sarada

I missed the list of notes when I first saw this, because of the long text passage...I didn't have any idea what to expect!

 

In the imp: aquatic and minty, light, slightly fruity and refreshing.

 

On my skin: mint tea!! Oh yes, this is a wonderful, fresh mint tea sipped in the shade at the edge of a pool in the summertime.

 

The green apple must be what makes it so crisp and juicy, and the lime squish gives it a slightly bubbly, citrusy kick. The mint is the strongest element in it though, floating luxuriously over everything else -- I know tea isn't listed in it but I swear it smells like tea.

 

The aquatic notes drift in the background, never too strong...just smells a bit like you are near some fresh, clean water. More like swimming pool water than an ocean/sea or even river water, though.

 

I know scents like this don't last very long on me but I will try this in my locket when I get it. It would be great for the summer, very refreshing, and a nice surprise if you're like me and don't normally like aquatics. It's not overly minty either, so if things like Tulzscha were too much for you, it doesn't have that toothpastey mint quality.

As soon as I read the description for this I wondered if I should just order a bottle. Rooty? Woody? Deep green? All things that I love. I am glad I just went with an imp though, because this is a little different than I expected. Not bad, just different.

The main thing that strikes me is the strong, unsettling sweetness. A bit like a thick cloud of pollen...slightly honeyed, a bit powdery and green though. Although it's a bit sickly-sweet in the vial and I think I can catch the scent of decaying vegetation, it works better on my skin.

The sweetness becomes a more pronounced and delicate pollen/dusty honey. Although I don't smell the lab's usual fig note, I am guessing that some sort of fig could be present in here, lending the sticky sweetness.

Underneath all that is a fresh, dark green stem scent though. A fresh, grassy, in-the-sun greenness. Darker, decaying tones run underneath but are alleviated by the sweetness. As I wear it, the sweet honeyed tones because even more pleasant and warm yet always with the crisp smack of freshly snapped stems and burrowing, deep earthy roots balancing them out. It is very NATURAL smelling, as it wears, and you feel like you are walking through thick, humid air where everything is growing, some things are blossoming, some things are rotting...but everything is very busy and alive.

I don't think this will be a bottle for me, it's an interesting fragrance and one I'd like to wear occasionally when I'm walking in the woods or in botanical gardens...or maybe working in the yard...definitely a nice dark scent for spring/summer. It gives me great hope for this whole Garden category though as being full of surprises!

Dry, but sweet. Musty/musky, but spicy. What an incredibly complex scent. You want to think it would be a masculine but this is very much at home on a female wrist (though, okay, I do favor masculine scents).

There's something in this that reminds me of Haunted. It's got this golden wisp of amber (could that be amaranth playing tricks on me? I don't know what it smells like on its own), backed up by musk, which pushes it forward and gives it some power. The herbs are a melange of sweet, fragrant and spicy notes, laid out in the sun, drying and slightly dusty. A pale wood base never dominates. This is very hard to pin down and I will have to spend some time with it to get a better idea, but it is a very stately, powerful, evocative fragrance with complex layers of dry, dusty wood, aromatic and spicy herbs (a 'spice rack' kind of feeling but nothing in the cinnamon/clove family, just a general dry and pleasant mixture of fragrances) and something sweet that makes me think of amber even though it probably isn't.

A fitting tribute to Odin, and I will probably need more as I keep trying my imp to experience all of its many facets and layers.

I am very excited by the mushroom fragrances that are popping up in the garden, because I imagine they will be kind of musty and dusty, earthy -- sometimes moist and damp, sometimes dry and dirtlike. Destroying Angel is one of the dry, dusty ones, but not without some sweetness.

Actually it is very, very much like The Rat King from the Yule line of 2005. In the imp it is a light, slightly sweet dirt/soil smell, sort of Graveyard Dirt and then some, but it sweetens on my skin. Dust and pale woods are two things that definitely come to mind, hence the Rat King comparison.

Today is a little bit colder out than spring should be so I can't get the full effect of how this warms on my skin...but so far it is staying strong and not fading away like a crushed, powdery dried mushroom. I am leaning towards a full bottle of this although it is very similar to the Rat King, but it is a little less sharp and there is no musky bite.

A glorious, pale sweet dirt scent.

This is SO GOOD!

Plum lovers rejoice! This is the richest, sweetest, darkest plum -- brought to life with spicy carnation. The spiciness makes me think for a moment of a sort of craft store candle smell but that dark juicy plum twists it and instead of standing in a store of little old ladies buying candles and yarn, they peer up at you with twinkling eyes and you realize they are witches in disguise.

I love plum and this is the sort of vivacious, bloody, deep dark jeweled plum that I love in Blood Countess...maybe even a little like Queen of Spades...

I'm not sure if musk is an ingredient but I don't really smell anything musky...maybe a little bit dusty, but there is something throbbing beneath this that helps to keep all of the elements warm and alive.

This is going to be a 5 ml so fast it won't know what hit it. I should have just ordered one at first based on the name!

I keep sniffing this and never quite know what to say -- most of my favorite ingredients are here: red musk (oh baby), patchouli and vetiver, the deep red/brown trinity of scents that I love, along with the unpredictable dragon's blood (I always like it on, but I NEVER feel like wearing it) and the always-disappointing-to-me cinnamon. Cinnamon can turn almost any scent to a spicy craft store potpourri on me, unfortunately.

 

When I first put this on, it's another spicy dragon's blood scent like Serpent's Kiss, which is OK but I really don't find it appealing. The thin, high cinnamon note tapers off quickly though and the dragon's blood mixes nicely with the deeper, darker notes. Mmmm, there's the red musk. The sexiest scent on earth. The most deep red, sensual, rich incensy note in the BPAL arsenal, in my book. Made earthy and gritty by my old favorites, patchouli and vetiver ... though they really don't dominate, to me. Then again I can almost never get enough of either.

 

It dries down with a return appearance of dragon's blood and cinnamon, and again I'm in a craft store and I'm not thrilled. That memory of the wild hot musk party lingers though....not enough for me to want more of this but maybe I'll kick the imp around. It would be a good sub for Telltale Heart once that goes out of production, I think!

This is an irresistable, can't-stop-sniffing scent though it's not necessarily an ideal perfume for me since my skin eats up stuff like this.

 

First you get a sharp juicy slap of lemon-lime (heavy on the lime), followed by the sweet pale purple powderpuff of lilac, all strengthened by the invisible white musk that I can't really pick out but know must be working behind the scenes.

 

Lilac is my favorite flower in its natural state, though as a perfume it veers a bit toward the scent of a lilac bathroom spray I am sure I have encountered at some point and becomes a bit too much like baby powder. Still, lilac and lime are a winning combination, a pale green and pale purple, springtime sort of scent.

 

It fades so quickly on me I never really get to enjoy it and I know that it would probably smell like baby powder to most people around me. So I would have to put this on the long list of things I'd especially enjoy in a bath product or lotion of some sort if I could be bothered to mix some. Oh what a nice lotion this would be to put on before going to bed!

I like tea, I like fougeres, I like mint, I love blackcurrant, so of course I wanted to try this.

 

Sniffing this in the imp, though, I can't smell a thing.

 

Alright, let's try it on my wrists. It is almost like a pale cousin of Whitechapel, but without the powdery lilac. Very faint. Imagine Death on a Pale Horse if you couldn't smell it at all.

 

As it warms a bit I get the slight tang of lime, like bubbles breaking on your nose as you drink a lemon-lime soda. Chilled, fresh, a faint clean lineny musk scent...reminding me a bit of Dirty, but with a twist of lime.

 

A clean, musky citrus but too light even for a locket. The clean aspect actually becomes murky with wear, like bathwater you've been sitting in for too long. I guess this is not for me, but as always it was a pleasure to try.

The scents that I got around this time last year are what I'm reaching for now though I must say Mi-Go is a perfect scent for a warm spring day (which we are not having today, it's rather cold all of a sudden).

 

I am expecting to use a lot of Spirits of the Dead, Unicorn and will dip back into Arachne soon as well.

Last I checked you're not supposed to use the Paypal option on CCNow, but I don't know what happens if you do.

 

cuervosueno posted the correct Paypal address, which is also listed on the FAQ page of the Lab site.

 

You can use the CCNow basket to figure out your total, then close out of it and log into Paypal separately to order, filling your order out in the Notes field, if you dont' want to use their credit card processor.

 

As it states on the welcome page of the BPAL site:

 

F YOU ARE PAYING VIA PAYPAL, please do NOT use our online credit card processor. Place your order through PayPal using the payment address paypal [at] blackphoenixalchemylab [dot] com and fill your order info in the comments field.

 

The fact that they put "at" and "dot" in brackets to foil junk mail robots might be confusing though.

I chose a bottle of Fortunato and an imp of Montresor, and though I'm tempted to get more of this one I think I made the right choice for my tastes.

 

This is very sweet and fruity, at first -- a hint of vanilla and a slight sour tang of wine. It reminds me a little of a fruity, medicinal syrup but it's softened by that hint of vanilla and made more sophisticated by a sharp green wine note.

 

Very similar in theme to Fortunato, but sweeter and simpler. They become more similar at it dries...but then the oaken vanilla takes over as this one dries. It reminds me a bit like a fruity, sweet tobacco in the later stages, or the lingering smoke after someone has been smoking it.

 

If I didn't have so bloody many bottles this would be a bottle purchase for me, but I have to try to pick and choose now so I am going to go with Fortunato for my fruity wine cellar!

 

ETA: Yeah well I had to get a bottle eventually! This is really the perfect partner to Fortunato. Instead of being crisp and icy-green and stone-cold around the edges, with wine-soaked wood, it has a sweet but hard wooden core wreathed in that hint of smoke.

 

Since I love wine scents, and I love fruit, wood, and certain kinds of "sweet smoke" scents, this one grew on me until I absolutely had to have more. For the love of God, Montresor!

First sniff of my imp: I want a bottle! Slightly woody, slightly sweet red musk (a perennial favorite of mine).

 

Second sniff (on my wrist): Actually, it smells a lot like Great Sword of War, which I didn't care for after testing. Maybe I don't need it after all. Cocoa just...doesn't agree with me unless I'm actually eating it.

 

Third sniff: No, wait, it's me after all. I get the luscious red musk, an earthy base, a soft, pulsating throb of dragon's blood and a touch of sweetness. I'm digging it.

 

Fourth sniff: Well, no, now it kind of gives me a headache. Maybe I should use some of my other favorite red musk blends like Lust, before I buy more.

 

Ultimately I think I'll stick with Lust, Fenris Wolf and Scherezade to scratch my red musk spot. But when this dries down it does have a touch of dragon's blood that they don't...at the end it reminds me the most of Dragon's Heart, which I used to have a bottle of but never used so I passed it on.

 

It would be bottle-worthy if I didn't have so many others in this family. Maybe I'll weaken and get some before it goes away.

A lovely powdery lily steeped in ... possibly amber and a dark musk? Sweet and fresh -- when I say "powdery" I mean it in the best possible sense: shimmering, natural pollen.

 

Unlike a lot of floral blends that contain lily, it does not give me a headache. Basically, if you subbed out the Lotus in Black Lotus for Lily, you might get something like this.

 

I agree that it is slightly tart, and I'd say has an almost silky powdery quality.

 

I don't think I'd use it very often but I like having an imp. I tend to think of Snow White as a lily scent and it would be my go-to choice for a succulent, crisp lily but I'm glad to have a sneak peek of this one!

Picked up some of this on LJ.

 

I suspect this is one of the blends that Beth had mentioned would be coming up that includes aldehydes, because it smells distinctly like a sort of "perfume counter perfume" but without that nose-wrinkling alcohol harshness.

 

I can't decide exactly why I think this is aldehydic except that it smells "perfumey," like static. As the high, crisp fizzy notes fade a sweet yellow floral takes over. It's as though someone made a commercial perfume that I could actually wear...smelling natural even though there's that high-pitched whine buzzing in the background.

 

If BPAL was to design a mainstream fragrance with a dark aesthetic I would think this would be a likely candidate.

 

I couldn't tell you the notes, but I'd suspect some white and/or yellow flowers, maybe some amber or ambergris, and a light musk -- possibly with a hint of some sort of pale herb.

 

It's not really something I'd wear but I'm glad I got to try it out because my curiosity was driving me crazy!

I received my bottle of Anthelion on the day I had to bring my bf in for oral surgery and we were both very apprehensive and frightened about how painful (and expensive) it would be. I didn't have time to do anything complicated with the oil but I put it on my forehead and meditated by myself for a little while. I put a little behind my ears as well because the scent was very comforting to me and I wanted to have it with me while I was waiting. I didn't put any on him because he's allergic to so many things that I was afraid it would cause complications (sneezing would have been a very bad thing, for example).

 

Whenever I smell this incredibly complex, musky sweet lavender with a hint of clove (that's how I'd describe the fragrance) I feel centered and calm and confident that everything will be OK.

 

As it turned out everything did go fine on that day. We've been bombarded on all sides with financial, health, personal, family and work-related ills lately and I feel like having this gives me a little something on my side. I'll use it on candles and in meditation since I don't do formal rituals. The scent alone is comforting, if a bit overpowering (but I love lavender anyway and the strange musky sweetness makes it much less astringent). Finding hope and joy in life when everything seems to be conspiring against you is difficult but I'm glad to have something to help me when I am trying to find calm and peace.

There are a lot of things that I like in this blend, a lot of favorite notes, so it's interesting to see what happens when you put them all together. Despite the prevalence of fairly heavy, dark and earthy ingredient I think of it as more of a light blend though. A lasting blend, but light.

 

The thing that I get the most of is a light, powdery wood (smells like sandal to me but I imagine this is cedar) and a brightness from the grapefruit. The blend doesn't smell citrusy but the grapefruit is a familiar (and much-missed) note that always makes things seem kind of sunny and airy.

 

The light wood gradually deepens to a gentle, sweet vetiver -- the kind of smooth, gentle earthy wood that lingers hours after you've applied it. There is a hint of green herbs as well, the sage I imagine.

 

I never smell myrrh, cardamom, pepper or violet though the violet could be adding to the powdery scent that I get from the wood. Still, those are all things that I sometimes like so they'd all be welcome. I'm glad that I mainly get the soft, bright wood and the lingering pale vetiver. Really nice blend though I can't imagine using it more that a few times a year, maybe in the early spring.

This is my second time trying this and while it's still pretty good for a lotus scent on me I still get a lot of the "banana candy" sensation that lotus always brings. If you've ever had Runts candies, lotus smells to me like the banana ones. No kidding!

 

But this is a bit darker, sweeter, smokier and more syrupy. It's also decidedly spicy as it dries down. I recognize the myrrh now that I know it's in there. It is a spicy incense scent to me, lending a smoky tone, or maybe even a tiny bit reminiscent of Old Spice...I think the sandalwood gives this a bit of a smoky sense as well. Meanwhile, amber puts it in a bed of a thick, sweet resin.

 

The lotus is always present but it becomes more tolerable as it dries down. This still isn't something that I can see wearing except to test every once in awhile. Like all of the Rappaccini's Garden scents it takes a floral and makes it wearable to someone like me who doesn't like florals. I'm really turned off by lotus though, no matter what it's drenched in. I like getting frimps of this for a sniff and a couple hours of wear but otherwise I think I have too many other scents to play with that suit me better!

I've been turning this one over in my head for about a week now. I got it because of the unique concept and the intriguing notes (musks like me, I like amber, orange and amber are especially nice together) -- and the fact that I didn't want to miss out on it in case it turned out to be a favorite.

 

The lab's musks are marvelous on me for the most part, they really help carry the other notes, amplify them and help them last longer. Musk and amber is almost always a winning combination too. The fact that there are so many musks in this is a bit intimidating though. I initially can't really get a grip on this scent, it's kind of elusive and light, for all those dark musks.

 

What it most reminds me of is some kind of classic perfume. I'm put in the mind of black and white, 1940s films with women wearing hats, striking a pose, wearing pearls. Not floral, but still reminiscent of a very classic woman's perfume. I don't know enough about those to say which...it's just a general impression.

 

I don't have anything else like this, and for that reason I keep wondering if I should have it in my arsenal for those occasions. I don't really smell the orange peel but I think that is what makes this a bit more light and effervescent than a musky amber would normally be.

 

One of the musks has a vaguely.....unwashed feeling to it. A bit like the 'cheesy' scent that I get from Smut but a bit more far away and subdued. I don't like this musk, whatever it is. I don't think it's the civet bouquet, since I'm familiar with that. It just...makes me think of unwashed sweaty skin and I don't like that. I don't smell any red musk, which is the musk of choice for me.

 

Basically, this would be a good classic scent for someone who doesn't want a floral but still wants to have that old fashioned, powerful classic aura of perfume around them. I don't think it's for me but I might have to wait a bit to see how it ages. If you have a tendency to make musks smell kind of, er, unwashed, then it might not work for you.

Yay, I am finally trying this! And am glad I have some more on the way since I think this will be a good spring scent. It might be too much like Pink Moon for anyone standing around me to notice the difference, but where the moon was kind of like strawberry ice cream this is more like strawberry incense.

 

It specifically reminds me of a strawberry cone incense I used to buy and burn every spring. In the vial it's much more sweet and I can pick out the listed notes, but on my skin it is definitely strawberry incense. I don't like sweet or sugary scents but there's something about strawberry that I really love in the right combination. It doesn't become candylike or sweet on me, it just does that nifty incense cone trick even though there are no incense ingredients in this. But my skin has soaked up so much of that over the years, that I act like a human incense coal apparently.

 

I think the honeycomb must be the magic ingredient since I get a similar effect from Luperci with its beeswax note. It's a very natural warm scent that warms to my skin and tends to deepen whatever it touches. Not something I'd wear a whole lot but I will get a lot of mileage out of it during early spring!

I always figured that I should avoid lilies, since they seem to just blend into that generic blah floral scent that most florals become on me. But I keep trying things that prove me wrong and Cobra Lily is another one that breaks all the rules.

 

Cobra Lily really grabs me on first sniff. It reminds me of Tiger Lily, a scent that I love despite not normally liking sweet florals. It's very similar to Tiger Lily actually but instead of leaning toward that golden honey scent, it has a slightly sour twang to it. A sort of tart, bitter herbal undertone, but perfectly blended in with a sweet, honeyed, succulent, fresh lily.

 

The color screams Dragon's Blood. Not a lot, just a little. I don't specifically smell it but I can't think of what else could be imparting this delightful orangey color. Maybe it's rounding out the scent and giving it that ... bite.

 

It calms down when it dries but I can still catch a glimpse of the slightly tart Tiger Lily scent that I liked at first sniff. This is one that you should try if you think you don't like florals. I'm not sure if it's stargazer lily or not but whatever it is, this is the lily that I like.

Immediate response: This is sooooooooo good.

 

Even if you think you don't like florals or don't like ylang ylang or don't like poppy or don't like sandalwood, or can't stand lavender, I still think this has got a little something in it for everyone.

 

At first it strikes me as cold and fresh -- cold like a splash of water, or cold like cold grass in the spring.

 

It smells like someone is in the next room having the most wonderful bath ever. A fresh soapy smell (good soap! something by Lush or someplace like that!), plus foaming lavender bubbles or a bath bomb, and sandalwood soap, with a fresh green garden herbal scent wafting in...maybe that's the shampoo.

 

This is so comforting. I hope there's a bath bomb that smells like this somewhere. But it's OK if there isn't because I can slather this on after an evening bath and wear it to bed. I can't imagine wearing it during the day though -- it would be like going out in your pyjamas...it might feel wonderful, warm and comfy but you know that it's just meant for nighttime wear.

 

I don't care for ylang ylang and I'm a little afraid of poppy...but I don't smell them specifically and everything works together perfectly in this blend. Lavender and chamomile are like calm, comforting herbal tea and give this a very refreshing, clean feeling without screaming "soap!" The bamboo gives it that almost impossibly green grassy high note. I'm not sure where the ylang ylang and poppy figure in but they must be helping this to amp up and waft around in the air. And then there's the wonderful pale soft sandalwood, anchoring it all down and keeping it alive throughout the night.

 

I love my Sleepy Moon as much as I love the t-shirt that goes with it! There are only a very few Lunacy scents that have wound up staying in my permanent collection but this is definitely one of them.

The Pit & The Pendulum is exactly halfway between Midnight Mass and Al Azif in the bottle, as far as I can tell. On my skin, it's mostly like Midnight Mass.

 

If you missed out on those, or can't get enough of them, this would be the one for you. If Al Azif was too sweet, this would also be a good one for you as it isn't quite as strong in the sweet department. It might be a little too much like them, though, if you feel you have enough in your resiny incense collection.

 

For me, I can't get enough. If you haven't tried either of the aforementioned LEs by the way, this one could be described as: thick, dark, slightly sweet, slightly smoky resins. It's a glittering, thick resin but it's so very thick that I think you could trap prehistoric insects in it.

 

Although I'm moving it into my LE Top Ten, it's going alongside Midnight Mass as a tie, because it is too similar to really separate them, at least so far in my sniffing experience. See also: Cathedral, Penitence. You cannot go wrong with it if you like this kind of thing.

Curses -- I lost my review of this and will have to rewrite it from memory.

 

I love this scent. Before receiving it I had written my ultimate wish list for what I wanted in a scent: wet greenery, moss and earth...or "sweet, earthy greenery." This is that scent. The closest comparison I could make would be to Grundy soap by Villainess -- a glittering, sparkling earthen jewel encased in moss and lush dark green vegetation.

 

The orchid gives it just a hint of the greenhouse...a faint whiff of a heady bloom, but it does not make the blend floral by any means, to my nose...it just gives it a pleasant fragrant jolt.

 

I am a freak for earthy scents -- they are among my absolute favorites. Yet it's very hard to find the right balance for my taste. Burial was too sharp and green, too rosey. Zombi seemed right at first but the roses again did me in. Nocnitsa smelled like lime candy to me. Graveyard Dirt was far too faint to wear regularly.

 

This is more like a greener Penny Dreadful, really -- but where Penny Dreadful seems like a brown-red clay-purple scent to me, this is definitely brown and dark green. Moist, dark, loamy soil, you can practically feel it squish between your toes when you sniff it. It is a humid night and there is a garden just out of sight where wan orchids lust after moonlight. It is not a scent of death though, it is a scent of dark life, stirring at night or just out of sight.

 

This is definitely an all-time favorite, and I cannot possibly limit my Top Ten favorite LEs to a mere ten any more...there are just too many that are too good!!

Carnation.

Clove.

Honey.

Then, an intoxicatingly dark, dry woody incense.

 

This scent unfolds in layers. Dark red curtains part to reveal a mechanical puppet show of masks and cardboard scenery. Artful artifice, its mood shifts with every moment, but always in shades of red, carnation, white, brown and purple.

 

This is a complex tapestry of a scent, alternately joyful and fearful.

 

At one moment you se the threads form a picture of jesters and masked dancers. In another moment, skeletal forms burn on pyres and fill dark graves.

 

It is spicy in the way that carnation and clove are spicy: a distant red spice, one that appeals more to the mind than to the palette -- austere, brilliant yet smouldering.

 

The honey falls like dim golden light on the audience before the dark red curtains.

 

As it dries, it becomes more of a faintly sweet, radiant polished wood -- the lingering trace of smoke in the air as the curtains close on Oscar Wilde's "Salome" the night of its debut.

 

Evocative beyond compare, incredibly complex and long-lasting. For a full 24 hours the honeyed clove and carnation radiate from my skin on a bed of rich dark wood. A classic for the ages....and I may break my "no more than one bottle of anything" rule yet again.

I expected something a little darker from the Lady of Death...perhaps from vetiver, but this is very floral and I would swear there's something chocolately in it. Then again, vetiver often strikes me as almost chocolate in its richness and earthiness so...it could just be playing tricks.

 

One thing is for sure though, and that is that cactus flowers are a giant stabbing icepick of pain in my temples. Every blend that mentions cactus flowers in some form seems to give me a quick, sharp stab of pain. In this blend, it mellows as it dries and the faint chocolatey incense takes over.

 

I don't specifically smell the other flowers but I would say over all it's a floral blend, with an undertone of earthy sweetness and that quick prickly cactus flower temple pain. Alas I can't see wearing it as a perfume though it is interesting enough. I could see wearing this to a Mexican restaurant some time...I think that the elements in this would blend nicely with the smell of spices in the air but it's definitely not the earthy scent I was hoping for.

 

Looking at the other reviews....looks like I'm not alone in smelling cocoa. How odd! If I had been expecting it I wouldn't have such a puzzled reaction but still, the flowers are just too much for me.