Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab The Unicorn

Sometimes I put down my Guerlains and go for something simpler, something with more simplicity and clarity and during those times, The Unicorn from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab suffices. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, The Unicorn is a lovely white floral reminiscent of what a mythological horse with a cone on its forehead would actually smell like. Unicorn

In Bottle: White and ethereal, floral with a very light powdery shimmer. This fragrance smells like a bar of lush soap and a bouquet of freshly picked linden flowers. It’s gentle, airy and a little bit sweet.

Applied: That clean white floral scent is the first thing I smell as the linden flowers start to take over the place. I can detect some mild hints of jasmine in this too, I think. It’s an understated jasmine though, just there to give the fragrance a more floral edge. As the dry down starts winding its way into the picture, The Unicorn turns from a pure clean, white floral into a greener, sweeter herbaceous fragrance. Its final stage is marked with powdery white flowers and fresh sweet greenery that smells a bit like parsley.

Extra: The unicorn in Alice in Wonderland is a play off of a folk song. If I recall correctly, the unicorn and the lion were representative of England and Scotland, much like the coat of arms of the United Kingdom today. The Lion being England and The Unicorn is Scotland.

Design: The Unicorn is bottled in the same way most other Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab oils are. Its label is the standard general catalog design.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Linden blossoms, jasmine, sweet herbs.

I tend to attribute The Unicorn as more of a soap fragrance than a personal fragrance. But I do love clean, soapy scents. There’s just something very soft and comforting about this scent that would make it a fantastic fragrance for soaps.

Reviewed in This Post: The Unicorn, 2009, 5ml Bottle.


BPAL How Doth the Little Crocodile

How Doth the Little Crocodile is part of Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs’ Alice in Wonderland collection. They call it the Mad Tea Party scents. It was this fragrance that made me realize something in BPAL’ s cedar note is really strong. How Doth the Little Crocodile

In Bottle: Smooth, creamy chocolate and pistachio with the iciness of peppermint added in. There’s also the vanilla in this sweetening up the deal a bit. I barely detect the cedar and oak moss in the background giving this fragrance a green, mossy personality and preventing it from fully crossing over to gourmand territory.

Applied: Chocolate and pistachio make a good run for the top as they’re quick to evaporate along with all mints. What I get after is a very strong mossy cedarwood fragrance. It’s very green, very fresh and extremely large. It’s almost like there’s a cedar tree up my nose. There’s a mild mossy note too so it’s not just a cedarwood single note on me. I get wee little touches of vanilla on the dry down but for hours and hours all I have is cedar and moss.

Extra: “How Doth the Little Crocodile” is a poem from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland about a crocodile who baits fish into his mouth by smiling. “How Doth the Little Crocodile” is also a parody of another poem, Isaac Watts’ “Against Idleness and Mischief”.

Design: How Doth the Little Crocodile is presented in the same way as other general catalog fragrances from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy

Notes: Chocolate, peppermint, vanilla, pistachio, oak moss, cedar.

It’s a shame I don’t like cedarwood that much. Well, that’s not true. I do like it but the cedarwood in this fragrance just loves to amp up on me and drown out everything else in the fragrance. These perfume oil reviews do tend to be more subjective as the notes can react very differently on various people.

Reviewed in This Post: How Doth the Little Crocodile, 2010, 5ml Bottle.