Day 610 – BPAL’s Burning Book

Tags

book, BPAL, burning, event exclusive, fire, ink, Leather, parchment, San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive, single notes, smoke

Scent Name:  Burning Book

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  Single Note: Event Exclusive Oil: San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive, 7/18/13

Scent Description and Notes: As good almost kill a man as kill a good book; who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye.
— John Milton

Book burning has a long, sordid history of being a tool in efforts to suppress dissenting views. It is a symbolic destruction of ideas, a theatrical ideological exercise in censorship, protest, and fear-mongering.”  –http://blackphoenixalchemylab.tumblr.com/

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company and the phrase “Single Note: Burning Book” in parchment small block font against dark teal text boxes framing the top and bottom of the image.  The phrase “CBLDF SDCC Welcome Party 2013” is just above the company name on the bottom, set against the parchment-colored image in dark teal font.  The image itself is of people burning books.

Image from http://blackphoenixalchemylab.tumblr.com/

Scent:

• ITB: Parchment, ink, and thick leather.  I don’t get burning as much as I do wonderfully bound literature.
• Wet: Ah, now I get the burning part.  It does smell like burning parchment and thick, smoldering brown leather.  Oh, this is great!
• Dry:  The scent is thick with smoke and leather, although faint impressions of parchment and perhaps a little ink remain.

Other Impressions: “Leather and chlorine and a little cocoa butter.  It smells like leather by the pool, literally.” -Tony

Day 609 – BPAL’s Fetish Goth

Tags

bat's day, bat's day 2011, black leather, BPAL, event exclusive, latex, Leather, limited edition, Musk, myrrh, opoponax, patchouli, retail exclusive, skin musk, wet latex

Scent Name:  Fetish Goth

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab – Event Exclusive – Bat’s Day 2011

Scent Description and Notes: “Skin musk, slick black leather and wet latex with dark myrrh, patchouli, opoponax.” – BPAL

Oil Color: I can’t tell because of the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a standard 5ml brown apothecary bottle. The label is black, upon which the scent name is placed vertically along the left of the label while the company name and date are in similar white block font.  There is the purple company symbol than separates the company name and the date.   The art is a chibi gothic character in a corset, undies, garters, knee-high boots holding a riding crop behind her.

Bat’s Day 2011, courtesy of aliciadabney.blogspot.comgoth-tropesl

Scent:

• ITB:  It’s resinous and leathery, like incense smoldering on black leather – myrrh, opoponax, a dab of patchouli on damp skin.  Oh, this could be dangerous!
• Wet: Latex oddly enough comes out as the stronger note on my skin, followed by opoponax, then leather, then myrrh.  Skin musk starts to come through as the scent begins to dry.
• Dry: Leather, latex, myrrh, opoponax, myrrh and musk.  It’s sweet, resinous, and darkly alluring.  Yummy!

Other Impressions: “It’s like musk and myrrh and uh, amber.”

Day 608 – BPAL’s Al-Araaf

Tags

a demon in my view, BPAL, fae flowers, flowers, honey, In Memoriam, lily, limited edition, lotus, lotus root

Scent Name: Al-Araaf

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  A Demon in My View 2005

Scent Description and Notes: “Young flowers were whispering in melody
To happy flowers that night – and tree to tree;
Fountains were gushing music as they fell
In many a star-lit grove, or moon-lit dell;
Yet silence came upon material things –
Fair flowers, bright waterfalls and angel wings –
And sound alone that from the spirit sprang
Bore burthen to the charm the maiden sang:

‘Neath the blue-bell or streamer –
Or tufted wild spray
That keeps, from the dreamer,
The moonbeam away –
Bright beings! that ponder,
With half closing eyes,
On the stars which your wonder
Hath drawn from the skies,
Till they glance thro’ the shade, and
Come down to your brow
Like – eyes of the maiden
Who calls on you now –
Arise! from your dreaming
In violet bowers,
To duty beseeming
These star-litten hours –
And shake from your tresses
Encumber’d with dew
The breath of those kisses
That cumber them too –
(O! how, without you, Love!
Could angels be blest?)
Those kisses of true Love
That lull’d ye to rest!
Up! – shake from your wing
Each hindering thing:
The dew of the night –
It would weigh down your flight
And true love caresses –
O, leave them apart!
They are light on the tresses,
But lead on the heart.

Honeyed lilies, dry lotus root and fae flowers.“ -BPAL.org

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the blue apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml older blue apothecary bottle.  The black-based  label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company in thin white spindly font right in a text box framed that also features the collection name and an Egyptian-stylized larger scent name.  The text box is framed in images of weeping florals and long tree trunks.

Scent:

• ITB:  The powder scent hits he first, then a bit of the honeyed lilies and oddly enough, something that smells like berries.
• Wet: Less powder (thank goodness), more flowery with a bit of the lilies, although the honey scent is in the background. I still get a bit of the fruitiness that I smelled ITB, but not nearly as much on my skin.
• Dry:   I still smell powder, but it isn’t enough for me to vote it off the island. I do smell honey, some lily, but the fruity scent is gone. It’s a sweetly feminine scent, but not something I’d reach for too often.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 607 – BPAL’s Al-Azif

Tags

a picnic in arkham, BPAL, floral, Incense, resin

Scent Name:  Al-Azif

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  A Picnic in Arkham

Scent Description and Notes: “An Arabic term that refers to both the chirping of nocturnal insects and the ambient sound made by the chattering of demons. This is the original title of the feared Necronomicon, the Book of Dead Names, penned by the Mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred.

Nor is it to be thought that man is either the oldest or the last of earth’s masters, or that the common bulk of life and substances walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth’s fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, saving only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind; and of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from man’s truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is Them. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones where Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold. Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, and after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They reign again.

A sinister, sinuous incense of summoning, a herald and paean to the Primordial Gods of Darkness, Chaos, Madness and Decay.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company and the phrase “Perfume Oil Blend”  in thin beige font along the bottom with the collection name in small red block font just above the company name.  The scent name is in black and is centered against a pentacle with an eye in the center.   All of this is set against a dry orange-rind colored label background.

Image from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Etsy page.

Scent:

• ITB: I get heavy resin-type smell, like benzoin, but I also get an exotic floral and something brown and sugary like maple syrup. I’m not sure what floral it is – it may be lily of the valley or something else.
• Wet:  Maple syrup, cedar (perhaps elemi?), pine pitch, incense, and a very faint floral.  Edit:  After a few days, I had to come back to this.  It’s teak!  I’m fairly certain that was the wood note I was smelling.
• Dry: It was woodsy and beautifully resinous and had wonderful throw for hours after application.  I initially thought this was a bit soapy when I first reviewed it in 2011, but it has aged wonderfully.

Other Impressions: “Phew, I don’t know.  I can’t place it.” -Tony

Day 606 – BPAL’s Yog-Sothoth

Tags

air, BPAL, darkness, glitter, iridescent, limited edition, oil, springtime in arkham

Scent Name:  Yog-Sothoth

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  Springtime in Arkham

Scent Description and Notes: “It was an All-in-One and One-in-All of limitless being and self — not merely a thing of one Space-Time continuum, but allied to the ultimate animating essence of existence’s whole unbounded sweep — the last, utter sweep which has no confines and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike. It was perhaps that which certain secret cults of earth have whispered of as YOG-SOTHOTH, and which has been a deity under other names; that which the crustaceans of Yuggoth worship as the Beyond-One, and which the vaporous brains of the spiral nebulae know by an untranslatable Sign…

The perfume of eternity in vast, unknowable space. A glittering oil, ephemeral, iridescent, and horrifying in its immeasurable emptiness. This is the scent of air and darkness.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company and the phrase “Perfume Oil Blend”  in thin beige font along the bottom with the collection name in small red block font just above the company name.  The scent name is in a rust color above the star itself and is centered above a pentacle with an eye in the center.   All of this is set against a dry orange-rind colored label background.  It is similar to the image below, but slightly different because it is an older bottle.

Image from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Etsy page.

Scent:

• ITB:  It smells like old musk, light floral perfume, but it is ephemeral as I can’t seem to pine down the notes with any certainty.
• Wet: Okay, I’ve nailed down must, which is almost civet-like, something slightly powdery…it’s so confusing.  There are no florals, no fruits.  It does remind me of air when trying to describe it.
• Dry:   It’s clean like Ivory soap and airy but with the same tones of musk as when it was wet.  How intriguing.

Other Impressions: “It smells like violet candy and bad rose perfume.” -Tony

Day 605 – BPAL’s Cthulhu

Tags

a picnic in arkham, aquatic, BPAL, ocean, oceanic plants, plants, seaweed, water, wet

Scent Name:  Cthulhu

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  A Picnic in Arkham

Scent Description and Notes: “A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company and the phrase “Perfume Oil Blend”  in thin beige font along the bottom with the collection name in small red block font just above the company name.  The scent name is in black and is centered against a pentacle with an eye in the center.   All of this is set against a dry orange-rind colored label background.

Image from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Etsy page.

Scent:

• ITB: Salt and kelp and sea-foam with a touch of something perfume-like.
• Wet:  It’s aquatic, but pleasantly so (which is amazing for my nose).  I get oceanic plants, musk, maybe even faint ambergris and salt.
• Dry: It’s still perfume-y and aquatic, but faintly so.  It’s not bad.

Other Impressions: “Baby powder, pipe tobacco, chocolate, and a tiny bit of cherry.” -Tony.   I’m wondering if he’s smelling the hand soap I used earlier rather than the scent itself.

Day 604 – BPAL’s Loli Goth

Tags

bat's day, bat's day 2010, BPAL, event exclusive, iris, limited edition, Musk, peach, pink musk, raspberry, raspberry leaf, retail exclusive, strawberry, white peach, wild strawberry, wood

Scent Name: Loli Goth

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab – Event Exclusive – Bat’s Day 2010

Scent Description and Notes: “An effervescent combination of pink musk, white peach, wild strawberry, pale woods, iris, and raspberry leaf.” – BPAL

Oil Color: I can’t tell because of the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a standard 5ml brown apothecary bottle. The label is black, upon which the scent name is placed vertically along the left of the label while the company name and date are in similar white block font.  There is the purple company symbol than separates the company name and the date.   The art is a chibi gothic character dressed in a frilly, short black and white dress with her hair in spiral pigtails.

Bat’s Day 2011, courtesy of aliciadabney.blogspot.comgoth-tropesl

Scent:

• ITB:  Slightly tart strawberry, lightly green raspberry leaf, fuzzy pink musk, and a faint peach.
• Wet:  Pink, almost candied musk becomes the strongest note, followed by strawberry and raspberry leaf and then white peach.  Too bad I just spilled it all over my desk, but at least it smells nice.
• Dry:  The pinkness of the must has died down slightly and coupled with the emergence of the pale wood, the scent has taken a little bit more of an adult aspect, although it is still rather “pink” and fruity from the strawberry and peach.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 603 – BPAL’s Cabaret Goth

Tags

Amber, bat', bat's day, bat's day 2011, BPAL, event exclusive, gardenia, limited edition, mandarin, orange, orange flower, retail exclusive, Spice, sweet spices

Scent Name:  Cabaret Goth

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab – Event Exclusive – Bat’s Day 2011

Scent Description and Notes: “Inspired by European perfumes in the 1920’s: gardenia, amber, mandarin, orange flower, and sweet spices.” – BPAL

Oil Color: I can’t tell because of the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a standard 5ml brown apothecary bottle. The label is black, upon which the scent name is placed vertically along the left of the label while the company name and date are in similar white block font.  There is the purple company symbol than separates the company name and the date.   The art is a chibi gothic character dressed in a corset, high-low skirt, boots, and tiny hat.

Bat’s Day 2011, courtesy of aliciadabney.blogspot.comgoth-tropesl

Scent:

• ITB:  It’s musky and reminds me of orange-infused cheesecake for some reason.
• Wet: Gardenia, orange, warm and sensuous amber along with a hint of spice.
• Dry:  After 15 hours,  it’s still lovely – orange flower, amber, and a dash of super fain gardenia and spice.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 602 – BPAL’s Bly

Tags

BPAL, floral, limited edition, rain, stone, summer flowers, the turn of the screw, yule, yule 2012

Scent Name:  Bly

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  Yule 2012: The Turn of the Screw

Scent Description and Notes: “Rain-lashed stone and fading summer flowers.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company  in thin beige font along the bottom and slightly larger and thicker font along the top for the scent name.  Both of these items frame the brown/sepia-toned image of the mansion Bly.

• ITB: Glade-reminiscent “rain” scent, although it is rather artificial, paired with light florals and something that seems a little off, like quince.
• Wet: The flowers are a little stronger still and the rain scent is still a bit fake, but the off note I was smelling earlier isn’t nearly as prevalent.
• Dry: Sadly, it dries down to smell like fabric softener dryer sheets.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 601 – BPAL’s Mrs. Grose

Tags

black tea, BPAL, limited edition, mixed spice, rosewater, Spice, tea, the turn of the screw, yule, yule 2012

Scent Name:  Mrs. Grose

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  Yule 2012: The Turn of the Screw

Scent Description and Notes: “Mixed spice, rosewater, and black tea.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company  in thin beige font along the bottom and slightly larger and thicker font along the top for the scent name.  Both of these items frame the brown/sepia-toned image of the older maid in a bonnet who is looking off to the side with her back to a partial portrait on the wall.

• ITB:  I get bready spice, but faintly so, but that’s it as far as what I can smell out of the bottle.
• Wet: Fruit cake spices, more nutmeg and clove, and scented black tea with a subtle hint of rose.  Oh, how lovely!
• Dry:  The only difference between its wet state and now is that the rosewater is a little more clear to the nose.  Otherwise, it’s spicy and makes my mouth water.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 600 – BPAL’s Thirteen (13): May 2011

Tags

13, BPAL, cacao, cacao absolute, caraway, cardamom, carrot seed, cubeb, devil's bit, ginseng, grains of paradise, honey, limited edition, May 2011, patchouli, red sandalwood, rose otto, saffron, sandalwood, vanilla, vanilla absolute, yohimbe

I found one more 13 while trying to organize my bottles.  Whoops.  On the other hand, this does mark my 600th post.  It boggles my mind a bit to think I have this much perfume.  However, I still have a whole box of BPAL left and then an entire drawer of designer scents.

Scent Name:  Thirteen (13)

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  May 2011

Scent Description and Notes: “This 13 is all about getting lucky! A base of rich cacao absolute and honey with thirteen lust-inspiring oils: patchouli, vanilla absolute, rose otto, red sandalwood, devil’s bit, caraway, cardamom, cubeb, carrot seed, ginseng, yohimbe, saffron, and grains of paradise.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company  in thin red font along the bottom. The image is a large cutout 13  with roses inside the cutout on black background.

Scent:

• ITB:  Cacao, vanilla, grains of paradise, and red sandalwood.  It’s interesting so far.  It has a paper-y quality to the scent.
• Wet:  It’s strangely woodsy and papery on my skin.  The cacao becomes nearly invisible to my nose whereas the sandalwood, caraway, cubeb, grains of paradise, and faint rose otto become more dominant.  However, the scent is still rather light and is staying close to my skin.  As it starts to dry, it takes on a lemony quality and then it begins to have throw.
• Dry:  It went through a stage during dry down when it became heavily incense-laden.  Now, it’s cacao, vanilla, ginseng, cardamom, light patchouli, honey, and saffron.  IT’s rather nice, actually – a solid blend.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 599 – BPAL’s The Governess

Tags

BPAL, bruised violets, green tea, limited edition, Musk, orchid, tea, the turn of the screw, vanilla, vanilla orchid, violet, white musk, yule, yule 2012

Scent Name:  The Governess

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  Yule 2012: The Turn of the Screw

Scent Description and Notes: “Brittle white musk, bruised violets, vanilla orchid, and green tea.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company  in thin beige font along the bottom and slightly larger and thicker font along the top for the scent name.  Both of these items frame the brown/sepia-toned image of the governess reading in her study.

• ITB:  Candied, bruised violets, vanilla orchids, and subtle green tea.  Gorgeous!
• Wet:  Much the same with more subtle violet, although there is more green from the tea and the delicate musk has started to show.
• Dry:  After about 30 minutes, the violet, vanilla, and musk blend to make a beautifully introspective and feminine scent.  I wish I had more than a couple imp’s worth.

Other Impressions: “It smells like tobacco and berries.” -Tony

Day 598 – BPAL’s Spirits of the Dead

Tags

a demon in my view, BPAL, coffin wood, dry tea leaf, In Memoriam, limited edition, linden blossom, orris, papyrus, tea, wood

Scent Name:  Spirits of the Dead

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab – A Demon in My View

Scent Description and Notes: “Thy soul shall find itself alone
‘Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness – for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.

The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne’er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.

The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!

A shuddering white scent, of ghostly breath and stony silence: dry tea leaf, linden blossom, papyrus, orris and coffin wood.“ -BPAL.org

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the blue apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard older blue apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company  in thin white font partway from the bottom.  The collection name is in the same font along the top.  The scent name is in Egyptian-esque font along the middle.  The entire image is framed in ghosts and spooky trees come alive.

Image from ebay.com

Scent:

• ITB:  I get dry tea leaf and linden blossom from the initial sniff.  It’s already a bit haunting, but beautiful.
• Wet:  The linden blossom is a bit clearer here, but the tea leaf and papyrus are not far behind.  There is a faint powderiness from the orris root, but I’m not picking up any of the coffin wood yet.
• Dry:  After a few hours, the orris root becomes more apparent, but it still contends with the linden blossoms and the dry tea leaf.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 597 – BPAL’s Thirteen (13): April 2012

Tags

13, April 2012, Basil, Bells of Ireland, blood-flower, BPAL, carnation, chamomile, champaca, champaca flower, chocolate, eggplant flower, heather, honey, limited edition, orchid, pink heather, Rose, stephanotis, sweet basil flower, tiare, white carnation, white chocolate, yellow rose

Scent Name:  Thirteen (13)

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  April 2012

Scent Description and Notes: “This 13 contains thirteen flowers of good luck swirled in white chocolate and a touch of honey: white carnation, stephanotis, blood-flower, yellow rose, eggplant flower, tiare, chamomile blossom, champaca flower, pink heather, wild orchid, pink peony, sweet basil flower, and Bells of Ireland.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company  in thin white font along the bottom. The image is a large cutout 13  with flowers inside the cutout on a bright orange-y yellow petal-textured background.

Scent:

• ITB:  White chocolate, honey, basil flowers, heather, rose and some “blue” smelling flower of which I’m not sure.
• Wet:  White chocolate and strong wildflowers are the most evident – heather, basil  chamomile, carnation, followed by sweet yellow rose, champaca flower, and tiare.  It’s certainly much more floral than any other 13 I have tested.
• Dry:  Now that the scent has had a few hours to settle, it’s mellowed into white chocolate, honey, tiare, and wild flowers.  It’s pretty, actually.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 596 – BPAL’s Thirteen (13): July 2007

Tags

13, BPAL, chocolate, clove, cocoa, cocoa absolute, ginger, golden peach, honey, July 2007, limited edition, massoia bark, orchid, peach, starfruit, vanilla, vanilla bean, white chocolate, white ginger

Scent Name:  Thirteen (13)

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  July 2007

Scent Description and Notes: “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?

A base of cocoa absolute and white chocolate with thirteen baneful and beneficial bits including vanilla bean, white ginger, orchid, golden peach, massoia bark, clove, honey, and starfruit.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company  and the collection  in thin, stylized creamy white font along the bottom. The image is a large green 13 on a pink background.

Scent:

• ITB:  It’s cocoa, white chocolate, and vanilla with just a tad of fruitiness and a little floral.  It seems much more feminine than the tentacle or black label 13’s.
• Wet: Cocoa, ginger, vanilla, honey, clove, and nutty massoia bark, although it starts to develop a little more fruit as it begins to dry.
• Dry: White chocolate, faded honey, massoia bark, vanilla, peach and starfruit.  It dries much more fruity than I would have originally suspected.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 595 – BPAL’s Thirteen (13): November 2009

Tags

13, baneberry, black hellebore, black incense, bluebell, BPAL, chocolate, cypress, dark chocolate, dark chocolate fudge, datura, flowers, fudge, hellebore, hemlock, hemp, herbs, Incense, Musk, musk seed, myrrh, November 2009, opoponax, prune, resin, snakeweed, tobacco, vanilla

Scent Name:  Thirteen (13)

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  November 2009

Scent Description and Notes: “It’s Friday the 13th in the Miskatonic Valley! A base of Mother Shub’s dark chocolate fudge, raw vanilla, and sibilant black incense dusted by thirteen merrily malefic, ill-omened herbs, resins, and flowers: prune, musk seed, baneberry, myrrh, wild tobacco, hemp, datura, bluebell, cypress, hemlock, snakeweed, opoponax, and black hellebore.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company nearly along the bottom in thin white block font in a black text field.  The name of the scent is a 13 out of green tentacles, which is the primary focus of the image,  The background features falling snow and the image is also framed by tentacles.

From ebay.com

Scent:

• ITB:  Dark chocolate fudge is correct!  There is also black incense, prune, vanilla, and just a little green (hemlock, I think) present so far.
• Wet: Warm chocolate fudge, vanilla, incense, prune, faint tobacco smoke, and bluebell.  It actually reminds me of a cafe next to an overgrown garden.  Interesting.
• Dry: The incense and herbal notes with touches of florals becomes more dominant than the fudge, although that is still apparent.  The prune and vanilla are still there but faintly so, which give it an interesting sweetness.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 594 – BPAL’s Thirteen (13): February 2009

Tags

13, African ginger, allspice, BPAL, brown sugar, chocolate, dark chocolate, devil's shoestring, February 2009, ginger, herb, Jamaican ginger, limited edition, lucky hand root, nutmeg, star anise, sugar, thyme, Tonka

Scent Name:  Thirteen (13)
Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  February 2009

Scent Description and Notes: “Considering the state of the economy and other worldwide woes, I think we all need a little extra dose of good luck. A sweet, comforting base of dark chocolate and brown sugar with thirteen herbs of good fortune, including nutmeg, Tonka, allspice, star anise, Jamaican and African gingers, devil’s shoestring, lucky hand root, and thyme.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company along the bottom a newsprint-inspired text.  The name of the scent is situated in much larger font of the same variety directly above it.  The label itself is entirely black.

Scent:

• ITB:  Warm, dark chocolate, allspice, thyme, and a dash of ginger.  It certainly is more herbal than the 13 I previously reviewed.
• Wet: It’s very herbal on my skin.  Heavy thyme and ginger start of the scent, which is then followed by the chocolate, nutmeg, allspice…and more ginger.  I can pick up just a little bit of sugar, but none of the tonka or lucky hand root.
• Dry:  I thought this wasn’t a ginger of doom scent, but alas, here comes the headache.  If it wasn’t for the ginger not agreeing with me, I’d like it.  It reminds me of  gingersnap cookies spices with nutmeg and all spice.  It’s really nice, but not for me.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 593 – BPAL’s Thirteen (13): July 2012

Tags

13, Amber, Balm of Gilead, black amber, BPAL, burgundy pitch, cacao, dragon's blood, dragon's blood resin, Frankincense, hiba wood, honey, July 2012, limited edition, myrrh, oak, oak leaf, opoponax, patchouli, pitch, saffron, vanilla, vanilla bean

I’ve decided to review all the remaining 13’s that I have.  This way, I have a basis of comparison when reviewing each.

Scent Name:  Thirteen (13)

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  July 2012 7/12/12–7/15/12

Scent Description and Notes: “This 13 was created by Brian Constantine. Voluptuous and somber: a Thirteen created as a reflection on the capricious nature of Tyche – bittersweet cacao and dragon’s blood resin sweetened by honey and vanilla bean, brightened by saffron, and touched by the contemplative depths of oak leaf, solemn opoponax, frankincense, myrrh, black amber, hiba wood, aged patchouli, burgundy pitch, and Balm of Gilead.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company along the bottom in a parchment colored block font set against a black field.  The name of the scent is situated in much larger white stylized block font along the right.  The image itself is of Tyche spinning her wheel of fate.

Image from prettysniffies.tumblr.com

Scent:

• ITB:  The full force of the cacao assaults my nose.  I’m having trouble getting past this on my initial sniff. After I spend some time, I can tease out the patchouli and the vanilla bean, but the cacao is rather intense.
• Wet:  Ah, here we go.  Cacao, honey, vanilla, something that comes off as floral, and opoponax.
• Dry:  Now it’s like fiery, resinous cacao from the dragon’s blood.  I can still pick up the vanilla, but now there is some saffron, frankincense, myrrh, and amber.  It’s delicious!

Other Impressions: As someone who isn’t a foody person as all, this scent is a huge win.  I’m so happy I bought a bottle of it.

Day 592 – BPAL’s Frederic 2012

Tags

Amber, amber musk, bay rum, black tea, BPAL, chypre, currant, English rose, Leap Day 2012, limited edition, Musk, patchouli, red currant, Rose, rum, salt, tea, tobacco, tobacco absolute, wood

Scent Name: Frederic

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  Leap Day 2012

Scent Description and Notes: “FREDERIC 2012
Now with more pirates!

For some ridiculous reason, to which, however, I’ve no desire to be disloyal,
Some person in authority, I don’t know who, very likely the Astronomer Royal,
Has decided that, although for such a beastly month as February, twenty-eight days as a rule are plenty,
One year in every four his days shall be reckoned as nine and twenty.
Through some singular coincidence ? I shouldn’t be surprised if it were owing to the agency of an ill-natured fairy ?
You are the victim of this clumsy arrangement, having been born in leap-year, on the twenty-ninth of February;
And so, by a simple arithmetical process, you’ll easily discover,
That though you’ve lived twenty-one years, yet, if we go by birthdays,you’re only five and a little bit over!

Alas, poor Frederic the Leapling! – bound to the merry Pirates of Penzance until his twenty-first birthday.

As his birthday comes around only every four years, so does his scent!

Victorian whimsy and piratical romance: a reluctant seaman’s chypre sloshed with a mix of bay rum, patchouli, amber musk, salty woods, tobacco absolute, black tea, English roses, and red currant.“ -BPAL

Oil Color: – I cannot tell the color of the oil by looking into the brown apothecary bottle.

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company along the bottom in a light, very light mint block font set against a black field.  The name of the scent is situated above the image, also in mint font and inside a black text box.   The image is of a red coated pirate pointing off in the distance, set against a Jolly Roger flag.

Scent:

• ITB:  I get rum and thick patchouli with a little bit of salt.  Attractive.
• Wet:  Thick, black patchouli steeped in bay rum surrounded by tobacco and red currants.  As it dries, I get a bit more amber musk.  It’s lovely and dashing.
• Dry: The salty wood reminds me of the shore along the Washington coast.  After that, I can detect patchouli, light tobacco.  It’s a bit more manly and pirate like once dried.

Other Impressions: None.

Day 591 – BPAL’s Wake

Tags

bitter orange, BPAL, compass points, cumin, grapefruit, juniper, juniper berry, lemon, lemon balm, limited edition, orange, orange blossom, peppermint, pink grapefruit, the land of dreams, tuberose

Scent Name: Wake

Manufacturer:  Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab –  The Land of Dreams: 3/6/12 – 5/8/12

Scent Description and Notes: “I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand—
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep—while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Pink grapefruit, peppermint, orange blossom, bitter orange, juniper berry, cumin, tuberose, and lemon balm.“ – BPAL

Oil Color: – (Cannot tell in brown apothecary bottles)

Bottle Design and Artwork:  This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle.  The label extends just under halfway around the bottom.  The label features the name of the company along with collection in white block font in a black field bordering the image.  The image itself is of a compass point (north) and part of a compass, but one that is sketched rather than a single line.  The name of the scent is in black block font right at the East compass point.

Image from scentbase and http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com

Scent:

• ITB: IT’s herbal and bright from the citrus.  I can pick out the grapefruit, bitter orange, peppermint, and cumin, which smells really good together with the citrus notes.
• Wet:  The peppermint is a bit stronger on the skin, but it still does not overpower the bitter orange and pink grapefruit.  As it starts to dry, the lemon becomes apparent as does the juniper berry, but only slightly slow.  It does make me feel more invigorated, which is problematic as I’m testing this around my bedtime.
• Dry: The citrus is more muddled here, but it is still pleasing and bright.  I can pick out just a hint tuberose, like someone wearing that perfume who had walked past you 5 minutes ago. There’s a little dustiness from the cumin as well and a hint of green astringency from the peppermint.  I will be trying this one in the morning as well to see if it perks me up.

Other Impressions: None.