2013: Steel Phoenix

[zankoku_zen]

On November 22 – thanks to our brilliant, beautiful Web Goddess, Kaitlin – the Thirteenth Labor of Hercules was completed, and we were able to introduce our new web site design. Kaitlin, you are amazing and we love you.

2013 ushered in our Dark Crystal Skeksi series, our Gatekeeper scent for Lone Shark’s Maze of Games, the Miskatonic Valley Philharmonic (with special thanks to Erich Zann, Principal Conductor and Music Director, and the illustrious Aylesbury Star Cult Temple Choir), Black Phoenix Trading Post’s sculpture for Neil Gaiman’s All Hallow’s Read, and the Festival, a Yuletide homage to Lovecraft.

This year also brought BPAL and Haute Macabre together for our first collaboration. Samantha, you are an inspiration, and it is a joy working with you.

Witching time in the hills of Arkham: patchouli and bourbon vanilla, crumbling autumn leaves, sweet black vetiver, and a thin, grey sliver of bonfire smoke.

Vetiver, patchouli, bonfire smoke, and a touch of dead leaves. WHY HELLO THERE VETIVER. This has a very acrid, in your face, smoke opening. In fact, I sort of squinted and went Gore Shock, is that you? (I am assuming because vetiver and patchouli). It dries down to a much more calm version of vetiver-patchouli and then you get the bonfire smoke note and a touch of dead leaves. This smells like an autumn bonfire. I think there's been a few BPAL that smell like that. If you're missing autumn's bonfires, or have a thing for V for Vendetta, give this puppy a whirl. Good throw and good wear length.

[tomservoandcroooooooow]

I got to try this thanks to fourumit Carrie's generously and it's really warm and comforting in a way I didn't expect. Vetiver is one of those notes that I want to like more than I actually do (much like amber in that way really) and I'd just gotten around to thinking, "You know, maybe I don't like vetiver" and then this came along. Vetiver is probably the strongest note on my skin and here it takes on a warm and comforting tone. So if you are wary of vetiver, give this one a try.

[LiberAmoris]

Steel Phoenix is intense. Strong vetiver, dead leaves, and smoke! The patchouli and bourbon vanilla don't come out until the far drydown. This has a Halloweenie feel, like the far-off scent of burning leaf piles. Definitely for those who really appreciate those frontloaded notes.

[patina]

Vetiver! But not brown vetiver, this smells black, like charred ivy leaves that crumble to the touch. The vanilla and patchouli smooth things over a bit even in the beginning stages when I can't pick them out.

 

Very cozy on a winter's day. I'm not sure about a bottle but I'm happy to have a decant.

[annemathematics]

2013 was the year I placed my first ever direct lab order! so this is a special year for me and I luck out because the scent is perfect for me and gorgeous on me. huzzah!

 

I've enjoyed some dark bpals, some metallic bpals and some smokey bpals. wet I get black patch and dark smokey vetiver, but as it dries all the notes come together and form the most perfect gleaming accurate metal scent. very pure clean steel, with light hits of resin just around the edges. proud, authoritative, austere yet regal. I love this! happy anniversary, bpal!

[sprout]

Started off like October and finished with the smooth as a proverbial baby's butt patchouli from Banshee Beat (Revenant Rhythm).

 

The dead leaves note is the one that smells like bell peppers. The vetiver is dry, vegetal, and slightly grassy, not Barbecue like.

 

I know I'm damming this with faint praise but that bonfire note is very accurate and I really like it.

 

I was going to buy a bottle of October but given this smells better than that on the drydown, I'll get this instead. I'm hoping that the bell peppers accord mellows out and smells more like dead leaves after some age. In my prior experience with this accord, that's what happens so I feel it's a calculated risk in my favor. Thank goodness, I don't smell anything like a metallic note as those tend to go high pitched, cheap drug store body spray for all the young dudes on me.

 

So, to recap, this unfolds with the dead leaves note, segues into a walk in a forest with moss and leaves, a bonfire in the distance, and gradually fades to the drydown of Banshee Beat with slightly more patchouli and less vanilla.

[RedPersimmon]

In the bottle: damp, spicy, deep smoke and vetiver. Upon application, it smells like my hair after going to a friend's outdoor BBQ party, except without the smell of meat and the sweetness of the BBQ sauce. Very, very smoky and ashy. At this point, was afraid that it was going to stay ashes, but I'm starting to smell the patchouli with bourbon vanilla around the edges. I keep waiting for the sweetness to appear, but this one keeps its integrity. Respect.

 

I've never smelled BPAL's dead leaves note before, but I think I have a good idea of it now. I guess I was expecting more of a sharp metallic smell, but it's more of the *idea* of steel that I get here. I'd like to try this right when summer turns into autumn. Just when it starts getting colder, and walking along the beach at night.

 

I'm also curious to layer this with a deep raspberry or black currant or other tart dark fruit. Strong throw on me. Whoo, something in this is making my heart beat really fast.

 

Edit: Had to wash it off. I think my brain was registering this scent as cigarette smoke (I don't smoke) and was involuntarily holding my breath, and maybe that's why my heart was beating so fast.

Edited January 6, 2018 by RedPersimmon

[Little Bird]

No patchouli or vanilla for me. This is a big blast of smoky, overwhelming, heavy, black vetiver, smelling like charred bbq. I don't like this kind of sharp, heavy smokiness with nothing to soften it.

[Upstart Crow]

Smoky vetivert and dead leaves with just the slightest hint of vanilla to it. I love it, but it smells almost identical to my bottle of Death of Autumn, so while I'll keep the decant, I won't need a bottle .

[ralenth]

Wet: Dark, grassy vetiver over a bed of fallen leaves. I see the comparison to Gore Shock, as this feels like a very similar vetiver note, but without the less appealing aspects of Gore Shock.

 

Drydown: A smokiness manifests on the drydown, but it is still dominated by vetiver. It almost has a sooty coal quality to it for a bit, but then slides back into a more smoky feel.

 

Dry: A pleasantly subtle smoky vetiver with whispers of a sweet vanilla. This definitely is a lovely marriage between the fallen leaves note, and the vetiver, but isn't overly aggressive or masculine. It definitely smells like autumn.

[highgarden]

While it's still wet, I get vetiver and the smoke--cade, is that you? The smoky vetiver is very strong until 30 minutes into the drydown, where I start picking up patch and a bit of the dead leaves note. About two hours later, the smoke and vetiver fade and now I can smell a hint of vanilla. This is absolutely lovely, as all of the anniversary scents I've tried have been!

[cassiejaynebunk]

this started off smelling like October to me, then took a turn for the worse and started to smell like liquid smoke and honestly never got better. BOOOOO SKIN BOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I wanted to love this so much

[mandragora369]

Wow such a strong vertiver at the beginning, it is almost sharp. But I like vertiver! There are also the astringent dead leaves note and the smoke as well at the beginning. This is really strong - I guess one must like those strong components.

 

As it dries down the vertiver gets less strong and the other components take over a bit and the vanilla mellows it out. But the scent is still quite strong and I guess masculine. But I like dark masculine scents.

Edited March 9, 2018 by mandragora369

[Lucchesa]

Smoke, smoke, SMOKE was all I got for the first half hour. I kept waiting for any hint of bourbon vanilla or for the vetiver, which was definitely black, to also read as sweet. Nope. After fully dry, it was dry patchouli and smoky vetiver. Good throw and great wear length, of course. If you're into smoky scents like Smokestack or Brimstone, this might be for you.

[lady_pandora]

Like others, I get the BIG SMOKE BLAST early on--this is vetiver in its most charred, woodsmoky incarnation, and lots of it. I began to worry I'd arrived late to the Sabbat and found only the smoldering remains of the bonfire! And it does this for like an hour and a half, which is a little longer than the "early stage" of perfumes usually lasts on me.

 

But when it turns, it turns good. I start getting incense smoke and intact wood and a sweet beeswaxy vanilla to round it out, almost like a corrupted Midnight Mass out in the forest, and I freaking love it. It's a longish wait for this stage, and I'll probably have to apply sparingly, but wow.

 

Verdict: Hanging on to it until fall to see how often I reach for it then.

[spikyfairy]

I like vetiver, and love all things smoky, so this was an obvious win.. & It's even better than I hoped! I never got to try Bonfire single note, but I think this will do me as a substitute!

In the bottle, I can smell the dead leaves & vetiver.. Darkly spicy, slightly vegetal. Wet on me, it is all dead leaves for the first few moments, and I can see now why people say that note smells like capsicum/bell pepper, but that settles down quickly. The vetiver & a little patchouli emerge as it dries. It's a rather odd smelling at this point, but I like it. "Charred ivy leaves" was a good description above.
There is not a trace of sweetness here, which is very rare for me and BPAL!! I usually turn everything sweeter. After about 5 minutes it resolves into a super-realistic bonfire scent!! Yay!
Sometimes goes through a slightly cologne-y phase (thanks to the leaves) — but fully dried-down it is still mostly dark, dry, smoky, vetiver-y love.. Rounded out & very-slightly sweetened by the vanilla & patchouli, although the vanilla is not distinguishable in itself (massive plus by my standards!). Hours later, it is softer & more patch-y, woody with just a suggestion of powder-iness. Nice.
After some months ageing, the above phases were more blended & smoothly segued, as BPAL tends to do I find.

This is a very exceptional non-sweet-finish BPAL perfume, for me! This will be great for layering with other scents that aren't smoky enough for my preferences (like Witch Dance; which sadly I am out of), but I like it on its own as well. I am also confident the capsicum-like-dried leaves will improve & become more realistic with age, as I have smelled this happen before.
Actually ending up with possibly too many of these deep-dark-smoky-maybe-manly scents, but I do love them.
Very good throw & wear length, only requires minimal application.

Edited May 18, 2018 by spikyfairy