Black Phoenix

[Rheliwen]

Our signature oil. A dark, languid scent. Promotes hedonistic tendencies and extreme self-love. You won't stop kissing mirrors for a month.

Overall, I smell a lot of almond in front of a boozey quality to the blend. I can also detect some cherry and possibly some soft amber in there as well.

Black Phoenix is a bit too tart for me, and the almond doesn't want to agree with me. But if you like this note, Black Phoenix definitely will not disappoint.

[any_old_actress]

FIRST SNIFF - cherry syrup

 

WEARING IT - as it dries a more almond note comes to the surface but the cherry syrup smell still remains lurking in the background. it's a very deep scent, very juicy.

 

VERDICT - overall a nice scent, but too strong on the cherry for my liking.

[Diana]

I've been slacking on reviews lately, and my box of imps has been looking at me with sad puppy eyes. So, here we go!

 

Black Phoenix. This is one I've only ever worn in combination with Snake Oil (which is an AMAZING duo, I might add). Today I am wearing this straight up.

 

In the vial, it's very sweet. The predominant note is almond, in fact, I can't really smell anything beyond the almond extract type of scent.

 

Putting it on wet, it starts to morph immediately. At first it turns into a spicy cola/Dr. Pepper type of smell. Then, a spicey note starts to appear (and the oil begins to burn a bit on my neck). It's pretty damn cinnamon at this stage, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was also a pepper of some sort in the mix.

 

As this dries, it becomes almost floral but not quite. It more of a powdery & resiny type drydown. Like amber and soft sandalwood. The almond note is in the background, lending a slight sweetness.

 

I so am in love with this. The imp has got me once again! Big bottle to be ordered!

[anmorata]

Black Phoenix:

 

Hmm, I thought I reviewed this one already.

 

Wet: Cherry/almond.. very similar to amaretto.

Drydown: I completely lose the cherry/almond smell and this turns to a combination of baby powder and amber. Yech!

Long-term wear: Highly doubtful. I don't enjoy this scent whatsoever. My body chemistry just ruins it.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Super sweet cherry.

 

On Skin: Cherry with some kind of resin. Dark, sweet and hypnotic. After about 10 minutes I smell cinnamon or something spicy strongly.Yes the cherry is kind of cloying and might be too sweet for most if inhaled closely for long. But a quick whiff seems like it would spark attention. Applying sparingly and be prepared to fall in love with this scent. Well, at least for a little while. It fades after about an hour and turns to something almost dirt like on my skin with no echo of what it smelled like before… odd.

[Brianne]

In the bottle/wet on me:

When I first opened my imp of this and put it on, it was the immediate smell of strong almond oil. That's all I could smell, and it smelled wonderful!

 

On me:

Sadly though, this goes straight to baby powder scent after 3 minutes on me. I'm really disappointed in that, because it smelled so amazing out of the vial. I do have to say that I can't smell any of the fruity smell other people are getting though.

 

Final note:

If this didn't go to powder on me, I'd buy a big bottle ASAP.

 

 

EDIT: I wanted to note - quite HAPPILY I might add - that if I put this on anywhere else *besides* my wrists, it doesn't go powdery! YAY!

Edited April 27, 2005 by Brianne

[quikslvr]

Lovely almond start. Darkens to musk/spice. Spices take over, feeling Middle Eastern. Sweet topnote after awhile.

 

I got no cherry, but the almond/musk/spice combo totally sells this for me. I love those notes, and this combo is wonderful.

[Celogrl]

This one has me wondering. I still can't figure out what the first note that hits my nose is! Cherry-ish, but not sweet- almost an overripe winey, cherry type of thing. It changes fast to a warm, dry cherry/berry over powdered spices fragrance. Then it morphs into a lovely impression of powder before **poof**, it's gone. I have to say I LOVE this!

 

ADDED June 11:

 

Black Phoenix drives me crazy! I just wish I knew what the combination of scents was! I put it on, try to figure it out- it's like I know what it is, but can't remember...grrr. I love it, but it haunts me and I just wish I knew. Almond? Not on me This HAS to be the most enigmatic scent ever!

[UltraViolet]

In the bottle

spiced cherry

On

almond and smoky cherry.

Everything is competing at full throttle on my skin and it's almost too much for my nose. There's a deep spiced, smokey cherryish scent and an incensey note that is too far in the background if you ask me.

Dry

This is when it's at it's best on my skin. Everything has calmed down and instead of anything cloying, it is voluptous spiced almond and deep licorice like cherry.

 

Throw:

Medium strong

 

Scent category:

Resin/Fruity/Foody/Spicy

 

Summary

It's best when dry. This is one of those blends that belongs to almost every category as far as my nose is concerned. Foody because of the almond, fruity because of the cherry. Spicy with the incense and smokiness, and resiny from what seems like Dragon's Blood.

 

Purchase again?

Yes an imp, maybe a 5ml.

 

1-5 rating, 5 being best.

3.5 - 4

[Janie]

In the vial, cherry cough syrup.

 

On the skin it starts as almond/cherry, then blooms into a gorgeous, dark, sinfully lascivious scent. All dark, swirly and gloriously noir sillage.

 

Don't be put off by the opening notes, give this a spin on your skin.

[joseybird]

This reminds me very much of a cherried Alice--I smell almond, cherry, carnation, and perhaps something slightly milky. It's pretty and soft, and entirely different than what I expected

[nineveh]

I wish the notes were listed for this one, since I have a hard time picking stuff out if I don't know what to look for, but I will try.

 

First, this is definitely almond; Seraglio taught me that. Then, as it dries, it becomes spicy and incensy; maybe it's clove. Actually this is like a darker version of Seraglio, which I found to be rather cheerful.

 

This is dark, warm, sexy, and smoky: definitely my kind of scent.

[drugstore cowgirl]

In the bottle I don't know what this smells like. It smells like none of the other imps I got. There's something sharp about it.

 

Wet Oh yum. Cherry and almond. I was informed by a very good source that it smells very much like Burt's Bees Almond Lotion when it is being made. So, hot almond lotion.

 

Five minutes after application Powdery old lady. It just turns so rapidly and badly on my skin. Alas.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 3/5

Summarised in a word or two: Sweet!

 

In the imp/bottle: Fruity and foody. Almond!

 

On skin, wet: I can usually tell between cherry and almond, but this one confuses me. Beyond that, I can't discern any specific notes. It's so fruity and sweet, you'd think it'd be syrupy.

 

On skin, dry: A fruity musk for a while, it eventually becomes a sweet, dark and spicy fruity... thing. Way too sweet for a perfume for me, but nice.

 

Conclusion: This reminds me of Jailbait, light on the bubblegum, heavy on the musk and candy. I don't know about kissing mirrors, but I do know I twisted the hell out of my wrist trying to keep it against my nose. It's tooth-rotteningly sweet, but lovely. But as a perfume, probably not for me.

Edited December 16, 2005 by Aredhel

[wildeblack]

I really, really wish that I had liked this one. Unfortunately, it's one of the first ones that even in the imp I kind of had an ick reaction. :/

 

Imp: Anybody remember the old formula jergen's lotion? That's what this smelled like plus some cherry cough medicine. It's very strong, syrupy, with a bitterness underneath it to my nose. Jergen's Lotion was cherry almond, so I'm guess this is cherry, almond and some darker wood note or possibly a dragon's blood blend.

 

Wet: Gamely I tried it since many scents change once on the body. Still cherry almond darkness. Some of the fragrance I'm associating with medicine fades once it hits the skin so it's more hmm. It's also giving me a headache.

 

Dry: Okay, the cherries to me smell sweeter, perhaps a little more like ...I dunno cherry body powder or cherry bubblegum but whatever it is that's giving me a headache just won't quit. Still darker and resinous.

 

Later: This one obviously does not have my name on it. I had to go wash it off and that didnt' quite do it. My loss is someone else's gain however.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): This smells absolutely WONDERFUL. It's very sweet smelling, but completely foody. I have the feeling I am going to love this one.

 

Just On: Whoa, this is toothachingly sweet, and I LOVE it. As it goes onto my skin, it starts to morph slightly, but it's still very sweet.

 

An hour or two later: This has faded from the sweetness to an almost sweet bandaid smell. Fresh bandaids, not gross old icky ones, but still bandaids.

 

Around 6 hours: Still have the sweet bandaid thing going on. If this won't work on my skin, I may wind up with a really nice smelling room.

 

12 hours: It's a skin scent, very mild sweetness, and a little tiny hint of incense in it now.

 

Overall: It started out very lovely, went through a few hours of sorta ickiness, and then faded out to a lovely skin scent. I think this is a good scent locket or room scent one. Maybe even a parfum spray.

 

After reading other reviews: I'm going to guess that the sweetness is the almond coming out on me. I can't figure out what caused the bandaid thing though. I did swap this away, but only because I really really wanted to try something else. I might consider a big bottle of this even if it doesn't work on me, as I love love love the scent when I don't put it on.

[mobilejessie]

This one wins the award for "biggest transformation ever".

 

I got it as a freebie in my most recent order from the lab. I'd wanted to try it for a while, but never ordered because of the reports of almond in the blend. I absolutely HATE the way almond oil smells on my skin, so I assumed that Black Phoenix would smell like complete ass with my body chemistry.

 

At first, I was 100% right. I put it on and gagged. Almond makes me smell like I recently fell into a compost heap and am now using a mixture of lye and my own urine to clean it off. Yes, it smells THAT bad on me.

 

That "bog of eternal stench" reek lasted all of 5 minutes on me. I hovered over the sink with soap at the ready when *BAM* the entire room suddenlt smelled of rose. That lasted for another five minutes when some kind of magnificently dry, cinnamon-y scent bubbled up from under the rose and made my skin smell so good that I had to sit down on the edge of the tub. I spent 10 minutes sitting and sniffing before my fiancé came in and asked if I was ok. I had to run back into the living room to put on nearly half of the imp on every piece of exposed skin.

 

I think that this blend is making me slightly crazy! I want to rub up against the parts of my body that smell like Black Phoenix. I want to do what my cat does when I come home from work, and just roll around on the floor smooshing my face up against my wrists. I may not be able to leave the house today.

[pensive]

Foodyfruityspicy. On me, anyway.

 

In imp: Almondy. Twinged with cherry.

Wet: like the imp.

Drydown: Spicy almonds. Mind you, I like almonds.

Impression: This is one crazed scent.

Verdict: A lower priority bottle next to some other things I've tried lately but a bottle eventually would be neat. Need a couple friends to smell this, I think they'd love it.

Edited June 14, 2005 by pensive

[blaqpearl]

This one was too fruity on me. I am not a berry person. But I had to try the best company in the world signature scent. I will pass this on to another willing person.

[DameBecca]

In the bottle: Very heavy sweet almond and a touch of musk and/or spice.

 

Wet on the skin: Almond is still there but musk and spice are coming out, maybe even a little bit of myrhh…it's really similar to Hecate. There is a little rose note now, that may be what I was getting the powdery scent from. The rose is coming out more, but it's keeping it's spicy notes. Spices are similiar to those in Morocco. I still think there might be some myrhh in there.

 

Drydown: Very powdery myrhh and rose. Loses most of the musk/spicy scent.

 

Overall: Myrhh and rose are two of the worst notes on me, they go super powdery. So, this is a no for me, sadly.

[Em-]

A couple of things that you might have noticed if you've read a few of my reviews - 1. I often just buy things in swaps on whims based on the description and maybe a review or two and 2. I shy away from not knowing notes.

 

But I tried Black Phoenix, because, well, how could I not?

 

In the vial, this smelled absolutely edible in the vial...a sordid, dark twisted sour fruity kind of edible, but quite yummy...someone mentioned irresistable poisoned fruit? Something like that.

 

Unfortunately on my skin it quickly transformed through three stages - a similar fruity stage, which was okay, but which quickly gave way to a sour musk, which was slightly less okay, then to baby powder which is not okay.

 

Phooey.

[QueenFae]

A wonderful, sweet, addictive scent. I can smell both the cherries and the almond that others have noticed, but oddly, it's overall not what I generally think of as foody. It's a perfumey, dark sort of cherry, evil and sexy. God it's an awesome smell, I can't stop sniffing my wrists! There's an underlying sugar smell, or maybe it's vanilla, like the undertone that comes out on me when I wear snake oil. What a fabulous signature scent for the lab! I love love love it! Already added to my 5 ml wishlist.

[sookster]

ghadzhooks....OMG

 

hands down the most divine scent ever!!!!

 

in this particular order.......i get almond, cinnamon, dragon's blood, a floral hint or some sort of booziness...like a drunken black cherry perhaps.....

 

positively astounding and amazing and worthy of a big honkin bottle for my next purchase

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression: Dark,Warm,Spicy & Sexy...

I can detect a fruitiness and maybe almond? Such a well blended oil, I am unable to pick out specific notes other than what I have said thus far... I can certainly understand why it is a signature oil...This is a keeper for sure

[ashtonrose]

I wanted to love this one, but all I got out of it was cough syrup. Robitussin DM to be exact. Bummer...