Black Phoenix

[Lizzie]

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

In The Bottle Cherry!!! Whoever said cherry liquor was dead on. mmmm.

Wet On Sort of incensey, but still very cherry.

Dry I don't really know what to think. I really want to like it, since it's the signature scent, but..I don't think I like it. It such a strange mixture on me...I think it's just too sweet. But I'll keep it for a while and try again.

[TheStormCellar]

I'm honestly not sure what is in this, but I smell so delicious today. It started off kind of medicinally strong, and I was certain I was going to hate it. But it's settled into this sweet warm earthy scent that reminds me simultaneously of walking through a musty woods on a crisp autumn morning, driving up to Door County,WI in the spring through the blooming cherry tree groves, and a drinking a spiced honey mead. There's also a real earthy scent in there I can't quite pinpoint, maybe a sweet patchouli or frankincense possibly a musk tempered with vanilla, with a teensy touch of cinnamon and anise? And the scent just keeps evolving as the day goes on. A few times, it has threatened to go very powdery, but it rides that fine line, never actually crossing it. This is a spicy sweet earthy complex robust scent, and I must have more of it.

 

[Ryvre]

I have no idea what's in this. The top note is something that might be almond. It's very sweet and very heavy. There's other notes underneath, but they are seriously overpowered by the almond. It dries to sort of an almond incense smell that lingers for hours.

[nancybridget]

Oh, yummy!

 

Annis, marzipan, grenadine, and other truly decadent treats.

 

A little goes a long way with this one, for she's a doozy.

 

Reminds me a lot of Aveda's #15 pure-fume spirit - must be the annis.

[jolarocknrolla]

this smells like almond absolute and cinnamon on me, definately foody and spicy. I'd say it's like Decadence and Inferno mixed together. The almond scent is very strng, especially when wet, though it dries down to something more complex and less foody. The cinnamon dries down to a more complex spice. This is one of my new favorite scents, very powerful and absolutely delicious.

[yellowrose]

Coulda sworn I'd already reviewed this. Didn't read / remember the reviews, so going in with the only preconception being that I must love it since it is the Lab's signature scent.

 

Wet: cherries?! Reminds me a lot of some other scent.

 

Drying: Incensy. Really reminds me of medicine. Sorry. Not for me.

 

Later that same day ... But wait? I really am liking the incense-cream stage as it mellows and continues to dry. Hmmm. Interesting. I like it the longer it sticks around. It reminds me of these solid amber crystals I've loved.

 

If it can speed past the cherry medicinal stage, you betcha I'll be wanting more.

 

Alas, this vial is promised to quikslvr.

[Eunice]

Boozy chocolate covered cherries. More marachino cherry than chocolate but all boozy. It gets even more rich the longer I wear it. I don't want to stop sniffing my wrist when I am wearing this. Deelish!!

[bookishgrrl]

Started off similar to other scents I like with a strong liqueur-y cherry (almond) note, but when dry developed a scent underneath it all that jumped out and jarred my nose. I'm assuming there's some base note (dark patchouli is often a culprit) I just don't agree with...

 

Verdict: What's good about it (and there is a lot of yumminess going on) I can find in other scents without having that slightly dark/bitter base note. Glad I tried it, though!

[Isuke]

On the suggestion of a friend, I decided to try the Lab's signature scent. Good thing I did, because on my own I would have ignored this gem!

 

The first thing I can smell is almonds, immediately out of the bottle. It's all smooth and nutty for the first few minutes, then slowly.....something sensual and warm starts to come through. Hello, cinnamon! Now, I don't usually LIKE cinnamon scents....but somehow, this almond-cinnamon scent wrapped around me and I found myself smiling for no reason.

 

No, I haven't kissed any mirrors yet. Maybe when I actually wear it out.

[juniperus]

Bottle: heer be dragons..blood? it smells very much like Hecate in the bottle - I'm getting that immediate oh-god-too-sweet internal panic.

Wet: there is a musk behind the sweet, and something else with a sharp edge. I can't quite make it out.

Dry: like Hecate (on my skin), the sweet cherry has completely passed. I'm getting a hint of almond...this is languid and heady and gorgeous. I can't quite pick all of the notes out, nothing is taking over even though it's a multilayered masterpiece.

Later: same, mellowing and fading on me a bit. really spectacular - this is a signature written with a flourish by a fine Waterman, that's for sure! Unlike most sweet that turns very bad on me, this has gone to a really lovely place: no food-y associations, no sinus-grabbing sweetness - on me? Amazing - I didn't think it possible!

[gwyllgi]

I'm suddenly craving marzipan. This is almost pure almond on me, with a buttery note that makes me want to lick my arm. It's a soft almond and a bit sweet, almond paste rather than natural almonds. I absolutely adore almonds, so this is brilliant.

 

It lasts a surprisingly long time on my skin, too; although it softens after half an hour, the scent lingers for hours and hours after that.

[PixieSkull]

Imp: Marzipan? Resin, maybe amber. Something similar to neroli or orange.

Wet: First it's straight marzipan then some spices come through. These are like cinnamon and sweet bread smells. Incense, too.

Dry: The marzipan tones down and the spices are milling about on my skin. The resin isn't turning to powder on me, so that is good.

 

Category: Spice/Marzipan

Rating: 3/5; surprisingly wearable

Overall: I didn't expect to like this scent, really. La Petit Mort didn't work on me and I saw that they were very similar blends on me, I suspect the resin in LPM was the cause. While it's not a scent I'm going to hold above all others, I respect that it is the scent named for the company and that it does smell very nice.

[dragonryder]

This didn't work for me at all. The scent was a little fruity in the imp, but after wear, the scent became strange. Cannot really put a name or cause to it. Really was hoping for this one, but alas, not for me.

[beeboppin]

Ohhh...this is wonderful! Sweet, deep, smokey, sexy. I'm a mature (read: much older than probably all of you) woman, and hadn't had much hope that many of the BPAL blends would work for me. Some of the scents are just too light and/or youthful.

 

Black Phoenix was a lovely surprise; enough presence to satisfy even me, a regular wearer of YSL Opium and Chanel Coco. Totally unique and so sexy, and wearable by any woman of any age who still enjoys her feminine power.

 

On me, it begins as a delicious smokey almond and cherry, and deepens to pure Heaven with time (again just like sex: it gets even better as you get older!). I believe a dark musk is at the bottom, as the drydown is addictive and nearly eternal. BP has usurped Snake Oil as my favorite BPAL blend.

[Elrianra]

In the bottle this is nutty but sweet, possibly anise? Also musk is very prominent. It's like a cherry-less version of Kabuki in the bottle. Tres Bizarre. On me wet, it's anise and nuts with a minty aftersmell... something woody however. Possibly lemon verbena, I can't quite tell. Dry, the musk is out in full force with that citrus-y note again but I have no idea what it is. Very dusty with a smoothness to it that I can't figure out. Warmed up, this is a smoky musk that is similar to Dragon's Musk but not quite as robust or heavy. The citrus (and I think floral?) lightens this a bit. It stays smoky musk for the rest of it's life (which is admittedly shorter than I expected for a musk scent) and then turned soapy for the last half hour before fading completely.

[purrbox]

i'm not a huge fan of this one. in the bottle it smelled kind of artificial, like poisoned maraschino cherries maybe? it was really sharp and cloyingly sweet.

 

once i put it on and let it dry for a while it was definately more pleasant, but i'm not getting the almond smell everyone has been talking about. actually, on me it smelled exactly like the pure amber oil i use for dressing candles and such. it's nice, but it's very heady, powdery and way too sweet for my taste, as a perfume anyway. as a candle dressing or similar i might enjoy it more.

[falcon in the dive]

In the bottle: I can detect a similiar phoenix undernote like with pink and red phoenix, but the scents are all drastically different. This one is rich, wet, juicy and dark.

 

On drydown: I'm pretty sure there's fig in this, and this scent is enough to give me a great love of fig. But this isn't a dried out fig. This is a rich, juicy wet, dark fig. It's one I want to bite down on. it's satisfying, full, and utterly creates the vain aura it describes. When I wear it and sniff my wrist, it does produce a very full, self-satisfied chuckle. It's sensual, dark, charming. I adore it.

 

Buy a bottle? I think I will put it on my to buy list. It's brilliant and luxurious, and hell, I have bottles of the other two chromatic firebirdies? Why break pattern?

Edited June 11, 2006 by xie

[mirutai]

In the imp: I AM CHERRY, BOW DOWN BEFORE ME! Black cherries in kirch, no less. I think I am becoming dizzy.

 

Wet: Not so much cherry, phew. Still sweet, but with a spicy edge. It smells boozy.

 

Drydown is the same as wet, except the cherries become slightly less sweet. Decadent, and I think I like the end result... but I’m not sure it’s really _me_. Maybe for special occassions...

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

ok, i've had this for awhile and it has been completely unappealing everytime i've sniffed at the imp.... i'm feeling brave (or stupid. pick one)....

 

i dig it out (i love the way my hands smell after digging around in my BPAL boxes!) and open the vial...

children's Tylenol.

fake cherry thick alcohol mediciney all the negative things about being little and feeling icky and somebody trying to pour that (#&@ down my throat.

 

*cough* *shudder*

 

i swipe the impstick on the top of my wrist.... pause.... sniff....

 

ok, a little less medicinal, more maraschino (sp?) with something unhealthy -- either evil or rotten or really really black musk -- underneath somewhere

 

half an hour later.... there's very little scent left that i can detect. and what there is... seems to be a weensy bit of cyanide (ok. almonds) and fresh morning air with the tiniest bit of baby powder-scented-something.

 

really just sortof ... eh.

 

i'll try this again sometime and see if i'm still as undecided. otherwise it'll be off to the swapbox with this one.

 

that being said, i can see how this would be highly appealing to a whole buncha people. just... not me. Black Phoenix is just too.... clean.

Edited June 22, 2006 by TrailerTrashPrincess

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

spices, cinnamon

 

wet:

yummy spicyness! Love it

 

dry:

spicy! Similar to chimera but not quite as nice

 

overall:

nice, but not as nice as my other spicy favs!

 

rating: 7/10

[columbus]

Ah, the signature scent! I couldn't wait to try this one, and actually, I specifically didn't read any reviews, 'cause I wanted to be surprised about this one!

 

In the bottle, I was psyched: it smells like a wonderful almond or cherry liquor! (To this day, I have a hard time distinguishing between cherries and almonds, unless I'm eating them. ;p). As soon as I sniffed it (which was early one morning, I had just gotten the package in time to do a little sniffing, and then it was off to class!) I decided to wear it! Yay!

 

Not really. I guess the lesson here is: don't try a new scent before going to a three hour lecture, even if it smells great in the bottle. Within minutes, the Black Phoenix lost its cherry goodness and degraded into a very strong baby powder. So I spent three hours smelling like that. And believe me when I say it was strong! Now I really wished there was a note list for this scent, because I really need to find out what notes go to baby powder on me. There's a few of them, I think, because I suffer from this plague quite often.

 

So later on, I let my roommate try it, and she really liked it, so I was glad that it was only my body chemistry that made it go wonky.

 

Some time later, when I decided to try my hand at perfume making, I came back to this imp. I didn't want to use an oil that I liked, in case I messed up, and I didn't want to use an oil that I hadn't tried yet, so I went with Black Phoenix, and hoped that maybe it had been stress that powederfied this scent, or maybe the vast amounts of alcohol would somehow alter the oil so it wouldn't do that any more.

 

To no avail. So now I have a room spray instead of a body perfume! I just have to be super careful not to get any on my skin. In the air, it's a great cherry, but its a little spicy: I swear its cinnamon. Yummy! I'm glad I can still use this great scent, even if I can't wear it as a perfume.

 

7/10

Edited July 26, 2006 by columbus jones

[opiumt]

This is one of my favorites of my first imp order. I can smell the cherry-almond note upon opening the bottle...something powdery and faded...then something sharper behind it, with a sweet dark finish...vanilla? Wears amazingly long and in the summer heat sweeps me away. Can't stop sniffing myself. Other ladies notice and commented favorably on the scent. No t a delicate or fragile scent... Va va voom!

[lilfaerywingz]

Bottle: Amaretto! (my favorite drink, so how could I resist)

 

Wet: Almond soap

 

Dry: Caress soap (I was a little sad at this point)

 

2 hours later: baby powder/musk

[forspecial_plate]

Almond at first with sweet powder behind it, a little spicy bite thrown in. The almond fades pretty quickly (less than an hour), leaving a very sweet powdery smell. So it makes no sense for me to like this. Nope, none at all. Because I normally can't stand powdery scents. Like if I hug someone and their powdery perfume gets on me, it drives me crazy and I have to wash it off.

 

Then why do I like this so much?

 

It actually reminds me of frankincense and myrrh right now, and the spicy background note is still there, elusive, hard to pin down....but I like it. Certainly enough to keep the imp. Wonders never cease. A week ago, if you had told me I'd like a powdery scent, I would have said you're nuts.

[indicolite]

Amaretto. Definitely amaretto, which is great.

 

But on me Black Phoenix grows into a spicy myrrh-like scent.

 

Me likes. Me definitely likes. But I wish that fantastic amaretto would stay.