Ina Garten Davita

If you like Philosophy Amazing Grace you'll love Veil or Le Serpent Qui Danse. They blend famously together and always get the most wonderful compliments.

“The Overlight, we called it. and it is by its colored rays that you will know your power, oh Skyborn child.” An otherworldly, iridescent shine, casked on-site at the Manifold Elixarium: opalescent lavenderine, sheer white musk, wild bergamot, iris, and white amber drifting on a pale cloud of Hearthwood Ash. As soon as we got to the Lab's booth at DragonCon, my BFF Donna (ivyandpeony) promptly dabbed my hand with the tester of this scent. WOWZA! This is going to be one sought after scent. I suggest getting two. It starts of with that lovely whiff of lavender. It's not sharp, soapy, or overly floral, just airy and comforting. Then the sheer musk takes flight, but held by a gossamer tether to the white resin and wood. A delicate floral perfume peeks out ever so gently as to keep you coming back for more. This is a scent to love and hoard. If you a lover or Ava, the Girl, and Lilith's Flowers, Butterflies, and Jewels Attending, you will adore this. It's not a copycat, Skyborn definitely has its own personality. I want to smell this on everyone. It's so youthful and hopeful. It's like on the site at time of this review. Go get it! https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/collaborations/skyborn/

Lilith has always loved music – especially singing – but this year, she started to get serious about it. This photo was taken this past April, while she rehearsed her slow, haunting cover of Riptide. A scent that smells to me the way Lilith’s voice sounds when she sings that song in her deep, thoughtful, sweet voice: wild plum, shadow oudh, osmanthus, and patchouli. I know I'm going to love it when Beth throws wild plum into a bottle a resins. I've had the pleasure of spending a little time with Lilith at the past two DragonCons. Her voice has a unique quality, and Beth nailed it with this scent. High and low, airy, yet purposeful.

Senator Barrial in debate class, advocating for the mandatory conversion to electric cars by 2040. When she’s Senator, she’ll make sure everyone has red velvet sprinkle cupcakes with extra buttercream frosting. I thought this was going to be like Cake Smash. But it's a dead ringer for Milk Moon of old. This is soooooo reminiscent of the old school Lunacy days. Milk moon served with a side of cookies. Yeah, this is good. I want to age it out.

We love googly eyes almost as much as we love Christmas morning at Casa Barrial, and last year, we were able to merge both of them together. I love watching Lilith’s face and she races downstairs to see what Krampus and Santa might have left under our pink Christmas tree and what kind of candy La Bafana left in our shoes. The scent of a Googly Eye Christmas Tree: pink cotton candy, silver tinsel, cinnamon cookies, and white chocolate snow. Cinnamon and chocolate straight up. I’m sad that I didn’t get any Yule vibes from this. The cotton candy, the tinsel and the tree itself was gobbled up by the greedy cinnamon.

Lilith has been flying since she was a little over a year old. Her first plane trip was to New Orleans, and since then, she has been all over the world. She has slept on the floor at the airport in Mexico City and Minneapolis, she has eaten airport junk in New York, Frankfurt, and Chicago. It feels like she knows LAX and Heathrow almost as well as she knows her own house. Sometimes I think she’s happier about flying itself than she is about exploring a city! This photo was taken at the airport on one of our trips. I love this outfit… Rolling Stones concert tee, stripy tights, boots with fuzzy balls on it. Lilith might not think this photo is good because her hair is a bit messy, but I love looks of happiness that a hot dog and a giant pretzel bring to her face. It took a bit of persuasion to get her to share it, but dad has his ways. The first time I saw her wear this tee, I told her that I went to that concert and I that I think that I had the same t-shirt back in ‘76. She looked at me and asked, “1876?” It’s probably not the best idea to make a hot dog scent, even though Beth keeps making jokes about hot dog water, so we made a Airport Garbage Snacks scent with coffee, airplane nuts, and squished Backpack Chocolate Residue. This one is CRAZY. I had a great Aunt Rose. She’d get on the bus to come visit us, she’d arrive, all 4 feet 6 of her, carrying two bags. One was full of knitting the other had a black banana and her homemade anise cookies. This scent is exactly what the room would smell like when she’d empty the contents of the bags on our kitchen table.

Back in the good ol’ days, I was a singer in quite a few bands. Being up on stage was an amazing feeling, but it doesn’t hold a candle to watching my baby singing and seeing the way she lights up when she’s on stage. I love to listen to her sing and I think she has a lovely voice, but nothing makes me prouder that having someone comment about how beautiful her voice is. This photo is just before she played with her band, and I love how she is so comfortable and happy to be in front of an audience. A rockstar scent for a tween: leather, vanilla bean, honey sticks, and sugar. Unfortunately for me, the leather was all up in my face. Why such a bully? No vanilla, no honey, no sugar for me. I got the barest whiff of lemon, which was odd.

Lilith did her first roller skating trick, and I was so proud. Wild fig, tonka bean, bergamot, and hardwood. We used to go skating at Wheels Plus back in Jr. High. This scent is so evocative of that time, I could almost hear the B-52s floating out of the bottle. If you like fig and woods, you’ll like this. I may go back for this one.

If there is one thing that my loving daughter has learned from me, it is to always be humble in victory. The scent of shameless gloating: sparkling honey and a hint of salty biscuit. I may go back for this one, too. It’s the smell of a clean baby chewing on a teething biscuit. Just precious!

Lilith has loved drag for many years, and when she goes to drag shows, she’s a great tipper. She knows how hard drag queens work, and knows how important it is to support the drag community both locally and worldwide. This is the scent of everyone else’s spilled drinks at drag brunch: blood peach bellinis, strawberry daquiris, and mimosas. So boozy, fruity, and realistic, like a bartender took all these cocktails and put them in a punch bowl. If you like Beth’s mixology drinks (think Atomic Tiki Lounge) you’ll want this.

Sometimes, I see a photo of Lilith and just want to add it to the Fatherhood update. I have tried and tried to write something about this photo but I have not found the right words. Maybe I will just say that I love Lilith and I think she is beautiful here. Lime hard candy, bubblegum lollipops and sugar plums. A lime blow pop!

Sometimes I wonder how Lilith views me. Am I the authority figure? Her goofy playmate? Am I the father that drives her all over Los Angeles? It appears that I am the skinny three-fingered man. I believe that she captured me perfectly. Don’t you? Red and white musks, orange blossom, neroli, and sweet vanilla amber. This was the biggest disappointment for me because I love vanilla amber, I love white musk and I LOVE orange blossom. This came on like a NEROLI party. The orange blossom came and left pretty quick, and the rest of the guests didn’t bother showing up.

Back in 2016, we had made plans, a bit premature as it turned out, to travel to Washington D.C. to see the first woman sworn in as president of the United States of America. It was not to be, but we Barrials are nothing if not flexible. Along with some our best friends, we decided to travel to the Capitol to protest the vile man that is ruining our great country. A year later, she rode my shoulders again at the first anniversary of the Womens’ March in Los Angeles. With my beautiful daughter on my shoulders, we marched, we shouted, we made our voices heard again. Truth will prevail. A scent of power and courage for my daughter: sweet milk and cardamom with vanilla pod and nutmeg. Warm, spiced milk. Very soothing, ultra-comforting. This would make a perfect bath oil for bedtime.

We all love to go to Ren Faire, and they have a zip line there. If I remember correctly, it is one ride for $5, $20 for 5 rides, and $40 for unlimited rides for all day. Lilith gave me her best, “Dad, I love you and I would like to do the $40 all day” face – big eyes and all – and how could I say no? Long story short (too late!), we rode the zip line so many times that the operators knew our names. At least this year, my naughty bits did not suffer as much. This photo is one of my favorite photos from the last year. She looks so confident, tough, and sure of herself here, while I look like I just survived twenty zip line rides. She makes me so proud to be her father. Pirate’y rum cookies, hay bales, leftover bits of funnel cake, and Renaissance Faire patchouli. I groaned so loudly when I sniffed this that the whole room started laughing. Yeah, it's THAT scent. Glorious and evocative of what?... YES, it's a wholesome version of Halloween in Las Vegas. It’s so good. It’s that grounded sort of foodie scent that I like, it has a lot of depth and morphs a lot. Starts off with rum cookies, and funnel cake, and the hay and patch just ground it so beautifully. It’s a Weenie disguised as a Fatherhood. Get it!

ALL THE HOT CHERRY. I apologize for the minimalist review. But HOT CHERRY ALL DAY.

This is exactly the scent of the sum total of the Barrial pack, as they arrive in a flurry of hugs, smiles, and hellos. It’s very evocative. If you like the Dorian+Snake Oil scents, you’ll like this. It’s fantastic and made me smile so big and miss them a little less. I got a bottle and will enjoy it.

Reading the notes, I would never have thought this would smell so fantastic, but having smelled Tombstone on Ted at DragonCon, I knew this would be a winner. A cowboy in a candy store! Purchased a bottle, because yeah, it’s that good. It also makes me want to experiment with layering my bottle of Tombstone with other Fatherhood favorites.

A visionary heretic, martyred to usher in a new Aeon: rose oudh, blackened myrrh, and cathedral incense. Beth continues to evolve as an artist. This collection is unique, and beautiful, complex, and stunning. I've never been a "church" person, but I do love the smell of an old church, especially ones that have candles and incense burning. We have another glorious church scent here. Slightly smoky, but not cloying, but almost fresh, like a drafty church on a chilly day. The floral is a suggestion, so no fear here floral averse people! There is a touch of a creamy overtone that I can't quite explain. I think this will be traveling to Paris with me to wear on the day we tour the churches and cathedrals of the city.

Guiding the aspirant to spiritual knowledge and attainment through silence, reflection, intuition, and direct experience. Red benzoin and rose. Beth continues to evolve as an artist. This collection is unique, and beautiful, complex, and stunning. THIS THIS THIS!!! A scent with rose that I can adore, and wear with reckless abandon. She is so gorgeous. Smooth, creamy, feminine, this combination of red benzoin and rose is a winner. The creamy benzoin is the first thing I noticed. I didn't even realize this had rose until after a few minutes. Then she appears, but is kept well in check by the benzoin. It's like the perfect vanilla rose. I'm going to wear the hell out of this. Reminiscent of a softer, creamier Crucible of Courage, which has long been a favorite of mine. If you don't like rose, give this one a try, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised and loving the rose perfume life!

The Mysteries of Persephone’s divine descent entwined with the Mysteries of the Temple of Solomon, forming a map of the Tree of Life. He made chains in the inner sanctuary and placed them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates and placed them on the chains. Pomegranate, dates, and cypress infused with ketoret smoke veiled in violet, purple, and crimson. Beth continues to evolve as an artist. This collection is unique, and beautiful, complex, and stunning. Purple and green, with a hint of smoke. This starts of a tiny bit sharp, and a little soapy from the green, and like the pomegranate itself, it's sharp when you first bite down on the juicy arils, but then the purple sweetness coats your tongue. The drydown on this one is definitely evokes the violet, purple, and crimson. I'm not sure I love this one on my skin, but I may have to let it age out a bit to to see if it smooths out a bit.

Well, actually…. Sweet aged patchouli interrupted by a cloud of cedar smoke. OMG This scent is so perfect for the title! I amp sweetness, even patchouli, but that cedar smoke is so pungent, that it blocks any sweetness coming through. This is super dry patchouli, none of the delicious chewy, ripe funk that I've come to love in BPALs patchouli. I may have to see if this Dragon mellows with age. Do men?

I adore Beth's amber. Some amber is so potent and powdery, but whatever amber that Beth sources, is so smooth and so golden. Amber goes so perfectly with that cognac-vanilla-musk trifecta. This, like most of the Lace family, is going to age to perfection. I feel like there is a whiff of tobacco here, too, and that's not a complaint because I love it.

I'm all about the plum with resins. I love it. It's a little powdery, but I think that will age out. I'm an avid "Lace" collector and this is a perfect addition to the family. The vanilla is SO SWEET.

Lilith has such a kind heart, tempered by a soul of Virgo. She is the future, a changed future. This makes me happy. Fig and patchouli are beautiful together, though my skin is a bit finicky with fig. This scent is sweet, and fruity, though it's not particularly foodie. The red currant is much more prominent as it dries down. I'm not finding much vanilla cream. I'm thinking this may need a little age on it for me to truly appreciate it. I'm digging the fruity patchouli quite a bit though.

I layer Snake Oil with just about everything, so when a Snake Oil is in a blend, I automatically want it. My favorite SO combinations are with Eat Me, and Very Pink Cake. This scent is the embodiment of my favorite combinations. Rich mysterious Snake Oil and a screaming pink sweetness. This will be in heavy rotation, I'm sure.