Failmingo

Hi everyone! We're excited to announce yet another opportunity for you sinners and storytellers to participate in our creative process. Our latest iteration of the #BPAL7wordstory contest is underway, and this time the theme is WRATH. Vent your spleen, tear down the pillars, give in to the dark side... just make sure you do it in seven.

This time your writing deadline is 9/8/16. Make every word count! The winning story will be immortalized in scent sometime in October. Below are the full Rules and Regulations.

Get ready... Get set... WRATH!

BPAL Seven Word Story Contest Rules and Regulations

By submitting an entry, you agree to be bound by the Official Submission Guidelines and Rules and represent that you have read and understood all requirements set forth.

How do I submit a 7 Word Story and what are the deadlines?

All submissions must be received by the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab by September 8, 2016. Stories should be submitted online via email to 7words@blackphoenixalchemylab.com or on Twitter using the #BPAL7wordstory hashtag. On or about September 16, 2016, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab will announce the selected story.

On October 15, 2016 a fragrance inspired by the winning story will be released for sale on Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, featuring the full text of the story and winner’s name on the label.

Selected authors will receive credit under the name of their choice on the copy text for the fragrance, one bottle of the fragrance inspired by their story, and enviable fame within the Black Phoenix community (no warranties on the fame bit).

By submitting an entry, you agree to be bound by these Official Submission Guidelines and Rules and represent that you have read and understood all requirements set forth below.

1. Submitted stories must be written in English; stories written in other languages will not be accepted.

2. All entries must be 7 words or fewer.

3. Stories must be original and unpublished at the time of submission, including the entrant’s social media accounts. All submissions must be exclusive to the 7 Word Stories Project through April 30, 2017, regardless of whether a story is selected as winner.

4. All information must be submitted electronically via email (7words@blackphoenixalchemylab.com) or Twitter (#BPAL7wordstory).

5. Stories must only have one author. No coauthored works, please. Because…Seven Words.

6. A submitted story may not contain any material that is copyrighted or otherwise owned or controlled by someone other than the author (including but not limited to, poetry, music and/or lyrics, characters originally created by others in any medium, and/or stories based on real people and/or other people’s lives, other than public figures). We would be fascinated by how you’d manage it, though.

7. All submissions should be complete stories which can stand on their own.

8. By submitting a story, authors (and/or their parents and/or guardians) agree that Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and any sponsors or other supporters of the 7 Word Stories Project may use the author’s name, image and all or a portion of the submitted story to promote the project, regardless of whether the story entered is selected as winner. Authors who are under the age of 18 must have the permission of their parent or guardian to submit their work.

9. Employees of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab or any of their respective entities, subsidiaries, and immediate families (spouses, parents, children, and siblings and their spouses) and/or persons living in the same households as such persons of each are not eligible to enter.

10. All applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply. You are responsible for knowing the laws of your jurisdiction with respect to contest entry. The 7 Word Stories Project and these rules will be governed, construed and interpreted under the laws of California. By entering, you agree to be bound by these rules and by the decisions of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, which are final and binding in all respects. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab reserves the right to change these rules at any time, and in its sole discretion, and to suspend, cancel, postpone or extend the project. Individuals who violate or fail to comply with these rules, violate any law, rule or regulation in connection with participation in the application process, tamper with the operation of the entry process, or engage in any conduct that is detrimental or unfair to Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, the application process, any other applicants (in each case as determined in Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s sole discretion), are subject to disqualification.

11. By entering, authors retain their copyright but grant Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab the license to use their entire story for promotion of the scent, contest, and the Lab in general.

12. The Lab agrees to use all commercially reasonable efforts to provide credit in whatever format entrants request (i.e., real name, forum name, other pseudonym).

13. The winning entry or entries will be selected in the sole discretion of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.The Lab reserves the right to select one or more entries based on the quality of entries received. Entries will be judged on their overall narrative, as well as their potential for providing scent inspiration.

Greetings, hedonists. Our monthly Lunacy update is live, and there's a lot to love here. August's three magic words are: Vanilla, Virgo, Themisto!

Hope to see some of you on Friday when we host our Sirens & Sea Monsters Lunacy event at the Lab.

Hi everyone! Out of nearly 200 entries, our random number generator has selected IG user thisgirlgrows as the winner of our Pokemon Go #GottaSmellEmAll contest.

Thank you so much for bombarding us with so much fun and sweetness in your pics and captions, judging this contest was a pure delight.

Thisgirlgrows wins a $40 BPAL gift credit (Winner, please contact us via customer service email to claim your prize!)

We posted a smattering of her contest entry photos on Tumblr:

http://blackphoenixalchemylab.tumblr.com/post/148706162638/and-our-pokemon-go-gottasmellemall-contest-winner

Thanks again, everyone! May your incense reek deliciously to the Pokegods, and all your eggs hatch in a timely manner.

Hello friends! Keep your finger on the refresh button tomorrow: when blood milk jewels' new sister store EXQUISITE CORPSE opens, there will be just 35 bottles of each of the following scents for you to grab up:

LORRAINE CROSS
Steam-distilled Somalian myrrh with wild crafted rockrose, Moroccan rose absolute, and white sandalwood.

PLANCHETTE
A dry, aged Oman frankincense with saffron and rare woods.

OWL MOON
A dark, rooty, sweet patchouli swirled with honey.

If you miss out, never fear: we'll be doing another run of 35 for Exquisite Corpse next month.

Hello, everyone! We're very proud to announce the first phase in a new three-part series of scents inspired by ancient depictions of that most elusive beast: the unicorn. We should have a selection of these (for sniffing and sampling only, not for sale) at tonight's L.A. Lunacy event.

https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/limited-edition/art-of-the-unicorn/

++ART OF THE UNICORN

The saintly hermit, midway through his prayers
stopped suddenly, and raised his eyes to witness
the unbelievable: for there before him stood
the legendary creature, startling white, that
had approached, soundlessly, pleading with his eyes.

The legs, so delicately shaped, balanced a
body wrought of finest ivory. And as
he moved, his coat shone like reflected moonlight.
High on his forehead rose the magic horn, the sign
of his uniqueness: a tower held upright
by his alert, yet gentle, timid gait.

The mouth of softest tints of rose and grey, when
opened slightly, revealed his gleaming teeth,
whiter than snow. The nostrils quivered faintly:
he sought to quench his thirst, to rest and find repose.

His eyes looked far beyond the saint’s enclosure,
reflecting vistas and events long vanished,
and closed the circle of this ancient mystic legend.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

The world is wading through a dark, violent, confusing time, and sometimes it feels like we have no recourse other than to slip into despair. I believe, though, with all my heart, that hope springs eternal. In keeping with that, we present BPAL’s first unicorn series as a symbolic representation of our kinder, brighter selves, the return to wild innocence, and of the possibility of true compassion winning the day.

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

This series consists of three parts, the second of which will be set free next month. Black Phoenix Trading Post will be releasing their Unicorn series in August.

THE ART OF THE UNICORN, PART I

https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/limited-edition/art-of-the-unicorn/

A KING PURSUED BY A UNICORN

Jean Duvet

White oak, pine pitch, and a shattered shard of golden amber.

ABDUCTION OF PROSPERINE ON A UNICORN

Albrecht Dürer

White sandalwood, black currant, and pomegranate.

ALLEGORY OF CHASTITY

Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco

Blushing rosehips, pink rose petals, and vanilla cream with white jasmine and a drop of bergamot.

BESTIAIRE DU MOYEN AGE

Watery cerulean musk winding through crushed grass, apple blossom, wild mint, and pine needles.

CRUCIFIXION

Frankincense, dried red roses, and myrrh with soft orris, labdanum, and red clove.

DES VOS' UNICORN

Maerten de Vos

Sugared peony and rose-tinted vanilla with mallow, white musk, lavender buds, and a touch of apricot.

MYTHOLOGICAL SCENE, WITH A WARRIOR ADDRESSING A LADY OUTSIDE A CLASSICAL MANSION, TWO MAIDENS RIDING UNICORNS BEHIND

Suzanna Duncombe

Florentine orris butter, red sandalwood, white patchouli, leather accord, and ambrette musk with a drifting eddy of King mandarin, wild bergamot, bourbon vanilla, and gold-limned saffron.

OF THE UNICORN

Illustration from "the History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents", Edward Topsell

Patchouli absolute, white orris, agarwood, and ambrette seed.

ORPHEUS CHARMING ANIMALS

Alessandro Varotari

Dark myrrh, teakwood, olive blossom, a scattering of crushed asphodel petals, and a drop of green cognac.

ST. CLARE

White sandalwood and tonka with sweet tobacco incense, vanilla-infused mahogany, rum absolute, and golden oudh.

THE UNICORN, RUSHING AGAINST THE TREE, FIXED ITS HORN SO FAST IN THE TRUNK THAT IT COULD NOT DRAW IT OUT

Kay Nielsen

Ethereal white orris, pale early lilacs, mallow flower, Queen of the Night, white moss, and dusk-lit mist.

UNICORN HUNT

Martin Schongauer

Sweet red amber and red currant swirled with bourbon vetiver, cassis, mimosa blossom, and red wine grape.

It's summertime, and the livin' is decidedly not easy. Callisto, Leo, and White Juniper to the rescue!

++A LITTLE LUNACY: MOONS OF JUPITER

CALLISTO

Tidally locked to Jupiter’s sacred plants: white musk, salt-touched white sage, Oman frankincense, nutmeg, and gently honeyed saffron.

++STARSTRUCK 2016

LEO

Fixed fire: the essence of ambition and confidence. This blend is the distillate of self-assurance and courage, a radiant golden halo of warmth, magnanimity, and loving faithfulness. Utilize this blend to bolster your self-esteem, to assist you in genuinely taking pride in yourself and your accomplishments, and access your inner splendor.

Golden frankincense and sweet amber with Roman chamomile, angelica root, saffron, gilded carnation, and helichrysum.

++SINGLE NOTES

WHITE JUNIPER

Hello everyone, just a note that we'll be vending at the Midsummer Scream Halloween Festival next weekend! The event is on July 30 & 31, you can find out the details from their site below.

http://midsummerscream.org/

Hi everyone! We'll be haunting CBLDF's annual SDCC opening night reception again, and here are the exclusive scents we'll have on offer for $26 -- plus a few Expletives left over from last year!

Event details are all here: http://cbldf.org/2016/07/sdcc-2016-cbldfs-comic-con-welcome-party/

DISRESPECT FOR ESTABLISHED AUTHORITY

Policemen, judges, Government officials and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.

Gleaming black leather with blonde tobacco, copal, and smoked vanilla.

SORDID AND UNPLEASANT ACTIVITIES

If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.

Degenerate, squalid, and utterly wretched: bleached white cedar and bourbon vetiver with poplar, smoked cumin, oak-barrel whiskey, and a dribble of spiced rum absolute.

CRIMINAL GLAMOUR

Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates a desire for emulation.

Gleaming black patchouli and leather, wet with styrax and black amber, and smoothed by velvet oudh and blackcurrant.

Hi everyone, just a reminder that we'll be holding court at the Lab tonight. In honor of the JUNE GLOOM theme, the following scents will be 10% off:

DANCE OF DEATH

DANSE MACABRE

EMBALMING FLUID

JASS FUNERAL

THANATOPSIS

WINGS OF AZRAEL

We'll also still be accepting donations for http://drivebydogooders.org! This month’s special request: SUN PROTECTION. Clear out your old and unwanted hats, sunglasses, umbrellas, tarps, and other protective gear – or pick up something cheap at the store to drop off!

See you tonight?

Here's everything we've got for you this month: Sloth, Cancer, Ganymede, and a Single Note that will keep you up all night long. Happy Solstice!

http://blackphoenixalchemylab.tumblr.com/post/146240607678/a-little-lunacy-update

Hello all! Despite that full-ass moon high overhead, there is NO LUNACY EVENT tonight, anywhere!

Here’s the schedule where/when you can find us in June:

Dirty South JUNE GLOOM Lunacy Event - June 24

Vermont JUNE GLOOM Lunacy Event - June 25

Los Angeles JUNE GLOOM Lunacy Event - June 29

And June 26 at Loved To Death and LTD (FB event page to come).

See you soon!

So thrilled to participate in this fundraiser for Geeks Doing Good! We've contributed some exclusive products (see below) to the list of amazingly geeky sundries you can redeem with your donation.

Geeks Doing Good has contributed to charities like First Book, Mercy Corps, and Heifer International. By supporting their 2016 summer fundraiser, you'll be part of a whole year's worth of world-saving.

http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2016/06/geeks-doing-good-a-birthday-coup/

Surprise, surprise -- it took us a few extra days to pick a winner for the Sloth edition of our ‪#‎BPAL7wordstory‬ contest. During our close review of the 400+ entries, there were many aromatic standouts (in ways delicious as well as sublimely hideous). We'll be posting some of these runners-up in days to come!

However, one of you got a laugh out of Beth which resulted in her returning to this entry again and again. So, prepare thy sin-soaked olfactory sensors for a whiff of Amy DeNies' tribute to pure, unadulterated Sloth:

It occurred to us that you might require a little boost to help you through the coming season! Hence, this update including the latest in our Starstruck astrological blends, a new Single Note, and of course, an appeal to Jupiter by way of His orbiting offspring.

The links to all three on our site are below.

https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/limited-edition/a-little-lunacy-limited-edition/moons-of-jupiter-europa/

https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/limited-edition/single-note-australian-sandalwood/

https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/limited-edition/starstruck-gemini-2016/

It's that time again already...

13 is significant, whether you consider it lucky, unlucky or just plain odd. Many believe it to be unfortunate…

…because there were 13 present at the Last Supper.
…Loki crashed a party of 12 at Valhalla, which ended in Baldur’s death.
…Oinomaos killed 13 of Hippodamia’s suitors before Pelops finally, in his own shady way, defeated the jealous king.
…In ancient Rome, Hecate’s witches gathered in groups of 12, the Goddess herself being the 13th in the coven.

Concern over the number thirteen echoes back beyond the Christian era. Line 13 was omitted form the Code of Hammurabi.

The shivers over Friday the 13th also have some interesting origins:

…Christ was allegedly crucified on Friday the 13th.
…On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and sixty of his senior knights.
…In British custom, hangings were held on Fridays, and there were 13 steps on the gallows leading to the noose.

To combat the superstition, Robert Ingersoll and the Thirteen Club held thirteen-men dinners during the 19th Century. Successful? Hardly. The number still invokes trepidation to this day. A recent whimsical little serial killer study showed that the following murderers all have names that total thirteen letters:

Theodore Bundy
Jeffrey Dahmer
Albert De Salvo
John Wayne Gacy

And, with a little stretch of the imagination, you can also fit “Jack the Ripper” and “Charles Manson” into that equation.

More current-era paranoia: modern schoolchildren stop their memorization of the multiplication tables at 12. There were 13 Plutonium slugs in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apollo 13 wasn’t exactly the most successful space mission. All of these are things that modern triskaidekaphobes point to when justifying their fears.

For some, 13 is an extremely fortuitous and auspicious number…

…In Jewish tradition, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy. Also, there were 13 tribes of Israel, 13 principles of Jewish faith, and 13 is considered the age of maturity.
…The ancient Egyptians believed that there were 12 stages of spiritual achievement in this lifetime, and a 13th beyond death.
…The word for thirteen, in Chinese, sounds much like the word which means “must be alive”.

Thirteen, whether you love it or loathe it, is a pretty cool number all around.

…In some theories of relativity, there are 13 dimensions.
…It is a prime number, lucky number, star number, Wilson Prime, and Fibonacci number.
…There are 13 Archimedean solids.

AND…

…There were 13 original colonies when the United States were founded.

Says a lot about the US, doesn’t it?

This 13 is a blend of blackened cacao and thirteen sacred oils: Siamese red benzoin, olibanum, black copal, fossilized amber oil, sweet myrrh, Coptic rose resin, guggul gum, dragon’s blood resin, Palo Santo, bdellium, dammar gum, and attar of onycha.

https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/limited-edition/13-may-2016/

Hi everyone, there's a possibility that there's something amiss going on with the latest batch of Love's Philosophy.

Initially we thought it might be a batch variation issue, but it could possibly be a case of mislabeling. We are looking into it now and will keep you posted.

SLOTH US IN SEVEN! Our ‪#‎BPAL7wordstory‬ contest resumes, this time with a theme that gives away the inspiration for our entire series. As far as sins go, Sloth poses a unique creative challenge to even the most succinct of storytellers (and to Beth, once a winner is selected).

You have one week to enter, either on Twitter (don't forget the hashtag) or via email: 7words@blackphoenixalchemylab.com. For the complete list of rules, follow the link below.

Ready... get set... SLOTH!!!

http://www.blackphoenixgazette.com/welcome-to-bpal7wordstory-contest-round-two-sloth-edition/

Just a reminder that our Lunacy event in Los Angeles will be on May 21 from 4-7pm. Thanks to April showers, May is absolutely brimming with Les Fleurs du Mal. Please impress us in attire that evokes your favorite poisonous or carnivorous plant; at this event only, all perfume blends from the Rappaccini's Garden series will be 10% off! Also available on the 21st: a new Starstruck blend, a Single Note, and our latest tribute to the moons of Jupiter. Updates will be posted on the Facebook event page, below.

https://www.facebook.com/events/220057875038536/

Dirty South event is May 27, 4-7pm:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1091377070909982/

Vermont event is May 28, 6:30-9pm:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1727196484194880/

Invite your friends, or come and make new ones!

We'll be vending both days of RuPaul's Drag Con! Instead of including all our exclusives below, we'll let spokesqueen Ariel Italic take it from here (the full list can be found in the video's caption):

See you May 7-8!

So much Shiny & New -- Lunacy, #BPAL7wordstory, a CBLDF Kickstarter exclusive, our new Starstruck scent, with an addictive Single Note chaser.

You can browse it all here! (Some of it hasn't been added to the S&N section on the main site yet.)

While you slept, the Carnaval crept back into town... Presenting Act 3, teeming with sideshow denizens and deadly reptilian passions. What astonishments await in the Parliament of Monsters? Can the rumors of an otherworldly “Vulture Maiden” possibly be true?

You’ll have to pay for a peek behind that heavy curtain to find out.

https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/carnaval-diabolique-2015/

As promised, here are SEVEN honorable mentions from our ‪#‎BPAL7wordstory‬ contest, alongside our winner. There are many more we wish we could have included! The scent inspired by @geekdame's story will debut this spring.

Thanks again to all who participated; keep your wits and your quill hands limber, you never know when (or how, or where) we may invite you to use them again.

Hello everyone, we announced this on social media the other day, apologies for waiting till now to post on the forum. Here is the winner of our inaugural ‪#‎BPAL7wordstory‬ contest! Thanks for being patient, your words kept us up all night.

The winning entry comes via @geekdame on Twitter:

A fragrance inspired by this story will be presented in April. Thank you all for your carefully wrought entries, which ran the gamut from humorous to personal to fantastical to downright pornographic. We’ll share some of our Honorable Mentions, and don’t think for a second this is the final chapter in our contest – but for now, it’s all about our winner.

Congrats, @geekdame! We'll all be wearing and smelling your words in the near future.

Hello, Los Angeles! While you're out today, pick up some extra feminine hygiene supplies for homeless women which you can redeem for a free 5ml bottle of our exclusive fragrance SANGUINEM MENSTRUUM. We'll be taking these off your hands at tomorrow's Lunacy event at the Lab proper -- see FB event below.

https://www.facebook.com/events/163049410739338/

Huge thanks to everyone in other cities who've participated in our drive so far. You have vastly improved the quality of someone's day.

At their upcoming Lunacy event on Feb. 18, Loved To Death and LTD joins our crusade to help restore health and hygiene to homeless women. As in our Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Vermont events, donors of $20 worth of tampons and pads will receive the following signature scent:

SANGUINEM MENSTRUUM
It would indeed be a difficult matter to find anything which is productive of more marvellous effects than the menstrual discharge. On the approach of a woman in this state, must will become sour, seeds which are touched by her become sterile, grafts wither away, garden plants are parched up, and the fruit will fall from the tree beneath which she sits. Her very look, even, will dim the brightness of mirrors, blunt the edge of steel, and take away the polish from ivory. A swarm of bees, if looked upon by her, will die immediately; brass and iron will instantly become rusty, and emit an offensive odour; while dogs which may have tasted of the matter so discharged are seized with madness, and their bite is venomous and incurable.
-Pliny the Elder

The copper tang of blood musk, swept by a cloud of dying bees and red poppies of madness.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Also, we are very excited to announce a new winter-edition BPAL scent exclusive to Loved To Death, available in-store and online:

AUSPICIUM MELIORIS AEVI

A sign of a better age: white sandalwood and crystallized vanilla absolute with white amber, Florentine iris, white leather, and red patchouli bursting through melting snow.

Event Adress: 1681 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Time: 4pm to 7pm

Here’s the FB event link. See you on the 18th!