I've been a fan of the Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs since I was a black-lipstick-sporting teen. Although I've never actually tried their products, until now. There wasn't any question of this not resulting in a glowing review. I loved the brand after all and their friendly PR-department was more than happy to send me about ten sample bottles of perfume for free. It was a win-win-situation. Or was it?
Just about a week after I'd approached the Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs a package arrived in the mail. Charlotta Hedman/Bitchbuzz. This was one of the high points of my journalistic career. My first free samples.
The Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs, or BPAL as they're called by their many thousands of loyal online fans, is a California based company that makes “bewitching blends” of perfume. They base their recipes on old voodoo spells and myths. They even have a series named after Neil Gaiman characters. If I was ever going to find my signature perfume this was the place.
I'd spent a good few hours going through their detailed and extensive product pages, trying to find the most interesting blends. I was intrigued by Bliss (a shot of pure, self-indulgent euphoria!), Hellcat (a soft, sensual, luxuriant blend with a wicked bite), Follow me boy (a voodoo recipe favoured by prostitutes) and a scent called London (will it smell like Brick Lane on a Sunday night?). BPAL also kindly sent me a few other blends to try out (Perversion, Dorian, O.. maybe they'd read my previous review of sex toys?).
So there I was with samples of perfumes I've been wanting to order for the last ten years, suddenly very afraid that I was going to spill even a tiny drop of them on my sofa. Not because I was afraid of missing out on any perfume, but because I suddenly didn't want any of these scents to linger in my flat.
The first perfume I sniffed was Bliss (the serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate). It does smell like chocolate, old milk chocolate that's been left in the cupboard since last Easter. I also tried it out on my boyfriend, who pretty much said he wouldn't come near me if I was wearing it. To be sure I wasn't just biased and my boyfriend wasn't just grumpy I also tried it out on my brother and dad, who both reacted with more horror than necessary and started looking for the nearest coffee jar to smell. My mom then declined to even smell the perfume.
But this was just one of several samples. I was especially curious about Follow me boy, which according to BPAL is an old voodoo blend used by prostitutes to increase profits. At least my boyfriend should like this. Although all he kept doing was moving further away from me on the sofa. Maybe what worked for prostitutes at the turn of the century isn't that hot stuff anymore. Most people think Chanel 5 smells like old grannies anyway.
I was really hoping the BPAL perfumes would blow my sock off, but unfortunately they didn't. I still really like this company. They've done a hell of a PR job of making their blends attractive to all us grown up goths. The perfumes sound great, the smell seems to be a different matter though.
All of the scents are hand-blended and made with essential oils. It's in other words, good stuff. And some of the samples were a pleasant surprise. London smells a lot like the rosy perfumes my granny had saved from when she was a young girl. It's soft and dusty and although it doesn't smell like London it's a scent that I can see myself wearing. I'm going to try to experiment with the other scents a bit, just to see if they get better after a few days wear. I'm not going anywhere near Bliss though. Suddenly chocolate isn't all that appealing.