Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Tamora

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Tamora seems to me like it should smell like a warm fruity floral with a bit of woodsiness. But what I get is an interesting blend of peaches and woods instead. Tamora

In Bottle: Woodsy florals with the heliotrope being a dominant note followed by the dry sandalwood and a touch of flowery peach. There’s a bit of warmth and amber to this too.

Applied: Like with a lot of BPALs I get a collection of scents from the get go that doesn’t follow a traditional fragrance pyramid. So I can tell you there’s strong peach in this and a dominant sandalwood on my skin and to my nose along with a sweet note that hangs out during the entirety of the scent. Heliotrope makes a wavering effort to be noticed here and there but the real stars are the sandalwood and peach team to me. The amber lends a nice warmth to the fragrance that comes in rather quickly and hangs around for a nice while. The vanilla in the fragrance isn’t detectable on me until the sandalwood calms down a bit and once I smell the vanilla, it is an interesting powdery vanilla treatment with a slight hint of dirtiness thrown in there. Very interesting, though not to my tastes, this is a little fun romp through an unconventionally built fruity woodsy scent.

Extra: Tamora is a member of the Illyria line from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Its name was based on a character of the same name from the Shakespearean play, Titus Andronicus. Tamora was the Queen of the Goths. Which I just find is delightfully hilarious.

Design: Tamora is bottled in much the same shape and style as older style Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab bottles. You’ll note the bottle pictured in this post differs from the usual. This bottling style with the blue glass was abandoned in favor of the newer bottles with the amber glass. I can’t positively date this particular bottle of Tamora but if I were to hazard a guess, it’d be pre-2006 but I can’t be 100% sure. If anyone can positively date the bottle pictured above, I would be grateful.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Woodsy

Notes: Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom, vanilla bean.

I’m actually not a big fan of Tamora because I feel the sandalwood was a bit too overpowering. Still Tamora’s a nice peachy scent with an interesting mix of sandalwood thrown in there.

Reviewed in This Post: Tamora, ~2006, 5ml Bottle.


BnBW P.S. I Love You

P.S. I Love You was released in 2009 from Bath and Body Works. A time when I had just gotten my first Bath and Body Works lotion after hearing about them for years. I was all right with the lotion but I was more curious about the perfume they were introducing in their promotional postcard. Turns out, it’s a competent rose.

P.S. I Love You

In Bottle: Bright and pretty, I smell citrus more than I smell florals but the roses are in there, mingling about with a slightly sweet thickness to it that gives P.S. I Love You surprising body.

Applied: Citrus to start that launches into a mild sweetness with a waft of peony before it evolves rather quickly into its rose stage. In the mid-stage is there P.S. I Love You  shines. The roses come up, light and airy at first before they get deeper and turn into a surprisingly lovable smooth and spicy, utterly feminine, rose scent. Make no mistake, P.S. I Love You will deliver perfume’s most beloved flower with a dash of lightly dusted peonies and a hint of sharp musk. Near the end of the mid-stage I get an interesting amber note, it gives this scent a pleasant warming quality. This is a surprisingly well done rose that took me by surprise. It’s young, definitely, but it’s very likable. The dry down is marked with a rather predictable sandalwood accompanied by a bit more fleeting rose and full-bodied  sweet amber to warm the fragrance.

Extra: Something interesting to note is the perfumer of P.S. I Love You who is known for composing fragrances for Ralph Lauren, Bond No.9 and Tom Ford.

Design: P.S. I Love You comes in a couple of concentrations–eau de toilette and eau de parfum. I was testing the eau de parfum version that comes in a cute little bottle that you see pictured above. Unfortunately, the eau de parfum was a limited edition item (as far as I understand it) and is no longer available. Bath and Body Works still carries P.S. I Love You in the eau de toilette version which looks pretty much like every other Bath and Body Works perfume bottle. Both designs are rather tasteful though I vastly preferred the eau de parfum design.  P.S. I Love You’s design reminds me of brush strokes, love letters and flower petals.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Citrus, lychee, peony, yellow rose, riesling, scarlet velvet rose, orchid, lilies, jasmine, incense, creamy sandalwood, patchouli, amber, and musk.

I know a lot of people are afraid of rose. I find rose beautiful but many are understandably wary of it. It is often associated with “old fashioned perfume” but P.S. I Love You is a very youthful an interpretation and  there are still people who find it difficult to love. Though the majority of people who try it, still like it well enough.

Reviewed in This Post: P.S. I Love You, 2010, Eau de Parfum.