked with black cherry, pink peppercorn, and red clover honey.

[Estamets]

This one has so much texture! Pink peppercorn is the star here for me. It's sweetened just a bit by the earthy honey, and the carnation adds a bit of spice. (In the bottle, this smells like red fruit jelly candy, which I suspect is the black cherry. The carnation is also stronger in the bottle than on my skin.) It's easy to pick out each component note, and the overall effect makes me feel like a badass grunge rocker girl - no idea where that sense memory is coming from, but here it is!

 

Medium throw; currently testing on my wrist, and I think my usual décolletage slather would gift me frequent whiffs of peppery punk energy throughout the day. 

 

I like this one, and I think it will get better with age! *tucks it away in the aging drawer for later*

[Luna Fatale]

In the Bottle: Cherry, more like candy than medicine

 

On the Skin: Initially the same strong cherry candy smell. After a minute, something floral rises (the carnations). After awhile more, the cherry calms down a lot and I make out the carnations the most. It's not a spicy scent, but not super sweet on my skin either. To me it smells like a deep floral, red in color, with a bit of warm sweetness from the black cherry. The honey note is difficult for me to pick out, but I'm sure it's also contributing to the sweetness. I was worried that the cherry note would be cough syrup on me but it definitely isn't. I really love it and like how the carnation is the dominant note on my skin. ❤ After awhile more, it somehow reminds me of Blood Kiss but without the spicy notes. ^.^

[doomsday_disco]

This definitely has several Mad Tea Party elements to it. The black cherry, reminding me of The Red Queen. The sweet pink pepper, reminding me of High-Strung Daisies. And carnations, which are present in both Alice and Queen Alice. So if you have tried several of the Mad Tea Party scents, you'll sniff this and think this is very Mad Tea Party.

 

Jack of Hearts features a very bold black cherry note (it's far stronger than the black cherry in Nymphae Avernales) that teeters on cherry lozenge on me. It is the dominant note throughout wear, backed by the spicy carnation. I got the pink pepper in the background when this was freshly applied, but it quickly went into hiding and didn't reappear until several hours later, but it still cannot hold a candle to the cherry and carnation notes. The honey isn't distinct on me, but I'm sure it is there adding some sweetness to the scent (or maybe it's what is making the cherry veer into lozenge territory).

 

I'm going to let this settle some more, but I think the cherry in this may be too lozenge-like for me, and I'm iffy on the combination of the cherry with the carnation. If you love the Mad Tea Party, you should give this one a shot, though, because it is VERY Mad Tea Party.

[simpletwice]

Predominantly a strong, long-wearing carnation and honey blend.

 

This opens with a delightful burst of jellied fruit, spice, and carnation. The black cherry, which is quickly becoming my favorite BPAL fruit note, is bold and jammy, but doesn't have the staying power of the carnation and honey. The spice winds in and out, with the inherent spicy nature of carnation playing nicely off the peppercorn. The honey makes everything a little dirtier (in a good way).

 

My initial evaluation is that this is quite lovely but it just doesn't GRAB me - but this may well be a sleeper agent that activates with aging. Carnation lovers should adore this, and honey does some sexy mellowing with a little aging, so if either of those are your signature notes this should be a real winner.

[rivetted]

unfortunately this one was also too sweet for me. both the cherry scents from the liliths were just too sugary! 

 

a very medicinal (probably the carnation/black pepper) honey smell, if you are looking for a powerful honey smell with some kick!

[Leopard403]

WHOA HONEY.
STICKY, TOOTHSOME HONEY. 

Many years ago Lush made a one-off shower gel (not HIWTK, this was something else*) and it smelled like honey so thick you could chew it or wear it or build a home from it. Like, it's honey so thick it's jelly, it's jam, it's gravy...

 

That’s what this smells like to me. It’s a good memory, and a nice scent, but not quite what I wanted.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Leopard403
* eta I think it was It's Raining Men!

[zankoku_zen]

Cherry honey and a whiff of carnations. Theres been alot of cherry to pick from. It ends up as a cherry floral on the drydown. Good throw and wear length.

[fairybites]

Faint and light honeyed black cherries and carnations, a little powdery. The red clover honey goes sort of musky sweet on me during drydown. It's a sweet scent, close to candy territory, but I think the carnation and and pepper keep it from going in that direction. I don't get a ton of pepper, definitely more carnations.  

 

Goes well with the Mad Tea Party line and I'm sure it'd layer nicely with most of them. This is very good and I adore this cherry note!

[dancingchair]

In the decant it is screechingly strong cherry. Wet on the skin, it starts out very strong on the cherry but it melts away into a really nice cherry and honey combo. As it dries, the peppercorn and the carnation become more prominent and it turns into a beautiful sweet and spicy floral. It does remind me a bit of a cherry potpourri because something about the carnation smells dried or something. Maybe that's the peppercorn at work? I do not get cherry lozenge thankfully, but I also don't get a lot of cherry in the dry-down. I am very picky about florals but this is really nice.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Deep, dark, sticky Luxardo cherries. These are the extra fancy kind, ya'll. It's tempered some by the accompanying notes, though none are standing out individually just yet.

 

Drydown into Dry: Deep, beautiful red. The sweetness of the cherry is there, but it's dry somehow. The carnation's work I imagine. This blend conjures the luscious and erotic romance of a deep red rose, without actually being rosey at all, which I appreciate. As it dries the carnation steps to the forefront, and the cherry settles back, with just a kiss of honey holding it into place so it doesn't disappear completely. There's a hint of spice, but not much. It's like the perfect Old Fashioned, minus the booze. Decadent, sensual, and confident af.

 

 

8 out of 10 bones

Edited March 16, 2022 by BoneBone24

[wolf_truffles]

I'm getting 100% cherry! Those red cherries in red cherry juice. Syrupy, very sweet and strong! 

[LavenderCoffee]

This scent has a few distinct phases on my skin:

Freshly applied, the beautiful bright red cherry note dominates. As it dries down, cherry disappears and the pink peppercorn and carnation take their turn, although the carnation is more prominent for me. Hours later, the honey comes to the foreground, with a hint of the pink pepper/carnation combo backing it up.

I like the end phase the best, but I wish there was more interplay between the notes throughout. Just got this scent last week though, so there is potential for it to change with age. 

 

Six months on: the cherry is still knocking the door down, and it's a vivid cherry candy/cherry cough drop type of scent, but that only lasts about five minutes. Then the carnation opens up, and then a subtle cherry honey. I thought to retest this because I love the carnation in the Black Goat/Pink Flower painting from the May-June release, and it's nice, but still not quite my cup of tea. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by LavenderCoffee