Monday, August 5, 2013

The Shadowy and the Sublime - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab



Details: 
The Shadowy and The Sublime
Gothic Literature Vol 1
Halloweenie 2010
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
A sudden and shocking insight into the vast, ineffable, overwhelming power of Nature, stirred by a vision or experience of perfected beauty and perfected terror, that changes the soul irretrievably. An epiphany: Moroccan amber, wisteria, ambergris accord, white rose, magnolia, white mint, angelica, bergamot, and myrrh.

When I first got this, I adored it. This is what I wrote about it back then. 
Anything that includes wisteria, white rose, magnolia... I'm there. It doesn't disappoint either. This is a gorgeous creamy white floral with no really dominant notes that I could distinguish. It's beautifully blended, with a medium throw and reasonable staying power. I wish BPAL would do more of these gentle florals, because they're obviously really good at it.  

Unfortunately, once this perfume had aged a year or so, the amber became really prominent and pretty much took over the 'gentle floral' entirely, and I'm a bit devo because it was so, so beautiful before. Although I can still smell the floral notes, it's mostly just amber, and a really heady kind that makes me feel a bit headachy and nauseated after a while. It's been a long time since I last wore it, but I pulled it out to compare with Estella, hoping that further ageing had mellowed it somewhat. Not to be. This perfume has very high sillage and lasts for ages - I put a teeny amount on my wrist in the morning and when I woke the following day I could still smell traces of it. It's a clinger. I loved you once, lady, but you got old. :-(

Rating: 
2/5

Day 216! 

4 comments:

  1. Well shoot, sorry this didn't age well. That's really disappointing! Do other BPAL scents age well?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Technically yes, in that they don't tend to go off - some people have oils from 10 years ago that are still going strong. However, in a lot of them the smell changes considerably, so it could be that one you love changes to something you don't like (as in my case), or something you dislike changes eventually to something you love.

      Annoyingly, you don't know til you try!

      Delete
  2. I know this is from a million years ago (practically), but I just got a frimp of this and I ADORE it because it is so ambery and resiny. Mine must be almost 3 years old now I suppose. Different strokes, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know this is from a million years ago (practically), but I just got a frimp of this and I ADORE it because it is so ambery and resiny. Mine must be almost 3 years old now I suppose. Different strokes, eh?

    ReplyDelete