A Guide for BPAL Newbies

As Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL) fragrances get more and more popular, some people might be interested in finding out just what all this hubbub is about. They’ll inevitably discover The Lab’s website address and look for themselves. Upon which they are bombarded by the general catalog fragrances of which there are hundreds of and decide that it is, really, quite too much to sort through.

And the site is intimidating with hundreds in the general catalogue and literally thousands if you include former general catalogue fragrances and limited editions that are no longer available. How is someone new to BPAL supposed to get around and figure out what they want to try? Or what’s supposed to smell good?

While this cursory guide is not an in-depth document meant to school you in every fragrance available from BPAL, it will list a few common, popular, general catalog fragrances that you may want to try out when you’re looking to order your first pack of samples.

How do samples work at BPAL?

BPAL’s sample vials are typically around 1ml and are referred to as imp’s ears. You can buy one imp ear for $4.00 or get a pack of six for $22.00. The prices have been adjusted recently as of this posting which is why on your travels around the internet, you may get conflicting price quotes. The best rule of thumb is to trust what The Lab says on its website. If you discover the secondhand market for BPAL sample vials, you can typically get these for much cheaper, though you may not be able to pick and choose which scents you want to get as a sample seller will usually not carry all the fragrances you are looking for. Imps

What should I include in my sample pack order?

Usually people will think that what you want to include in your sample pack are fragrances they’d like. This is a good safe practice. But I also recommend that people go out of their way to try fragrances they wouldn’t normally think they’d like because all scents can smell different on different people and all scents are composed differently too, this goes for mainstream, niche and BPAL alike. With a catalog of readily available perfumes ranging into the hundreds, why restrict yourself?

Now, let’s get into the meat of this post. You have on the website a few hundred general catalogue scents that can be ordered as samples (pay attention to that page on The Lab’s site about imps and what fragrance lines cannot be ordered as samples too). You have a general idea of what scents you like but don’t want to fiddle around wondering what would work on you since browsing the site could take hours and hours. The following is a handy little list of popular general catalog BPALs that I recommend, ordered to fit a few fragrance types to help you pick and choose:


Citrus:
Cheshire Cat (Mad Tea Party), Whitechapel (Wanderlust), Night Gaunt (Picnic in Arkham).
Clean: Dirty (Sin & Salvation), Lilium Inter Spinas (Ars Amatoria), The Lady of Shalott (Ars Amatoria).
Fresh: Embalming Fluid (Ars Moriendi), Kumiho (Diabolus), Phantom Queen (Diabolus).
Floral:
Glasgow (Wanderlust), The Unicorn (Mad Tea Party), Amsterdam (Wanderlust).
Fruity:
Aglaea (Excolo), Baobhan Sith (Diabolus), Yemaya (Excolo).
Gourmand: Dorian (Sin & Salvation),  Eat Me (Mad Tea Party), Gluttony (Sin & Salvation).
Herbal:
Villain (Diabolus), Lear (Illyria).
Musky: Bien Loin d’Ici (Ars Amatoria), Snake Oil (Ars Amatoria), Penitence (Sin & Salvation).
Smoky:
Anne Bonny (Bewitching Brews), Djinn (Diabolus).
Spicy: Queen of Sheba (Ars Amatoria), Scherezade (Bewitching Brews), Plunder (Bewitching Brews).
Sweet: Aunt Caroline’s Joy Mojo (Bewitching Brews), The Dodo (Mad Tea Party).
Woodsy:
Sri Lanka (Wanderlust), The Coiled Serpent (Bewitching Brews), Arkham (Picnic in Arkham).

It should be noted that these are just recommendations based upon my tastes. What you like or dislike may be different so feel free to look at these as suggestions only. If you have any suggestions to add to this list, please feel free to comment.

Also keep in mind that BPAL may have to discontinue some of the fragrances listed in this post at a later date due to component issues so some of these recommendations may not be available when you go to order your samples. Always double check the site to ensure the fragrance you want is still available before you send in an order. If a fragrance you wanted a sample of is not available or was discontinued, BPAL will substitute it with an available fragrance.


BPAL Aizen-Myoo

Aizen-Myoo is like a flowery grapefruit scent that’s nice and pleasant if you need a spring or summer scent. It has a clean, green feel to it that makes it highly appropriate for inoffensive wear at the office or at school. It’s just a lovely, light, citrus fragrance that does not overdo it on the citrus side. Aizen Myoo

In Bottle: Grapefruit, something slightly sweet and a bouquet of beautiful white flowers. I love the way Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab uses white florals. It’s fantastic in many cases and really gives the fragrance that clean, airy feel without being too heavy.

Applied: Very strong initial grapefruit scent. This is actually yuzu I should be smelling in which a real yuzu has a slightly less astringent scent to it. It smells greener, not as sharp, in other words. But for simplicity’s sake, Aizen-Myoo opens with powerful grapefruits. The black tea comes up after the grapefruit calms down a bit, adding in that nice, dense, tea scent to the fragrance. The cherry blossoms round off the fragrance, making things pleasant and light. The citrus notes in this are front and center. Most of what I get is grapefruit but there’s a sweetness in there lent from the kaki as well. The cherry blossom and kaki do good work preventing the citrus from becoming too much.

Extra: Mikan is referring to the satsuma fruit, a citrus that bears an outer resemblance to a mandarin or orange. It is seedless and edible. Kaki is referring to a type of persimmon.

Design: Aizen-Myoo is bottled in the same way as other general catalog scents from the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

Fragrance Family: Citrus

Notes: Yuzu, kaki, mikan, cherry blossom, black tea.

Aizen-Myoo is just a pleasant exercise in simple but nice. The black tea note in this fragrance is one of the more prominent of BPAL’s offerings.

Reviewed in This Post: Aizen-Myoo, 2009, 5ml Bottle.


BPAL Miskatonic University

Coffee has become something of an obsession of mine. Not in the drinking of it, but rather the smelling of coffee. That rich, dark, woody fragrance of coffee is the hallmark of a good morning to me. I suppose it helps that I’m not a coffee drinker so all the terrible mornings don’t sour this scent. But in my search for the perfect coffee fragrance, I’ve discovered one thing; The note does not last. Miskatonic University

In Bottle: Beautiful, creamy, rich coffee with a french vanilla twist in it. I smell a slightly fungal scent in this too that can probably be attributed to Black Phoenix’s dust note. It smells a bit like mushroom to me, but in the bottle, the mushroom is a good pairing to the coffee, making it just a little more complex than, “Here you go, your coffee smell” plunked down onto the table without ceremony.

Applied: Coffee, dense and rich and good enough to taste with creaminess and sweetness mixed into one. Miskatonic University is like a really good cup of coffee–for about thirty seconds. The coffee note in this fragrance is really fleeting on me and disappears in less than a minute. I can try layering all I want but it is not going to stick around on my skin. When that elusive coffee does evaporate it takes the vanilla and the sweetness with it. Remember that mushroom note? After  the coffee departs, the mushrooms absolutely bloom. Actually, I don’t think it’s mushroom I’m smelling but the leftover cream and the dust note mixing together to form this really bizarre tangent with the woodsy notes in Miskatonic University getting a scent that I can only attribute to mushrooms on wood polish. It’s not particularly interesting or nice. Well–that’s not true, it is interesting.

Extra: Miskatonic University is a fictional post-secondary institute located in Arkham which appears in the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

Design: Miskatonic University is bottled much in the same way all other Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfumes are. It has a different label to denote its place in the Picnic in Arkham series.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Irish coffee, dust, oak.

As much as I wanted to find that one true coffee scent in this fragrance, Miskatonic University and I were just not meant to be. The coffee note is so fleeting, and I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess. It is a top note for me. I just hoped it’d be one of those top notes that defied all logic and reason and hung around a bit.

Reviewed in This Post: Miskatonic University, 2009, 5ml Bottle.


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.


Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab The Girl

One of my favorite pairings, florals and amber. The Girl is, well, feminine. But I don’t like assigning seasons, genders, or occupations to certain scents. I will say that this is a lovely, pure amber fragrance that doesn’t try to muddy the waters by adding in too many florals. The Girl is a limited edition fragrance from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s 2009 Halloween limited edition run. The Girl

In Bottle: Light jasmine and ylang-ylang. Smooth fragrance with a nice sweet amber and almost vanilla scent. The heart of this fragrance is in the amber and the florals are used as backing for this. There’s a bit of woodsiness in this too which helps cut up the smoothness with a bit of dry airiness.

Applied: Strangely enough the musk is one of the first things I get. Clean and smooth initially as the florals catch up to the party. Jasmine has less of a presence here than ylang-ylang but neither of them are really stars. They seem to be there to bolster this pretty white amber and touch of vanilla scent. Meanwhile the musk is still hanging around giving this an older, more sophisticated, quality while still maintaining the fragrance’s smooth amber floral scent. It’s just hard to describe The Girl. It’s a well-blended fragrance. On the dry down I’m smelling a bit more of the woods as the amber and vanilla chill out a little bit. And I mean, literally chill out. The Girl takes a turn for the cold and ethereal on dry down.

Extra: Immortelle, one of the featured notes in The Girl, is used to refer to a number of flowers in which one particular species can be steam distilled for its essential oil. Which smells like rubbery honey to me.

Design: The Girl is contained in a 5ml amber glass bottle with a plastic top. It has a limited edition label with the house name fragrance name on it.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: White amber, silver birch, immortelle, davana, pale musk, star jasmine, and ylang ylang.

I wouldn’t say The Girl is a typical oriental but its focus on the amber and vanilla helps it in that direction. If you’re looking for oriental in the classical sense, you would need to look more into Mitsouko or Shalimar. The Girl is a much more modern smelling oriental that’s in and of the same vein of L’Instant de Guerlain or Allure by Chanel.

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


Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Morocco

Morocco is among one of the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s more popular fragrances. Morocco conjures up romantic images of drinking tea in one of the most vivid nations in the world. The fragrance is BPAL’s interpretation of the place, using spices and warm milky notes to bring forward a very lovely gourmand fragrance. Morocco

In Bottle: Creamy, sweet tea with a touch of spices. I want to say I’m smelling saffron, nutmeg and cinnamon blended into a warm, milky, spicy beverage. There’s a touch of sweetness to this too that helps Morocco avoid being a hit of spices and milk. The sugar adds a much needed dimension because the sugar helps tip Morocco into gourmand territory.

Applied: Spices and milk before the milk settles off. Morocco moves along, carrying its cinnamon and nutmeg scent as sugar trails in behind. The fragrance ages into a slightly spicier piece of work when carnation starts to bloom. As Morocco continues to unfold on the skin there’s a touch of something musk coming up and intensifies as the dry down continues to wind its way through the streets piled high with spices and milky tea. Final dry down is a lovely creamy musk and woods.

Extra: BPAL fragrances are perfume oil blends. Which means they are fragrance oils set in carrier oils. This means the fragrance is set in an oil base such as almond oil or jojoba oil instead of alcohol and water.

Design: Morocco is contained in a 5ml amber glass bottle with a plastic top, just like other general catalog Black Phoenix Alchemy lab fragrances.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Spices, milk, sugar, carnation, sandalwood, cassia.

I do like Morocco, really and I was leery to even try it because of the spiciness. Sometimes too many spices can be a bit much to handle but Morocco strikes a very agreeable spice middle ground.

Reviewed in This Post: Morocco, 2009, 5ml Bottle.


Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Dana O’Shee

Dana O’Shee is one of the lightest fragrances I own. A little doesn’t do it for this one simply because it’s so translucent. One look at the notes should tell you enough and make you wonder how a grain scent is supposed to be isolated. It’s not like milk and honey help much either. So when it comes down to it, Dana O’Shee requires slathering. Dana O'Shee

In Bottle: Honeyed almonds. Very simple, quite the gourmand. It’s extremely simple though and I can’t help but draw the similarity between Dana O’Shee and the almond extract in my cupboard. When it all comes down to it, had Dana O’Shee not been bottled and labeled as perfume, I might have mistaken it for a baking ingredient.

Applied: Upon application the almond fragrance starts to evaporate first and within a few moments that sweet almond extract fragrance is gone. What I’m left with is a flat, milky very slightly sweet scent. The middle stage of Dana O’Shee reminds of dusty kitchens and creamy milk. The simplicity is what helps it along. If I’m not expecting a complex garden of florals and incense, I can dig it. Dana O’Shee dries down to practically nothing within a few hours. Short lived, stays close to the skin, smells fabulously like almond extract at first then fades into creamy dust before disappearing.

Extra: From Irish folklore, the Dana O’Shee are small, beautiful, eternal little creatures that kidnap people.

Design: Presented in an amber bottle and a black twist cap with 5ml of perfume oil.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Almond, milk, honey, grain.

Upon visiting the kitchen and unscrewing the ol’ bottle of almond extract in my baking cupboard, I wasn’t too far off. Dana O’Shee’s almond is a touch more complex than the stuff I add to cookies but it bears an extremely close resemblance.

Reviewed in This Post: Dana O’Shee, 2009, 5ml Bottle.