Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab: An Introduction

Today, this lovely post introducing us to Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is written by Jen Meade.

When not adoring her daughters, Ara (3) and Lulu (6 months), Jen works as a freelance makeup artist in the VA, DC, MD area. She is obsessed with Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, legal dramas, custom-mixing lipglosses, writing her blogs, and schmoozing on Twitter.

She runs two blogs:  Beauty School Blog (about beauty, duh!) and The Nail Ninja (bet you can’t guess what this one’s about!).

Is it possible to bottle the scent of Heaven?

I suppose that depends on what “Heaven” smells like to you, but I’m willing to bet the answer is “yes” and that proof lies at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

You may or may not have heard of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab before. Known as BPAL by it’s many fans, the line has a definite edgy feel that may intimidate some people – but I wish those folks would poke a little further. Once you really take a look (and hopefully a sniff!), you’ll see that there’s beautiful poetry to be read, quirky pieces of art to be seen, and delectably well-blended scents to be worn.

More than 1,300 scents have been created by The Lab since it opened, though some were Limited Edition or have since been discontinued (making them super collectible). You think you’ll do anything for that old LE MAC blush, but would you pay the $800 someone spent on eBay buying a bottle of BPAL a few years ago? That’s how good these scents are! Don’t worry: a bottle fresh off the site retails for approximately $15, though some LE items may be more. You’re bound to find your “Heaven” in the array of scents The Lab has available, and if you’re looking for something a little more naughty than heaven well, you can find that there too!

Learn more about BPAL!

BPAL fragrances are oil blends, which takes some getting used to if you’ve only ever used mainstream alcohol-based perfumes. The oils are intense, but very human-friendly; they are hand-blended and made with all-natural ingredients. In addition, most are vegan (though some contain beeswax or honey) and absolutely none of them are tested on animals. These perfume oils come in 5mL glass vials with pretty paper labels, though a unique sampling system allows you to try almost any scent in a smaller portion referred to as “an Imp’s Ear” (or simply “Imp”). Imps are $3.50 each, or six for $19.50. Limited Edition items, some special collections, and scents created to benefit charities cannot be sampled. An unrelated fan-based forum, BPAL Madness has reviews of almost every scent, and you can check out reactions and scent descriptions there if you want to research before you buy.

Founder and perfumer Beth Morriarty Barrial has an impeccable nose and a real gift when it comes to taking a theme, place, work of art, or concept and bringing it to life through scent. While many of the concepts are “gothic” or seemingly pagan, others follow themes like Alice in Wonderland (“Mad Tea Party”) and Love (“Ars Amatoria”). BPAL scents range from light florals to robust spice and incense blends to the sweet taste of a peppermint stick. I promise there is something there for every single person, and the process of searching for your matches can be fun and incredibly rewarding.

The perfume oils appear small when held against a big old bottle of that department store perfume, so some may assume they’re very expensive, comparatively speaking. But BPAL scents are way more concentrated: an eau de toilette is usually 4% – 10% perfume oil, while BPAL’s scents are 15 – 80% perfume oil and contain no fillers. In other words, “a little dab will do ya”! As for packaging, I love the little vials and their unique and artistic labels. Using BPAL is a multi-sensory experience from looking at the old-time-y vial, to holding the glass bottle in my hand, to the smell of the perfume itself.

My own personal Heaven never leaves my side (seriously – I keep a vial in my little wallet!). It’s called Morocco and can be found in the BPAL theme “Wanderlust”, a series of scents based on locations around the globe. Morocco is described in this way: “The intoxicating perfume of exotic incenses wafting on warm desert breezes. Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia.” I knew the minute I saw it that I wanted to try it. I honestly can not remember if my first bottle was a PR sample or not, but I do know I have bought several since! I adore wearing it “neat”, straight on the skin, but also like it mixed into unscented lotion and slathered all over. At times, I’ve tried it in a massage oil blend and have put it in an oil burner and scented the house. MMMM…. Divine!

“On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it,” said Jules Renard. Which piece is yours?

To become a guest blogger on Temptalia, check out all of the details here.

Estee Lauder’s Pure White Linen Pink Coral ($72.00 for 3.4 oz.) is the newest addition to the White Linen perfume franchise. Pure White Linen emerged originally, and then a derivation thereof in Pure White Linen Light Breeze. In June, Pure White Linen Pink Coral joined the family.

Composition

• Top Notes: Apple Blossom, Clear Aldehydes, Waterfruits, Pink Peppercorns, Chinese Berry Mist
• Middle Notes: Jasmine, Pink Peony, Camellia Flower, Cherry Blossom, Sweet Pea, Honeysuckle
• Base Notes: Vanilla, Heliotrope, Sandalwood

I had never taken a sniff of the original White Linen scent, because I come from a family that’s terribly irritated (nose-wise) from fragrances. Growing up, perfume was completely off-limits, and there’s no real way to sneak wearing perfume when you have a bunch of sensitive noses around the house! (Trust me, I tried a few times… spraying outside, but they’d know when I came home with the scent still lingering.)

Perfume was always this unattainable product category that I was like, “I can’t wait until I move out of the house so I can wear perfume everyday!” Turns out, unfortunately for me, that a lot of perfumes tickle my nose in rather…unpleasant way, so I actually wear very light scents when I do wear them, and I’d say only a few times a week at that.

Estee Lauder describes this scent as a soft floral, “The tender fragrance to live in all year long. It sweeps over the senses, gentle as the ocean at dawn in waves of sea-kissed Apple Blossoms, Waterfruits, Sweet Peas and Camellias blushed with Honeysuckle and Sandalwood. You’ll love how you feel in Pure White Linen Pink Coral.”

The scent of Pure White Linen Pink Coral is that of a lightweight, softly sweetened floral. It feels young, not quite as sophisticated as the other scents in the franchise, and it just has that feel like they were going for a younger demographic. It opens with the crispness of green apples and lightness of berries. As it wears, the sweetness of honeysuckle and jasmine start to appear, and gives you a more obvious floral scent. Finally, the dry down is a very tried-and-true combination of vanilla and sandalwood.

I feel like this isn’t a unique scent, but it’s a very wearable scent. It’s light, tame, and all-occasion appropriate. It’s probably more suitable to a subtle summer scent than perhaps fall, but I know others, like me, prefer lighter scents year-round, too. I think if you are, generally, a fan of Estee Lauder scents, you may find this scent too much like a redux and merely milking the White Linen chain than an original creation by the perfume giant. I like it, but it doesn’t grab me enough at the open nor at the end, so it’s not something I’ll personally be wearing often.

• Product: 21/30
• Value: 8/10
• Ease of Use: 3/5
• Packaging: 3/5

Recommendation: For a soft, flirty sweetened floral, Estee Lauder may have your poison!

Availability: EsteeLauder.com

MAC Trend F/W ‘09 Collection Review: Asphalt Flower

Asphalt Flower is described by MAC as, “A deep dark, erotic fragrance that takes its place in our Trend F/W ‘09 collection as the aromatic complement to this alt-fashion look. Features glossy violet and iris petals, vanilla and patchouli with top notes of violet, ylang-ylang; mid-notes of iris, heliotrope and a finale of olibanum, patchouli and M∙A∙C signature vanilla.”

I’m still a bit under the weather, so it’s hard for me to review something I’m only partially smelling, but I’ll tell you what I can so you have at least some inkling of whether or not this scent is for you. Once it dries down, I detect just a hint of floral, some patchouli, and a little sweetness of vanilla, but it smells a bit soapy to me.

I will also say that I am so glad to see MAC put out a fragrance as a rollerball scent. It’s so much easier to apply and great to keep in your purse for on-the-go. The bottle itself has a great clear to black gradient that looks exactly what I’d expect from MAC. Such an improvement over the Stylistics scent Air of Style, which had a fantastic bottle, but it was utterly impractical and sits in a drawer somewhere because it can’t stand up on its own whatsoever!

Lacoste Challenge Eau de Toilette Spray ($40.00 for 1.6 oz.) is a cologne with a tennis theme. The top notes are “The Serve” and include tangerine, lemon, and a “burst of” lavender. The middle notes are “The Volley” and include spice and ginger. The base notes are “The Baseline” and include rosewood, teak, and ebony. The bottle itself is designed to resemble the handle of a tennis racket.

The cologne opens with a fresh, lightly citrus-y scent that’s a little synthetic, but not unpleasant. Once the middle notes take place, there’s a bit more spiciness, kind of a lemon on black pepper feel. Eventually, it dries down to a soft, smoky, woody scent. While the scent doesn’t strike my fancy initially (it’s just so-so) initially, I really like the dry down. I like catching a whiff of this on my boy when I cuddle close. It’s masculine without being overwhelming, and it has this just slight smokiness that smells really sexy! (This is not BBQ-pit smoky at all–this is very sensual.)

The packaging is fun, though don’t let it mislead you, there’s more bottle hiding behind the “handle.” It actually made an apt cologne to give my boyfriend to test, because my boyfriend loves tennis. I personally would have thought to use a tennis star as a promoter rather than Hayden Christensen, but it doesn’t affect the product itself. My only complaint about the fragrance is that it doesn’t last all day. It does have a tendency to fade quite a bit after five or six hours of wear.

• Product: 7/10
• Value: 8/10
• Ease of Use: 8/10
• Packaging: 8/10

Recommendation: For a scent that isn’t musky, but still masculine with a woody, smoky scent, try this.

Availability: Sephora

Pacifica Lotus Garden Spray Perfume ($22.00 for 1.2 oz.) is a soft scent of citrus-y floral. You can detect a little hint of grapefruit, but overall, it’s a very light, feminine floral scent. Pacifica describes this scent as “[a] meditative and intoxicating blend of sparkling yuzu, lotus blossom, jasmine, olibanum and bright, radiant green notes.”

For me, this is a fragrance that’s great for everyday wear; it’s not strong or particularly noticeable from across the room, but it’s a scent that just works. Even though I do like perfumes and the like, I tend to choose subtler scents on an ongoing basis and save the more potent scents for special occasions. (I think it’s probably because stronger scents tend to cause my allergies to flare up.) I find the scent lingers for a few hours before dissipating a bit. It’s been one of my favorite everyday scents this past spring, and I’ll continue to use it throughout the summer, too.

Pacifica is cruelty-free (they don’t use beeswax either!), are working towards carbon neutrality, and their packaging is recyclable and made with recycled content. Pacifica products do not contain parabens, propylene glycol, phtalates, synthetic dyes, triclosan, or sulfates. Their products are 100% vegan, which is definitely something that can be hard to find for some.

See more product photos!