Leather Phoenix

[thekittenkat]

And here’s Leather Phoenix: matcha tea, wild frankincense, champaca, petitgrain, star anise, aged oudh, rose taifi, narcissus, Himalayan cedar, 11-year aged patchouli, and black leather accord.

In the bottle: Leather, patch, anise, and narcissus (don't like that note).

Wet: Yum! That's better. Soft leather, patch, maybe the champaca peeking out.

The dry-down: It's almost, but not quite, a sueded leather that's trying to change over to the nasty chemical leather note. That tea note probably isn't helping with this (not a note I'm fond of, as it ruined a Box of Chocolates scent for me), but the cedar and the frank are riding to the rescue. Aging will help this along the right path. Also, I have this feeling that this may be fabulous on the bf.

[zankoku_zen]

So, epically soft brown leather (hello, are you the brown leather note from Quincy Morris?), patchouli and oudh. And while I get the faintest whiff of lemon/rose/citrus every so often (I mean like every fourth sniff or something like that), this is essentially SOFT brown leather. BPAL's leather note is a total bully on my skin so I'm surprised at how deliciously soft this one is.

 

That being said, way too masculine for me. But I imagine that a guy with the right skin chemistry would be able to SLAY anyone with a whiff of this. DEVASTATING.

[detritius]

Strong, smokey leather cologne. There might be a hint of citrus brightening up the leather, but I can't be sure. I'm usually better at picking out notes than this, but mostly I'm getting pure, unadulterated man. LIke, this is what I imagine the sexy guys on my TV shows would smell like. I don't get any florals at all, which is preferable, because when my skin decides to amp florals they can become sickly really easily. It also changes with distance -- close up, it's all leather all the time, but from further away, there's a softer, more resiny aura that I really like. This is a well-blended, sophisticated masculine scent.

[Ilex]

This is not what I expected at all. Dark and sexy? Masculine? Nope, not even a little.

 

Because it might as well be single note narcissus on me. I get no patch, no star anise, no leather, no cedar... none of my favs. Just the damn squeaky clean soapy narcissus. There is a hint of frankincense and petigrain, possible champaca, but just hints. And they are all being drown in a sea of daffodils which quickly turns to floral soap. Darn.

 

I shook the bottle vigorously too, because the dark layer others have mentioned is present in my bottle as well. It won't budge.

[FormerViking]

This is much more " flowery " then I expected . In fact , the leather & patchouli are probably the two notes I smell the least . That being said , I do like ( not love ) it . It's a very clean scent & I'd say very unisex . And the tea is strong , which for me is a plus as most of the labs tea based scents either are not , or my skin tends to eat them & they disappear shortly after application .

[calivianya]

Leather Phoenix... is not all I hoped it would be. It smells very green and wet at first - the anise and matcha working together, I suppose. I also get some rose. Ultimately, it gets a little woodsy, but I just don't like anise in perfumes. Leather Phoenix is not a winner for me.

[sunlitgarden]

This smells almost... jasmine-like... in the bottle. On my skin it's a bit better, but there's still a very sweet floral dominating while wet. I guess it's the narcissus. I can smell a bit of the dark patchouli there, but only a bit... As it dries more, the petitgrain starts amping up and I get lemony citrus primarily.

 

Black leather is the best of BPAL's leather notes on me, but I actually can't smell it at all here.

 

But I have hope that this may be improved with aging, and will try to hang onto my bottle for a couple years and see what it does.

[ami226]

On the skin: Definitely patchouli and.... anise leather? Huh. This makes me think of a leather hat that has been worn through dust and dirt with a hint of spicy men's shampoo still clinging to the inside.

 

I get a bit more of the green matcha on the dry down. Very dirty, green, leather.

 

Interesting, but it just isn't for me.

[killersandliars]

My review is for the anniversary version.

 

I'm surprised that some of the other reviews say there's no patchoulli and leather, because on me that's almost all it is. I get a very strong patchoulli mixed with leather, matcha, and some dirt. It is very dark, dirty, sexy, and sinister. For me, it is exactly what I was expecting from it. I don't wear it often, though, because it is a little heavy for every day and it has a ton of throw. It is a really nice oil, and I know it is going to age really well. A+, just because it is unique and interesting.

[unlaced]

I *had* to buy this when it went up and I'm glad I snagged a bottle but I was a little worried about the star anise and the rose. (Rose anything can take over a blend and go bad on my skin)

 

Thankfully, the main note is the leather. Black, S&M, whip leather. With a background of resinous notes and a bit of spice. And it holds true for hours until the leather starts to fade a bit and a some green note starts to creep in (the matcha maybe? I really don't know.) Whatever it is, I love this scent and it has made it into my high favorites of leather scents. (nothing can replace my beloved De Sade... but this is pretty damn good.)

[Greenwoodtree]

I was so excited to try this.

So far, in the scent locket, it smells like a very old, vintage type perfume. The florals are hiding the leather...I have to press my nose up to the locket to get ANY leather note of any kind, its very faint, kind of chemical-leather. The patchouli, I never would've known it was in here...its hiding WAY in the back behind the frankincense and other notes. Damn those flowers. It reminds me as if I time-traveled back to maybe the 1910's or 20's, and went into a dressing room used by both men and women. really vintage, not something I choose to wear.

Tomorrow I try a skin test...I really want this to work.

[neuilly]

I got a little sniffie of this as a surprise in a recent package! I'm not a leather girl so I went in purely for the experience, not because I thought it would work on me. At first it's all leather SN on me. I tend to amp leather like crazy. But it does calm down a bit and begin to blend. Honestly this smells a bit tobacco-musty. Maybe something Sherlock's room would smell like. Leather couch, pipe tobacco, some antique dust...it's oddly comforting even if it's not a scent I would ever go for myself.

[Jupita]

This is very soft.

 

I don't know what I expected of this, since the only other scent with leather I had smelled was Red Ridder.

Boy, they are different!

 

If Red Ridder smelled leather like "slap me in the face", then this is it's total opposite. I can hardly smell leather at all. I smell the wood though, soft and powdery. The petitgrain gives this a rounder picture, as if trying to balance out the woodiness. The woodiness must be the oud and the patchouli, because I can't pick up any cedar, nor any frankincense of my skin. I don't smell the leather, I find it to be musky, like I always find patchouli to be, but it's the softest, less agressive patchouli I have smelled so far.

 

I can't say I love this scent, but I can't say I don't like it either.

It's very interesting, though very soft. It has a nice staying power, I can still smell it on my wrist after 5 to 7 hours after (which in my case, is a very good staying power), but having applied it a few hours ago, right now, I can't smell it, unless I bring my wrist to my nose. The throw isn't strong at all.

It's sort of like a second skin, and it's not feminine.

 

If I had to paint the picture of this scent, I'd say it's a androgynous person with blond hair, a nice tan, dressed in old leather clothes that have been first worn by her great-grandfather, and don't smell of leather any more, clean but a bit hippie. Something like that.

 

Definitely not the sensual woman I see on the label)

[mymymai]

ITB: Strong black leather and very old, earthy patchouli. Interesting.

 

Wet: It's black leather, patchouli, cedar, and champaca, but it's rather cologne-y. I was hoping more of the resins and tea would come out, but not yet.

 

Dry: I tried this one and failed to write down my impressions. Leather, rose, cedar, and something of which I'm not fond. The note was unsettling once I applied it and I kept wondering if there was one my doom notes in here despite the really masculine black leather. Sure enough, there's petitgrain and I know now why I really dislike Leather Phoenix despite really, really wanting to love it.

[theseagrows]

this has a very "vintage perfume" feel to me. it starts off with a oudh, patchouli and a hint of something floral sweet, probably star anise and narcissus. it has a damp wood type smell underlying it all. a bit later the leather comes out along with tea and then champaca. it starts off kind of like a resiny wood and morphs into a leather with sweetness scent. the cedar is turning slighly weird on me, but not too bad. i don't get tons of rose in this, but i guess it is there. i love the leather with the floral, it's very interesting. i've tried other bpal rose/leather blends that don't work on me but this one seems to be working, yay, though it is not super rosy, in case i am giving the wrong impression.

[anaengel]

I'm surprised that I haven't reviewed this yet. Bad me. Especially since I do remember typing up a couple different reviews of it. Well, here goes.

This is one scent that I love enough to not wear much, but to sniff a lot. So, it has done very nice aging for me. Also, the throw of the scent has gone down considerably over the years, which allows for more personal huffing of the skin.

When I put it on, there is a mix of the frankincense and cedar on my skin. Faintly in the background, the tea is trying to come out, but is dying. As I wear it, the patchouli comes out as a smooth and rich one, which wants to lead the leather along. This leather is a soft and gentle leather that has been broken in over some years. Perhaps the broken in part is the oude on my skin. It does that aged feel when it goes on my skin. Once it dries completely, this is all leather and patch. This also has lasted over a day, which I can still smell on my skin.

I have to say that the aging has lessened all the flowers to almost nonexistence on my skin. I also can no longer smell them in my bottle. The other disappearance is the chemical note that used to come across with the leather when in the wet phase. I am not complaining about this at all. I still love this and will continue to enjoy the bottle as long as I can.

[Melaena]

Leather Phoenix smells like Narcissus Single Note to me, which is very unfortunate, since narcissus is truly my death note! I've tested Leather Phoenix at least three times, and the narcissus is the only note that I can smell on my skin. This is very disappointing, because all of the other notes sounded so promising!

[d0gbones]

In the imp: Hard to describe. All I can pick out is very faint leather.

Wet: Wow, this barely smells of anything... slightly musky and leathery but I was expecting something a bit more powerful.

Dry: Sort of like a weak green tea with the faintest hint of spices. The leather continues to get more pronounced as it dries. Nice, but way disappointing considering the ingredients.

[BeyondBad1313]

This is a bad ass scent if I ever did smell one. I swapped for this bottle and I am glad I did. The only way I can describe this scent is as if you had an old wooden box lined with leather and filled with tea. This is beautiful, the right blend of herbal tea, leather and wood. It is really lovely.

[freyasfae]

I got this as a frimp in a forum swap, and on me this just seemed like the BPAL leather note, but a little softer and more rounded out. Reading the description, I am that it has many death notes for me: star anise, frankincense, and patchouli, but those didn't really stand out for me. Overall, it is very well blended.

[puellacaerulea]

File under "bottles I've had for years yet forgot to review." Probably because it's tough to describe this one -- it's so well-blended that picking out individual notes is tough. The matcha and leather accord do stand out the most, but there's a light, clean element to this scent that runs parallel to the leather notes that's hard to describe. (It might be the narcissus and petitgrain.) It smells vintage, expensive, and androgynous. I mostly save this one for special occasions or times when I particularly want that vintage perfume vibe.

[Cali]

Ohh! Sexy, soft, delicious. That amazingly realistic leather note the lab does so well, mixed with just a tinge of greenishness and something i want to call 'fresh animalistic'. Pretty sure it's the matcha, champaca, anise and narcissus that work together to create that base, on top is just layers and layers of delightful patchouli leather.