[melrose]

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

First on, it's all cherries, then the woods start to peek out, and it's effin' beautiful - for about 15 minutes, until it fades to something I can barely smell, even with my nose buried in my arm. Heavy sighs.

[Diva Urd]

In the vial: Incredibly strong cough-syrupy cherry, though I do detect wood in the background.

On: The cherry recedes once it's on my skin and... uh, what? *sniffs* Ladies and gentlemen, I believe I have just had my first Play-Doh experience. It's a total dead-ringer. Within five minutes.

Later: Play-Doh dust with the slightest hint of cherry. Swap.

[AmandaArcana]

In the bottle: Sweet, dark red cherries! Yum! The mahogany fills it out into a very rich blend!

On me wet: The cherries start to take a back seat to the mahogany and the woods.

On me dry: By the time this dries, all the cherry is gone and all that's left is the sharp woody smell. Had the cherries stayed I would definitely wear this on a regular basis, but I'm really not diggin' the wood smell on its own.

[Gateau]

This was a Lab frimp. I am apprehensive because (1) cherry notes often smell like cough syrup to me and (2) I amp the hell out of wood to the exclusion of all else.

Imp -- yep, cherry cough syrup with touch of wood.

Wet -- still smells like cherry medicine, with slightly more polished wood.

Dry -- it's incredibly reminiscent of a Manhattan cocktail (one of my favorites) with the deep wood smelling like the bourbon plus cherry and currant notes (I can't make out the currant on its own) as the sweet vermouth and maraschino cherry. Less happy whiffs smell like a cherry flavored cigar.

Much as I love Manhattans, I really don't want to smell like I spilled one all over myself. Fortunately, this faded fairly quickly. I sent the imp to a cocktail-loving friend.

[Gael]

I'd call it the Red Lollipop Queen, for it seems that it is a queen shaped cherry lollipop of a scent. Reminds me in some ways of Lolita. It's fun, but I got it as an imp and I wouldn't order a bottle.

[stellamaris]

I had to order a big bottle of this, I just could not stop trying the imp. It is so delicious, woody and sweet dark cherry. I was wearing it the other night and my friend said Wow you smell soooooo dirty, you know, in a good way? so okay then, one large Red Queen please.
This does not morph so much, just stays wonderful. Very rich and heady, and the wood is not overpowering as I found it with The Wooden Doll .

This post has been edited by stellamaris: 21 August 2011 - 06:31 AM

[StrangeSniffer]

In the imp: Cherries! <3

Wet: Wow! These are real cherries folks, not the candy store type. There is a hint of wood in the background, but it seems to mesh pretty well with the cherries.

Drydown: This scent seems like it can't make up its mind on my skin. I thought it was all over for the cherries when they took a back-seat on the dry-down, but lo and behold a minute or two later the cherries seem to jump right back to the fore-front! Then it went back to cherry-scented wood. The cherries do, however, become a tad artificial smelling the more it dries, but thats fine by me.

Didn't think I'd be a big fan of this one, but overall, I love it. I can't stop smelling my wrists.

This post has been edited by StrangeSniffer: 21 August 2011 - 07:30 PM

[Ghost of a Rose]

In the imp: Oil is clear and colorless. Yep, wood and cherries. At first it's a nice black cherry scent, but then the artificial/candy/red cherry takes over. The currant may be there, but currant smells similar enough to cherry that it can't be separated out.

On me, wet: The wood is slightly dominating the cherry, but it's a near-balance. This is beautiful, complex, and unusual. I like it that the wood is strongest, so that it's not a fruity/foody scent overall. So far I'm not getting any of the artificial cherry note that I dislike, and which usually overpowers everything else.

On me, just dried: My skin definitely amps the wood. It is becoming considerably stronger than the fruits, which are now just a subtle note added to the wood. I love this! It's not at all the dreaded cherry candy that I feared.

After 45 minutes: The fruits have now faded into just a generic sweetness, which, added to the dominant wood note, smells oddly similar to a woody vanilla.

Verdict: A sophisticated, grown-up fragrance suitable for both women and men. Would be an excellent choice for work - it's not too strong, and comes across as very professional and dignified.

My rating: 4.5. It only misses being a 5 because florals are my great love. But this comes in as a close second.

[KittyHawk]

Cherry is an iffy note for me; it either melds harmoniously with my skin or it's a head-on collision with no survivors. I like a lot of the Lab's wood notes too, so I figured there was a 50-50 shot The Red Queen would work for me.

...well, it didn't.


This lady didn't morph at all. Whether it was in the imp, wet, or during drydown, all I got was heavy furniture polish, lacquered with a hint of artificial cherry. :ack: Off to the "get the hell outta my house" box you go.

[TurpentineChai]

I'm still not exactly sure why I ordered this other than perhaps my deep love of cherry ice cream overwhelming me.

It's rich, it's thick, it's heavy- all things that I just don't want in my perfume. This was too much for me, it practically demanded constant attention and although I really tried to make it work, I ended up giving it to my mom- the queen of heavy scents.

[maoric]

In the vial: Cherry cordial!

Freshly applied: Wood, with a slightly sweet varnish.

Drying: Vanishes at the start, like so many other scents seem to do when drying, then an almost cedar-like scent appears with the sweet varnish close behind. Hopefully it doesn't get too cedar-shaving smelling on me like Tombstone did.

Later: It didn't, all I can smell for a while is thick lacquer and then the scent goes the way of the dodo faster than any other I've tried so far (roughly two hours until I couldn't smell anything left). Going to ship this to my girlfriend eventually, maybe she'll have more luck with it.

[Amalthea]

Imp: Cherry, nuts
Wet: Cherry and almond, sharp and almost woodsy.
Drydown: Woodsy and nutty, cherry is gone
Dry: Woodsy and weird fruit... plasticky
Verdict: This one just isn't for me.

[neverything]

Freshly cut wood with Play-Doh and a hint of cherry. :cry2: This is the scent that made me realize that I just need to stop wearing anything that has a wood or cherry note in it.

[bibzerneth]

I am sooo glad I don't get any of the cherry coke or cherry syrup smell that others have noted. I get cherries, but they are not too sweet, (like real cherries, not cherry flavor) and the wood note from the mahogany. The currant I'm sure is in there too, but I just can't identify it. This is my favorite BPAL so far, I wear it all the time year round. Although I do think that it is best in fall or winter. The mahagony, which is my favorite part seems to getting stronger with age too. Yay! This scent is never too sweet, cloying or heady for me. It's not gender neutral by any means but its also not extremely feminine like some of the other cherry scents. Its staying power isn't fabulous, but not terrible either. You can also slather this one without offending those around you since its not too perfumey. I like running a tiny bit through my hair so that I get whiffs of it all day.

[becca_s]

The Red Queen really doesn't smell good on me, at any stage.

It starts out with very strong cherry. After 10-15 minutes the woods start to come out, but they are quite dry and dusty on me. I generally find that wood notes don't work on me. So, in the end I get the smell of strong, dusty wood with a hint of cherry. They make an unusual combination

I have heard that this is really nice aged so I will hold onto the imp and test it again in a few months.

This post has been edited by becca_s: 19 May 2012 - 10:56 PM

[Juushika]

In the vial: Currant; a dark red scent, not too juicy or tart.

On me: Juicy and tart to the extreme as this hits the skin, backed up by slightly bitter woods. The two aspects balance out during drydown: a rich base of nonfoody woods topped by slightly subdued dark red fruits. It has moments when the fruits get too strong for my taste, which doesn't surprise me—I have a love/hate relationship with that note, which I like in theory but in practice is often too powerful for my taste, especially since my skin amps currant. But on the whole the woods ground the scent and keep the fruits in line. A warm, red, smooth scent, rich and royal. Scent-color is dark rosewood/mahogany; throw and wearlength are both moderate verging on high.

Verdict: Like but not love, enough to keep the imp but not half enough for a bottle. I imagine aging will do good things to this scent, maintaining an even better balance of wood to fruit, but honestly I'm surprised to like this so much as it is: I find that red fruits are often only a theoretical desire, but these are unique and well-balanced, and quite lovely.

[RogueNyx]

wet: out of the impits very sweet almond to me. that could be from the cherry though ( the infamous cherry/almond source since bitter almost is well.. poisonous...) its very sweet almond and foodie.

On me: its all mahongany! upon first application was was rich and so juicy... Red and juicy... are the words i said to myself right away. i was in love. i actually updated my stash to say i wanted a full bottle. but now about 10 minutes later its all woods and mahongany. definately red woods.

drydown: rich smooth mahogany with a very slight cherry undertone. reminds me of a Juicy Jays cherry blunt wrap. yes ive smelt that before but havent used it. lol

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Cherry, and a very faint hint of something woody.

On skin, wet: Cherry with a woody background.

On skin, dry: Crap. This has turned into very strong cherry incense sticks. I guess one of the woods in this blend is sandalwood? :/

After an hour: Cherry incense sticks. But mostly incense sticks, not so much cherry at all anymore. So very not a winner for me.

[detritius]

I was afraid this would go overly-sweet cherry cough syrup on me, and I'm so glad it didn't! The prevalent scent I get is rich, dark wood, like an old manor house, with just a breath of sweetness from the cherries and tartness that I think might be the currents. This is a mature, regal feminine scent. Definitely puts me in the mind of a queen seated imperiously on a dark wood throne.

[VelvetSky]

Cherry, cherry, cherry and more cherry...for me, the only thing that saves The Red Queen from Cherry Overload in the top is the currant note, which gives a bit of a lower-pitched twinge.

As the blend progresses, it becomes heavy cherry sandalwood.

This scent is indeed regal, but in the end, cherry scents aren't 'me'.

(Edited for wonky spelling)

This post has been edited by VelvetSky: 29 April 2012 - 12:39 PM

[milo]

Lot's of sweet cherry at first. It kind of smells like a stick of cherry gum. The woods come out, and it's not meshing too well with the cherry on my skin. Dries to a dusty cherry, with a bit of 'bite' from the black currant. Not my thing at all.

[Midnight Aeval]

Wow, another one I have skipped over for YEARS when frimps made their way to me. I associated The Red Queen with roses I guess.. I'm in love with the sweet, plushness of this blend. The mahogany is glorious, another to add to my next order! It's like the epitome of cherry wood :wub2:

[Scorianelle]

I traded for this because I wanted to try some more woodsy, dark or resinous scents and I was also intrigued by the cherry/fruit notes. I was quite surprised when the concoction was clear in the vial. I'd looked at the description for this quite a while back, and didn't remember any of it when I was testing it. So I recorded my impressions of it without knowing anything of what was in the vial at the time.

First Sniff: Eeeeyuck! Fake fake fake medicinal fake cherry. So unappealing I briefly considered foregoing the application test, but knowing how much the smell can change I went ahead.

Second Sniff: Trying to get past the horrible top notes, I find there is something powdery underneath.

Wet: Phew! There is suddenly a woody presence here, as well as a strong sweet and tart note. It still seems quite medicinal though.

Dry: There is a beautiful sweeter, fuller cherry that I can smell wafting around me, however if I stoop to smell my wrist it disappears, and all that is left is a dark, oily note that I've met before. I blamed Olive at the time, but I'm starting to think it is Vetiver. This worries me, because I don't like this oily note (spoiling a perfectly good perfume) and I thought I liked Vetiver.

Dry (1.5 Hours): It is already starting to fade. The sweet cherry whiffs have returned to ground level and are now located firmly on my wrist. It has become a mild, sweet, fruity scent. The wood is somewhere in the background, barely discernible but holding the rest up nonetheless and stopping it from being sickly sweet.

Colour association: Definitely black and red.

Throw: mild to none.

It is about now that I checked the description, and was quite surprised to find how true the cherry and wood notes were. Overall the scent is a lot lighter than I expected (and hoped), being more of a sunlit cherry tree than a wooden serving bowl in a dimly lit hall, but it is nice all the same. I asked my sister and father to smell-test me as well. These were their thoughts:

Sis: "It smells like Velvet, and I don't even think that velvet has a smell."

Pop: "Yum."

To date this is one of the nicest imps I've tried, and while I couldn't wear it everyday, and won't be purchasing a bottle, I will definitely be using all of this imp up.

This post has been edited by Scorianelle: 08 July 2012 - 01:56 AM

[Kashi]

I got a small sample of this by a forumite so I am not sure how old it is but I am guessing well aged.
In the bottle: Awesome black-red sweet cherries.
On my skin: Cloyingly sweet black-red cherries. The scent is rich but not too strong. The sweetness reminds me a bit of the lab's raspberry note as well. I can't smell the wood and I am not sure about the currant (if it's there, it is mixed with cherry).
Drydown: Surprisingly enough, it didn't really morph on me. I kept on smelling the sweet black-red cherries and the sweetness reminded me of something like adult candy (if that makes sense). It was similar in sweetness to Oya and I enjoyed it.
The downside was that the smell vanished after a couple of hours. I wish it would stick around a bit longer.

[rinster]

I really like this one, but also found it to be rather fleeting. I'm a sucker for cherry scents, but the wood provides a perfect counterpoint and keeps it from going too sweet. I'm hoping some aging will make it stick around because I'm definitely keeping the imp.