Red Queen. The Cardboard Crown
Обновлено: 12 окт.
Wonderland
The cardboard crown was a size too big, and the costume lady had tucked a strip of foam under the band. It still slid down to her eyebrows whenever she lowered her head.
For twenty years at the children's theatre she had played trees, maids and the third card in the pack. Another actress played the Queen, and that morning she had come down with a fever. The director called at eight. «You know the lines», he said.
She knew the lines. What she did not know was how to stand at the centre of the stage with two hundred children watching her.
Before the show she put Red Queen on her wrists. She had bought the bottle for herself long ago and had never once worn it to work.
The wings smelled of dust and hot lamps. She raised her wrist to her face. The rose opened at once, bright and full, with a thin green at the base of the petal, and soft musk lay beneath it.
She lifted her chin, and the crown stopped slipping. She walked out to the middle of the stage slowly and stood where the light fell straight on her.
«Who dared to cut my roses?» she asked. The hall went silent. A boy in the front row grabbed his mother's hand.
After the bows the director came up to her. «You're playing the Queen all next week», he said.
In the dressing room she took off the crown and set it on the shelf above her own mirror.
«A rose accord on a soft bed of musk.»
How it smells
The rose opens at once: bright, full and tart.
Then a thin green shows through at the base of the petal, and a light powder brings a hint of raspberry and violet.
By evening the rose grows quieter and fresher, and soft musk holds it on the skin until the end of the day.
What makes it special
Red Queen belongs to the Wonderland collection, dedicated to Tim Burton's 2010 film «Alice in Wonderland». The brand describes it in a few words: a rose accord on a soft bed of musk. The scents of the collection can be worn alone or layered one over another in any combination. On Fragrantica its rose is compared to Bulgarian rose oil: bright, natural, in full bloom. A Kosmetista reviewer hears a Damask rose, tart and natural, that grows fresher towards the end and lets green notes through. On Aromo it is placed beside Juliette Has a Gun Mad Madame, and its rose is found more aristocratic: a deep rose in a light powder. People wear Red Queen all year round, when they want to walk into a room like a queen.
Notes
Accord: rose
Base: musk
