This post contains products that were sent to me for review consideration!
Hey True Believers!
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab was super kind and generous to provide me with some of their collaboration with Legendary Pictures, Crimson Peak perfume oils and Atmosphere and Linen sprays ( available soon at Black Phoenix Trading Post) for review before the collection comes out Saturday, October 31st 2015! I was able to see the movie in a private screening as well earlier this month so it will be fun to see how well the scents match up to what was experienced in the movie!
I am THRILLED to be one of the first to be able to review part of this collection for you! The line is limited edition and will include 30 individual, original fragrances inspired by the movie as well as jewelry, nail polishes, and statuary!
The following review is based on how it worked with my body’s chemistry. Because everyone has a different body chemistry, my opinion on how it smells may not be true for you.
Black Phoenix Perfume Oils
Crimson Peak
$30.00 per 5ml bottle. Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.
BPAL’s Description: A house that breathes, that bleeds, and remembers.
A house like this, in time can become a living thing with timber for bones and windows for eyes: snow marbled with blood-red clay frozen over the scent of decayed wood.
My Thoughts: Musk category.
In the bottle: It’s a masculine scent. It smells very much like an incense. This one is hard to describe exactly, but there is a hint of wood underlying it.
On my skin: The incense like smell is still there with a that slight touch of wood. Even as it dries down it still smells exactly like it did in the bottle.
Edith Cushing
$30.00 per 5ml bottle. Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.
BPAL’s Description: Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind:
Pearlescent vanilla musk with white sandalwood, grey amber, white patchouli, ambrette seed, and oudh.
My Thoughts: Musk category.
In the bottle: It smells so lovely! The vanilla musk is at the forefront and is gracefully followed by the remaining scents as you take in each breathe. Edith would smell like this.
On my skin: It’s very light and the vanilla musk isn’t as pronounced. I do smell the white sandalwood. As it dries down, the grey amber comes through followed by the white patchouli. The vanilla seems to come back a little as well. I’m unsure of what ambrette seed smells like so I’m unsure if I pick up on it.
Thomas Sharpe
$30.00 per 5ml bottle. Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.
BPAL’s Description: Give in to temptation:
Black amber darkens a pale fougere.
My Thoughts: Musk category.
In the bottle:It’s exactly the two notes described. Another masculine scent. It smells amazing.
On my skin: I like it even more on my skin. I can imagine Thomas smelling just like this.
Lucille Sharpe
$30.00 per 5ml bottle. Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.
BPAL’s Description: Love makes monsters of us all:
Faded roses and a glimmer of garnet with black lily, ylang ylang, smoky plum musk, and black amber.
My Thoughts: Floral/Musk category.
In the bottle: I smell the roses immediately followed by every single scent in the descriptor. This is probably my favorite one so far. It smells exactly how I imagine Lucille would smell.
On my skin: The roses are there, but are being chased along by the black lily and plum musk.As it begins to dry down the ylang ylang steps forward with the black amber. It definitely has an exotic scent.
Alan McMichael
$30.00 per 5ml bottle. Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.
BPAL’s Description: My deepest concern has always been for you. If you are happy, I am happy.
Bay rum and sandalwood.
My Thoughts: Musk category.
In the bottle: It is exactly the two notes of bay rum and sandalwood. Simple but effective.
On my skin: Bay rum right off the bat as it’s wet. The sandalwood is prevalent as it dries down. I think Alan would smell like this. Especially the sandalwood. I can imagine him smelling like that.
The Manuscript
$30.00 per 5ml bottle. Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.
BPAL’s Description: A ghost story – Your father didn’t tell me it was a ghost story.
It’s not, Sir, it’s – more like a story…with a ghost in it.
A leather-bound manuscript, ink barely dry. A Gothic ghost tale, personified. The pages are permeated with a preternatural otherworldly quality – but only slightly, as the ghost is a counterpoint; leather and paper and splotches of ink, with a hint of ghostly chill.
My Thoughts: Musk category.
In the bottle: It smells like a leather-bound book pulled off a shelf in a great library, which is one of my favorite things in life. It is an amazing scent as it really makes you want to crack open a book.
On my skin: It smells like leather and paper. It smells like a leather-bound book. Which makes me smile because I love the way books smell. It does have a slightly sweet tinge to it, which I’m going to assume is the ghostly chill. This is such a great scent! Definitely one for book lovers!
Black Moths
$30.00 per 5ml bottle. Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.
BPAL’s Description: Back home we only have black moths. Formidable creatures. They thrive on the dark and cold.
What do they feed on?
Butterflies, I’m afraid?
A flutter in the darkness: wild plum and black currant with aged black patchouli, vetiver, red rose petal, tonka absolute, and opoponax.
My Thoughts: Musk category.
In the bottle: It almost smells edible, almost like a nut type smell at first whiff. Wild plum and black currant are the notes I pick up at first, with the vetiver and tonka blending right into them.
On my skin: It’s nutty with the fruit notes blended in of the wild plum and black currant. The tonka absolute is present as it begins to dry down, along with the aged black patchouli. The red rose petal is pushing to come through as well. This scent is very complex and interesting. The more it dries down, the more smoky it gets. I like it for these reasons.
Black Phoenix Atmosphere & Linen Sprays
The Cemetary, Many Years Ago
$35.00 per 4oz spray bottle. Pictured above is the 2ml goblin squirt I was sent for press review purposes. This size will not be available for purchase.
BPAL’s Description:
A solemn, pale child standing amongst snow-laden tombs as wet flakes descend from a leaden sky.
My Thoughts: Musk category.
It smells really good! I don’t even know how to describe it. It is a clean scent, It does have something cool about its fragrance. It’s almost like a clean linen fragrance, but has an edge to it.
Young Edith’s Bedroom
$35.00 per 4oz spray bottle. Pictured above is the 2ml goblin squirt I was sent for press review purposes. This size will not be available for purchase.
BPAL’s Description:
Shadows engulfing a child’s collection of dolls and books: beeswax, leather-bound paper, and white gardenias; porcelain and wood, lace and shadow.
My Thoughts: Floral category.
I smell the beeswax straight away followed by the white gardenias. The touch of leather-bound paper is in there, but the beeswax is the strongest note.
Allerdale Hall
$35.00 per 4oz spray bottle. Pictured above is the 2ml goblin squirt I was sent for press review purposes. This size will not be available for purchase.
BPAL’s Description:
Edith – Edith. Wake up – We are here. Allerdale Hall…
A grand house brooding against the horizon, a silhouette of jutting chimneys and sharp angles silhouetted against the grey sky.
My Thoughts: Musk category.
This is another one that smells really good. Similar to my thoughts on The Cemetary Many Years ago, it has a fragrance I have a hard time describing. It does smell like it would be in a large stately manor, and is slightly masculine. It has qualities that remind me of BPAL’s Abe Sapien perfume oil. It smells like how I would imagine a gentleman’s study would smell like.
The Sharpe Library
$35.00 per 4oz spray bottle. Pictured above is the 2ml goblin squirt I was sent for press review purposes. This size will not be available for purchase.
BPAL’s Description:
A vast double-height room, crowded with books and glass cabinets. Oil portraits stare down from the walls, and a grand piano plays the ghost of a lullaby.
My Thoughts: Spice category.
There is something cinnamon like about it and it’s coated in spices. It has a sweet smell, but not sugary. It does smell very good. It is definitely a fall fragrance.
The Workshop
$35.00 per 4oz spray bottle. Pictured above is the 2ml goblin squirt I was sent for press review purposes. This size will not be available for purchase.
BPAL’s Description:
Thomas Sharpe’s refuge. Gears and grease and faded oriental rugs. Shelves cluttered with well-loved tools, piled with gears and mechanical wonders. Automata whir and click from every corner.
Machinery made magic; the final manifestation of dissolving hopes and clockwork dreams: sawdust and gear lubricant, metal rods shining in golden afternoon light.
My Thoughts: Musk category.
It has a hint of sawdust, but has a soap like note to it. It has a nice clean scent and I can imagine this is what his workshop would smell like as his scent mingles with his surroundings.
Lucille’s Room
$35.00 per 4oz spray bottle. Pictured above is the 2ml goblin squirt I was sent for press review purposes. This size will not be available for purchase.
BPAL’s Description:
A room of cobalt hues, shadowed , with walls adorned with innumerable pinned butterflies and moths. Lilac water, fossilized black amber, lily of the valley, violet leaf, and oakmoss.
My Thoughts: Floral category.
The main notes of lilac water, lily of the valley, and violet leaf are at the forefront. The fossilized black amber is there faintly as is the oakmoss.
MAKEUP BY SIRYN 
