Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

[Caelia]

Re: Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

I tried another one last night.

Fenris Wolf - opening the bottle, it smelled like mild dragon's blood oil - that kind of candy cinnamon sweetness. Which is weird, because according to BPAL there's no dragon's blood in it - it's amber, red musk, rosewood & red sandalwood. I've worn all of those oils separately & none of them seem dragon's blood-ish to me.

I highlighted the two that I suspect are the culprits. It's not so much the scents per se as much as their type. Depending on how they were extracted that will greatly influence how they smell. They are also commonly sold as a synthetic fragrance, which actually plays a huge part in perfuming and influence on the notes.

[Dez]

Re: Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

This is going to be her 18th birthday.

Stay simple...music, or a gift card to someplace like Amazon where she can get whatever she really wants will not be judged harshly, LOL.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

More on topic, my favorite scent that they had on that site was the Robotic Scarab under Steamworks because that totally looks like it would smell like an armory, and that happens to be my favorite smell on planet earth. That said, it seems rather dangerous to smear something like that on your skin.

A bit of Hoppe's Number 9 behind each ear will give you that armory smell... Use cosmoline as an undernote.

[Ophidia]

Re: Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

A bit of Hoppe's Number 9 behind each ear will give you that armory smell... Use cosmoline as an undernote.

Mmm, nothing like the smell of solvent in the morning!

[Ophidia]

Re: Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

Ok, two more down: Malice and Bloodlust. In the bottle, they both smell like dragon's blood.

Malice is another one of the ones that smells like dragon's blood, but has none in it. It's ingredients are: Ylang ylang, clove, Indonesian red patchouli, and dark myrrh. I can definitely pick the clove & myrrh out. The patchouli is almost non-existent. I don't know what pure ylang ylang smells like (either that, or I've smelled it & didn't know it was ylang ylang). Putting it on, I smelled like the stereotypical occult shop for about an hour. That peculiar melange of dragon's blood, patchouli, myrrh, sandalwood, books, candle smoke, desperation and stale incense that almost every well-used occult shop I've ever been in smells like. It really smells like one we've got here called Bell, Book & Candle. It's been open forever, even had a fire gut the place & reopened under a different owner, but still had the old occult shop smell. It's like it's just saturated that little hole-in-the-wall. I've never been in the neighboring shops, but they've probably absorbed some of it, too.

Anyway, Malice faded so quickly and left no after-scent that it was like I never put it on in the first place. Which, strangely enough, was ok by me.

Bloodlust actually has dragon's blood in it, along with red musk, Indonesian patchouli, vetiver, cinnamon. I could smell dragon's blood & cinnamon, the oiliness of the patchouli... and it wore off even faster than Malice.

[Dez]

Re: Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

Putting it on, I smelled like the stereotypical occult shop for about an hour. That peculiar melange of dragon's blood, patchouli, myrrh, sandalwood, books, candle smoke, desperation and stale incense that almost every well-used occult shop I've ever been in smells like. It really smells like one we've got here called Bell, Book & Candle. It's been open forever, even had a fire gut the place & reopened under a different owner, but still had the old occult shop smell. It's like it's just saturated that little hole-in-the-wall. I've never been in the neighboring shops, but they've probably absorbed some of it, too.

That just cracked me up reading.

Too bad they both wore off so fast :P is that all of them? Does that make Port-au-Prince the winner?

[Ophidia]

Re: Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

Is that all of them? Does that make Port-au-Prince the winner?

I actually think I like Bohun Upas a little more than Port-Au-Prince, but it's a close race.

Kubla Khan was a nice, mature perfume. It's very complex, so it's hard for me to describe. I just knew that while wearing it, I should have been in a board room making key decisions while wearing a power suit with big shoulders. It does have tobacco & leather notes, and I picked up on that at least. I like fresh tobacco smell, and it wasn't overpowering. It could be any number of high-end professionally designed perfumes out there.

The drawbacks to Kubla were that my husband loathes it, and I ended up with a major sinus reaction to it. I could taste it for hours after the smell of it wore off, too. XP

I've got two more orders out there, but BPAL is ridiculously slow on shipping stuff!

[PharaohKatt]

Re: Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

This is going to be her 18th birthday.

If it's not too late to recommend B'Day gifts, I'd have to suggest http://www.lush.com/
Nice bath things, all-natural, much simpler than buying scents. I'm a big fan of the Bath Ballistics, especially Geo Phyzz, Butterball and Avobath. They also do sampler packs which can be good for gifts

Back on topic: I now need order a bunch of scents from BPAL. Clearly I'm missing out on something awesome. Just hoping the shipping doesn't eat too big a hole in my wallet ^_^

[Ophidia]

Re: Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL) - Perfume Oils

More perfume reviews!

The Lion, from BPAL's Alice & Wonderland collection: This is yummy if you like amber & light spice. It's got a nice muskiness to it (and it didn't leave me skunky), and a back note of dry, sunwarmed grass. Good lasting power, too. I ordered a big 'un.

Forest Reverie (from Bewitching Brews collection) & Vicomte de Valmont (Ars Amatoria):
These were freebies. Forest Reverie is described as wild roses, grape vine, and queenly lilies, clothed in swirls of opium smoke. Vicomte de Valmont is listed as . I got none of that from either oil blend. I just got a vague perfumery smell that thankfully faded within an hour or two.

Haunted (Ars Moriendi), which I requested a sample of is described as amber and black musk. It does have amber, but unlike The Lion it's a powdery, talcum-like amber. Sort of like Avon's body powder. There's some fruitiness there, too. 5 hours in and it's still going strong. I don't like it much because powdery scents are always acrid to me. If it behaves like their other musk oils, it's going to leave me smelling like a skunk when the other notes die off.