Dark Delicacies

[GypsyRoseRed]

Black Phoenix’s Dark Delicacies blend is the embodiment of sinister sensuality. It is a heady and darkly romantic blend of devil’s trumpet accord, black orchid, tonka, coconut meat, fruit gums, osmanthus, smoky resin, myrtle, and Indonesian patchouli.

I'm sorry to say that this blend was a huge let-down for me. I had the exact same experience as ChupaChup with the planty smell.. no hints of resiny sweetness, and then suddenly Dark Delicacies got completely hijacked by something cheap and ozone-y. Could that be the orchid? I was hoping for a dark, sinister resin blend with a light touch of floral, but all I got was a green/aquatic/cheap floral air freshener smell.

[Eemia]

This is incredibly beautiful, rich, and very sexy. I should have bought a few bottles of this one because I know I'm going to be disappointed when I run out.

 

The orchid is the strongest note on me at first. It's a dark floral that smells so good on my skin. I love orchid but this is truly exceptional. There are some softer and warmer notes in there as well, but I honestly couldn't tell what they are. The underlying scent is almost like a golden incense, which I assume must be the patchouli. If so then it's the best patchouli I've ever worn. This is so rounded and every note slips together effortlessly.....it smells like a ridiculously expensive perfume.

 

Everything is so smooth! I have been dousing myself in this the last day or two. I'm glad it has good staying power on me (it lasts almost as long as Snake Oil, which seems to never go away) so I can make it last longer. It's so feminine and decadent. I'm hopelessly addicted to this one!

[filigree_shadow]

Mmm, this is very nice on me. It has that same sort of sexy feel as Mme. Moriarty but without the slight creaminess. It's definitely more dry, and I love the smokiness of it. It's a dark, dry floral. Not the usual type of floral scent at all.

 

I think this would be a lovely scent for the fall and winter.

 

I like this one a whole lot.

[eviltemptressdq]

At first I wasn't sure on this one... although I had the same experience with Beth's Black Moon. DD is very similar to Black Moon, so I slathered it on... and proceeded to become semi-obsessed with the scent! It is DARK flowers... but has something... I don't know. metallic? But I love it! I have worn it almost a week straight now!

[PurringPulsar]

Dark Delicacies

 

In the bottle: whoa. This is a beautiful black orchid-dominated sweet floral scent. Heady and mysterious, a garden of night blooming flowers. It does smell similar to Black Moon.

Wet on skin: it's still black orchid, but now I can smell smoke, patchouli, fruit and coconut winding their way through the flowers.

Dry on skin: mmm, this is good. It reminds me of another BPAL but I can't remember what right now…oh yes! It reminds me of Black Moon meets Mme Moriarty! I know, maybe my nose is delirious, but I'm getting a hint of MM's patchouli and fruit scent here, along with a bouquet of hypnotic floral notes, and creamy coconut. The orchid and osmanthus are prominent (I don't know what devil's trumpet smells like), and I can smell the smoky resins and sweet tonka, as well as patchouli and dark sweet fruit. This is a stunning scent, exotic and mysterious, a mix of dark sexy smoky sweetness contrasting with heady, light blooms and soft coconut.

After a while: this doesn't change too much except that it smells more and more like a floral Mme Moriarty, which is good because I love MM and the flowers in here are divine. It's a little smokier now (which I love) and there's something almost like tobacco about it, but the coconut adds the nicest touch of creamy whiteness to this otherwise deep, dark fragrance, whilst tonka lends a broad sweetness to it. I swear that I can smell plum though. I have no idea where and why I smell plum (one of the fruit gums?) but I get something like that in here, which just reinforces the similarity with MM. It also reminds me of a few of the recent Chaos Theories I got this year that also had the 'Moriarty base'. This distinctive smoky-sweet-woodsy patchouli and fruit gummy resin gradually becomes the dominant scent, and the flowers fade slowly. It smells almost like there's tobacco and woods at the end.

Verdict: this is a dark and totally delicious and delightful scent. It's like Mme Moriarty with night blooming flowers and coconut, a stunning blend of orchid and smoky woody patchouli with a hint of fruity-tonka sweetness, with lighter touches of osmanthus and coconut. I'm actually quite surprised at how much of the darker, less floral notes I'm getting-it's not overwhelmingly floral, in fact. All the notes are very nicely balanced, a nice mix of ethereal yet heady blooms floating over an incense-like base of patchouli and smoky resins, sweet tonka and fruit (which smells like plum on me) and creamy coconut meat. This is so good! A beautiful, feminine fragrance with a shadowy yet confident streak to it, it's sophisticated and mysterious. I'm so glad I have a bottle-I knew it would be good, but I had no idea it would be this fabulous.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Oh yes. I'm definitely keeping the bottle, may get more one day.

If you like this, try: Mme Moriarty, Queen Mab, Black Moon, Eshe, Shadow Witch Orchid

[Heretic]

In the bottle: Woody and fruity, at the same time, almost astringent. Yikes!

On my wrist, wet: Orchid and Devil's Trumpet (Datura! Hallucinogenic! Hurrah!) spring out but instead of becoming cloying, they are neutralized by the tonka and coconut meat, which give some weight to the blend. The pathcouli is present as a woody note that crawls up the nose a little and tickles. This stage is very "white flower" on me and I am not terribly fond of it.

After 20 minutes: As much as I dislike the initial stage of this blend, it is entirely worth the wait to reach the drydown stage, because here come the pathchouli and resin with something softly green and mossy (I assume this is the myrtle). The white flower blend hasn't completely disappeared, but it stays well in the background, underneath these darker, more subtle notes. Just where white flowers should be.

After 40 minutes: After the white flowers finish their prima donna act, they exit the blend and are replaced by a *very* subtle fruitiness that sits atop the patchouli and myrtle, which have softened considerably. The final stage of this blend is not so much floral as the suggestion of a floral (I think this may be the ghost of the orchid). On me, the Dark Delicacies blend is mainly a woody herbal kept from being overly heavy by the addition of floral components that burn off fairly soon into the drydown. A very complex blend and one that showcases Beth's talent for combining potentially overwhelming essences into an amazingly subtle blend. Love it.

[abejita]

What the hell am I doing loving a floral blend this much?

 

Shadow Witch Orchid and Phantom Queen gave me a clue that I should investigate Beth's orchid notes more. Dark Delicacies has a truly exquisite dark, deep orchid to it. Apparently I like the devil's trumpet, too, though I am having difficulty pinpointing it. Coconut-haters, don't fret. This is not the coconut I typically associate with a BPAL blend. It's very background, adding creamy roundness to the scent. I thought for certain this blend contained vanilla, it must be the tonka. The resins are swoon-worthy, the fruit gums sweeten without making this a fruity blend at all.

 

Dark, seductive, rich, and flat-out beautiful. This has shot up to my top ten list of all time and I can only hope it will be around for purchase for quite awhile. I will haul this blend out when I want to bring out the big guns, attraction-wise. I feel so hot when I have it on.

 

If you like this, you might want to check out Vasakasajja, Phantom Queen, Regan, and Shadow Witch Orchid.

[Dymphna]

The first time I opened the bottle (which was about three seconds after my husband got home and gave me the package) I smelled smoky patchouli that reminded me of the patch in Samhain and a very sweet floral. It was almost too sweet in that it reminded me a bit of marijuana smoke--a smell I hate and would definitely not want to smell like.

 

Fortunately, once it hit my skin it was a gorgeous, sweet, rich-yet-delicate floral that reminded me happily of spring. I'm not terribly familiar with orchid, but I'm pretty sure that's what this note is. Now, after a couple of weeks, it seems to have settled so that the initial overly-sweet note has deepened to something immediately pleasant. After a bit, maybe a half hour, something comes out very faintly that I think is the coconut mixing with the tonka--at first, I thought it was "cocoa, but not as dry"--which adds depth. There's also something sort of green/earthy and mellow, which is probably the resins blending with the myrtle and/or osmanthus (I'm so bad at identifying some notes), and which serves to ground the sweet floral.

 

The throw is fairly strong, at least at first, and the wear time is impressive. After several hours, I can still smell it faintly, though by then it seems to morph into something oddly reminiscent of Loviatar. Yeah, I don't understand my skin chemistry, either. But I don't mind because I do love Loviatar, and I love Dark Delicacies, too! I'm not generally a sweet florals kind of girl--I'd like to be, but they don't seem to work with my skin--and in fact I'd ordered this for the coconut, which barely shows itself, but this just...works. It smells amazing on me. I can't stop sniffing my wrists when I wear it. Although it's a very dark, "night-time" scent to me, I still wear and enjoy it during the day, too. I wear it as much as possible, to be honest. I love it!

 

For those who are interested in the synaesthetic aspects of scents, this one is for me a deep burgundy red and black. It actually makes me visualize a spiky, dark red flower blooming darkly in the night, surrounded by a spill of creamy moonlight that can't quite seem to touch its velvety, black-bordered petals.

 

I don't notice any similarity to Black Moon, nor do I smell the fruit gums at all, but I do totally get the "tropical" aspect of this blend. That flower I described above? It blooms in a humid jungle, within earshot of the pounding waves.

[Phaedra]

Wet this is an earthy, sweet floral with a creaminess underneath. When first on it's light, sweet and a bit herbal along with a faint sharpness of the patchouli. After about half an hour, there's a faint dirt note in the background (like in Zombi) which I really like. This becomes a sweet, earthy floral blend. Very warm and sensual. It does really have a "darkly romantic" fell to it as stated in the description. This lasts and last for hours on me. I've been wearing this non-stop for the past several days (sometimes re-applying again at night). This is a new favorite! Anyone who's thinking about ordering this one should go ahead and get some. Thank you Beth for making this special blend available to all of us

[Jilara]

This blend just about makes me salivate. There are so many notes that shouldn't work on me, like black orchid, osmanthus, and patchouli, yet here they do! First off, it smells darkly expensive, even just sniffing the imp.

 

Wet: dark floral, a warm note like night in a jungle--must be the cocoanut blending in.

Drydown: I want to eat my wrist! How can it be dark floral and edible at the same time? It's like something inutterably scrumptuous, with a note of honeyed resin. Needs a "Do Not Eat!" warning. Like a poisonous, utterly delicious something, luring you in. Wow, this is starting to really throw, too.

 

Dry: I can't even begin to define it. All the notes have blended and mellowed, and it has an undernote reminds me somehow of a sweetish unblended scotch mixed into the rainforest, with that honey and resin still present. I just want to swoon over this one! This has got to be the ultimate winner of everything BPAL I've tried so far! The throw is just gorgeous, too. I don't think I'd wear it to the office, because it's just too seductive, but that's okay. I'd wear it on the hottest hot date, where I wanted to be the ultimate super-seductress.

[Browneyes]

Wow.

 

Bottle: aquatic, dark, green, slightly sharp

Wet: same kind of damp, dark, tropical forest-like quality

Dry: wow this seems to morph alot on my skin. It develops a lovely smokiness (ETA: the patchouli and resins I presume), a hint of fruitiness, whilst still maintaining that myserious luscious quality. The florals are there, but they are not cloying - I do not have enough experience to point out specifically which ones they are, but if this is orchid then omg It strikes me as somewhat gender neutral-ish, although definatly sexy for a woman to wear on a date for example.

I'm SO happy I went ahead and ordered a bottle of this while I was slightly tipsy (and btw fast shipping! I ordered on the 17th and it arrived today in Denmark!)

I'm gonna go smother myself in my arm now.

 

ETA: having now tried Mme Moriarty, I can only agree to the comparisons. DD is like Mme minus the Snake Oil aspects of it (which to/on me are: grittiness and rich vanilla) *plus* night-blooming heady florals and a whiff of coconut.

Edited March 26, 2007 by Browneyes

[theseagrows]

i get a warm, incesy, musky floral with a touch of fruits from this. it's very hard to pick out any notes, but thankfully the patchouli isn't overwhelming. very floral-oriental, which is my favorite type of perfume. the only thing is there is something in here that turns on me just a little bit. i will have to try it again at a later date and see what i think. other than the turning, this is right up my alley, and if i decide it works w/ my skin chemistry i will be hunting down a bottle.

[wikkidraven]

this seems to be a more floral addition to the snake oil-ish family...it's nice, and i do like the meaty coconut, but like snake oil, i think this one is going to be better when tried aged.

 

*puts away for later slathering*

[little_galaxie]

Ohh, I really love this. It's like Snake Charmer without the spices and more florally. It's so seamlessly blended I can't really pick out any notes, yet very evocative. When I sniff this perfume I get the image of a rich, dark, lily (even though there are no lily notes in here at all, it just accounts for the floral aspect) covered by granules of smoked sugar. It's gorgeous. It's sexy. And best of all, it's not too heady or overwhelming to wear on a daily basis.

[Quiara]

I was gifted with an imp of this in my spring package swap on the LJ community bpalanoymous. I sniffed it and couldn't get a good idea of just what was in this little impling, so I smeared a bit on my wrists.

 

OMGHIWELCOMETOFLORALHELLI'MORCHID!

 

For about the first 10 minutes, that's all I got. All Floral-orchid-hell. Then? Absolute magic. I'm still amazed. The orchid backs the hell off and there's an amazingly spicy-sweet earthy smell that I can't get enough of. WTF? I'm stuck here with my wrist attached to my nose, typing with one hand -- it's that good.

 

Get some. Now. Give it 10 minutes and see the magic yourself. A-freakin'-mazing.

[savage_rose]

Ahhhh...wonderful. Smoky, sweet, floral...seductive, but not self-consciously so. I smell the ozone note that someone else mentioned, but on me it's just another layer to a lovely, complex scent. It makes the floral present but not overpowering...I love this.

[storme]

In the imp: oh, wow. Dark, smoky, creamy florals with spicy patchouli underneath.

 

On me, wet: mmm, dark, swirly patchouli-and-floral deliciousness. It's really addictive-smelling.

 

On me, dry: I think this is the same patchouli base as in Mme Moriarty - it's gorgeous there and here. This is less musky and more floral, and slightly more creamy somehow.

 

Verdict: I'll certainly keep my imp around, but I think it's similar enough to Mme Moriarty that I don't need to pine for a bottle.

[Em-]

I really like the scent of this in the bottle - it is a rich, fruity resinous scent, backed up with some interesting dark florals. And at first this smells like exactly what I would expect on my skin - however, my skin eats this for breakfast - it just vanishes.

 

I want to try it a couple more times, but based on my first tests, this scent seems to be in my chemical blind spot...then again, that's what scent lockets and unscented tarts are for, yes?

[LiberAmoris]

I really love Dark Delicacies. I've been wearing it for like the last three days straight, and I don't normally do that, so I know I'm in love. It's so smooth---the patchouli and coconut inform the blend, but they're buffed down to an elegant and sensual undertow. The orchid is perfect here---with just enough floral crispness to give the blend an edge, but not so much that it becomes a predominately floral blend. The resin helps too, providing a depth and smoky sillage that puts it firmly into the 'come-hither' category for me.

 

It's vampy, it's upscale, and it puts a little swing in my step when I wear it.

[myoubi]

I've held off reviewing DD because even though it's one of my favourite scents, I can't pick out notes in it and it's hard to describe :/ But it's so beautiful that I had to write something here.

 

TONE: Exactly what the name suggests -- dark but delicate. It's a ladylike blend, a bottled version of the blonde-haired dame in a forties film noir. Unique in that, while it has so many rich components and such a dark tone, it nontheless isn't at all a /heavy/ blend. I've never smelled anything like it, and it's purrr-fect for me.

 

NOTES: The orchid comes on strong for a while, and what must be the devil's trumpet accord -- some unnamed floral diluting the high sweetness of the orchid. My mother smells something vaguely cocoa-esque, which I think is the coconut. After a few hours, it dries into this amazing resinous scent warmed by the fruit gums. Still, it escapes being heavy!

 

VERDICT: I love this blend. Hunted down seven decants and then a bottle, and they all mine. Orchid is usually too sweet for me (Queen Mab) but now i'm curious to try Black Moon.

[nannan45]

Dark Delicacies

 

Lovely! This blend is so fruity and floral. It's very warm, sweet and sticky, with a hint of greeness. To me this isn't dark or smokey at all - it's bright and happy, sunny and honey sweet! Somehow I get a hint of Treat #1's watermelon, so it's kind of like Treat #1's more complex, beautiful older sister. It's hard to pick out individual notes as this is so well blended.

 

ETA: The coconut comes out at dry down. Mmm! I'm a foody addict trying to ween myself and maybe add some florals to my palate. I thought DD would be a nice start, but this is turning out somewhat foody to my nose - fruits with warm honey and coconut! Love DD!!

Edited March 24, 2007 by nannan45

[Kimocean]

When I first opened DD I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. It definitely has a green start to it and I'm not much for green scents, but even when it was new I found myself reaching for it and as it has matured I've come to love it more and more.

 

To me it has a definite dark side although it is darkness behind a beautiful sexy exterior. The notes blend beautifully with each wafting gently up to my nose at different times. The patchouli in this is soft and gorgeous and the smoky florals, coconut and tonka make for a gorgeously mysterious and unusual blend.

[supremegoddessofall]

Interesting. Lots of tonka, a touch of patchouli and fruit. Pretty good.

[tart]

Okay, so I only put it on a minute ago, but I am loooovinnngggg thisss...!

 

This smells like a very dry Mme. Moriarty in the bottle.

 

On the skin, it's still dry and complex; I could imagine it smelling like heaven on a man. After a short time, the florals all come out in a burst. The orchid lends a welcome sweet touch to the dominant resin and patchouli.

 

This is fabulous mysterious sexiness in a bottle. It reminds me very vaguely of Tarnished Love from MAC Cosmetics. Dark Delicacies is definitely to be worn for a hot date, no question.

[stellans]

Imp: In the imp, much lighter than I'd expected from the name and description of notes involved. Much more floral, and no patchouli at all. But there is a deep something under the flowers...maybe that's the patchouli, or perhaps the resins. It's very nice, there under the florals -- gives them 'bottom.'

 

Wet: Still very floral, but the patchouli/resin notes are more in evidence on my skin than in the bottle. I am already liking this bland.

 

Dry: Yep, there's the patchouli -- but the floral notes give this blend a very pleasant sweetness. There isn't much throw, I have to put my nose right on my skin to enjoy this one. It also doesn't last very long at all. Dark Delicacies = Black Moon meets Mme Moriarty, but weaker.

 

Verdict: I like this blend, and I'm glad I got the bottle from eBay, but I won't angst over finding more. I have both Black Moon and Mme Moriarty, and they will console me when this is gone..

Edited May 2, 2008 by stellans