Black Phoenix

[HKB]

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

At first, very strong cherry, almost licorce-y, with a hint of almond. After only about ten minutes the cherry is gone and I'm left with a flat, weak almondy smell. The initial phase is nice but the drydown is weak and underwhelming.

[DeltaCat]

mmmm..cherry liquor! I get exactly the same as most other posters only I feel the musk comes out a lot earlier on me then drydown. I got musk almost instantly along with the cherry and alcohol smell. When this one does dry down the cherry smell disappears and the musk takes over.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Mostly almond Wet: Almond cake with something rich and familiar underneath, possibly cedar. I’m getting more musk as it warms. Dry: The almond disappears entirely, leaving lots of… I’m guessing skin musk and something vaguely floral and very powdery.

[SophieCedar]

Hmm.

 

Almond, musk, maybe a hint of patchouli and cherry? Something powdery.. maybe they mixed in a touch of jasmine?

 

Like everyone else said, this doesn't last long and you're left with powder. Poof. Gone. Oh well.

[devilot]

Black Phoenix

In the Vial: Super strong-- almond/ cherry? I've found that there comes a point, that both of those can smell like each other at first "glance."

 

Wet: Super almond. Very sharp. Shifting gradually into something floral.

 

Drydown: Super floral. Powdery floral. Wait, it's shifting again... as if a curtain is being pulled back to reveal *drumroll* ROSE!!!!!!

 

Verdict: I'm really not a fan of such super strong almond/ cherry notes. I also don't like how it changes into super floral rose. Almondy rose soap on crack.

[Blithgunde]

At first Black Phoenix smells like almond filled croissants, then honey wells up all over everything, followed by roses. Ye gods, everything yummy swirling around me! Eventually, after an hour or so, musk and something woody settle in, and the scent becomes warmer and sweeter with a hint of powder.

 

Black Phoenix has become one of my go-to oils because it morphs so, and I enjoy all the stages. It's a seductive meal of many courses and does increase self-love - I love my wrists to excess while wearing it.

[odalisque]

I didn't get any cherry, which is strange because usually cherry takes over and makes a blend into cherry candy or cough syrup. What I did get was lots and lots of sweet marzipan. I love to eat marzipan, but not smell like it.

[FathomBelow]

I've been looking forward to this oil so much! I mean, it's the signature oil, it's gotta be good, right?

 

In imp: Very alcohol-y almond. Yummy!

Wet on skin: Sweet almond combined with sweet-sharp maraschino cherries. If it stays this way, it'll be perfect.

As it dries: Uh-oh. An herbal/powdery note is rearing its head. Smells kind of like the drydown of many Voodoo scents on me.

After it dries: Straight up baby powder.

 

Final opinion: Darn, darn, darn.

[meredevachon]

I want to like Black Phoenix, I really do. And I keep trying it, hoping it'll get along with my chemistry because so many people love it so. But I think I need to just accept that it's not for me, and console myself with all the delightful BPALs smell amazing on me.

 

In the imp: Fruity, very fruity. Almost syrupy.

 

Wet: Goes powdery right away, with the fruit slowly fading.

 

Dry: Powder, and something that reminds me of some cleanser they use in hospitals. Oh well, some things just aren't meant to be, right?

[proserpine]

I get sweet almond and sickeningly boozy/plastic maraschino cherries on the drydown. It calms down once dry, but cherry booze isn't my thing.

Edited September 14, 2010 by proserpine

[childoftime]

Boozy cherry almond in the imp, almond takes over once it's wet on my skin, but as soon as it starts to dry...BABY POWDER, that's all.

 

I'm going to have to go scrub this off.

[plainjean]

In the vial, it's maraschino cherries. And, at first, it's the same on the skin. But then...THEN. It turns into amber and jasmine of doom! And there's possibly some sort of rose in here? In any case, they all strangled the cherry. Needless to say, I had to scrub this one off pretty quickly. :\

[lucy]

Wow marzipan in the imp

wet on skin- just almonds...yummy lovely marzipan on my wrist

dry down - bleh! this has turned to pure powder on my wrist. so dissapointing

[melrose]

In imp,and on, wet: yummy sweet, fresh cherries.

 

Drydown: Play-Doh. Crap.

[Ella LaRose]

this was interesting on me. At first, when wet it smel;led dark, just dark, wasn't sure what the scents were. But then a strong dark rose smell came out to play, and then 15 minutes later it was gone. I couldn't smell it at all. But my freind could smell it, and she said it was very strong, but I can't for the life of me smell it! very strange! I think my nose is immune to some smells, and black pheonix is one of them.

[Diva Urd]

In the vial: CHERRIES!

 

On: Cherry-almond? Maybe with some vanilla? And... uh... 3, 2, 1, baby powder. In under five minutes. Also, there's rose in there. It's rose dusting powder. DAMN YOU SKIN!

 

Later: Powdery rose. This wasn't meant to be.

[Lorna Brigid]

I wish I had gotten cherry or marzipan out of this.

Tried a dozen times, and each time I just got generic cleaner.

[calivianya]

Immediately upon application I get a strong rush of ALMOND! It takes a couple of minutes, but a slight floral scent begins to emerge, maybe rose. Whatever it is, in the next couple of minutes it turns the blend into spicy yet soapy almond. Oh wait, here comes the powder stage. This was truly bizarre. It morphed a lot, and it morphed fast. Oh well, maybe someone else would like my imp.

[brittanywut]

In the imp: Delicious cherries and almonds... Absolutely DIVINE.

 

Wet: Almond-y goodness is still there.. But I smell a bit of rose coming as well.

 

Dry: Powdery rose with a bit of almond still left. Not digging it.

 

Sigh. I wish this worked on me.

[ajansuz]

In the imp: Strong, boozy, cherry almond. I'm scared, because cherry usually goes sharp and plastic on me.

 

Wet: Almond, really strong, bitter almond, rose, and some sort of musk. Much nicer than I thought it would be. The cherry is nowhere to be found.

 

Dry: Beautiful. Sweet almond, a hint of rose, and rich amber. This was very strong and stayed strong for hours. After about five hours, it's still going strong with a lovely amber on my skin. I really like this a lot. Much more than the imp promised.

[Incendiare]

A bowl of almonds in the vial and a bowl of almonds on me during the wet stage. As it dried, it pulled a Seraglio on me and turned into roses. The bowl of almonds has definitely taken a back seat. This is a total surprise because I imagined this one to be dark and resiny.

[KatharinaNordh]

Red Turkish Delight (the candy)

 

That is all.

 

I LOVE this

[rhubarb3point14]

This smelled amazing and sexy in the vial (which was a frimp -- thank you, BPAL!). I couldn't wait to try it!

 

When I put it on, it started out very appealingly almond-like, or maraschino-cherry-like. I love foodie smells, so the initial scent was a thumbs-up. Unfortunately, my body chemistry quickly turned it powdery and soapy and overwhelmingly sweet. The end result made me sneezy and headachy.

 

I swear there is Dragon's Blood in this, because there is that characteristic cherry note -- and my body made an almost identical powdery-candy mess of the otherwise lovely Dragon's Tears.

 

Part of my problem may also be the rose note in it. I love rose, but historically it is a very hard note for me to wear.

 

Pout, pout, pout. I really thought this was going to be great, but it's not for me.

Edited November 10, 2011 by rhubarb3point14

[OctoberGwen]

I adore this! A gorgeous, musky/sweet/powdery cherry almond yum scent. The bottle I purchased from a fellow forumite has some age to it (it's cobalt), and I only wish it stayed stronger, longer. But I plan to slather and use in the scent locket for some staying power.

 

I get no cinnamon from this, thankfully. I do smell dragon's blood, but for once it's not overwhelming - just blended beautifully with the almond muskiness.

 

I'm so happy that the Lab's signature scent works on me.

[elka_knits]

I just received a wee bit of this as a companion for a purchase from the lovely Stellans therefore I have no clue how old it is. The label was nice and old looking tho and it was really a sniffle, or since it was a frimp, a friffle. Being the weirdo that I can be I frantically bumped the end of the friffle against my wrist in an effort to eek out a droplet. Success!! NOTE this is not a full fledged multi day test and yeah I usually do think hard about and sniff, resniff, and oh yeah slather prior to writing a review...

 

in the bottle: cherry

wet: some weird cheap candle wax vibe. There used to be some faux candy that tasted like I imagined wax did and yeah that is what it smells like

about half an hour in: oh so this is what they soak the boxes in to give them that bpal smell. Squee. Too bad it is so faint

it has been about 3 hours: Settled into a baby powderish , vanilla-ish dry slightly spicy-ish scent. Really indescribably but nice. Very very little throw but decent lasting power so far. I am not sure if this is due to the last desperate dregs from imp being banged against my wrist instead of the usual slather or if it really is a skin scent.

 

I would love a full imp of this to give it a good college try. I think it is like my Dragons Milk {which come to think of it has that same weird funky plastic vibe when wet... hmmmm....} and I worked myself through 2 imps, not sure I really liked it, before I ordered a big bottle and made it my hey this is my body that naturally, sans perfume smells awesome, day scent. I might not be fooling anybody but it is real close to skin and fakes me out ;P