Black Phoenix Academy for Wayward Ghouls

[Seajewel]

A haze of strawberry musk and coconut-fluff fur.

[Threemoons]

Oooh, first to review, how exciting!  I am a sucker for the Lab's strawberry note and was intrigued by the idea of Strawberry Musk.  So, even though I do not need any more gourmands, I couldn't resist.  In the bottle:  Fresh juicy strawberries, all mooshed up!  On, wet:  Strawberry starts to open up even more, almost starting to be like strawberry jam but not THAT sweet.  A tiny bit of dried sweet baker's coconut starts to peek its head out in the background.  Drydown:  After several hours, I'm left with an interestingly powdery sort of strawberry skin musk, with only a very faint echo of coconut.  Where this scent starts and where it ends are two very different places, but it's definitely All About the Strawberries here.  Lots of throw wet; medium wear length and low throw once dried; stays very close to the skin.  

[Tamarinda]

What a mistake it was to test this scent not long before I was scheduled to shower. What a waste!

 

In the Imp: strawberry kool-aid and dried, shredded coconut. 

 

Wet: Strawberry macaroons! 

 

Dry: Sweet strawberry pie with coconut cream whipped cream over a lovely, light perfume smell.

 

I 1,000% need a bottle of this.

 

EDIT FOR UPDATE: 11/30/2021 My decant is now two weeks old. ALL the coconut has disappeared. It still smells like kinda strawberry kool-aid in the imp and once dry, it has a candy fruity perfumey smell that is not unpleasant, but the coconut was what made this truly magical for me. That is now gone and I am sad = (

Edited December 1, 2021 by Tamarinda
UPDATE:

[fairybites]

This smells like strawberry jam on my skin, like a Sufganiyot scent, topped with sweetened shredded coconut. It turns into a strawberry cream cheese frosting scent when it's dry. It morphed quite a bit on me during the drydown. At times it smelled like bubblegum, other times it was like the liquid Amoxicillin I had to take as a kid. As it fades, it smells like Kool-Aid.

 

This is my favorite of the 2021 Liliths so far, it's just beautiful no matter what stage it hit and reminds me of so many strawberry heavy BPALs I love like Rattlecans and Sliders or Rope Pulley. If you like jammy scents like the Sufganiyots and BPAL's strawberry note, this is fantastic! The throw is pretty good too.

[lakeplacidskater]

In bottle: Oh my goodness, it smells like REAL STRAWBERRIES! 🍓 

 

On wet: I get STRAWBERRY EXPLOSION (in a good way) backed up by the faintest hint of REAL coconut (not fake perfumy coconut). 🥥 

 

Drying: Still strawberry, although it gets faint, fast. I don't really smell the coconut anymore, although I sense it's there, making the strawberry a little blurry/fuzzy (now I get what the "fluff" component of this was)...

 

Dry: Hello coconut! While the strawberry is still on top, the coconut is peeking out gently (is that a thing?) and I can smell it much more now. 

 

Throw/wear: At first, I could smell this from my wrists as I type this, but after about five minutes, I can no longer smell it. If my wrist is inches away, I CAN smell it though, so....I guess low throw? 

 

Overall thoughts: I'm a gourmand-fruity scent fan, so I expected to like this one. I'm a bit disappointed that there isn't much throw, but then again, maybe I don't want to smell like a walking strawberry lol. I love BPAL's "juicy peach" note, so I expected this to be similar, but with strawberry, and it met my expectations. The only thing I wish was more prominent was the "coconut-fluff fur" note, which I interpreted as similar to the fuzzy note of This is a Perfume about my Dog Eating Peaches (but with coconut, obviously), maybe that was my misinterpretation... but it's still quite nice. 

 

My mother worked at a convent as an activities director (basically, throwing parties for elderly nuns) and one summer she organized a strawberry shortcake social outside, overlooking the Hudson River. This scent is my first strawberry scent, and when I was thinking about it, Wayward Ghouls reminds me of that event, the sweetness of the strawberries floating on the breeze. This feels like a summer scent to me, but I will probably wear it all year round. 

[splendidissima]

Oh, gosh, it's a strawberry shortcake! Or a strawberry pie! With some coconut whipped cream! Mmm.

 

This is definitely a sweet candied strawberry - maybe even a little artificial, not in a bad way, but like thick strawberry gloop, syrupy and squishy. Plus a fluffy poofy airy topping, also lightly sweet (not too sweet), made with shredded coconut. I would absolutely eat this, or maybe drink it - if you added some rum, it could be a strawberry daiquiri!

 

Fairly low throw, but it seems to be lasting a while, clinging to my skin. I thought I'd like this one, and I do indeed!

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet strawberry, coconut and sherbet. It smells sweet, floofy, and coconutty. Medium throw and wear length.

[groovyrooby]

Finally! Success with a strawberry! Success with a confection! These notes have been so tough for me to make work, but I keep on trying, and this is a payoff!

 

This is a syrupy sweet strawberry, like a daiquiri mix, or a delicious strawberry bubble gum. Many strawberries I've tried have that initial punch and then it disappears into whatever floral (usually) notes are at the base. But this gave me a good couple hours of sweet, sweet strawberry delight. Husband, the fruity candy expert, said it was more of a baked goods smell. I'll take it. Minimal trace of plastic if I really stick my nose down into it and try. But the waft is just candy sweet strawberry fun. YAY!

* oh i see @splendidissima felt the daiquiri vibe, too! yep, something about this particular strawberry - i want to drink it.

[vanilla323]

This was delicious strawberry jam on me. Almost like a single note. Very sweet. Throw and staying power were low though. As most overly fruity scents can go on me. 🍓

[dancingchair]

When I first got this, it was pure, jammy strawberry candy. I didn't get much coconut at all. Now, several months later, I get much more coconut. The strawberry is somewhere between one of those old school strawberry hard candies and a strawberry daiquiri. There's a richly sweet coconut note somewhere underneath it that kind of reminds me of cream of coconut. It dries down to fluffy coconut clouds and the sticky memory of strawberry candy.

 

This is something I have to be in the mood to wear, but it works very nicely for layering.

[tinyvulture]

Black Phoenix Academy for Wayward Ghouls - Strawberry and coconut. It’s funny I don’t think I’ve ever seen those two notes combined before. It’s nice, very summery, think lounging by the pool drinking Kool-Aid and slathering on the coconut sunblock!

[pinkgyrl]

I adore this blend! 

I get a candyish sparkling strawberry scent with a gentle musk softly cradling the predominant strawberry.  On me, the musk seems to work by blurring the edges of this scent creating a soft fuzziness.  After the strawberry settles in, I can catch a couple whiffs of a baking type of coconut.  
 

This scent ends up being softer than expected and more of a whisper versus a louder bakery scent.  I wish it lasted longer (as with most things in life, hehe), but this is a happy and innocent scent, and it uplifted my mood and made me smile.  
 

Clouded strawberry candy resting upon airy whisps of coconut. 💕

Edited March 30, 2023 by pinkgyrl