BPAL: Sea of Glass

Having been knocked out of the game by a cold for a while, I was sad not to be able to do very many reviews of Black Phoenix’s fragrances. I always go back to BPAL for a simple smell adventure. The fragrances might not be complex in make and mode, but they are lovely things to test and train a nose. Useless said nose is congested. So I was happy to get over this blasted virus and get back to smelling. Nothing quite like the sinus clearing Sea of Glass to harken me back to health. Sea of Glass

In Bottle: Sea of Glass is just what its name implies. It is an aquatic, sharp and strong and slightly stinging as it rockets up the nose like taking in a breath just as your head goes underwater. It settles in the nostrils and declares itself aquatic queen of the land but the queen’s got some tricks up her sleeve too.

Applied: Blast of aquatics that will remain a steady theme throughout the fragrance’s lifespan. As Sea of Glass ages on the skin some more notes come up out of the foam and I get a faint whiff of light white florals dancing on the water with a gentle blend of sweet mandarin citrus and a kick of green. Sea of Glass reminds me of the color emerald and what that should smell like. Crisp, clear, and sharply clean. It has an aquatic edge to it with a subtle floral interpretation in the mid-stage. The dry down sees the fading of the aquatics and a bit more white floral representation with a sweetness that helps to smooth out the fragrance a little bit.

Extra: I’ve had people liken Sea of Glass to a number of other aquatics based fragrances before. It’s been compared to Acqua di Gio on more than one occasion of which I have to disagree. Acqua di Gio has more of a sweetness to it as well as a more predominant woodsy quality. Sea of Glass is a clearer aquatic with a floral heart.

Design: Bottled in the same way as other Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab general catalog scents. It is presented in an amber colored glass bottle with a screw on cap that holds approximately 5ml of perfume oil.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Aqua, mandarin, white florals, green notes.

No notes listed with this one so I took my best guess at it. Sea of Glass is a nicely interesting aquatic based scent such as Bleu de Chanel. If you love that kind of stuff, give this one a try.

Reviewed in This Post: Sea of Glass, 2009, 5ml Bottle.


Burberry The Beat

I’ve been wearing The Beat almost every day for about four months now and I think it’s time I finally gave her a review. She’s pretty, though more coveted on the shelves than on my skin because she’s a very typical scent in that ‘smells so fresh and clean’ type of way.  What I mean is, I wanted The Beat–badly–when I saw it on the shelves. It smelled excellent whenever I tried it. But now that I own 50ml of the stuff, it’s a forgettable scent in how ordinary it is. The Beat

In Bottle: Pink pepper with a mandarin kick and a cedar underbelly. The Beat uses a light handed approach to cedar so that I can smell it but it isn’t overpowering like other fragrances that tend to blast the cedar out like some sort of Deus ex Machina of the perfume world.

Applied: Pink pepper, sharp citrus and cedar immediately on application with the citrus sticking it out for a respectable amount before fading as it lets the cedar settle in close to the skin. This cedar that sticks to my skin plays a major part in not  overwhelming me with the cedar-y goodness. As The Beat ages, it grows softer, a little more floral with a brush of tea and a gentle smudge of iris layered over bluebell. It makes The Beat smells very fresh, very spring and summer with how bright and cute and vibrant it is. The dry down is a typical affair, with that close to your skin cedar blended in with an earthy cleaned-up vetiver.

Extra: The Beat is perhaps most well-known for having fashion’s “It Girl”, Agyness Deyn, be the face for the fragrance. It’s supposed to evoke an edgy, hip, alternative young audience. They got one out of three right so that’s okay. There’s nothing edgy or alternative about The Beat. It’s very pedestrian. Lovely, well-behaved, but ultimately pedestrian.

Design: The Beat’s bottle design does much better than Burberry Brit (that tartan brick of a thing I can’t seem to stop complaining about). The bottle is a nice clear glass with the Burberry tartan. The juice inside is a very lightly toned pink and the cap is a pretty metal affair with a dangly bit hanging off the side of the bottle with a metal plate that reads “Burberry” on it. Cute, lovely little bottle. Definitely not something I’d be tempted to build a wall  out of like Burberry’s other design.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Bergamot, mandarin, pink pepper, Ceylon tea, cardamom, bluebell, iris, white musk, vetiver, cedar.

Funny that the tea came through so lightly in this fragrance because if it had been a little heavier, I would have been a little more in love with The Beat. But as it is, it’s a good “standing in the elevator” fragrance with a well-behaved cedar note.

Reviewed in This Post: The Beat, 2010, Eau de Parfum.


L’Artisan Parfumeur Vanilia

Still on the look out for another lovely vanilla. Preferably one that can replace Spiritueuse Double Vanille because I refuse to be shackled to a limited edition fragrance–even if it’s awesome. This time, it’s Vanilia by L’Artisan Parfumeur, a pretty green vanilla plant of a thing. Vanilia

In Bottle: Sweet, green vanilla with a floral mixture and a nice white woodsy scent. Nothing at all what I was hoping but still very pleasant.

Applied: Sweet vanilla with a topper that reminds me of sweet powder and fruits. Not too sweet, in fact the sweetness is really subdued and appropriately used and the fruits are a pleasant blend that recedes into the background rather quickly. You won’t get a toothache from this. As Vanilia settles down, it releases a pleasant waft of green floral and spice mixed with a pleasant smoky floral. Very strange mix but it works out really well. Vanilia is a fantastic morpher as it’s one of the nicest smelling vanillas with a rich and complex composition. It is not your run-of-the-mill gourmand vanilla with the fruity, bubbly, candy personality. This is a sophisticated vanilla. The airy greenness mixed with the very pleasant ambery powder vanilla adds a great dimension to this fragrance.

Extra: L’Artisan Parfumeur is a niche house established in 1976s and based in Paris. Vanilia was released in 1978.

Design: Vanilia is bottled in L’Artisan Parfumeur’s now iconic seven sided glass bottle. It has a nice weight to it, looks pleasant–if somewhat sparse to me–but the real show stopper is truly the juice inside.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Fresh

Notes: Fruit, rose, jasmine, amber, patchouli, vanilla, sandalwood.

For some reason, Vanilia is a very difficult to find fragrance for me. No stores carry L’Artisan Parfumeur in my general area and my usual haunts online don’t have this fragrance represented.

Reviewed in This Post: Vanilia, 2007, Eau de Toilette.