Black Phoenix

[Maleficium]

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

first impression: cherry, sticky sweet candied cherry. amaretto, and liqueur. definitely some muskiness happening here!

after several minutes of wearing, the muskiness is amplified.

there is a rose/powder note that i detect upon drydown. Fortunately, it has enough of that malevolent sweetness present to make me think "well i'll be keeping this imp".

[jkfagtongpun]

In the imp: cherry cola or Dr Pepper, which I love. This very exciting!

 

On wet: The cherry cola-ness is there but not as cherry cola-ish and there is something gritty here. It reminds me of Brimstone so could be the patchouli?

 

Drydown: It goes to powdery floral, exactly the same as Hell's Belle for me. So, perhaps they share the same floral note(s)? Too headachey I'm afraid.

 

Sad, sad face.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Dr. Pepper, Dr. Pepper, Dr. Pepper! I'm thirsty just sniffing it.

Wet: I get rose, cherry, and myrrh. Oh my god, delicious.

Dry: Powdery rose. Such a shame - if it had kept its wet scent, I'd roll about in the stuff daily. Alas, alack.

[bellumed]

In the imp: Cherry cola, Dr. Pepper, blech.

 

On me: Cherry (which I don’t like) and almond (which bores me). Someone compared this to Hell’s Belle and I definitely get that: the same heady florals are there, but not as noticeable. And now I can smell the nasty rose from Pride coming out. Oh man, this is so completely, hilariously not for me.

 

I don’t feel like kissing mirrors, but I do feel a little bit like kicking myself for buying this without checking on the notes. When will I learn? Cherry doesn’t work for me, even if I want to like the blend for other reasons.

Edited June 28, 2012 by bellumed

[Morsigne925]

Freshly applied: This smells to me like smelling and/or tasting amaretto - very strong and tart and sweet right after it's on. Can't say I'm complaining I love me some almond scents

After a while: It really does remind me of amaretto and coca cola or dr. pepper or some other sweet drink - it smells the way they taste. It gets slightly less sweet and more musky the longer it sits on me. Really do like this scent! Will have to wear it a few times befre I decide if it's a bottle scent or not

 

EDIT AUG 2014:

 

In the imp and on skin wet: POWERFUL cherry-almond soap

 

I haven't put on any more than I normally do from imps and can say with certainty this is a very strong scent. As it dries I like it a bit more, it tones down some; overall it seems to remain an almost boozy cherry almond soap to me. Not sure how I feel about it really...it's not a bad scent, but it's a harsher one that overwhelms my nose a little when I sniff my wrist directly the way I have for other scent reviews. This one will have to go in the undecided pile for now - not 100% I want to swap or keep it. 3-ish stars at the moment.

Edited August 22, 2014 by Morsigne925

[stellamaris]

As soon as I see reviews that say "Bleech cherry cough syrup gross and yucky" I run to press the Buy It Now button, but somehow I have avoided buying the BB of Black Phoenix, and I thank the Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla for selling me hers.

I love this. It's cherry and darkness and love. Love. It's not too candy sweet, it has a bit of an edge.

Oh and I always kiss mirrors, I guess this is perfect for me

Edited July 22, 2012 by stellamaris

[SkySamuelle]

In the imp: am I imagining the hint of cocoa? this is quite strong.

 

 

On Skin: I feel like an heretic or something saying this but, even if this is luscious and somewhat heady, it's not for me. I can see how it might be considered a luxurious, hedonistic blend and it's very intense but as it dries to something piney it loses most of its appeal for my nose. It also smells to me like something a fine gentleman out of an Oscar Wilde' play should wear but it's less gender neutral and more male to me.

 

If this oil was a color, it would be the dark green of poisonous dried herbs in a moonless night.

 

Final verdict: Swap pile, welcome a new member, but hey, it was quite nice knowing you, PB.

Edited August 10, 2012 by SkySamuelle

[milo]

Lots of cherry at first, the delicious variety that is in Gothabilly. After a bit, I'm getting spicy musk, and the cherry is still there, but less in your face. This is an imp, and I've had it for 8 or so months from another forumite, so it is well aged. Twenty minutes in, mostly rose and very faint. This is nice, but I don't need a bottle.

[sisi33]

In the Bottle: Almond! Again! Musk. Some sort of berry?

Wet: Almonds, musk, and honey? Almost medicinal.

Drydown: Blackberry? What the heck is my nose trying to tell me? Almond-y still- it seems to not be fading at all! Still slightly medicinal. All in all, I cannot imagine why this is the Lab's signature scent. I have no desire to ever wear this again.

 

Medium/high throw.

 

2/5

[cometgirl21]

This is an odd scent and I wish I knew what the notes were.

 

In the imp: Almond. Straight up almond extract.

 

On me: It starts off pure almond then almost immediately goes to a soft almond and rose scent and stays that way. It actually reminds me a bit of Pink Snowballs. Soft vanilla roses. It's nice, but I don't think I need a bottle.

[boomtownrat]

This was an unexpected surprise when I bought witchling's bottle of Third Charm. I'd been wanting to try it, so thank you, witchling!

 

If the cherry/almond scent that greets me in the imp would only show up on my skin, then I could happily wear Black Phoenix any time. Unfortunately, almost the instant it touches my skin it's loud rose and a powdery note that I recognize from another scent; I want to say Brisingamen, so it must be amber. Sometimes I can wear amber, but there's a BPAL amber that doesn't agree with me and I believe it's in Black Phoenix. I don't get any of the cinnamon or musk that others have mentioned, unfortunately. Maybe it just needs more time to settle down from shipping, or perhaps a little bit of aging would help.

 

After a while I had to wash it off because I was getting woozy, which for me is often a sign that a migraine is on the way. My migraine brain doesn't like many floral perfumes, but roses can sometimes work for me. It could be that it's just the wrong point in my cycle, so I may dab a little of this on at some other point. Black Phoenix reminds me of Black Rose, which as I recall has also given me that woozy feeling, but not always. Those pesky hormones and a finicky brain can make wearing perfume an adventure.

[ResinManiac]

Black Phoenix is overwhelming cherry lacquer, seriously the heady burgundy varnish you'd use to lacquer one of those little wicker chairs. I don't know how anyone could stand wearing this without becoming very sick later on in the day.

[Lani]

I really really want to love this... but it is 100% powder on me. I still put it on sometimes, but I get self conscious that I smell like Johnson & Johnsons. I'll age it some more and try again, but right now I am a sad perfume panda.

[brilliantcat]

All cherry in the imp. Once it on, it's still that juicy cherry with a hint of something floral. As it warms, I get the Dr. Pepper feel that others have reported. Oh, hi, rose. I see that you're having a rosey rose party to which only roses are invited. Yet again, rose trumps all.

[cvalda]

I looooove this. I's my favourite of all the scents I've tried so far. It's cherry, powdery and lovely. I also get that cherry coke-note everyone talks about. But the weird (and wonderful) thing is, on me it smells like BARBIE FEET!! I know, it's weird. It just starts smelling like the plastic they use in dolls, you know, the sweet and artificial smell that baby dolls and barbies had when I was little. And I LOVE it.

[GoddesShel]

Well, I wish I had Magpiedee's skin chemistry for this...

 

Wet - flat cherry cola.

 

It dries into "perfume". I can't identify anything in it at all. No rose, no cherry, no anything that anyone has mentioned. Chris says it reminds him of an 80's Avon blend. My skin does not like this.

 

No urge to kiss mirrors in sight.

[Cazzadeathgirl]

I got this as a frimp ages ago and somehow never wrote a review...

 

In imp- a lovely strong marzipan- DR pepper/cola scent

 

Wet on skin- still a very strong marzipan scent as said above

 

On dry down- turns to a rather strong version of baby powder- I actually like this

 

As for throw...let's just say my family could smell it in the next room, my bro asked me what cake I was eating lol!

 

Overall, it's more for a sweet tooth sort of mood, I'll wear it when I get a craving for marzipan (which I adore!)

Keeping imp, not bottle worthy I'd say since I won't wear often

[Heaven_Star]

In the bottle: Almond essence/fake cherry flavouring. I can smell the doctor pepper associations, but I'm really getting straight up almond - like amaretto or something! It's seriously offputting (I hate almond essence and fake cherry smell). Not boding well here.

 

Wet: Almond but it starts to morph almost instantly and get musky. My nose isn't experienced enough to pick out what sort of musk it's picking up but at a guess it's myrrh or dragon's blood. There's still a little bit of the almond/cherry in there but it's fading back. There's something akin to rose or vanilla (perhaps both?) coming forward, too.

 

Dry: Sweet, dark musky rose. Heady and sexy. The almond/cherry has been absorbed or overwhelmed by the other notes and I don't mind! This is a big morpher, it smells nothing like what it does in the bottle on my skin!

 

I didn't get any baby powder problems (I suspect that might be rose? Rose and I are good friends, but I know it goes powdery on some?) and the almond could have been really terrible, but it wasn't! Black Phoenix is my sexy goth scent. It's way too heavy to wear during the day, but it's firmly in the going out to gigs/cocktail bars rotation! Love it.

[batsy]

It's taken me all these years to try BPAL's signature scent. I will now quickly rectify that!

 

In the vial: leather and sugary almonds.

 

On the skin: There's the cherry everyone's mentioned. Still getting a LOT of leather, soft warm leather. I don't know; as it's dried down, it does become 'baby power'-y, which sucks, and also takes on a 'generic hand lotion' quality on me. Lame. I think I'll still keep this and try it again another day.

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: I definitely got a strong hint of some syrupy-sweet, synthetic fruit - probably cherry, from what y'all are saying. Kind of plasticky and chemical, so okay if that's what I was going for, but definitely not my idea of a "languid, heavy" perfume.

 

Wet: Quickly settles down into a baby powder note - maybe there's some amber in here? But normally amber doesn't go THIS powdery on me. After about half an hour, a sort of traditional perfumey rose note emerges. Like, when my mom would buy me perfume at CVS for Christmas because I didn't know good stuff from bad and at least this was cheap and inoffensive, it would smell almost exactly like this. Hints of the original syrupy cherry peek out from time to time, but mostly it's baby powder and drugstore English Rose perfume.

 

Dry: Yup, definitely an amber base, which comes out after three or four hours. And not the sort of powdery thing that amber can sometimes turn into, but lovely warm, slightly musky, slightly sharp (maybe a hint of carnation?) amber.

 

TL;DR: While I don't think a full-size bottle is in my future, the (fr)imp was an interesting experience. I'll hang onto it and let it age, in case it grows out of "baby powder and drugstore rose perfume" and more into its spicy-amber drydown.

[Anne M.69]

In the bottle: sweet cherries and bitter almond. Not my favorite notes but I'm trying to work out if I want to swap it or not.

Wet: very similar to what it is in the bottle.

Dry after 30 minutes: powdery rose, I wish I can smell spices or resins in this but there are none.

60 minutes: faint powdery rose.

It's a lovely concept but it just doesn't work on me.

[Veronica]

Starts off sweet, syrup-y cherry, but quickly starts to turn slightly powdery and very sour. Turns into a sour, off floral on me. Ick!!!! Something in this is a death note.

[Soupy Twist]

Almond and cherry in the bottle and on first application. Oh, be still my foolish heart; you know BPAL's almond notes never ever stay on you. And true to form, within a minute the almond has leapt away, morphing this time into powder, sweetening into a sickly candy, and careening into rose before I said STOP and washed it off.

[SimplySyra]

This smelled like dark cherry in the bottle but on my skin became an odd hybrid of cherry, rose, and something that smells like citronella incense. Yikes. After a bit of time to dry it settles into a powdery rose with a hint of sweet spices. This is much better but the weird bitter citronella taint is still lurking beneath it. I WISH I was getting sweet marzipan or even cola as a few reviewers have mentioned. I wanted to like this as it is the Lab's signature namesake but apparently my skin doesn't want to cooperate.

[freyasfae]

Got this as a frimp with my first BPAL order.

 

In the bottle: I REALLY did not like it in the bottle - syrup sweet, off-putting.

Wet: Better once on the skin..

Drydown: Like it a lot more during the drydown, more of the amber comes out and a slight floralness.

 

It fades surprisingly fast. It will probably be a swap for me.