BPAL Reviews XLI
This batch of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab scents is brought to you by Transformers, which is what my husband is in the theater watching while I do this. Enjoy!
Reviews of Grand Guignol, Cathode, Calico Jack, Ave Maria Gratia Plena, Arachne, Wrath, and Madrid are below the cut.
Grand Guignol, Lab description: "In 1897, a new form of entertainment was presented to the people of Montmartre, Paris: the Théâtre du Grand Guignol. During the course of an evening at the theatre, one would watch several small plays, ranging from crime dramas to sexual farces, a violent, throat-ripping, eye-gouging, acid-tossing good time, which always included shock topics such as infanticide, necrophilia, insanity, murder, paranoia, vengeance and death by common household object. Our Grand Guignol perfume is a shot of sweet apricot brandy; just enough to settle your nerves after a ghoulish, gory brush with the macabre."
Just like an episode of COPS, then?
This is, as you might expect, intensely fruity. It's fruity to the nth degree. Fruit personified - perfumified? It's fruity.
On, it's still fruity. This is a thick, sweet syrup scent, apricots and sugar. There's a touch of booze, like schnapps, in the background, but this is a resoundingly simple scent with very little depth - almost a single note.
There's little else to say about it, except that it's an exceedingly warm and friendly scent, approachable, full of delight. Very nice. Those of you who have had good luck with the Lab's fruit notes take heed: this is a good one. Those of you who are wary of trying them might as well start here; with less in the way of other scents, this blend is less likely to be soured by some other additive. It's very true.
Worth investigating, especially for fans of the sweeter blends.
Cathode, Lab description: "A negatively charged scent. Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints."
Hmm. Not as bad as I had feared. This is subtle and cool green, slightly mossy and slightly minty in the bottle. Pretty, if not my thing.
There's definitely more here than the mint, though the throw is coolly minty. Up close it has a chokingly dense field of green moss. This is juicy, cool, a clean scent, very pleasant. I can't decide if it's light or heavy, though. I'm going with heavy and slightly waterlogged, but not overpowering. This is very damp on me, but has very little throw.
As it dries, it becomes more minty and more spicy, the ambergris I suppose. It's a very odd note.
The drydown is woody and funky with that same dank moss note that's in Zombi. The ambergris is still lingering.
Neat.
Calico Jack, Lab description: "Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, and the memory of plundered spices sprayed over worn leathers, rough musk, and the salty wooden floorboards of the Revenge."
Sounds good to me!
Smells better!
Aquatic notes blend with the smell of old polished wood and faint spices for a tangy scent that runs equally hot and cold.
It's cooler in the bottle, but once it hits the skin, a rich musk comes out. It's an odd combination with the aquatic notes, but it really works. There's a hint, just a hint, of leather there, too. Nice!
As it dries, it becomes woody with a shot of bay rum and a lick of leather, all on top of a briny maritime base. Hoist the colors, this is an excellent pirate scent!
Ave Maria Gratia Plena, Lab description: "A pale, delicate, truly angelic men's blend. A scent created to emulate Adonis' halo of beauty: fragile, distant, and radiant. Rosewood with Sicilian lemon peel, red Mysore sandalwood, pale musks, sweet mountain sage and a dusting of lily, night-blooming jasmine and orris."
This is a light and subtle blend that is herbal and woody and just a little floral. First out of the bottle are the rosewood and lemon, making for a rather traditional light cologne base. Behind that are the musks and the sandalwood, swirling right around there with the sage. The third breath reveals the sweetness of the jasmine. The notes here appear pretty much in the order listed in the description. Overall, in the bottle it's a light and delicate but decidedly masculine blend.
It goes on very strange. It's hard to pin down, but my overall impression is one of brightness, but scorched around the edges. There's definitely something here that's turning to the smell of smoke. It's woody and herbal, still, with the florals bringing up the rear, and yes, it's still masculine, though verging more toward unisex.
I can't decide if I like this or not. On the one hand, it smells so odd that I want to dislike it immediately. On the other, there is something very sexy about it, even as the fleshy florals combined with the sage and lemon make it smell vaguely repellent.
It's intriguing, a smell I can't make heads or tails of, and because of that I keep sniffing at it, trying to make up my mind. It doesn't really smell like anything else. Once it dries, that aggressively burnt edge leaves and it's a simple woody blend with a lovely overtone of musk, florals, and a little lemon. Very nice.
I really want to smell this one on someone for whom it really works because I have a hunch it'd be really amazing.
Arachne, Lab description: "A gossamer scent, as light as a spider’s footfall, touched with sighing mists: pallid flowers, dusty woods and soft herbs."
Aquatic notes linger over a base of flowers and herbal mint. Very, very pretty in the bottle, and also very sweet. Berrylike, even.
I'm not sure I smell mint in it once it goes on. About all I am sure of is that it's floral, and it's also greenly aquatic. There's some sweet note in here, lotus perhaps, that's almost bubblegum-like. There's also a faint herbal overtone.
It dries to a green floral with a razzy herbal note, and at this phase it's beautiful. It smells like someone else, doesn't smell like me at all, but I like it very much. It's light and ever so slightly powdery - odd, for an aquatic note to go powdery, but there you go, it's an odd scent.
I can recommend this one for people who like florals but are looking for something a little different, fresher, new. This is light and subtle, slightly woody, slightly damp, slightly herbal, and very pretty.
Wrath, Lab description: "A scent aflame with rage, swirling in the red haze of hatred: dragon's blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon."
Dragon's blood, sweet pepper, and subtle spice are all swirling in the wet phase.
Dry, it's strongly dragon's blood with a rich updraft of spices, spices that persist even after you pull away. It's a lovely blend, rich and deep and yes, a little angry-smelling. It's quite lively and vivid.
A good choice for the lover of spices and dragon's blood, and one I'd unhesitatingly recommend.
I adore the lab's pepper notes: sweet and spicy at the same time, piquant. Delightful.
Madrid, Lab description: "Swarthy and vibrant! An elegant, full-bodied scent that ignites all the darkest passions. Bold red wine, mimosa, and a trickle of clove."
Grape! Grape is the top note here. It goes on a bit drier than the super-wet scent of the raw oil, but it's still very sweet.
There's a hint of clove in there somewhere, buried way down deep, but the major note in this is still wine, or rather, grape.
There's another note here that I assume is "mimosa" though it smells nothing like what I'm used to smelling from real mimosa trees. It's a kind of astringent floral that is holding down the worst of the over-sweet grape. The clove is underneath, just barely there.
This has the overripe, almost stinky feel of a humid summer day when the plants are all blooming. It's all melting sugar from grape popsicles and the stifling scent of blown blossoms. Not really objectionable, just very heavy. A scent to apply with care.
It's blatantly sexy, too. It's very much a scent that screams "notice me!"
And because I can, a meme, courtesy of flameelf:
1. My First True BPAL Love was: Equal parts De Sade and Scherezade. Which sounds like an apt description of me, actually. Anyway, I loved them about equally, though I prefer De Sade now.
2. My First OMGTHISISAMAZING BPAL Love was: Tintagel! I'd never smelled anything like it before - all the phases it went through, all the varied notes . . . all I could think was "Now THIS is perfume!"
3. My Essential, Daily BPAL ‘Signature Scent’ I cannot live without: De Sade, of course.
4. My Essential OMGTHISISSOME!!! BPAL ‘Signature Scent’ that makes me feel sexy: Trick #1, or any leather blend.
5. The BPAL scent that makes me feel like I can tackle ANYthing!: Iago. Are we sensing a theme?
6. The BPAL scent that makes me really, really happy: Fae and Aglaea.
7. The BPAL scent I never expected to fall in love with-but did!: Monster Bait: Bloody Mary
8. The BPAL scent that turned into an unholy stench with my skin chemistry: Wilde, and anything with lavender or violets in it.
9. The person who inspired this insanity in me when they talked about BPAL: misia
10. The person who first enabled me: flameelf
11. How long I’ve been Mad About BPAL: November of 1005. Holy crap.
12. If price and availability were NO OBJECT, which BPAL would you BATHE in?: Trick #1.
13. “Extra Credit” - What is the one thing you have to tell EVERYONE about BPAL?: This is the perfume for people like me, who "hate perfume" and cannot stand to wear it because it hurts their sinuses or otherwise offends them. It's one of the best ways I can think of to gratify a much-undervalued sense.
And that's it for now. I'm getting back to work before it gets too late!
Tiny scent icons are courtesy of Penance's BPAL Icons, Diana's BPAL icons, and Storme's BPAL icons.
Reviews of Grand Guignol, Cathode, Calico Jack, Ave Maria Gratia Plena, Arachne, Wrath, and Madrid are below the cut.
Grand Guignol, Lab description: "In 1897, a new form of entertainment was presented to the people of Montmartre, Paris: the Théâtre du Grand Guignol. During the course of an evening at the theatre, one would watch several small plays, ranging from crime dramas to sexual farces, a violent, throat-ripping, eye-gouging, acid-tossing good time, which always included shock topics such as infanticide, necrophilia, insanity, murder, paranoia, vengeance and death by common household object. Our Grand Guignol perfume is a shot of sweet apricot brandy; just enough to settle your nerves after a ghoulish, gory brush with the macabre."
Just like an episode of COPS, then?
This is, as you might expect, intensely fruity. It's fruity to the nth degree. Fruit personified - perfumified? It's fruity.
On, it's still fruity. This is a thick, sweet syrup scent, apricots and sugar. There's a touch of booze, like schnapps, in the background, but this is a resoundingly simple scent with very little depth - almost a single note.
There's little else to say about it, except that it's an exceedingly warm and friendly scent, approachable, full of delight. Very nice. Those of you who have had good luck with the Lab's fruit notes take heed: this is a good one. Those of you who are wary of trying them might as well start here; with less in the way of other scents, this blend is less likely to be soured by some other additive. It's very true.
Worth investigating, especially for fans of the sweeter blends.
Cathode, Lab description: "A negatively charged scent. Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints."
Hmm. Not as bad as I had feared. This is subtle and cool green, slightly mossy and slightly minty in the bottle. Pretty, if not my thing.
There's definitely more here than the mint, though the throw is coolly minty. Up close it has a chokingly dense field of green moss. This is juicy, cool, a clean scent, very pleasant. I can't decide if it's light or heavy, though. I'm going with heavy and slightly waterlogged, but not overpowering. This is very damp on me, but has very little throw.
As it dries, it becomes more minty and more spicy, the ambergris I suppose. It's a very odd note.
The drydown is woody and funky with that same dank moss note that's in Zombi. The ambergris is still lingering.
Neat.
Calico Jack, Lab description: "Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, and the memory of plundered spices sprayed over worn leathers, rough musk, and the salty wooden floorboards of the Revenge."
Sounds good to me!
Smells better!
Aquatic notes blend with the smell of old polished wood and faint spices for a tangy scent that runs equally hot and cold.
It's cooler in the bottle, but once it hits the skin, a rich musk comes out. It's an odd combination with the aquatic notes, but it really works. There's a hint, just a hint, of leather there, too. Nice!
As it dries, it becomes woody with a shot of bay rum and a lick of leather, all on top of a briny maritime base. Hoist the colors, this is an excellent pirate scent!
Ave Maria Gratia Plena, Lab description: "A pale, delicate, truly angelic men's blend. A scent created to emulate Adonis' halo of beauty: fragile, distant, and radiant. Rosewood with Sicilian lemon peel, red Mysore sandalwood, pale musks, sweet mountain sage and a dusting of lily, night-blooming jasmine and orris."
This is a light and subtle blend that is herbal and woody and just a little floral. First out of the bottle are the rosewood and lemon, making for a rather traditional light cologne base. Behind that are the musks and the sandalwood, swirling right around there with the sage. The third breath reveals the sweetness of the jasmine. The notes here appear pretty much in the order listed in the description. Overall, in the bottle it's a light and delicate but decidedly masculine blend.
It goes on very strange. It's hard to pin down, but my overall impression is one of brightness, but scorched around the edges. There's definitely something here that's turning to the smell of smoke. It's woody and herbal, still, with the florals bringing up the rear, and yes, it's still masculine, though verging more toward unisex.
I can't decide if I like this or not. On the one hand, it smells so odd that I want to dislike it immediately. On the other, there is something very sexy about it, even as the fleshy florals combined with the sage and lemon make it smell vaguely repellent.
It's intriguing, a smell I can't make heads or tails of, and because of that I keep sniffing at it, trying to make up my mind. It doesn't really smell like anything else. Once it dries, that aggressively burnt edge leaves and it's a simple woody blend with a lovely overtone of musk, florals, and a little lemon. Very nice.
I really want to smell this one on someone for whom it really works because I have a hunch it'd be really amazing.
Arachne, Lab description: "A gossamer scent, as light as a spider’s footfall, touched with sighing mists: pallid flowers, dusty woods and soft herbs."
Aquatic notes linger over a base of flowers and herbal mint. Very, very pretty in the bottle, and also very sweet. Berrylike, even.
I'm not sure I smell mint in it once it goes on. About all I am sure of is that it's floral, and it's also greenly aquatic. There's some sweet note in here, lotus perhaps, that's almost bubblegum-like. There's also a faint herbal overtone.
It dries to a green floral with a razzy herbal note, and at this phase it's beautiful. It smells like someone else, doesn't smell like me at all, but I like it very much. It's light and ever so slightly powdery - odd, for an aquatic note to go powdery, but there you go, it's an odd scent.
I can recommend this one for people who like florals but are looking for something a little different, fresher, new. This is light and subtle, slightly woody, slightly damp, slightly herbal, and very pretty.
Wrath, Lab description: "A scent aflame with rage, swirling in the red haze of hatred: dragon's blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon."
Dragon's blood, sweet pepper, and subtle spice are all swirling in the wet phase.
Dry, it's strongly dragon's blood with a rich updraft of spices, spices that persist even after you pull away. It's a lovely blend, rich and deep and yes, a little angry-smelling. It's quite lively and vivid.
A good choice for the lover of spices and dragon's blood, and one I'd unhesitatingly recommend.
I adore the lab's pepper notes: sweet and spicy at the same time, piquant. Delightful.
Madrid, Lab description: "Swarthy and vibrant! An elegant, full-bodied scent that ignites all the darkest passions. Bold red wine, mimosa, and a trickle of clove."
Grape! Grape is the top note here. It goes on a bit drier than the super-wet scent of the raw oil, but it's still very sweet.
There's a hint of clove in there somewhere, buried way down deep, but the major note in this is still wine, or rather, grape.
There's another note here that I assume is "mimosa" though it smells nothing like what I'm used to smelling from real mimosa trees. It's a kind of astringent floral that is holding down the worst of the over-sweet grape. The clove is underneath, just barely there.
This has the overripe, almost stinky feel of a humid summer day when the plants are all blooming. It's all melting sugar from grape popsicles and the stifling scent of blown blossoms. Not really objectionable, just very heavy. A scent to apply with care.
It's blatantly sexy, too. It's very much a scent that screams "notice me!"
And because I can, a meme, courtesy of flameelf:
1. My First True BPAL Love was: Equal parts De Sade and Scherezade. Which sounds like an apt description of me, actually. Anyway, I loved them about equally, though I prefer De Sade now.
2. My First OMGTHISISAMAZING BPAL Love was: Tintagel! I'd never smelled anything like it before - all the phases it went through, all the varied notes . . . all I could think was "Now THIS is perfume!"
3. My Essential, Daily BPAL ‘Signature Scent’ I cannot live without: De Sade, of course.
4. My Essential OMGTHISISSOME!!! BPAL ‘Signature Scent’ that makes me feel sexy: Trick #1, or any leather blend.
5. The BPAL scent that makes me feel like I can tackle ANYthing!: Iago. Are we sensing a theme?
6. The BPAL scent that makes me really, really happy: Fae and Aglaea.
7. The BPAL scent I never expected to fall in love with-but did!: Monster Bait: Bloody Mary
8. The BPAL scent that turned into an unholy stench with my skin chemistry: Wilde, and anything with lavender or violets in it.
9. The person who inspired this insanity in me when they talked about BPAL: misia
10. The person who first enabled me: flameelf
11. How long I’ve been Mad About BPAL: November of 1005. Holy crap.
12. If price and availability were NO OBJECT, which BPAL would you BATHE in?: Trick #1.
13. “Extra Credit” - What is the one thing you have to tell EVERYONE about BPAL?: This is the perfume for people like me, who "hate perfume" and cannot stand to wear it because it hurts their sinuses or otherwise offends them. It's one of the best ways I can think of to gratify a much-undervalued sense.
And that's it for now. I'm getting back to work before it gets too late!
Tiny scent icons are courtesy of Penance's BPAL Icons, Diana's BPAL icons, and Storme's BPAL icons.