Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - "51"
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 2:30:00 AM
This is one of those BPAL oils that I probably would have passed right over if I hadn't gotten a frimp in one of my purchases. I've been trying a lot of heavier oils lately, with dark elements, patchouli and other resins, serious stuff... But then here comes 51, something buried in the GC, and it blew me away. I've heard that BPAL can't really do fresh or green, but this one works beautifully. I get a good kick of guava, but it isn't a sickeningly sweet guava that you'd expect. I can pick up the honeydew, neroli, mandarin and amber as well. I adore fresh scents, and I hadn't really tried too many of BPAL's others. I am so glad that I got the frimp of this, it is already a HG.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Poisoned Apple
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 2:25:00 AM
Yum. This is a gorgeous, inviting apple scent that isn't your typical apple cinnamon foody blend. As a matter of fact, I don't think I'd eat these apples at all! The other review that says "apples and fall" hit the nail on the head. To me, these are the ripest apples that fall from the tree in an orchard, landing on a bed of crunchy dried leaves. The opium smoke is amazing and it really does awesome things as it sits on your skin. At first, Poisoned Apple is a bit sweet, but once the smoke kicks in you will keep smelling yourself to find out what new combination the morphing has brought. But it is good morphing, trust me. I adore Poisoned Apple, it is one of my favorites.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Aeval
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 2:21:00 AM
I don't like sweet pea and I amp white musk a lot, so it is no surprise that I'm not overly fond of this scent. When I smelled it on myself I thought it smelled good, but it wasn't just a smell that personified me.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Belle Epoque 
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 2:19:00 AM
Lily of the Valley is my birth flower, so naturally I adore it. It isn't really a commonplace flower for decoration or for fragrance now, but when white florals were all the rage, it was a key note. Today, sadly, it is classified as a little more "old lady" along with things like gardenia. However, I like it, and Belle Epoque is a nice representation of a pretty, vintage-inspired lily. Some lily perfumes get that sharp pee scent that real lilies are prone to when they're overripe. This scent, thankfully, doesn't have that at all. I get the opium note, and I get the vanilla, but my favorite thing is how nicely the lily melds with the other notes.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - The Peacock Queen
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 2:16:00 AM
Another really top-notch rose from BPAL. It is a lot different than some of the others. While Rose Red, it's counterpart in the Yule collection, is bright and fresh, Peacock Queen is the rose that has been sitting in the vase for a few days, speckled with dust, and perhaps just beginning to wither. It is gorgeous, but it is a little more dark and ominous than Rose Red.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Black Opal
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 2:07:00 AM
Please pardon any spelling errors, lacking punctuation, or utter nonsense because I will spend the entirety of this review weeping as I have never wept before. Many beauty products have come and gone in my life, and sometimes a special one gets discontinued and I feel a bit sad. When I got the email that Black Opal had been discontinued I felt something much deeper than that. It is one of my all-time favorite scents, and I also only have a half-bottle. It was one of the standouts in BPAL's GC line. I sparingly use the little bit that I have left, and hopefully someday in the near future I'll be able to score another full or partial bottle so that I can keep the precious for a long, long time. I don't really know what it is about this scent that I adore so much, but it is just so *me.*
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Ultraviolet
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 2:02:00 AM
Straight-up minty violets. It was so violet-y that I felt as if I had just eaten one. This is one of the small list of BPAL favorites that just isn't for me. It lives up to the name, and the notes are very true to the description given by the lab. It just doesn't fit my tastes.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Eat Me
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 2:01:00 AM
If I were truly hard-pressed to name an absolute favorite BPAL oil, Eat Me would be one of the top candidates. It was my first 5mL bottle, but nostalgia aside, it smells awesome. My quest for a dark, rich, but still sweet currant scent came from my love of LUSH's You Snap the Whip. To be quite honest, no one makes a perfume that smells exactly like that, and this one doesn't even smell that much like it, but the yummy currant goodness is there in both products. Eat Me smells more like a fluffy white cake (or maybe a scone, since it isn't too sweet) drowned in fresh currants that had been soaked in booze. (Someone make a recipe so I can bake that now plz.) It wears incredibly well, and while it does smell foody it doesn't smell cheap or juvenile. In spite of the fact that it has relatively few notes, it does have a nice depth. My bottle is aged a couple of years and I can tell you this one gets better with time. (I think any BPAL with vanilla or food scents gets better with age.)
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Cheshire Cat
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 1:56:00 AM
Cheshire Cat definitely evokes the character we're all familiar with. To compare it to another well-known BPAL oil, I would say that it reminds me of a loopier, fruitier Dorian if you axed the tea in the latter. The citrus is strong and clear, but it doesn't overpower. I think the bitterness of the currant and the deepness of the musk keep this from being too much like Dorian. (However, if you are a fan of Dorian, definitely try this if you haven't already.)
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Blood Amber
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 1:52:00 AM
This is one of my favorite BPALs, and it is the one that made me fall in love with the dragon's blood note. It is a perfect balance between the glowing amber and the murky blood. It is sexy, bold, sophisticated, pretty, seductive, all while still smelling unique. I don't even know what else to say besides this oil is truly amazing.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Black Lotus
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 1:50:00 AM
Why such dismal reviews for this one? I have tended to like most of the BPAL oils that have "black" before a flower or a jewel name. Black Lotus isn't perfect by any measure, but I love sandalwood and myrrh, and amber is probably one of my top five all-time favorite notes. That said, Black Lotus isn't nearly as "black" to me as some of the others (ie Black Pearl, Black Rose.) I like it nonetheless, and I adore that it can still be dark without being heavy, goth, or weird.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Aizen-Myoo
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 1:43:00 AM
I really like this blend, and it smells divine on me, but it doesn't last very long at all. I usually don't have much of a problem with getting good wear out of my BPAL oils, but this one just vanishes for some reason. I think Aizen-Myoo is Dorian's Eastern cousin. They're similar in the tea/citrus, but where Dorian is more balanced in terms of harmony of the notes, Aizen-Myoo is much more bright, sunny citrus tempered with a kiss of tea. I don't really smell the cherry blossoms per se, but I think they do add to the overall brightness. I will continue to experiment to see if there is a way I can get this to work. I wish I could give it a higher rating, but since it doesn't last I just can't.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Rose Red
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 1:40:00 AM
My bottle is from the most recent Yule update (2011.) As I mentioned in some of my other reviews, I really adore BPAL's rose-based scents, and since everyone said this was basically the freshest, prettiest rose out there I knew I had to try it. The hype didn't lie. Rose Red is the richest, prettiest, velvetiest rose out there. It doesn't turn old lady or soapy or fake or chemical-y, it just stays fresh and perfect. A++++++ on this scent, it is a HG for sure.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Black Rose
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 1:38:00 AM
Another beautiful, interesting rose. When I first got in to BPAL I wanted to try all of their rose scents to find something that made me as happy as Stella McCartney's Stella. This is a double-edged sword, because BPAL has hundreds of scents that employ rose. However, Black Rose is already one of my favorites. It probably has the closest description to Stella (rose & amber), but it actually ends up being a lot better than Stella. Part of this can probably be chalked up to chemistry and delivery method, but I also think that darkening the rose with a bit of musk really brings it to another level of sexiness. This is a very empowering scent for me, and I really adore it. It is dark, yet also inviting.
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Fragrances -Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Blood Rose
slippingbeauty 3/10/2012 1:34:00 AM
I really adore the dragon's blood resin note, which is totally weird and it took me completely by surprise. At first, while trying to keep an open mind, I kept thinking "ew blood so gross who would want to smell like that?" It turns out that *I* want to smell like that. I've actually tried several different scents with dragon's blood, some where the note is more prominent and some where it's a little more buried, and I love it across the board. Here, it is mixed with really rich, velvety roses. This is what the Victorian vampires stalking the dark alleys of London would've smelled like. Dark, seductive, sexy, and dangerous.
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