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- Today
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marzstar changed their profile photo
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I was a little worried that “black velvet” might read similarly to the black musk in Mircalla, Countess Karnstein (because that smells like Disney-generated fog to me LOL), but IWtL is surprisingly bright. I definitely smell effervescent citrus fizz, most identifiable as bright limeade. Then there is something underneath that smells like a mauve-colored floral, so I think I’m getting more flowering notes from the strawberry and plum than true fruitiness. It’s a fun scent that seems a better fit with springtime riots of colors, so I have a hard time conceptualizing it as a Weenie.
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Anyone have reviews of this one yet?
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Not sure which version unfortunately. First Sniff: Fresh dew covered rose with some sort of berry underneath. Initial Wet Application: A hint of peony with the rose. Dry Down (first 15 minutes): As this began to dry, it turned into rose leaf with dew. This became a light, dew-kissed rose. My Reaction: This is okay, rose which is pleasant, but unremarkable. It faded into just dew too quickly. Rating: 2/5
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First Sniff: Sweet, gentle flower Initial Wet Application: Creamy, soft and slightly aquatic. Dry Down (first 15 minutes): As this began to dry, it reminds me of baby powder (but in a good way!). I think the light flower may be aster. My Reaction: Even though this was light, I liked it. It was gentle and pleasant. Rating: 3/5
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2025 Version First Sniff: Honeyed, sugary sweet vanilla, yay! Initial Wet Application: Some smoke peaks through, but the honeyed vanilla is still the main player. Dry Down (first 15 minutes): As this dries, it actually has some throw! So far though, it's just sweet honey and, unfortunately, the vanilla is gone. My Reaction: Unfortunately, after this completed the dry down, it lost its throw and was only a very light, sweet honey. Where did my creamy vanilla go?!? Rating: 2/5
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2025 First Sniff: Clove and allspice, with a bit of patchouli but it's soft now instead of in your face. Initial Wet Application: Fir tree, which is coming across as masculine, and allspice, also masculine. Dry Down (first 15 minutes): Clove is strongest now but the patchouli is creeping in stronger. This is gentle woodsman, not brutal lumberjack, which is nice. My Reaction: There was a small hint of apple, but everything else is overshadowed by black patchouli. It has some throw, which is good, but it's very masculine which isn’t my thing. Rating: 1/5
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ruinveil changed their profile photo
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ruinveil joined the community
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Ethereal and misty, this evokes the painting that inspired it, with a veil of sheer vanilla over an enchanted forest of soft woods and mosses with snakelike tendrils of incense that hint at a deeper magic. It is innocence tiptoeing into the depths of ancient Earth. While this is not a Snake Oil scent per se, there are some aspects of it that do echo Snake Oil, particularly in the vanilla and incense. I imagine this that a dryad or any other woodland fairy wandering through the trees would leave a trail of it behind her.
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i got a frimp of this one. i don't usually do fruity scents so this isn't really my type of scent i usually wear, however it is kind of nice. it's very joyful. it's mostly strawberry with a hint of the effervescence of the champagne. it's a little plasticky and therefore smells like a strawberry shortcake doll to me, which brings up fond childhood memories. i find it to be a youthful and joyful scent.
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in the decant: very pink (maraschino?) cherry on my skin: almost entirely papaya (not a fruit scent I care for lol) maybe a little cream (like making ambrosia) might become more creamy-strawberry hours later (like what the strawberries smell like in strawberries and cream oatmeal)
- Yesterday
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Ohh this is so pretty! It has a bit of an expensive salon-type product finish to it, it's softly sweet, a little musky, slightly salty (like salt-tinged skin) and the staying power is moderate thanks to the amber. I can't pick out any of the olibanum which is great since I usually amp it. It's not an aquatic in the traditional sense. This gets a lot of wear from me in the heat; it's such an easy eay to feel put together!
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True to its name, this is an extremely light, airy blend. Very thin, low projection and I only get about 2-3 hours of wear. It's quite pretty and fresh, but almost too clean for my liking. I get a fruitiness I associate with osmanthus and some very pale lilies. It's lovely and refreshing for a warm day, I may reach for it this summer when it gets so unbearably hot it's hard to even contemplate fragrance, but I can't imagine myself reaching for it particularly often. There's not much to it, although I'm not sure what I was expecting from a perfume with "thin" in its description!
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I tried this again today because I never reviewed it when getting it last year. This is a sweet strawberry scent on me, very pink. I guess the dragons fruit note isn't what I expected, nor do I get patchouli. It's a lovely scent, and I do like it, but I plan to gift it to a friend who I think will wear and enjoy it more.
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Sad I neglected to revisit this one before its down date, but it's such a lovely one! Fresh out of the mail, it was very sharp and medicinal in an unpleasant way, so I let it sit for a few months (...a few months too long...), and now it's *lovely*. It's very well blended, and I can still identify every note: the frankincense and rue are very lemony, and they smell beautiful with the lavender-like rosemary, not to mention rue's own herbaceousness. The orris butter balances out the tart, citric notes really beautifully, lending a gentle powdery aspect. There's no tea in this, but there's something in the citric + herbaceous combination that's giving me the illusion of a relaxing cup of tea. It's gentle, calming, and really very pretty, and I might have considered a bottle if I'd been a bit faster retesting. eta: okay, yeah, I'd forgotten from my first test Opal Crown's extremely low projection and longevity. Lasts maaaaybe 2-4 hours max. Still very pretty and I'll happily enjoy the rest of my decant, but I feel a little better about missing my bottle opportunity now.
- Last week
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I'm obsessed, and imagining how this one's going to age has me salivating. I totally smell like a forest! I'm not sure what I can add here that hasn't already been said, but I needed to add my voice to the chorus before Wolf Moon goes down. The dark, camphorous fir/pine jumps out at me right away, but it's quickly followed by something surprisingly fresh and green -- like I'm standing in a grove of dark pines, but there's some really lovely fresh green vegetation around too. It has slight citrus undertones, and I can totally see the comparison to good gin. The longer it sits on my skin, the more I notice a a sap-like balsamic sweetness, but still very green and herbaceous, like pine sap mixed with crushed maple leaves. A few hours in I start getting something distinctly ink-like. It's mineralic, dark, a little bitter, a little bracing, a little of damp moss and soot. I wouldn't describe this as a "dark" perfume overall though, there's too much of an airy citrus-y lift to it. It's more that the moss/stone accord (whatever it is I'm smelling!) flecks through this blend like deposits of hematite in a larger stone cliff. It's just so good. I am in love. It's like that feeling of wanting to just stay outside all day so you can keep inhaling the gorgeous forest air, except it's on my skin and I get to wear it indoors whenever I want! 🌲🌲🌳🌱
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I blind-bottled this based on the strength of this review + another forumite's recommendation, and I'm SO glad I did! Purple Sage & Pinon is the absolute PERFECT complement to Wolf Moon -- it's SO herbaceous, camphorous, and a little bit smoky. The smoky/sharp camphor really brings out a surprising sappy sweetness in Wolf Moon I hadn't noticed before, and just makes me love it even more. Lovely, very photorealistic sage note (I can see the lavender comparison!), which I'm ecstatic about because I love sage and so far every perfume I've tried with sage listed as a note has mysteriously failed to appear on my skin. If you're a fan of Wolf Moon or foresty/camphorous scents in general, you'll want to grab this one before it goes down. It is what it says on the tin, and it's fantastic!
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Wow. This really is… shadow-y! It’s like walking into a room where someone was wearing a beautiful perfume – the person is long gone, but their scent lingers. And you want to go find this mysterious person, because you simply must know what they were wearing, but you know it’s too late so instead you just stand in the room and enjoy the moment. Soft, dusty plum with a hint of vanilla cream plays perfectly with the rich cognac and tobacco leaf. I’m not really picking up the patchouli individually, but I suspect that’s contributing to the warm dusky base of this one. The oponopax adds a lovely gentle smokiness. This is absolutely one of BPAL’s nostalgic Lace blends, and it’s hauntingly beautiful – I have to agree with the eloquent review by @VioletChaos – for me it brings to mind an elegant lady’s sitting room full of rich velvet chaise lounges and Venetian mirrors, with a soft light coming in through the windows.
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neoncas changed their profile photo
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At long last, Lupers are LIVE! https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/lupercalia-2026/ https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/novel-ideas-for-secret-amusements-bpals-ode-to-shunga-2026/ We'd previously announced a site overhaul early in the new year. That's still underway, which means we're experiencing some temporary irregularities in the meantime. Thank you so much for rolling with these punches, it's very challenging to launch a major release at the same time that we're pulling our shop up by the roots. I'll let you know when there are more concrete details to share about that! Now that Lupercalia's live, the countdown is officially set on Halloween: those products will vanish following May's Lunacy. So there's still a good bit of time left to agonize, sample, layer, compare, and grab whatever you need.
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As a swede, this is the most drinkable bpal I have ever tried. No gourmand can compare. This is the most delicious sticky sweet black liquorice imaginable. It's basically a concentrate of a bottle of Koskenkorva Salmiakki lol. BUT it totally has the popular combination of violet, no amber or black pepper, it's violet. It's impossible to miss as a Scandinavian, because its such a common flavour to combine with black liquorice. I'm so happy, I smell so good!! It's gonna be the perfect party scent, such a nice conversation starter. Tack så jättemycket för den här parfymen ❤️ 🥺
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I love this and I struggle to say why. It's just so fun! I've been craving a banana scent but this one isn't just banana. It's got a touch of Snow White but the circus peanut of it all keeps it from going too floral like Snow White does on me. I almost wish there was a bottle of this available.
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Ooh, I get first crack at describing this scent! It and my bottle of Cathy arrived today and because I have zero patience I tried them both straight away. With Heathcliff I immediately got an intense scent memory of the men’s department at a venerable old department store where my grandmother used to shop. That area always smelled of expensive cologne and I would dawdle there, smelling the fancy bottles and running my hands over the well worn oak furnishings and silk ties before inevitably being dragged off to try on uncomfortable formal wear in the children’s section. This is an intensely, deliciously masculine cologne, and it cloaks its raw underbelly well but even so I immediately catch whiffs of birch tar and vetiver (two of my favorite scents that both love me and my skin in return). I also get a light dusting of something like lilac that shrouds the darker core of the scent which I think I recognize from other BPAL fougere blends. And all this is rounded out by the leather (which is a very subtle leather) and wood notes. All in all it’s an absolutely delicious beast of a scent and I think I’m going to spring for another bottle with my Luper order.
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Wolf Moon: Snow & Oak Bark
RoseThornAndOak replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I have also thus been mentholated. This smells kinda like Vicks Vape-O at first, but like if magic gnomes made it from scratch inside a gnarly oak tree in a frozen forest, and they use it for their frostbitten red noses, and everything in their world is sparkly. I also get the anise note as mentioned above, so it's like they have some sort of dark, herbal, rooty tea brewing. That's where my INFP brain goes with this. This is what you wear to the gnome synth gig. It's unusual, but I kinda like it. -
Yeah, I can't really follow up on the above beautiful reviews! In the beginning, the boozy plum brandy wraps around the powdered violet candy note, and the aldehydes aren't too fizzy like champagne, just a little sparkly and peppy. The final drydown lands somewhere between the grey, shrouded, iris musk of Lucy Westenra, and the glamourous, floral vanilla of Ava. I'm sooo glad I got this. It's pretty in a spooky, girly, antiquey kinda way.
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Frosted porcelain, spun-sugar snow. This evokes the sweet berry blush on a doll’s cheeks in winter, as if she had been sitting by a cold fireplace but came to life, tiptoeing outside. Petals of withered carnations flutter from her vaguely floral-scented dress along with just the faintest dusting of chimney soot. While this smells nothing like Pediophobia, there is a feeling, a theme, that clings to both of them like a phantom.
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Sweet, piney amber with a faint smokiness. This reminds me of my beloved Epidote Phoenix. I'm glad to have a bottle.
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There is something *sparkly* about this perfume, I think it is definitely lightly aldehydic. It's not ultra fizzy like the Lab's champagne accord, rather it gives the impression of freshly fallen snow winking at you in sunlight. There's a really yummy citrus that feels like it's smoothed and refined by the musk and possibly the white tea; it's not overly tart nor is it sweet, but it feels more substantive than citrus otherwise might on its own. The oakmoss from the chypre is not a deep, rich, foresty smell, it's more like there's the faintest breath of a light, airy moss, sort of muted by the winter chill (you know how any outdoor smell smells more frigid than like itself in the winter? it's exactly like that, like the suggestion of moss carried to me on a cold wind that mainly smells like it's about to snow). It's definitely not minty, but I swear there's almost a breath of something faintly wintergreen here--oak bark maybe? Or maybe it's just the gently tingly sensation I get from the aldehydes. I don't know if I can quite pick out the ambergris, but I think it's blending nicely with the other elements. On me The Crumpet Fan-light Expedition is a light, gentle, but very smooth and refined scent. It feels very cold, a lovely bracing cold you want to linger in.
