BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse | 10- Gwyneth

BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse |

10 - Gwyneth

Folks - if you aren't clicking on the images in this series to take an up-close look, you're missing out! Jennifer Williamson is A-MA-ZING.

The description of the scent:
Rose otto, tonka, orchid, Calla lily, skin musk, coconut, Spanish sage.
The background of the name:
Actually, there's not a big story here. Beth thought the name Gwyneth, Welsh for "happiness" was ironic... (see bottle image if you don't understand the irony).
Initial impressions:
Rose. Overwhelming rose.
More thoughts:
So, have you heard the theory that fragrances smell different on the skin depending on the time of the month? Er, this means the time of your cycle as opposed which day in June it is.

Well, I will tell you when I first tried Gwyneth I really enjoyed it. The rose was divine, and the rest of the scents just stepped right in line. The fragrance swirled around; it ebbed and flowed and just kept itself very interesting.

So, when I went to write this the other day I put it on, and was stunned.

This was not the same fragrance! Oh, no. This version of Gwyneth was not at all for me. It was overt rose and not a happy rose, I can tell you that much. On me, for whatever the reason, Gwyneth became an old lady's sachet that was left way too long. The rose, the lily, the coconut, the sage...

Um, no.

Maybe I'll try again, but maybe I'll just leave this one to someone else...

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BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse | 8 - Daiyu

BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse |

1 - Daiyu

Folks - if you aren't clicking on the images in this series to take an up-close look, you're missing out! Jennifer Williamson is A-MA-ZING.

The description of the scent:
Moroccan jasmine, chrysanthemum, tea leaf, white musk and acai berry
The background of the name:
Apparently, the inspiration for the scent was Madam Ching Shih, originally a prostitute during the Ching Dynasty and later an influential and powerful pirate. After pirating, she ran a gambling establishment until she died.
Initial impressions:
The first thing I smell is berry, one presumes the acai. Then the smell sharpens.
More thoughts:
The berry still prevails, but it's not a round berry smell like in some other scents (Mdme Moriarty comes to mind). I've talked to some people who say they feel this is a "purple" fragrance, but I disagree. This one is light green - fresh, soft, a bit round but not robust.

I guess the tea leaf is the sharper scent I can smell, cutting the berry. And then there's the jasmine.... I'm not a fan of a lot of jasmine, though this is not nearly as heady as some, somehow. The tea isn't terribly strong, either, which is fortunate because it's not my favorite. Don't get me wrong: all of those scents are in there, they just aren't leading the dance. They all seem to get along well.

This is a really nice scent I would call "white berry". (Thanks, I coined that myself!). It makes me think of a white, flowy sundress and the beginning of summer.

Pirates smell good!

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OMG! BPAL! Fall scents have been released!

Autumn calls at Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs

Seasonal Scents for my favorite time of year!

I just fell over from joy. Luckily, I'm home, so it wasn't embarrassing! This is my first BPAL Fall, and it's many BPALers (BPALamites? BPALists?) favorite time of year. What with my love of Autumn and adoration for Halloween and The Day of the Dead, I think this may be the beginning of a beautiful shopping spree...

Take a look at the new offerings from BPAL.
(Editor's Note: you may want to go get a cup of tea and curl up in a comy chair, 'cause there's a lot going on!)

Click below to...

Continue reading "OMG! BPAL! Fall scents have been released!" »

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BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse | 7- Dionysia

BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse |

7 - DIONYSIA

Folks - if you aren't clicking on the images in this series to take an up-close look, you're missing out! Jennifer Williamson is A-MA-ZING.

The description of the scent:

Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany.

The background of the name:

Dionysia is actually the word used to represent the festivals celebrating the Greek god Dionysus, also known as Bacchus. Dionysus is the god of wine, and the festivals are thought to have originated to celebrate vine harvests.

Initial impressions:

Smells like Benadryl for kids.

More thoughts:

Still smells quite grape-y to me while wet and for a bit after. I don't dislike plum and berry scents, but prefer deeper and more spicy blends. I was hoping the patchouli, frankincense and mahogany would help me love this - but mostly I smell purple fruit.

After awhile, the vanilla dances in, trailed by the deeper and balancing scents, and this helps a good bit. Still...

If you like plums and purple fruits and wine, check this one out. You will probably love this lady! She's phenomenally well-blended and delicious - no slam to how she's made is intended! As for me, I'll pull her out from time to time - maybe when I go to wine festivals? I hope she'll mellow and age like a fine wine and I'll love her more in a few months... We shall see...

Other posts in this series:

INTRO

THE GRINDHOUSE

AERONWEN

AGRAT-BAT-MAHLAHT

ASHLULTUM

CLÉMENCE

CYTHEREA

DIONYSIA

DAIYU

EISHETH ZENUNIM

GWYNETH

INEZ

MARCILLA

MARGUERITE

MARIANNE

PARTHENOPE

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BPAL NEWNESS

Snow, Glass, Apples @ Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs

Ahhh... BPAL...

Ahhh... Neil Gaiman...

And when the two meet, what you get is a wonderful tale and a wonderful scent - wonderment for all of your senses!

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is thrilled to present a numbered, limited edition chapbook of Neil Gaiman's acclaimed short story, Snow, Glass, Apples, beautifully illustrated by Julie Dillon.

Each package includes a 5ml bottle of perfume, created by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, that was inspired by the tale.

In Neil's words, 'It smells like green apples and like sex and vampires, all at the same time. (Actually, it smells like sexy vampire apples.)'

This set is a limited run of 1000. 250 were sold by CBLDF at San Diego Comic Con 2008, and the remainder are available through the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab web site. Snow, Glass, Apples will be available on the BPAL site as long as supplies last. This is a charitable, not-for-profit venture: proceeds from every single set go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which works to preserve and protect the First Amendment rights of the comics community.

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BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse | 4- Ashultum

BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse |

4 - ASHLULTUM

Folks - if you aren't clicking on the images in this series to take an up-close look, you're missing out! Jennifer Williamson is A-MA-ZING.

The description of the scent:

Babylonian musk, vanilla tea, tonka, tobacco, coconut, hyssop, and lilac.

The background of the name:

All I could find on her was this: "A queen of Sargon. Her name is an abbreviation of the sentence, 'I took you/her as spoil'." Sargon was a leader of ancient Mesopotamia, who ruled for 56 years, creating quite an empire.

Initial impressions:

Herbal lilac, which is really really nice! I happen to LOVE lilac (though am violently allergic).

More thoughts:

Once on and given time to settle down, this is much more than a lilac scent on me. In fact, the lilac is nicely balanced by the other scents. Babylonian musk, vanilla tea and tonka help make the scent full and lovely, balancing the lilac (which in other scents can be heady and o'erbearing). I don't really smell the tobacco, but for me that's good as I often turn that into a nasty sweaty mess. The coconut is either wiley, or I just don't wear coconut well. Not sure which, but I don't get a sense of it here.

Here's another scent that I smelled the morning after I put it on. Not too shabby!

Other scents have a tendency to slowly die down. Not Ashultum! She picks up power as she goes, which keeps her mysterious and unpredictable. I'd assume taking her as a spoil may have not ended exactly the way Sargon may have originaly expected.

BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse |

3 - AGRAT-BAT-MAHLAHT

Folks - if you aren't clicking on the images in this series to take an up-close look, you're missing out! Jennifer Williamson is A-MA-ZING.

The description of the scent:

Amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak.

The background of the name:

Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht is one of the four wives of Satan, and the demoness of whores. In other words, she's like the Arch-Angel of Prostitutes. Her name could also be interpreted as "daughter of illusions."

Initial impressions:

The name "Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht" sounds green and cold to me, but the notes in this scent did not. I wasn't sure what to expect. My initial thought was "CARAMEL."

More thoughts:

Actually, this scent gives off a distinct caramel-apple scent to me. It's greenish but with this heavy, sweet, treacly power around it. The longer I wear it, the more the musk and caramel and amber balance the sharpness of the apple blossom. But, that said, it's not completely a food scent, somehow. It's like food on a big heavy wooden table in a sketchy centuries-old pub, if that makes sense.

This is very strong and it sticks around - but it's a very lovely scent, so I surely don't mind! This is quite delectable. Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht is a dangerous demon, indeed, because she smells like sweet candy... with a dark, dark secret lurking behind her. And judging by the headless body behind her on the label, I'd say it's a secret no one's going to ask her more about!

BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse |

2 - AERONWEN

Folks - if you aren't clicking on the images in this series to take an up-close look, you're missing out! Jennifer Williamson is A-MA-ZING.

The description of the scent:

Fig, dark myrrh, amber, redwood, nutmeg, tarragon, black musk, and sweet orange.

The background of the name:

Aeronwen, a Welsh name for "carnage" and "slaughter", thought by some to be a form of the Celtic goddess of war and death.

Initial impressions:

This is the one that made me need to try the series! Fig...myrrh...amber...redwood...nutmeg...musk... What's not to like!? However, when I first sniffed the bottle, this scent wasn't as deep as I thought it would be. Apparently fig is more "green" than I knew. Hmmm....

More thoughts:

Yes, this is a green and wet scent. Not usually my cup of tea (ha! green... wet... cup of tea! er...) But the more I smell it, the more I love it. The green top, which smells almost like the green of a tomato vine to me, dies back a bit and the oil gets a bit more round. The musk and the other deeper scents move up a bit to intertwine with the fig. It's a good mix!

The scent is close-to-the-skin on me - not one that wafts around and pulls people in close. This one is for folks who are already close! It has a very nice wear on me, though, despite it all. I put this on in the afternoon and could smell it still when I woke up the next morning (and that's after many, many handwashings and sanitzings both at work and at home!).

Do I smell carnage and slaughter, here? No, not so much, unless they smell like figs and musk!

I will say it's not my favorite in the collection, but it's not a swap-it-away-er, either. I will definitely wear this and I can't wait to see how it ages, too!

BPAL Review: The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse |

1 - The Grindhouse

Folks - if you aren't clicking on the images in this series to take an up-close look, you're missing out! Jennifer Williamson is A-MA-ZING.

THE GRINDHOUSE

Throaty laughter captures your attention. Across the lane you see a buxom Venetian woman standing before a huge black and red striped tent. Her head is inclined towards a dapper, leering man, and they appear to be sharing a private joke. He reaches into his waistcoat and produces a gold coin. The woman plucks it from his fingers. He bows, and walks into the tent with a swagger. A sign flashes above the tent flap in letters that seem to be aflame: The Grindhouse, Dead or Live Girls.

The Madam turns towards you and smiles. As she approaches, someone within the tent strikes a few keys on a tuneless piano, and begins to play Jelly Roll Morton's 'the Crave'. The light within the tent illuminates the interior, shining behind the silhouettes of naked women gyrating lewdly upon raised stages, writhing in time with the music.

In the distance, behind the tent, you hear a whip crack, and a man's scream. Tittering laughter follows, and the screams continue.

"Voulez-vous un morceau de la boîte de bonbon?" she asks, gesturing gracefully towards the tent.

The Madam's perfume envelops you.

The description of the scent:

Florentine iris, red musk, mimosa, magnolia, Damascus rose, clove, and vanilla bean.

Initial impressions:

This reminds me in some ways of several of my favorites Mme. Moriarty, Misfortune Teller (which makes sense because the Mme. and The Madame both have vanilla and red musk) and Blood Phoenix (again - red musk and, this time, mimosa) and Krampus '07 (which is red musk and naughtiness). Now that I know that's the scent of red musk, I can decipher it in other BPAL scents I have, like Lust, Bloodlust, and Scherezade - scents I like but don't 100% love. I'm going to have to sign up as a fan of BPAL red musk overall, though.

More thoughts:

Wet on the skin, I clearly smell the red musk but the Damascas rose is hiding back there, too. I'm not sure what mimosa and magnolia smell like, nor iris that is specifically Florentine, but this is definitely a floral scent, which makes a lot of sense. But please don't expect your typical department store floral! No way! It's a glorious blend of both high and low - like wearing vintage designer with a worn pair of Chuck Taylors - but in a whorehouse at an evil carnival.

Once this scent dries down, the flowers soften (wilt?) and the musk blends with the clove and vanilla to create a soft and sensual - and slightly fruity - powder. Thankfully, I get a long but not overbearing wear from this scent, which is perfect because I intend to wear it a lot!

While I expected this scent to be more dirty - it's the scent representing a Madam, after all - this doesn't disappoint. After all, no one says the Madam sullies herself! Why shouldn't she smell delecatable?

BPAL Review:

The Grindhouse and The Ladies of the Grindhouse

Ladies and Gentlemen, fragrancehounds of all ages... come one, come all to the review of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Grindhouse and its associated other scents!

If you aren't yet familiar with Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab ("BPAL," as it's known to its fans), you are missing out on the most wonderful experience! These hand-blended perfume oils are a somewhat underground phenomenon, known (and traded) the world over. It's not terribly mainstream, the BPAL, but that's part of what makes it so good. (Would Snake Oil be as decadent and spectacular if everyone on the subway or in Subway was wearing it? NO!)

The creation of Beth Moriarty, Nose-slash-Perfumer-slash-Alchemist-slash-Poet-slash-Artist, BPAL oils are genius-inspired blends of scented oils paired with snippets of literature and poetry, both new and old, and pops of classic and more modern fantasy-type artwork. Most "perfume houses" are feasts for one sense, but BPAL feeds them all but taste (the oils probably don't taste good and aren't recommended for consumption, even the ones that are quite "foody").

The BPAL website, www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com, gives consumers a variety of themes from which to choose, including (and here I list a few of my favorites because it's my blog!) Wanderlust [scents from all over the world, including my beloved Morocco!], Ars Amatoria [the name of Ovid's work, translated as The Art of Love, with scents relating to this romantic and heated of subjects], Mad Tea Party [scents from the other side of the looking glass] and Neil Gaiman [a tribute to and collaboration with the amazing and equally versatile author-slash-comic book writer-slash-artist-slash-animal activist, in which proceeds are given to Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Orangutan Foundation UK ].

The scents I'm about to review are nestled firmly in the incredible theme of Carnavale Diabolique. While not at all related to my favorite but sadly short-lived HBO show Carnivale, this show helps flesh out my vision of the characters portrayed in this BPAL theme. At any rate, this diabolical carnival is quite gritty and odd and intriguing and even sexy - and quite a spectacular scent journey!

Within the Carnavale Diabolique exists a madame and her girls - and these are the scents I'm going to review. I have had them for about 2 weeks and have dabbled with various scents, but wasn't in the right frame of mind to review them until now. I'm going to try to do one a day, but if my Muse is missing I'm going to skip a day so as to give these fragrances the best possible coverage. I am madly in love with BPAL and I don't want to half-ass my reviews.

To keep things honest, I'll let you know that the set of scents were a PR offering. And I'll also let you know my honest opinion of the scents, as always.

Stay tuned for the reviews: