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- Yesterday
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When applied, this smelled to me like a mix of popcorn and marshmallow, which was fun and unexpected! With a bit of time, it became all about sweet, dry, and very lightly spiced amber. Personally, I liked it but didn't love it--I was hoping for more rice pudding and cotton candy.
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I got an imp of this both because I am searching out rose/jasmine combinations and also looking for a frangipani heavy scent. Unfortunately I don't think it's quite for me on either count. On me the rose is the strongest note, and it seems to be the same rose note that shows up in a number of the GC blends - Fleurs du Mal, Lucy's Kiss - and which goes a little sepia-toned on me, with a hint of ammonia. It's a rose note which reads to me very much as the idea of rose perfume rather than rose itself; not unpleasant by any means, but a little disappointing to me by contrast with the much brighter, more intense rose notes in other BPALs. I can also pick out a dry jasmine, and fruity tuberose. The frangipani is quite subtle on my skin. This is a reasonable floral perfume with nothing objectionable about it, but it's just not exciting me. I'll probably keep my imp, but I'll continue my quests for a frangipani scent and also for a creamier jasmine.
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Severin is a heart-throb. Wet, the leather component reminds me of a thick, hand-bound book. The heavy, thudding kind, for which you acquire special permission to check out from the University library. There's something glowing brightly around the leather's edges, perhaps bergamot as prior reviewers have mentioned. It's sharp in a masculine, cologne adjacent way. As the oil dries and the top notes burn off, things round out and Severin begins to smell like a dark-eyed poet. Perhaps he's a vampire with an extensive library of titles stretching back decades. The bergamot has seemingly curtseyed and sashayed away, peeking her head in shyly every now and then, and the leather smells almost like the soft worn leather of a beloved jacket or gloves. The tea is grounding and herbal throughout this entire experience- but late into the dry down is when it really begins to shine. Everything becomes sort of creamy and hazy at the halfway mark of wearing, becoming something less formal and a little more.... unbuttoned. Maybe now the vampire's hair is down. It's sexy and warm and inviting. The deep-dry down is reminding me quite a lot of Jareth. It's missing the lilac and oudh, which actually makes Severin a little less complex than Jareth, but they both share that "impossibly sexy" quality. Perhaps they both just make me feel impossibly sexy..... either way, I digress. Severin is an incredible fragrance, and I will forevermore mourn it's discontinuation. Sillage: Medium- But I am slowly realizing I may just apply much more perfume than other people. Longevity: About 4 hours. It was completely undetectable to my nose after about 5 hours.
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The scent matches the artwork beautifully. It’s decadent and plush and smooth all at the same time, and it does indeed smell very deep red. The red apple is central, though this isn’t a candied fruit scent. The resins, clove smoke, cashmere, and woods are in perfect balance. I am not usually a big fan of apple scents, but I full-sized this. It’s exquisite.
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Recently acquired a bottle from an Etsy drop & I'm SOOO glad I did! This is a morpher once spritzed on my hair. It’s, at once, sweet & woody with a bit of spice. Every component calms into a scent-melange of comfort. I get compliments on this whenever someone hugs me. I love it!
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In the imp, very woody and herbal, with a bit of green. On my skin, all of that but even moreso. I can't quite pick out individual notes. I don't get mint, maybe some eucalyptus, the wood is cool and dry and the leaves and herbs are very green and a bit wet. It provides a nice contrast. It's a bit sweet almost but not sugary at all. As it dries, the green leaves and herbs fade more and the woods fade too but more slowly, so they stand out. It gets more dry and warms up ever so slightly but is still largely cool. The throe started out maybe mesium to long and after a couple/few hours becomes a lot closer to the skin but I can still smell it without putting my wrist directly to my nose. I really, really love this blend and hope one day to get a bottle.
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Affirming that Deuteronomy 10:18 is amazing, adding in some other discontinued (apologies!) that have been my favorites~ •Dreams Shape the World (Amorphous streams and sparks of lavender fancies drifting through a moonlit musk, given form on this plane by fossilized amber and sweet agarwood.) •Inferior Vena Cava (a torrent of sweet oudh, patchouli, blackwood, red labdanum, and vegetal musk) •Aevum (was released only in imp size) (13-year aged patchouli, incense smoke, burgundy tar oudh, teakwood, scorched driftwood, and clove) •Sinister Restlessness (blackened vetiver, amber smoke, clove, and oudh) is another I enjoy, but don't get the oudh strongly. I’ll have to wear it again to see how it’s developed since I bought it! Shadow Snake and Snake Eyes Gleaming in Spring’s First Twilight are supposedly very oudh-y. There are lots of others the lab has made, they are just not coming to mind, at the moment…..
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Wow, I just realized I've posted my praises for Lavender Prickly Pear Shaved Ice everywhere but here 👀I don't get a lot of outright lavender from this one, but the prickly pear ends up smelling like a chilled honeydew and the lavender gives it a minty feel. This is an excellent green melon + mint salad, very refreshing, uplifting, and summer-y! I can see it going plastic/artificial for some folks - on me, it toed the line of fake melon & realistic melon, and I think the minty note helped it stay realistic enough
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Oud is incredible, I became obsessed when my friend showed me her oud collection, much of it prepared by her mother in Zanzibar. There is a Swamp Oud and Vetiver Root duet currently available - can't speak to the qualities of swamp oud though! Some other scents off the top of my head that might appeal: Hypatia (Rose water and a mineralic, star-dappled blend of white musk, crystalline amber, and sweet oud) and Deuteronomy 10:18 (Hay absolute, patchouli, agarwood, and vetiver), Also be on the lookout for agarwood in descriptions, just another name for oud.
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I want to say that this is Columns of Neptune's freshwater sister- they're both atmospherics with mineralic, aquatic, and green notes, but Die Wunderblume is sweeter and fresher from the florals and moss. The white florals are under the aquatic greens- this is more about the river and moss. It's a bit soapy and strong, like laundry detergent and a little goes a long way. I want this as a room spray or body wash. I can see what the other commentor said about carrots- there is a little something in the moss and vegetation that has something sweet and earthy like what carrots impart. DW is the moonlit woodland river nymph to CoN's sunlit temple priest that lives near the ocean. Night and day.
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Wow! Tame and dozy florals, not indolic at all. The bergamot adds a subtle brightness to it at first, but it steps down as the scent settles. The jasmine is the most recognizable in the floral blend, but it's a very well-mannered jasmine. The musk is plush and velvety. Sort of reminds me of vintage perfume. Very much a nighttime scent, illuminated by soft, warm light. Very lovely on a cool evening.
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This was a frimp, and my goodness it did not work on me. It smelled like kerosene, salt, and a touch of leather, and it was very strong. Somehow my boyfriend liked it, but I had to wash it off after 20 minutes because I found it oppressive. I didn't get an aquatic or airy feel from it as others have described.
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I tried to use the search engine with multiple different keywords and choices and nothing would come up and...The posts I COULD find through google just have a bunch of people saying that oud smells like poop lol. So I hope this post is post is okay! I just bought a soap that has Oud in it, and I am obsessed. I assume that it is the Oud, anyway, because I've not really smelled anything exactly like it, and I NEED to find it in perfume form, or something very similar. I do not get the "poop" scent at all. I found a description of it that feels right on the money for what I'm looking for, and what I get out of it when I smell it: "Oud has an enticing aroma with a unique scent profile. It lends a woody warmth to a fragrance that often feels intensely earthy, spicy, and animalic. Its brooding smoky nuance gives it a church-like smell, ensuring a more complex, dark, and bold dimension to any composition." The only perfume that I've ever worn is "So Below"; the heady, velvety scent of it is just perfect but I want to branch out. I tend to like things like vetiver, amber, and more musky/velvety scents. If anyone has any recommendations that might fit the bill I would appreciate them
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Starts out with super sweet strawberry dominating until maybe 40-60 minutes in. Then the strawberry takes a step back, and I'm getting a sweet vanilla with subtle fruit which might be the mixture of lychee and strawberry. There are alot of different notes in here that my nose is not sophisticated enough to identify, but it's well-blended and definitely smells like a pink veil as the name suggests. Some hours later, I'm noticing the marshmallow and the whole effect is very similar to Pink Fuzzy Handcuffs (which I love). Joyfully girly! Note that this testing was one week after the bottle arrived, so it's had some time to settle.
- Last week
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bloodvisions joined the community
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In the bottle I smell wormwood and maybe a bit of orris or cardamom. On my skin the wormwood really blooms and takes over everything. It's quite nearly overpowering in a way I find similar to mint, but it's not mint, it's wormwood. And so while I don't quite love it I do still really like it. I can smell the lavender and orris with it more as I wear it longer, the wormwood is just very present. A bit of cardamom? Maybe? That one comes out even more as I wear it longer. It has a decently long throw and it lasts a pretty long time, the wormwood slowly backing off and still noticeable as the perfume finally starts to fade like five or six hours later, but not overtaking everything like it was. Not quite what I was expecting but I hadn't experienced wormwood outside of actual absinthe before, but still very ethereal and pretty. Spooky.
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While some are celebrating this month's Strawberry Moon, we've gone darksided and introduced Crow Moon Lunacy instead... and 13! In addition to the expected offerings, we've launched the Lab's very first LOTION blend (previously only available via Haute Macabre's launches) as well as a handful of summery hair glosses. Beth is planning to add a new Lunacy Duet lotion each month, and I'm very much looking forward to this slippery new chapter in our collective lives. https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-tag/june-2025-lunacy/ Here's your reminder that Yule 2024 will be leaving us on July 1st! This also spells the beginning of the end for our Boney Moon/Death Moon Lunacies, which will be departing at the end of next week. (The Prophet fundraiser oils, however, will be staying up all year until the set is complete!) As ever, thank you so much for helping us get the word out about new releases as well as things you've loved from past ones. Visibility and engagement on social media profiles has been especially low, and from what we've been hearing from other small businesses, we're not alone in this. Your signal-boosting always matters, and we're always grateful for it!
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Sweet vanilla made sophisticated and well-rounded by the black tea note. This is the olfactory representation of a sexy introvert (e.g., me). It's reserved, but enticing. Really enjoyable to wear, I ended up with my nose in my wrists frequently. It stays quite close to the skin.
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This is… Fine. I love all things Snake Oil and if I hadn’t tried Serpents in the Carnations/Lilacs/Poppies, I would love this more, I think. The SO feels much subtler in this blend than the Serpents in the Carnations/Lilacs/Poppies, which may be great for some folks. Instead, I find I’m reaching for the Snake Oil to layer on top of this scent. If you’re NOT a huge SO fan, this might be the floral SO blend for you!
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Would have been beautiful, minus the Bliss. I just get too much milk chocolate, like a Hershey bar left in the car melted in the hot sun and soaked into the black leather seats. I will keep it to possibly mix with another imp (maybe something musky?) to see if I can frankenfix it to dilute it out.
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Testing a sample over 2 years later, none of the light fizz that others have described has faded! One hour in the fizz has faded and the scent morphs from raspberry seltzer into a berry scented pipe tobacco. Worth waiting for it to bloom as it gets better and better as it settles into your skin.
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Very creamy, milky, and, to my nose, a bit soapy - reminds me of one of the lotions I tried as a kid in the Cracker Barrel gift store. Thankfully no notable black pepper, which my skin tends to amp.
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YES. Fierce, powerful, industrial. The soot and smoke come to play in the best possible way. If this came in a beard oil I'd be leaving it in the bathroom cabinet for gentlemen guests to slather themselves in the next morning. A scent to wear to an early 20th century power lunch where you're negotiating a railroad contract.
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A grassy lily above all else! I had to wait an hour after application to detect the dragon's blood resin, and even then it was quite subtly there. The black plum is more concentrated, like juice, almost, rather than something fleshy. I like it!
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Sun warmed pungency, almost fermented. This gets nicer as it dries down into something softer. Cream of Wheat vibes.
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Blergh! Wet, I smell the velvet, the clove, and something approximating industrial solvent, like someone left the lid off the can of paint thinner in the back room of the hardware store. On skin, plum scented paint thinner. Not for me!
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