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Emu Nymph changed their profile photo
- Yesterday
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Initial thoughts: warm and sweet, with the sense of cozy darkness and hints of nuts and Play-Do that other reviewers have noted.
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Initial thoughts: opens heavy on jasmine, which is soon sweetened by the honey, which balances the indolic pungency.
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brightwire joined the community
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Plum is a note I have very fond memories of. I was pretty adverse to fragrances growing up (my father hated them). The only thing I used with fragrance were fruity Body Shop butters, and their scent dissipates quickly. When I started making adult money, and started to frequent department stores, I usually avoided the overwhelming scent clouds of the fragrance sections. One day though, I caught a whiff of a fruity-floral-musky scent that I really liked - Mediterranean, by Elizabeth Arden - and I learned that one of its main fruit notes was plum. I went through a short department store perfume phase after getting that one, and then a year or two later, was introduced to BPAL. BPAL's plum is fantastic, and this is one of my favourite iterations. On me, Shadow Lace is a musky plum oudh, sweet, dark, mysterious, and utterly gorgeous. Something in it also suggests lightly floral too, maybe it's a floral vanilla. I get a similar creaminess to Sugared Lace under that dark purple veil. Really, really lovely.
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I’ve been trying to find the least confusing way to explain the previously-floated topic of price increases. Understandably, this news causes a lot of stress for the community, so I want to lay it out as clearly as possible. As in almost every aspect of all of our lives, business costs have gone up everywhere: the Lab’s utilities, insurance, lab equipment, electronics, labels, ink, glass… all of it. Due to the complications of global market conditions, rising raw material rates, and unilateral increases in production and manufacturing prices, the cost of staying in business continues to rise. We are trying to weather the storm while still striving to provide benefits and fair wages to our employees and keep our prices low for our customers. I’ll be frank: this included relocating across the country in an effort to keep operational costs down. We find ourselves at a point where a modest adjustment in pricing is necessary if the company is to survive. Some ingredients have gotten so prohibitively expensive that we are taking heavy hits—while others have increased, but not quite so dramatically. Up until now, most of Black Phoenix’s oils have had similar pricing, despite the variations in component and manufacturing cost. The previous pricing model was part of our strategy for keeping things as streamlined and uncomplicated as possible—unfortunately, as we all know way too well, the strategies and plans that used to work have gotten completely shaken up (and apart) over the past few years. We just can't streamline prices the way we used to. This means that there won't be consolidated pricing tiers. We are going in and pricing everything individually, based on how much each item costs to make. Given the scope of our catalog and the complexity of our products, this is a huge undertaking. We don't want to do this, and we've done our best to stave it off, but costs have been going up for years and we've exhausted all other options. Over the past twenty-plus years, our commitment to providing the highest quality products and service to our clients has remained unwavering. We take great pride in the craftsmanship and artistry that goes into each and every one of our products, striving to provide you with an unparalleled olfactory (and community) experience. We are so deeply grateful for the love and support that has sustained us for so long. In order to avoid pulling down the website indefinitely, we will be rolling out the price changes gradually starting around March 19th. We'll try to rip this particular band-aid off by getting everything updated as quickly as possible, but please know that prices adjustments may continue into April while we finish working on the math for each individual scent while leaving a time buffer in case there are additional tech delays. In the meantime, all oils are priced as-is on the website at any particular time. We know that the ambiguity may be frustrating, but we don't see any other way around it, and going forward, we may continue to adjust prices as necessary without additional notice. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at answers@blackphoenixalchemylab.com. We'll try to answer anything and everything to the best of our ability. Thank you for your kindness, your understanding, and your compassion as we navigate these changes. You all have been an integral part of our life’s story, and we remain honored to be a part of yours.
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I've been wearing and loving this oil since it came out and am wearing it today in honor of Luna being in Cancer. I am surprised at the lack of reviews for the Sphere + Sundry perfume oils here! This is one of my favorite oils to wear to sleep while the Moon is in Cancer. I know I can use it anytime (and I do) but it feels special to look forward to this treat a few days each moonth. This oil works wonderfully for amplifying anything and everything I've wanted to accomplish for divination, inner work, shadow work and magical workings. The scent is ridiculous- it's a creamy pineapple but not coconut (which I hate smelling almost as much as smelling pineapple and coconut together!) despite coconut being listed in the ingredients and I absolutely love it. It smells like nothing else I have and is just lovely.
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As for scent, the rose, neroli and lemon verbena are what I smell most. I'm wearing this in honor of Venus being in Pisces and honestly, I've been in need of extra comfort this year as it has been especially difficult so far. It smells spicy, floral and comforting and I love knowing there's lotus in here. I only put some on about 30 minutes ago, but I've worn it before and I know it works for its intended purpose.
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I received this as a freebie and I am not understanding all the shade being thrown here. This is nice. It is SUBTLE, thankfully, because I immediately dumped about half the bottle on myself on accident immediately 'pon opening. Whoops. Good thing it was free! I rubbed it into my sweatshirt. It seems unisex. I hadn't read the scent description before, I thought I was smelling something minty but that must be the black tea, and the chocolatey smell must be the sandalwood. Light, sweet, and woody. I might give this to my boyfriend, if he's good. It doesn't have a lot of throw and doesn't last long. But if you read the description, that's almost to be expected. "Contains nothing worthy of attention." Hilarious.
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Sealgair changed their profile photo
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A typical bpal beeswax comes on hard and heavy right out of the gate. Here, its “dusty” quality is accented, and I’m not sure I’m a fan. A barely-there bittersweet cherry tinge persists in the background. Just when I think nothing will ever change, the rice powder emerges. I agree with others that it has a cosmetic feel, but it also has a gourmand aspect, recalling first mochi, then marshmallow as the white amber joins in. The roundness of the amber slowly swells, surrounded by a powdery cloud and always resting on that dusty beeswax. Despite gourmand aspect, there is a vintage vibe to this. Something about the mingling of powder and resin, which only grows more velvety as the oakmoss does its thing on the drydown. A sweet and unexpected exploration of texture.
- 3 replies
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- Shunga
- Shunga 2024
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I skipped this one in the past, possibly because I used to expect lemon in perfume to automatically be a citrus bomb. Instead this is dark, sweet, crumbly wood with a bit of lemon for illumination. I'd compare it to woody incense or the inside of a terrarium. I don't get a lot of smoke, but there's a faint hit of singe. Not an absolute favorite, but remarkably pleasant and a bit sultry.
- Last week
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I agree that this leans more aquatic than grassy. The moonlit dew is glorious and prominent, more than mere dew drops clung to blades of grass, this dew has collected into deep teal puddles sparkling in *silver moonlight. The grass comes out more in the dry down, after a few hours it even becomes the dominating note left on my skin. As a collector of grass notes, the grass in this duo is closest to the wet grass in Goofballs and would suggest that perfume to anyone wanting a bit more of the grass in this bottle. Altogether this wears as an upscale fume and works wonderfully as a dewy layering note.
- 2 replies
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- 2024
- January 2024 Lunacy
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Wolf Moon: Beeswax & Pine Needle
Orafish replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This is a joy, surprisingly it is all about chewy sweet honey backed by a tiny bite of green. The pine never takes over, it stays a step behind the beeswax throughout the wear. This is strikingly similar to the smell of fresh basswood honey, which for those unfamiliar tends to have a light green hue and a slightly medicinal herbal *smell. -
This sounds like a loud mean scent. So I was surprised to find it's balanced and calm. Maybe the snow soothes out the gruesomeness but I do think it's pretending to be scarier than it is. This smells like walking through a quiet forest covered in snow. There is a soft waft of smokiness, like the smell of a distant fire. It smells like a holiday scent without veering into candle territory. Nice!
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tourmaligned joined the community
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2024 version. Lyonesse has changed so much since it was first released. I used to really like the fragrance, but the sweet, creamy vanilla and subtle, golden amber are nonexistent now. It's a clean, plasticy scent to me now, a barely there sense of clean, powdery musk and an undertone of super plasticy vanilla that I don't find pleasant at all. It starts off subtle and then disappears very quickly. It's an extremely pale shadow of what it once was.
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The mango note smells the same way biting into a slightly green banana tastes, but it mostly fades upon drydown and fig becomes the dominant fruit. Reminds me of patchouli + iced green tea with fruit jellies. It's very faint, though.
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Ok. The Human Animals ended up being the sleeper hits for me of the Halloween offerings this year. This doesn't read Halloween to me at all, but there's an eerieness to it and yes this is fey, fae, fay. Otherworldly and difficult to describe, I feel like I've smelled something vaguely similar, a long long time ago, maybe in the Y2K days. It's a creepy fae fruity floral, like if you asked some faeries to try yo create a fruity floral for humans and it doesn't ever stop smelling fae, lol. This is so elf punk its awesome and it's going right next to Liz and others that put me in that headspace. I dont know it musky, citrusy, floral, creepy cool kid.
- 8 replies
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- Human Animals
- Halloween 2023
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It's nice, my decant has a gingerbread note that goes fruity, like red fruit. A little bit of cocoa, but if someone held this to my nose and said "Hey! Wiff this!" I'd say spicy mulled wine. Glad I tried it, glad I didn' spring for a bottle, but I'm enjoying it all the same.
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This reads mostly white floral, mostly lily, with some sweet bready spices underneath, almost fruity gingerbread. Good balance, soft, pleasant.
- 3 replies
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- Gingerbread Cotillion
- Yule 2023
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Portrait of Magdaleine Pinceloup de la Grange née de Parseval
RoseThornAndOak replied to Seajewel's topic in Limited Editions
Ton of lilac here all the way through. There are some vintage glamourous things underneath. A note that goes sharp on me if I sniff close. It's nice bit there are other lilacs I love more. -
This is nice. The evergreen is much more mellow than Vintage Snowman Blowmold. I dont really read orris, cypress, or ambergris, but it does have a soft around the edges feel but with pops of evergreen. I do get some moonflower, but agree with PumpkinGuts more moonflower would've been wellplaced. I'll keep the decant but don't need more.
- 9 replies
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- Dusk in Autumn
- Halloween 2023
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Yeah I agree with HerbGirl and everyone here this is pretty fierce spruce. For me it basically stays that way only softening slightly. It's nice but more of an atmospheric for me but might layer well. Not much plastic really.
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RavenPhoenix joined the community
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Oblivion smells like a genie disguised as a human, or maybe a pirate giving up his dastardly ways and rejoining society. Leans mainstream men's fragrance with a poorly concealed darkness beneath. An intensely musky spiced woods scent that packs a powerful punch. STRONG. My husband said it reminded him of Spyro the Dragon and would not elaborate.
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I'm just now going through my dragon hoard of imps and decants to (re)test and review, this particular imp is very aged. Burial is a mostly woods on me without much greenery, I'm getting patchouli, cedar, and dirt with something rotting underneath. A little bit of camphorous juniper during the wet stage, but it was fleeting. No noticeable florals. Overall, Burial is an atmospheric gravedigger fragrance, complete with perspiring man smell. Or, perhaps, the scent of being buried alive. Extremely long lasting, moderate projection.
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This is like biting into a crunchy, tart, pink apple. The sugar strengthens as it dries down, but the dial is turned up a bit high for my liking (it's not unusual for my skin to amp sugar to high heaven). Almost a Smutty type of sugar. I compared Apple Sugar to Sugar-Slathered Candied Apple just for funsies, and the latter is significantly sweeter. The sugar there is more rich and caramelly, and the apple variety is not tart, it reminds me more of a Red Delicious. Lighthearted fairy apples.
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vixen of pie joined the community
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This is a Perfume About My Dog Eating Peaches
Frills replied to Seajewel's topic in Event Exclusive Oils
When I first got this the peach was almost floral on me and I wore it with my favorite sundress all summer long. Now that it's aged it's more marshmallow and vanilla and cream, and the peaches kind of disappear. Still lovely but it's changed more with age than I think any other perfume I've had.
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