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Showing results for tags 'The Fools Journey'.
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At peace with recklessness and abandon, the serenity of accepting the embrace of disorder and obliquity: pink pepper and honey. This reminds me of the honey from Fortuna Dubia, with pink pepper instead of Dubia's herbs. The honey is stronger on me than the pepper. At first I also got a little something that felt sugared, like a powdered sugar, but my skin ate it. This blend lives under two hours on my skin.
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One Big-Ass Lunacy Release: The Empress, Saturn, and More!
Failmingo posted a topic in Announcements
How much glory can you stand? We're testing to find out today with a flurry of releases: this month's Lunacy scent, our #BPAL7wordstorywinner, a fundraiser for a local roller derby squad, and at the heart of it all, twelve scents inspired by The Empress (AKA, the heart of it all). Here she is without further ado, squishy cushions and all: https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/limited-edition/the-fools-journey/the-empress/ And here's that Lunacy blend, KARI, visiting all the way from Saturn's orbit: "White pear, dandelion sap, and champaca blossom, chilled by a gust of white musk." https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/limited-edition/a-little-lunacy-limited-edition/kari/ Amidst all the world's strife, let's not forget to support the kids in our communities who are training to take on ever-greater challenges. BPAL is proud to support our local Angel City Junior Derby 2018 A-Listers with the proceeds from this blend, LIKE A GIRL: "A sleek skin musk with Mysore sandalwood, bourbon vanilla, frankincense resin, and a touch of costus." https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/collaborations/like-a-girl/ Our story contest concluded recently with this winning GREED-themed entry: "Killed the last rhino for its horn." The resulting scent is a solemn blend of ambergris accord, orris root, and carrot seed.(Congrats again, Melanie C! Keep your eyes peeled for a complimentary bottle in the post.) blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/limited-edition/seven-word-story-greed/ Empress willing, may everyone enjoy a little peace this weekend. -
The Divine Comedian, the Eternal Jester, instructing through pranks and buffoonery: vetiver-steeped raspberry and red currant. Tart and sweet raspberry juice supported by... peanut butter! It's not actually as foody as that sounds, but something in here is playing games with my nose. Must be the vetiver. Thankfully this effect burns off pretty quickly. For those who don't usually get along with that note, it's very calm here and lacks much smokiness. This is pretty nice as it settles into its final stage despite my initial experience being akin to a kid making a mess of the kitchen pantry. It's a pleasantly dry raspberry, almost wine-like minus the booze, paired with a softly musky/herbal grass from the vetiver. The currant adds a bit of jamminess. A bubbly yet mature fruity/herbal scent. Reminds me of Bewitched.
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With the Wand createth He. With the Cup preserveth He. With the Dagger destroyeth He. With the Coin redeemeth He. – Liber B vel Magi sub Figura I Clary sage and patchouli for Earth, lavender and yarrow for Air, tobacco and Dracaena cinnabari for Fire, lotus root and myrrh for Water. Magicians Tools is very men's cologne a whiff of tobacco? Does nothing for me. Masculine but not deep/dark. The clary sage is there up front. I don’t get much patch on the wet. I think it’s like the water element softening the impact of the darker elements. Dry down this morphs a bit and the lavender and yarrow come out, but the integration of these elements while magical make it too masculine cologne-y for me. I could see someone else adoring it.
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The Red King and White Queen, sulfur and mercury, Rubedo and Albedo. The unification of opposites, putrefaction and individuation, the culmination of the Great Work. ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω μία καὶ ὡυτή: red and white musks alight with frankincense, white oudh, sweet labdanum, and saffron. The way up and the way down are one and the same. Wet, this is a spicy, warm frankincense with a bit of a gummy, resinous sweetness from the labdanum. It's definitely very magical smelling, like the curl of a smoldering frankincense tear. The saffron is providing a bit of a dry pepperiness in the background. I think the oudh and red musk are making this a bit more 'warm' in tone, but strangely it's not super 'oriental,' and in fact remains very crisp and clear. None of the resins are 'gummy' per se. The musks are smooth and straightforward, and I think the white musk makes this have a bit of a chillier, bright tone. It's very nice, very magical.
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The Carnival King, the embodiment of the liminal space that exists between the death and resurrection of Christ: pomegranate and Lebanese cedar, the martyr’s red rose, and an aspergillum of wine-soaked hyssop. Wowza. I’m a pom-lover and I’m going to need a bottle of this one. It is my fav of the Magician series. On my first try it reminded me of roasted lamb with pomegranate seeds - slightly stinky warm sticky pomegranate. On the 2nd more settled round the pom is brighter but with that meaty-herbal thing. Yeah i could roll in this one, it's a keeper def. Dry down, its got that green herb thing, maybe its the cedar+pom = lamb. The wine soaked hyssop must be the green herb. Love it.
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Reviled and mocked, pelted by stones and set upon by dogs, all the while singing the song of divine madness: red sandalwood, tobacco absolute, palo santo, black copal and balsam dusted by burnt sage, soot, and an echo of frankincense. To me this smells very, very similar to The Antikythera Mechanism (and a little bit like Smokestack). I know there a lot of Antikythera fans out there, and Il Matto reminds me of a just-slightly-mellower version of it. That heavy, sooty smell is very present, with a little less sweetness than A.M. with no vanilla to soften the edges, but some subtle spice from the frankincense and black copal. I'd say Il Matto is a little more masculine and a little more wearable, but that family of scents is not for me. I am probably a minority voice though!
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The master of sleight-of-hand and trickery: dexterous, clever, and roguish. He is the mischief-maker whose tricks propel men to action, or dupe the foolish into traps of their own creation. Peru balsam, tobacco absolute, leather, white sage, and blackberry juice. Big whiff of Peru balsam at first. Smells like vanilla and cinnamon, which makes me think of Christmas cookies. The tobacco is right behind it, and it's very much BPAL's chewy/citrusy French Tobacco. Mmph. I'm not able to find the blackberry or leather, but I do get a bit of a powdery herbal addition from the sage. Still balsam/tobacco dominant. I would say that if you like a bit of spice and enjoy French Tobacco and/or missed out on the single note, this would be a good one to grab.
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A jester’s balloon, a vagabond’s pack. The riddle and the punch line. The Consequence, the Mystery, the Untapped Collective Knowledge of All Mankind. Jasmine petals tumbled with a panoply of spices, suffused with incense smoke. The Bindle offers a jasmine-dominant blend with a dreamy, summery, honeyed quality, like there's a hidden honeysuckle in it. My first thought was actually that I smelled honeysuckle, and then jasmine, and I thought of Eostre of the Dawn, one of my favorites. It's a lovely jasmine, full rather than high-pitched, and closer to Winter Jasmine SN than a jasmine from some of the GCs I've tried. Freshly applied on me, The Bindle reads as mostly this jasmine and honeysuckle with a diffuse waft of gentle, calming incense smoke. This isn't the strong incense of walking into a shop where it's burning in the same room, but rather of incense burning from the next open door or two down the street. It's a mellow incense, like frankincense sleeping in a hammock, or like some sticks I would've bought in a Saturday market to burn years ago. I don't catch any spices from this until it dries, and even then they are barely there and seem part of the incense. This is a surprise for me, as I often amp spices, but something here is giving the dried Bindle a more exotic air, reminding me of India. The flowers have settled down by this point, leaving a really lovely exotic skin scent. Unfortunately, I'll probably want a backup of this.
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Sometimes playfully walking with the Fool, sometimes tugging on his stockings, sometimes attacking in a pack, sometimes tearing the ass out of his pants, sometimes chomping him right on the nuts: feral and tame, guardian and hunter, loyalty and opposition. Sometimes guiding the Fool off the cliff and other times warning him of dangers ahead. A warm canine musk, trampled grass, a gleam of ivory-white fang, cardamom pod, and crushed yew. Ridiculously charming, in a cozy outdoorsy kind of way. The 'canine musk' is light and appealing and really does make me think of freshly-washed puppy. A thread of sunny grass and maybe the crushed yew is giving it the romping-in-a-field vibe, I think. I'm not sure what fang is supposed to smell like. Maybe it's what gives this blend its pale quality; this is not a 'brown' kind of fuzzy scent like Wulric, but very white-washed and lovely. I'm not sure I can detect the cardamom, but the overall effect is exceptionally snuggly. The only thing that is keeping me from buying a bottle? It has exactly zero throw. The fade is so fast on my skin! I'm going to try turning my decant into an eau de parfum and see what happens.
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To save a trump card, sometimes you must make sacrifices: tolu balsam, leather, labdanum, black pepper, and benzoin. The Scapegoat is very very similar to Ranger v5 i.e. Ranger minus the berry and sweet pine, with a dash of pepper like v5 has. Even though they don't share listed notes, they end up coming out pretty much the same on my skin. Ranger is one of my favorites, but I am definitely missing the berry/pine in Scapegoat, just like I did in v5. The leather in this one is pretty muted, with the balsam and pepper more in the forefront. It's a nice, wearable scent, but not one I need a bottle of.
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Wherein the Magician and the Fool are one, spinning the story and juggling the knives that drive a man’s fate. Frankincense and star anise, bergamot and clove bud, rue and green cinnamon, saffron and carnation, cedar and vanilla absolute. In Bottle: The saffron and cloves and green cinnamon dominate; it doesn't smell sweet at all, instead being a wild spice blend. Of the three bottles from the Fool collection my datemate J sniffed for me, this was the one she didn't say was a very 'me' smell. Too confident, I think. Wet: As I was walking to the train station after putting it on, the dominant notes were the saffron and the cedar, to my surprise. The woody note behind the saffron was rich, and took over the spices for a bit. Dry: By the time I got to work, the spices were poking back out, including the bergamot and anise that I hadn't caught, at the 'edges' of the smell. The cedar died down quick, yielding to become a grounding bottom note. End of Day: I was catching mild spicy whiffs all day long, and at one point thought I caught a hint of tumeric. Maybe the saffron interacted with something interestingly? I liked it, though. I'd love to try layering this with Wrath at some point, to stoke more of the cinnamon clove note. This didn't go sweet on me, like most scents do, but the end result was still very food-y. In all, a nice scent I'll be wearing again.
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The Leap of Faith or the Apex of Irresponsibility. One foot remains precariously touching the earth, the other hovers towards enlightenment or oblivion. Green tea, neroli, and osmanthus, patchouli root, Spanish moss, tobacco absolute, and vetiver. In the imp: Neroli and moss, with a hint of patchouli. I'm worried this will be mostly neroli on me. Wet: Ooh, there's the tea! Fresh green tea, spilled over tobacco leaves and moss. The neroli has turned more into a citrus twist in the tea, thankfully. The osmanthus and vetiver are just dancing around the edges with the patchouli. Dry: The vetiver has fallen off the cliff with the patchouli and is lost, along with much of the tobacco. What remains is sweet green tea and moss, unexpectedly cheerful and bright. I don't think I expected this one to dry down so similar to Embalming Fluid, but here we are. I don't mind at all though! Not super long lasting so I don't think I'll commit to a full bottle, but will keep this decant for sure. Worth taking a leap of faith to try.
