Blood and Judgement So Well Commedled Pefume Oil by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

Blood and Judgement So Well Commedled ($23) is part of the Lilith 2015 limited edition perfume oil collection, created to celebrate the birthday of the daughter of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's (BPAL) creative force of nature, Elizabeth Barrial. I say force of of nature mainly because of how prolific she is in creating a myriad of scents that continue to bring me back each year to acquire a few more. BPAL's catalog is truly staggering.

This year I wanted to venture outside of the traditionally Halloween influenced or gourmand scents and expand my horizons, which resulted in taking a chance on Blood and Judgement so Well Commedled. Here is a glimpse of what inspired this particular blend:

This year, Lilith started cultivating a love of Shakespeare, especially Hamlet. Man, this kid loves that play. I assumed, when we started talking about Shakespeare’s works, that she’d love the comedies, particularly Midsummer Night’s Dream and all its attendant fairies. Nope; it’s all about the mopey Prince of Denmark and his teen angst. 

When she started at her Shakespeare summer camp this year, one of her teachers asked which characters she liked best. She replied, “Horatio.”
“Horatio? But he doesn’t have many lines, does he? Why do you like him so much?”

“He’s Hamlet’s best friend, he’s always there for Hamlet, and he’s the only one that doesn’t die.”  A little kid’s interpretation of Hamlet’s BFF. A scent of kindness and devotion, friendship and loyalty.

Lilith watching Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet with her trusty sidekick, Wednesday. (Source)

Notes:  soft brown leather and brushed suede with bourbon vanilla, toasted almond, tonka bean, and amber.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this one, having not tried any of BPAL's leather scents. I'm a fan of amber and almond seemed fairly safe, so I tossed the dice.  And, I won. This one plays nicely with my skin chemistry and it truly smells like suede to me:  soft, brown, comforting, and unisex.  

I cannot tell individual notes and it does not morph wildly on me, although reviews on BPAL's forum are all over the place. Some people smell gasoline, some cherry almond, and there were more than a few comments on it smelling sharp, but I had none of those issues. There is no accounting for skin chemistry, I guess.  My favorite comment from the BPAL forum:

"There's a touch of sharpness from the bourbon vanilla and/or almond if I get close, but basically I'm trailing a cloud of "I am a good person" smell." -a little too imp-ulsive

I like mixing my BPAL oils with jojoba oil and applying them on still damp skin fresh from the shower, and when I do that I get an all day but soft fragrance. Blood and Lust So Well Commedled does not overwhelm even straight from the bottle and has good longevity but low throw.  I'm very happy I stepped outside of my comfort zone with this one, definitely a nice addition to my collection.

My Lupercalia Selections from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's (BPAL) perfume oils continue to be one of my favorite ways to wear fragrance, and I chose two scents from this year's Lupercalia offerings.  For those not familiar with the term Lupercalia, it's an ancient ritual (possibly pre-Roman) where people took part in activities to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility.  It was celebrated around the time we now have Valentine's Day, although experts disagree on if our modern customs originated from Lupercalia.

BPAL, with it's love for the arcane, gothic, pagan, and otherworldly, releases a collection of limited edition scents "for the lovelorn and lustful, the depraved and the intemerate" in preparation for  Lupercalia/Vaentine's Day.  My choices this year were Aristocratic Couple and Haunted Bonbon.

Aristocratic Couple has a simple note list of "Bourbon vanilla, preserved apricot, and cardamom".  This is a potent little blend on me, starting off with a creamy sweetness that reminds me more than a bit of a 2012 Lupercalia scent I have called "The Vine", with notes of "Bradford pear, honey, and vanilla cream".  Aristocratic Couple replaces the pear with apricot and makes the base a bit darker in tone, more like a sexy older sister to The Vine's precocious teen.  Now, if you can't make out the label on Aristocratic Couple, it's a Japanese couple in the act of copulation.  BPAL actually has a warning posted on the Lupercalia section alerting people to the adult nature of the collection, just so you know :-)  I have to be careful to not over apply Aristocratic Couple or it becomes cloying, more because of it's strength/sillage rather than not liking the scent.  I can't say that I'm picking up the cardamom note, although I'm not sure I'd know it anyhow.  One source describes cardamom as "lemony and camphorous", but I mainly smell apricot preserves and sweet cream with a tinge of smokiness in Aristocratic Couple.  I like it.

Most of the holiday oriented limited edition collections feature a set of core catalog scents married to a specific note, and Lupercalia usually focuses on chocolate (Halloween was pumpkin, Christmas was ginger).  So, from the Box of BonBons collection (noted on the site:  This year’s Box of Bonbons is particularly peculiar) I selected Haunted BonBon, a "dark chocolate with thick golden amber and murky black musk". I really had no idea if I would love or hate this, given the original Haunted's description as "A mournful, poignant scent, thick with foreboding", but fortunately I love it.  It's actually quite soft with a rather dry and dusty cacao that is warmed by the golden amber.  This is not a gourmand or foody scent to my nose, and the black musk makes it more of a skin scent with soft sillage.  I can still faintly smell Haunted BonBon at the end of the day, so it wears well, but it's an intimate as opposed to "in your face" kind of scent, and my favorite of the two based on initial impressions.

I've got BPAL postcards stuck to my refridgerator with magnets, but I'm not sure I'm going to post this one - it scares me.  I don't want to get up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water and see a demon feeding people to monsters on my fridge.  The four free imps I received as all scents I didn't already have, which given the hundreds of scents in BPAL's catalog, is not that surprising:

Baobhan Sith:  The ghostly White Women of the Scottish highlands. They seduce unwary travelers by night with their unearthly beauty and mesmerizing dancing. They engage their victims in a wild, hypnotic dance, and once they reach exhaustion, exsanguinate their partners with their vampiric kiss. Grapefruit, white tea, apple blossom and ginger.  

Alice:  Curiouser and curiouser. Milk and honey with rose, carnation and bergamot.

Intrigue:  A sultry, exotic scent that inspires devious plotting and clandestine affairs. It is a scent painted in artifice, veiled in deceit, and slithering with whispered secrets.  Black palm, with cocoa, fig and shadowy wooded notes.

Miskatonic University:  A venerable New England university, whose vast library holds many rare, diabolical and obscure arcane works, including one of the few surviving legitimate copies of the Necronomicon.  Home to innumerable scholars of the esoteric and the occult, and the notorious Dr. Herbert West.  The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls.

The Lupercalia scents are live until April 6th, when they disappear - some forever, some until next year.  I'm happy to add these to my growing collection!

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Halloween: Visions of Autumn III and Pumpkin I

Yes, I know that Halloween is way in the back mirror, but I just received my Halloween Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL)  order, and wanted to share it with you.  If you are not familiar with BPAL, they specialize in

"formulating intriguing, compelling body and household blends with a dark, romantic, and sexual tone. Our scents run the aesthetic gamut of romance era, Renaissance, Medieval and Victorian formulas, pagan and mythological blends, and horror / Gothic-themed scents."

BPAL's catalog of scents is vast, and I've mainly restricted myself to the limited edition holiday scents released for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day.  This year, I chose Pumpkin I from the Pumpkin Patch collection, and Visions of Autumn III.  One I like, and one I love!

Pumpkin I is pumpkin cream with cardamom, black tea, allspice, and ginger milk.  First, let's start with what it's not:  a sweet pumpkin spice potpourri type of scent.  It starts off with a bit of a "red hots" type of cinnamon blast, although cinnamon is not in list of notes.  After 10 minutes or so it settles into a dry spice/black tea scent that is very reminiscent of the International Foodpak store near where I work.  I go there occasionally to order a gyro for lunch, and on the shelves around the store are dry spices, tea, dried fruits, nuts, candy, wine, and various other offerings from around the world.  I like this one a lot, and it's different from other BPAL scents I've acquired.

Now for the one I love, Visions of Autumn III.  Featuring notes of Bourbon vanilla, aged patchouli, honey, and Ceylon cinnamon, this one is smooth, smooth, smooth from the get go.  The honey gives it a touch of sweetness without being cloying, and the cinnamon is firmly in the background.  This leaves the Bourbon vanilla and patchouli, which provide a rich, warm, comforting scent that I will wear all year round.  Seriously, one of my favorites from BPAL thus far, and there have been a few.

I lucked out with the frimps (free imps, or samples) that I received as well, with my favorite thus far being the bright green Hemlock.  My only frustration was waiting almost a month to receive my order, but that's about par for the course with BPAL during the holidays.  Patience is a virtue, and the scents are usually well worth it.  I'll leave you with a close up of a many legged visitor during a picture session, which seems appropo of Halloween and BPAL's dark sensibilities:

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Halloween 2013

Disclaimer:  I purchased these.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL) is a company I probably never would have discovered if it were not for beauty blogs, in particular Musings of a Muse.  I've spent hours reading descriptions of the hundreds of perfume oils they offer since then.  My collection has slowly grown in the last three years, and I can honestly say I've enjoyed all but one of the scents I've ordered!

My growing BPAL collection

The site can be intimidating unless you realize it's not something you are going to be able to take in at once.  I've learned over time that there are the general catalog scents which are available year round, and then there are limited edition scents for each month, as well as special limited edition collections built around holidays, literary works, or any other number of inspirations.  To say BPAL is prolific would be an understatement.

Halloween 2013 haul

Halloween collection scents, or Weenies as they are affectionately known, are much anticipated for BPAL fans.  This year I acquired three of the Weenies and another LE scent called Tarantula Fascinator. 

All Souls 2013

A day of remembrance and intercession. Without the prayers and sacrifices of their families and loved ones, the faithful departed may not be cleansed of their venal sins, and thereby cannot attain beatific vision. On November 2nd, prayers are sung and offerings are made to aid lost souls in transcending purgatory. An incense blend that invokes the higher qualities of mercy and compassion, mingled with the soft, sugared currant scent of offertory soul cakes.

I've got a weakness for incense blends, and this one also has elements of another of my favorite BPAL scents, "Eat Me" from the Mad Tea Party collection, described as  "three white cakes, vanilla, and red and black currants".  Yum, incense and cake.  All Souls is one of  Halloween scents offered in different years, hence why you will see the year after the name.  The scent may change slightly with each year's variation.  Check out the label with the witches around the cauldron!

Ooky

2013's Ridiculous Halloweenie! Less spooky than Spooky, and nowhere near as creepy as Creepy, this is the scent of lightly spiced pumpkin candies, decorated with thick marzipan, sweetened with buttercream, and decorated with a touch of lemon zest.

This is nowhere near as sweet as I was expecting, and I say that in a good way.  The buttercream is dominant at first, but there is definitely a dusting of dry spices that tones down anything sugary.  Quite lovely, especially after drydown when the end notes emerge.  Of all the labels, I'm finding the doll carrying the doll to be the most creepy.

There is something very "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" about it.  If you are not familiar with this 1962 classic, it's worth finding a copy to watch. 

Samhain in the Pumpkin Patch

Samhain in the Pumpkin Patch is a pumpkin'ized hybrid version of Samhain, one of BPAL's classic Halloween scents.  Samhain 2013 is described as "Truly the scent of autumn itself - damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein."  Now pumpkin'ize that.  This one is the most gender neutral of the 4 I purchased, and it does indeed capture a crisp fall day, perhaps at a farmer's market?  After hours of wear I could smell pipe smoke - sweet and almost chewy. 

Tarantula Fascinator

The last scent is not part of the Halloween collection, although the tarantula reference puts it in that category, at least in my mind.  Lillith is the daughter of BPAL founder/owner Elizabeth and her husband Ted, and in honor of her 5th birthday there is a collection of scents inspired by her.

This summer, Lilith got to play with a ton of bugs, reptiles, and other wigglies during a special event at her preschool. She made a new friend that day - Ursula the Tarantula.

"Lilith, what would a tarantula smell like?"

"Maybe fuzzy chocolate? With stripes?"

Done and done: fuzzy cacao-drenched hazelnut with hay absolute, black pepper, and nutmeg, laced with stripes of wild plum and white sandalwood.

I believe Tarantula Fascinator may be my favorite!  While it starts out heavy on the cacao, it mellows into this gorgeous smooth blend.  I smell "purple", which is perhaps the plum, but the pepper and nutmeg is in the mix as well.  I think the sandalwood is grounding everything and giving it that smoothness.  I'm glad I took a chance on this!

BPAL always includes "frimps" (free imp's ears) with your purchase, and this time I got 8 of them:  Tavern of Hell, Tushnamatay, Aperotos Eros, Kill Devil, Fire for They Stepmother's Daughters, Tweedledee, Faustus, and Dorian.  This is a great way to sample some new scents, and imps of general catalog scents can be purchased as well.  They are $4 each or 6 for $22, so to get 8 of them free is quite generous!  They will be added to my growing imp collection.  On days where I have no scent in mind to wear, I pull out an imp and go on a scent adventure.

Enclosed postcard

My full bottle BPAL collection now stands at 16, which is quite small in comparison to the some committed BPAL fans.  There is also a BPAL forum where you can read reviews, get recommendations, and better familiarize yourself with the BPAL world.  Fair warning:  it can be a bit addictive.  General catalog scents are $17.50 and limited edition scents are $23 for a bottle.

I'd love to hear about any BPAL favorites you may have.  The Halloween collection will be live through December, so there is plenty of time to indulge if so moved.

Loi Krathong from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

How to describe Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab? The simple way would be to say they develop perfume oils for the home and body, but that doesn't quite capture it. You really must explore their web site to get a feel for them, but here are a few words that apply: gothic, mythological, Renaissance, magik, pagan and horror. The collection of scents run in the hundreds, with regular catalog collections such as the Mad Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland, Illyria the Shakespearean Collection, and A Picnic in Arkham inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovely artwork adorns the site - just check out the current drawing on the main page celebrating Lupercalia, an ancient pastoral festival held to avert evil spirits, purify the city, and release health and fertility. This festival was traditionally held between February 13-15 and was the forerunner of Valentines's Day. BPAL also releases limited edition scents for major holidays, with the Lupercalia collection currently available. I have to respect the creativity of a perfumery that released Christmas collections inspired by such diverse literary works as Frankenstein and The Little Match Girl. I just do.

So, having recently discovered BPAL, I have started a collection that consists of 6 full size bottles and numerous imp ears and frimps. Hmroo? Imp ears are sample size vials (1/32 oz) and can be purchased for $4.00 each or six for $22.00. Imp ears are not available for all the collections or for limited editions, but are a great way to try scents they are available for without committing to a full bottle. Frimps are free imp ears that BPAL includes with a purchase, and I must say they have been more than generous in this area. I discovered one of my favorite general catalog scents, Othello, when the lab sent it to me as a frimp.

The majority of the full size bottles I've purchased have been limited edition scents, which are available for only a specified time. Loi Krathong was a limited edition scent offered back in October of 2011:

The Festival of Lights! On the evening of the twelfth full moon of the Dai calendar, small lotus-shaped offering boats are released out to the rivers and canals of Thailand, carrying prayers and wishes out into the waters. It is a preparation for renewal, and a time for releasing and banishing the darker parts of ourselves.

Banana leaves, betel nuts, coconut bark, spider lilies, candle wax, and incense.

I love this scent inspired by the "festival of lights".

(Photo Source: http://www.loynava.com/loykrathong-bangkok.html)

It is smoothly blended and very well balanced, with the incense being the predominant note I smell. Yet, I can also smell the candle wax and picture the banana leaves and coconut bark floating down the streams and rivers. I admit I have no idea what banana leaves and betel nuts smell like, but part of the beauty of a scent is the imagery or feelings they can evoke. I purchased Loi Krathong for $20 and and now regret not getting more than one, as once the limited edition scents are gone, they're gone.