Black Phoenix

[requieminblack]

Our signature oil. A dark, languid scent. Promotes hedonistic tendencies and extreme self-love. You won't stop kissing mirrors for a month.

First sniff from the bottle- Bitter Almonds (cyanide? )

After 10 minutes- This smells a lot like cherry pipe tobacco with almonds mixed in. There is something else in there too...maybe vetiver and violet?

After 30 minutes- The dry down on this is similar to Ouija, like antique wood and Victorian soap. I actually like this dry better than wet, but I still prefer Ouija.

Summery- This is great if you are a big cherry almond fan which I am not. Off to swaps it goes.

[Caitfish]

In the bottle, this smells like sweet cherry cola to me.

 

The minute it hits my skin, it turns into Queen of Sheba with a hint of cherry. Almonds, honey, and a bit of spice mulled with cherries. As the queen is one of my favorite blends, I am very pleased! I adore this scent.

 

Staying power - very good, just like the queen. I could still smell it today when I woke up after wearing it last night.

[autumnviolet]

One of Scorpio's symbols is the Phoenix because Scorpios always seem to struggle up from the ashes of disaster (particularly theirs). So being Scorpio, I was intrigued by anything Black Phoenix, esp because it is the signature scent of the Lab.

Wet: mmm, sweet cherries in musk with amber over the top. A strong, hit-you-upside-the-head sniff.

Dry down: there is still a cherry sweetness but the musk/amber is coming through.

Hours later, a nice sweet amber. Definitely amber, but a powdery, sweet one.

[darkling]

Black Phoenix was bright, sweet, candied cherries and almond.

 

It was intensely sweet and rich. I slathered it on and basked in its delcious scent.

 

And then . . it was gone. There was nothing left once it dried except for a vague powdery scent.

 

I tried it again a week later in case this was a one-time effect. No such luck. My skin eats up Black Phoenix.

 

[byrdie]

TMI ~ This was applied during the second day of my period, and an unfortunately strong jasmine experience was slowly fading its way off of my skin.

 

Vial ~ Deep, dark, rich cherry.

 

Wet ~ It's immediately morphing into a powdery bubblegum.

 

Drying ~ Like a phoenix, something else is trying to draw its way up from the previous scent and into my nose, but I can't place what the rising scent is.

 

Drydown ~ On me, it's now either a bad cherry scented dusting powder or a good cherry scented laundry detergent.

 

Dry ~ Again, that rising note is back, but it's trying to bring the powder up with it. What is this? It's cold and crisp in its own way. I keep wanting to call it an "astringent," but that's not quite right.

 

Fade ~ It's fading into a light cherry powder/detergent.

 

Final thoughts ~ If I liked cherry scents more, I'd have been awfully disappointed in this one. I'll have to try it at some other point in the month and see if it anything changes as my skin chemistry shifts.

[Spastik_Kitty]

In the bottle: Smells like Cherry flavoured cough syrup

 

First on: Wow, this is very strong and smells like cherries and baby powder.

 

After a few seconds: It smells like a baby powder deodorant gone wrong on me. Very very heavy, sweet, powdery.

 

After maybe 15 minutes: I'm smelling almonds, rancid baby powder and something by Chanel (can't remember which #).

 

After an hour: It's still very over powering and a concotion on almond and powder.

 

Some time after that: It just got stronger and stronger on me, no signs of fading and I started feeling dizzy and nauseous so I scrubbed it off, twice and I'm still getting a faint hint. I've never had this kind of reaction to a perfume before.

 

I'm sorry to say this didn't agree with me at all. Such a shame because my husband really likes it.

 

ETA:My husband tried this on and it has a soft amber-almond scent on him. I want this to smell like that on me.

Edited February 20, 2005 by Spastik_Kitty

[Jessica]

In the bottle it was exploding with fruit and cherries. It smelled so sweet my teeth hurt and it reminded me of my grandma's car air freshener. Especially overpowering in the Florida sun.

 

Anyway - must I mention I was apprehensive? However, I slathered some on my wrists where the sweetness held true till the dry down.

 

On the dry down I started smelling powdery, which still wasn't pleasant. Fortunatly, it didn't last and several hours later I am smelling faintly of cherries and it smells ohsogood.

 

Black Phoenix has staying power, too, which is nice. Not sure if this merits a bottle, however the imp has a new home on my shelf.

[starrykitten]

Black Phoenix actually reminded me a lot of Hecate, which I'm guessing is the wet-almond smell. It smelled fruitier that Hecate, but very sweet and warm and wet and nutty. The cherries come to life more as the scent goes on, but it's generally glowing almond.

[gingersnapp]

Self-love, indeed.

 

This was an odd one. I didn't really care for it in the vial at all, but when I opened the imp's ear, the wand flicked some of the oil onto my hand. As it dried, I was hooked. This is a really awesome blend... fruity, but kind of naughty too. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it smelled like to me, but I really liked the way it worked with my skin's chemistry. I kept smelling my wrists all day, I couldn't get enough.

 

There was no mirror-licking, but it definitely was intoxicating.

[Witch's Dagger]

Black Phoenix

 

Got this in a swap from kithrobyn. Thanks!

 

Preconceived notions: Vanilla, almond, and spices! Three of my favorite notes - this has got to be good.

 

In the vial: This is a very bluish-black scent, very round and pointy. I think the almond is the sharp part - it reminds me slightly of Voodoo, with the vanilla and spices adding roundness. Still, it seems like a very cool, wintery scent. A woman wrapped in black furs outside in the snow, with a fire nearby.

 

On me:

This is very similar to Voodoo, but the vanilla definitely gives it a more sensual, languid feeling, making it not quite so dark. From what I’ve heard of Snake Oil, (haven’t tried it yet), I’d guess Black Phoenix to be sort of like Snake Oil + Voodoo. On me, the scent is much warmer and more fiery than in the vial. It’s very burnt - like the flecks of burnt wood. In time (just a few minutes), I can say it’s definitely not like Voodoo anymore. Plus, it’s actually darker, rather than lighter as I thought earlier. Very mysterious and tricky, this one.

 

In 20 minutes: This has softened considerably, and has developed completely differently than I was expecting.

 

In an hour: Same scent, mostly gone.

 

Overall: I love this, but I wish it lasted longer. I’ll keep the imp, and maybe get a bottle.

[Renny]

Oooo it's great! It smells of cherries... a little bit like Eclipse, but it's juicier and kind of spicy too. I can't describe this one at all... it's just awesome.

[theshapeshifter]

My very first review ever!

 

In the imp: Wow, pure sweet maraschino cherry.

 

Wet: Maraschino cherry, but almond/amaretto is coming in too, along with a whiff of rose and something that seems like a cross between incense and baby powder... is that amber? (I have no idea what the 'amber' note is, but based on other reviews, perhaps that's it)

 

After 15 minutes: Becoming much more floral... a very grownup, heady floral, that makes me think of getting very dressed up and doing something 'classy', like going to the theatre. The rose is quite prominent, and I tend to not be a big rose fan, but this is rather nice.

 

After about an hour: Rose, and baby powder... but not necessarily in a bad way. And a vague hint of the almond still wafting about.

 

 

So far, I'd say I'll probably use up the imp, but not buy a bottle; this is lovely, but slightly out-of-character for me. Something I'll probably wear when I'm in the mood to be grown-up and sophisticated, but a little reserved, like going to a nice dinner with my dad or something.

Edited March 4, 2005 by theshapeshifter

[sarada]

As has been said before, there's that unmistakeable maraschino cherry smell in the bottle -- but that is also the smell that greets you when you open a bottle of Greed, and in that case it is heliotrope....which I know from experience generally fades away upon application.

 

So despite my aversion to the cherry-almond smell, let's see what happens! After all it's taken me a whole year to try the lab's signature scent!

 

As suspected, the cherry smell goes away very quickly. I really wonder if it is heliotrope, as cherry usually sticks around on me and makes me feel kind of queasy, but this doesn't.

 

Once that is gone, within about a half-hour the predominant smell is the powdery purple that I have come to associate with myrrh. Each and every time I try a blend with myrrh, it comes across as a kind of dusty smell, a powder spread over a viscous, sticky purple surface. It's not unpleasant but I don't think that myrrh (or whatever the note is, in this!) works for me except in a very few blends where it is not the dominant note. This has a drydown very similar to Malice for me, but not quite so dark. It is definitely a very sultry and sexy nighttime smell...but not quite what I associate with myself. I'm so glad I got to try it though! Haven't decided whether to keep or swap, though. Perhaps it's a nice "gothic formal" scent.

[Fyre_in_Winter]

Wet on my skin Black Phoenix has the same cherry-almond smell that Bastet does, except much stronger and emphasis on the cherry portion. It starts to die down quickly, being replaced by a rich smoky incense smell, and the blend progresses more towards a dry feel. I can also just make out a nutty smell, toasted hazelnut maybe, peeking out. This stage actually smells very good to me, albeit very strong and dark. However, something in Black Phoenix turns sharply to baby powder at this point. The only other blend that's even remotely done that to me was Follow Me Boy, and thus I am left wondering what that ingredient is.

 

Disappointing, but I donn't quite love it enough at it's good stage to mess around with scent lockets and such. C'est la vie, and off to swaps.

Edited March 13, 2005 by Fyre_in_Winter

[oatmealneko]

Vial: Cherry vanilla.

Wet: Cherry vanilla, & the cherry is turning into cough syrup, but there's a sweet SWEET smell to it.

Dry: Cherry cough syrup-vanilla with jasmine. Now it's smell sweet & soapy. Very soapy.

 

Ugh. I don't think I got past 15 minutes with this one, I had to scrub it off once the jasmine kicked in.

[ianastar]

very herbaly, similar to Lush’s Tramp, but spicier. More of an incense type of smell. I like it, but not something I would wear very frequently, more like when I was feeling dark

[laochodia]

In the bottle- maraschino cherries

wet- dark cherries, hanging on the bush, right btw the point of being juicy and overripe and being rotten.

dry- -peers at skin- helloo? Hello?! it ran away!.....3 minutes of dark, sweet cherries and smoke, and then *poof* all i have left is a faint hint of jasmine. -sigh- into the swap pile with you, impling.

[jett perilous]

I do enjoy the cherry scents, so I was really excited for this one. I'd gotten an imp of Kabuki also, and thought they smelled very similar.

 

Wet: Enjoyed it very much. Can pick out the cherry smell, obviously, and something that smells a bit green. What I smelled kept changing, seeming as if the scents are undulating, vying for attention.

 

Dry: When this dried, it turned a bit soapy on me. The cherry went away, leaving only a musky smell. I'm not a big fan of musky smells. I'm sad this didn't agree with me, because it smells pretty good in the imp. I'll have to try this somewhere else and see if it works.

[LupaWulf]

I was overcome by the almond aspect. =)

 

I could smell little bits of cherry- just whiffs throughout the day. Almond is a fave scent on me, so I was quite content to wear it. I also had one of my coworkers keep sniffing me. Almond is rather popular!

 

I didn't get much smoke when I wore it. That's just fine with me, I like smokey scents- but this one seemed to work well as it appeared. Not TOO sweet, but definatly droolworthy.

[ChupaChup]

tempete kindly gifted me with an imp of Black Phoenix . The first time I tried this scent, something in it was off-putting, it reminded me of a combination of Blood Rose and Scherezede, both kind of overpowering scents on me. I don't know if it aged or my nose was finally ready to appreciate this scent, but I tried it again recently and I am hooked. It's a complex, evolving scent. I get the cherry coke burst right out of the imp that signals almonds and the rose appears fairly quickly and strongly. As it settles down, a smoky, spicy quality emerges (I def. see the comparison to Voodoo others have made). It also reminds me of Seraglio minus the orange blossom, but it's much deeper and stronger. I really can't stop sniffing my wrists, this is an amazing perfume and I'm not surprised it is BPAL's signature scent. Love it.

[Ms Density]

Yep, almond/cherry scent in the bottle. Morphs on the skin into almond/incense/opium/smoky/slightly powdery scent. The thing about Black Phoenix is that it's very nostalgic for me. It reminds me of sitting out in the courtyard of my old apartment building with some old friends really late at night in the summer, smoking cherry cigars after sitting around inside drinking and listening to music and burning incense and telling stories in the dark, that cherry cigar smell and the incense that permeated our skin and clothes and hair wafting around in the late night breeze.

[girlmadasbirds]

spicy cherry almond...

but it's also got an undercurrent of something that reminds me of dove soap. thankfully, the spicy cherry almond smell drowns out the soap.

Edited June 24, 2005 by angel sixgun

[RainyDayGrey]

Black Phoenix and my chemistry did not play well together at all. It was the first BPAL I sniffed (what can I say it seemed appropriate), and I was blown away by the overpowering sickly sweet smell of almonds. I mean it screamed almond in the bottle. I imediatly put the cap on and moved on to other smellies. It was awhile before I actually worked up the courage to try it, and that only came after noticing how other blends changed so dramatacly on my skin.

 

On second sniff in the bottle I decided that it wasn't just almond, but cherry almond. Alot like original Jergens lotion (a smell I actually like) but with a major case of ADHD.

 

Wet: more of the same, sickly sweet cherry almond.

 

dry down: This is where things went from bad to worse. I'm convinced this has frankinscense in it, suddenly it started to turn into cheap dollar store inscense on me, as do the two other blends I've tried with frankinscense. The almond toned down a little, but the cherry got even more candyish.

 

Dry: Yep cheap inscense and cherry lollipops, not a good combo at all. After smelling this way for about an hour I finally gave in and washed it off.

 

I've tried other blends that where meh, I liked them, but wasn't wild about them. Black Phoenix was the first blend that I actually disliked (allthough it now has company in Eclipse and Hellfire, see the frankinscense just does not like me). I would like to see how this one works on someone who can get away with it though, maybe I'll test it out on the husband before I swap it away.

[thespring]

Indeed it does start life as bitter almond going on sweet cherry.

 

Soon it's a heavy florally soapy baby powder with almonds in the back.

 

And that's how it stays on me till it dies away...

[Tournesol Noir]

Wow. This was only the fourth BPAL imp I tried, so I can't say I've found *my* scent, but I think it's about as close as I'm gonna get for a while.

 

From the bottle, I picked up a lot of almond and somelike like musk. Within a few minutes of hitting my wrist, the musk fades, vanilla (I think it's vanilla. . .it's really sweet, and my skin tends to amp vanilla) begins to come out, and the almond subsides so that all the ingredients were blended in perfect harmony and no one seemed to dominate over the others. Then it stays like that.

 

This also has tremendous staying power on me. I put it on before dinner last evening, and this morning it still smelt just as good as last night. I was almost reluctant to get into the shower.

 

I love this scent! From the moment it touches my skin until the moment I wash it off it smells heavenly. *adds to 10 mL wishlist*