olympia301

This is just gorgeous. Bloody gorgeous. It has to be one of the most superb oriental/resiny/deep and beautiful perfumes ever concocted.

Of course it is chocolate at first, as everyone else has said, then the Snake Oil sliters out and then it sort of either goes into hiding or your nose gets used to it. Fine, you put more one and think it's because you have a greedy nose. But, it amps up again after it dries down and delivers such a perfectly harmonious blend of excellent resins, mixtures of roots and deeply strong earthy delights that you can do nothing but give into the divine hedonism. Mmmm. Real good.

Snow White

Alice

Underpants

Beaver Moon

Milk Moon

Regan

Antique Lace

London

Tamora

Fae (though this one might be too sexy because of the musk)

Maiden

Kumiho

Give Dana O'Shee a try. Very nice milky, grainy, honey scent. Light but so good in a scent locket.

It is like a warmed up lily of the valley. I remember it from my childhood. Have you tried to Google the name? There are places which sell just about every perfume ever created out there, the rare and the wonderful.

If you are looking for a BPALm go to the Lab site and do a search on "Valley". I got 8 hits, one should be a Diorissimo-like enough (or maybe even better) for your friend. I got: Moscow, Hymn, The Queen of Hearts, Suspiro, Endymion, Wings of Azrael, Belle Epoque, & Dragon's Eye.

Creepy and Punkie Night were very apple on me. The Hesperides is apple as well, but it has a big shot of birch/wintergreen in it which is fresh and cold (like apples in the snow). If you can get your hands on the first two I mentioned, you won't be sorry.

I am in the same mind set as yeahbutnobut. I have always thought of The Lion as being the sunniest scent of all, more so than the citrus blends even.

Lex Taleonis and Saturnalia. Actually, going to the local Wild Oats or healthfood store and sniffing the tester of vetiver is a free way to find out what pure vetiver smells like.

Champagne is a really funny scent. It can smell like the inside of a glass of wine or it can smell pretty bad. It all depends on how you feel at the moment! Really. One of the things it was in was a very limited blend from BPAL and I can't remember the name of it, something like Imp of the Damned or something. It was champagne and roses. Bon Vivant has a champagne scent to it as well.

I tried Queen of Spades and lost. I was very sad because my tarot card has been the QoS from the very beginning. However, Purple Phoenix is the Queen Who Works on Me. Thanks to Portalkat, Sarada for bringing that up! Somehow Purple Phoenix is a sparkling version where the Spade Queen was earthy. I love this one.

I can't really say I think "purple" when I smell it, I do think "natural, violet, intellect, wisdom". I feel ebulliently profound when I wear it, as the Queen of Spades should be. (Forget all that "woman of loss and sorrow who passively aggressively takes it out on everyone else, especially the poor old King of Swords"). Mattie hit the nail on the head with the Maya Angelou poem.

Purple Phoenix isluscious, and it's a great capsule of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab because it could not have been made by any other perfumer. I'm a bit tongue tied here. It is just wonderful. *sigh*

As others have said, this is like one of the notable componants of Snow White made aquatic. It is a beatiful and risky perfume and I completely say it's wonderful. It's risky because Beth took something which is so well loved and served it to us in another form, and one which has it's fans and not-fans. I don't usually like aquatic scents but I had to try this one given the reviews from others. I am so glad I did. I will treasure my bottle of Snow-Flakes. I love the name and the concept and I am so glad that Beth did this. When it snows I will put this on and smile. Really beautiful and highly recommended to anyone who ever loved Snow White.

This is what I was hoping Skadi would be for me. It is indeed a cold fir shot all the way through, but it has a candy like/fruity side to it as well which never goes away and gives the fir its charm. This one is not at all a pine-you-to-death scent, it's using the conifer family in scent the way it should be used. With respect and for the whole scale that the ingredient gives. This one honors the fact that fir can produce fruit and be charming in the off season. It is one of the few fragrances I would recommend for use on your skin or in a scent warmer. Really charming.

I hope I'm not too late to put in my $.02. Here are some really good ones if no one has mentioned them:

1) Kumiho

2) Severin

3) Ravenous (really great and loooong lasting orange/oriental which is a gorgeous gorgeous thing in the fall and winter).

4) Alice (not a huge citrus, but with something lemony in there which is refreshing).

5) Wilde--I can't wear it but it's heaven if you can.

6) Dorian--ditto the above but lots of people swear it's a citrus beauty. I think it's very sporty.

I love Black Opal, Trick or Treat, and Ravenous at Halloween. Actually, Ravenous comforts me on November 1, which I am sad that Halloween is over.

I am so happy I yielded to this blend before it went away. Such a beautiful floral that morphs through its components and presents you with a new interpretation of the whole over it's drying and well into its dry stage. It's like a kaleidoscope of white and clear stones which reveals fabulous patterns as you turn the tube. Really breathtaking.

Dee and Old Scratch are both great lavenders.

1. Velvet
   
2. Snow White
   
3. Eat Me
   
4. Alice
   
5. London
   
6. Whitechapel
   
7. Fae
   
8. Snake Oil
   
9. Wilde
   
10. Ravenous
    
11. Severin
    
12. Hungry Ghost Moon
    

Oh, you will be sorry you said that, Clover! Ha ha ha! I will try to be concise (uncharacteristicly).

1. Snake Oil-The Classic heavy oriental. Nobody has done better with the resin and root perfume. I even detected a whiff of civet in Snake Oil. I would send it with a note saying,"This may not seem so special to you when you first try it, but persist...soon you will start to get to know it and want to explore its many vaults and chambers." I find something new in it every time I wear it.
   
2. Dorian-So well loved by so many. I just don't get it but thousands of BPALers can't be wrong. I must be anosmic or my chemistry might destroy it, as it does Wilde (which is similar in some ways to my nose).
   
3. Alice-Classic beauty of carnation for women. Feminine without the simper, creamy notes blended in so well that you only see their great combination with the carnation.
   
4. Saturnalia-My favorite from that era of vetiver. Hard, black and shiny, Saturnalia has that violet lash in it which is so unusual nowadays. Not for the tremulous, a true Warrier Woman scent. This one tied with Lex Taleonis in my mind, but the violet pushed it out front.
   
5. Hungry Ghost Moon-A radical departure from most of the lunacies I have smelled. Cool, cooling, ultra sophisticated, HGM takes me to the next place after all the tea scents have become old hat. Real innovative and thoroughly suitable for any age or circumstance.
   
6. Severin-Deceptively simple and utterly elegant. I think of it as lemon, leather and tea. But not the "oh, it's tea...how boring" treatment. It's tea done right, and lemon that doesn't say "floor cleaner!!!".
   
7. Aglaea-So innovative. A heavy herb going along with and apricot or peachy ingredient. It starts off very boozy to me and then gets sweet and then gets pleasantly astringent. A real winner and a serious departure from most perfumes. I don't know why it isn't spoken about more, it deserves to be.
   
8. Whitechapel-Sex, sex, sex and sex. You have to have some nerve to put out a perfume which veers so wildly around: perfect lilac, fish/latex, musk, irresistible sticky sweet flowers. Did I mention there was sex in here? Much sex. For some wonderful reason this one never cloys or turns you off, but sex smells don't either. The most extreme I have ever smelled. I. Love. This. One. It makes me blush putting it on!
   
9. Velvet-Chocolate, myrrh, and sandalwood? Who has the crust to put all that together? It worked and I feel as if it changed the minds of a great many people with its brilliant recognition of compatibility among foody and resinous scents. Velvet broke down the barriers of what was "allowed" and "not allowed" in perfume. A perennial classic.
   
10. Embalming Fluid-This one detests my chemistry but despite that, it is the coldest of all the BPALs I have ever tried. Even Ultraviolet is warm compared to the lemony musk of Embalming Fluid. It smells like...embalming fluid. I always recommend this one to anyone who is suffering from summer swelter.
    
11. Eat Me-Oooo, another beauty from the Snake Oil "heavy oriental" family. I love the foodiness of this. Pure sensuality and like to overwhelming (so thoroughly fitting in this case). You don't know whether to attempt to eat it or let your nose have the orgasm for you. I have to always remind myself not to put too much on at once, it will overpower. In the proper "dosage" it is incomparable.
    
12. Asphodel-Flowers from Hell. I am not the most floral loving soul but this one is so fresh fresh and spring-like. Very Eastery, renewing and reviving when you need it. I am looking forward to wearing Asphodel in the dead of winter as it is spring in a bottle.
    

If I were putting together an imp pack to show off BPAL in all its classic glory (that is the ones I consider the most alluring/well done/facinating/risky) here is what I would choose. The rule is that I limit myself to a dozen, and the choices do not have to smell good on me, they have to be classic "pinnicle of the art" BPALS. They can be LE's, lunacies, GC's...anything. I am imagining that I could send this off to someone who really knew perfume (like Joe Guerlain) or who I really liked respected and wanted to introduce to BPAL. My picks are below, what would yours be? Here are mine:

1. Snake OIl
   
2. Dorian
   
3. Alice
   
4. Saturnalia
   
5. Hungry Ghost Moon
   
6. Severin
   
7. Aglaea
   
8. Whitechapel
   
9. Velvet
   
10. Embalming Fluid
    
11. Eat Me
    
12. Asphodel
    

By the way, I reserve the right to change this list on a whim. You can do the same. I just was thinking about the really creative use of scent, and the really good all around use and familiarity with the ingredients. Also, taking risk and nailing it. I think each of those does that very well. By the way, 33% of these don't get along with my skin chemistry! However, they are so well done that I simply have to consider that a misfortune but recommend them to other people who would get on with them.

The frilly frilly cousin to Haunted, I can really smell the Black Musk in this blend. I think it is super, a comforting and somehow familiar concoction. Without overstating it, I think it should be considered one of the "backbone" scents in Black Phoenix and part of a "newbie's intro kit". Beautiful and classic.

REally nice. If you like foody scents get Creepy now! There is the overwhelmingly butterscotch and caramel lash of Grog plus the astringent/tart snap of fresh apples. Really nice play of one against the other and back again. I really love this scent and think it is a grand Halloween scent. I am going to be loving this one into Thanksgiving as well. Mmmmm.

Thank goodness someone made the comparison between Dreamland and The Brides, I was thinking I was nuts. Both of them are gorgeous florals for people who are ambivilent about florals. I think the Brides of Dracula is a bit softer and very subtle, it smells so different on my skin than it does in the bottle, even better. If you have any inclination to try one of the Order of the Dragon blends, choose The Brides of Dracula, you won't be sorry.

Wow, this one is a real beauty. It starts out with an apple-like opener which is stunningly snappy and just like an apple. It's heady. I just fell in with the reverie here and let the autumn thoughts flit through my head. Then the perfume started to peek out, and a beautiful sophisticated almost silk blend that is as well. I just think this is a pretty pretty blend and is really up my alley more than heavier ones which are about this time of year. For all you lighter peeps, Punkie Night is highly recommended. It's a gorgeous scent which reminds me of the best of Hungry Ghost Moon (a real winner and very silky to me) and Hesperides (without the birch). Punkie Night is memorable.

It's hard to know what to say about Tavern of Hell. All of it is put together so well that there is no way you can pick out one particular ingredient and go on about that. I love the wet phase the best of all when the "booziness" is sharpest and the hint of perfume rises in the background but isn't all there is...yet. When Tavern is dry, that is a very perfumy blend, but with this one, the top, middle, and bottom notes are very very well done. Tavern is a real good one.

Very pretty. Reminds me of Harvest Moon 2005 in that it is stronger and more perfumy than some of the other lunacy blends. This one is perfect on a cool September day. It really does remind me of the volatile smell of chrysanthemums and dries down to a very immediately recognisable sense which is quite comforting. I can well imagine many BPALers are deeply in love with this one. Just right for this time of year.

One of the new Wanderlust's for the Fall 2006 season and beautiful. It's sort of a departure for BPAL, it's very perfumy and difficult to pick out each note as you can with some. They blend together as if they were made for each other. I get the impression of all the things that others have mentioned, and also a good shot of lavender...but better. Like the best part of lavender without all the rest of it.

This is a remarkably beautiful blend, it radiates and lasts for a very long time. It's a bit masculine, but certainly not unfit for a woman. I really give this one a hearty thumbs up.

This time around the Wanderlusts really have captivated me. I imagine there are some similarities among them BUT each one stands on it's own. Pontarlier, Port Royal, Manhattan, and Lyonesse are not to be missed.