Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab produces perfume oils unlike anything else on the market. Aiming for a "dark, romantic Gothic tone" the Alchemy Lab carries scents inspired by religions, literature, cities of the world, fairy tales and inside jokes. The general catalog contains hundreds of different perfumes, and limited edition scents are frequently provided. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is referred to as BPAL or the Lab by customers. These perfumes are unlike any other commercially produced scents.
The sheer volume can be overwhelming for a new customer. Fortunately BPAL offers Imp's Ears, samples of most general catalog scents. Samples are not available for limited editions and a few general catalog scents. Imps are standard 1/32oz perfume vials. They are $3 individually, and $16 for a half dozen. BPAL oils are packaged in small glass bottles with screw tops. These bottles are usually cobalt blue, though sometimes amber bottles are used. General catalog scents have simple black and white labels, but the limited edition labels are often elaborate and colorful. 5ml and 10ml bottles of scents cost from $12.50 to $25. Considering the perfume oil content of each blend is 85 to 100%, these prices make BPAL one of the most affordable perfume lines around. BPAL oils are 85 to 100% perfume oil, as compared to straight perfume (15-25%), eaudeparfum (8-15%) or eaude cologne (2-5%). No animal products are used in any BPAL fragrances. Elements such as civet are composites created from carefully mixed bouquets.
The general catalog is broken down into the following categories: Bewitching Brews, Funeral Oils, Dark Elements, Sin & Salvation, Love potions, Diabolus, Mad Tea Party, Illyria, Wanderlust, ArsDraconis, Rappaccini's Garden, The Salon, Excolo, Voodoo Blends, Tarot Oils, Sephiroth, The Chakras, Panacea, and Somnium. Some categories, such as the Tarot and Chakras are straightforward. ArsDraconis includes several scents using dragon's blood as a base. Illyria contains scents inspired by Shakespeare, and Mad Tea Party is a line influenced by Lewis Carroll's work. Wanderlust showcases perfumes named for cities and places both real and legendary. Many scents in the catalog are inspired by famous and obscure works of fiction or art. Dorian is a hugely popular scent named after Wilde's famous dandy. There's a scent named for Wilde as well. Many scents reference poetry, legends and religious myth. There are scents for gluttony, wrath, envy, sloth, greed, lust and pride in the Sin & Salvation category. It is often surprising to experience how well the perfumes suit their names and descriptions.
Limited edition scents are usually just placed in the Limited category. BPAL has a limited edition series titled "A Little Lunacy" that appears each month on the full moon. Lunacy scents are created around various names for full moons, such as Harvest Moon, Flower Moon, Snow Moon, Hungry Ghost Moon, and Honey Moon. Lunacy scents are only available for 24 hours on the day of the full moon. Other limited scents are often created for the season, such as the Halloween and Yule creations. Sometimes the Lab creates an entire line of limited edition scents available for a few months at a time. One of the first was Springtime in Arkham, a tribute to HP Lovecraft. The second was CarnavalNoir, an intriguing line of scents inspired by a suggestion regarding summer carnival food on the customer forum. one of BPAL's most popular scents ever was Midway, a sugary tribute to fried and sweet foods. Other limited edition lines A Demon in My View and Maelstrom. These limited edition lines allowed the Lab to create complex olfactory tributes to Edgar Allen Poe's short stories and poems.
An enormously popular limited edition offering was Chaos Theory. Each bottle of Chaos Theory was unique and untitled except for a roman numeral. Every single bottle was a different blend. The only rule to the edition was that there was no way to choose which bottle arrived. Chaos Theory was so popular it is now in its third round. in the third round, oils containing common allergens such as nuts were removed so that no bottles would cause any unexpected reactions.
Because scents are not transmitted through the internet, the BPAL customer forum is an essential tool for a shopper when selecting a scent. Most perfumes have a brief description o the major notes or inspiration for the oil. Because BPAL oils are mostly perfume oil and complex, they often react in different ways to the skin chemistry of different people. What smells like a bounty of lily and musk to one person may turn plastic and sour on another. The forum contains reviews written by customers about the oils. It is an excellent resource to use while learning which scents work best with one's personal preferences and body chemistry. Customers of the Lab learn to train a discriminating nose, and many reviews are elaborate affairs with complex analysis of the stages of the perfumes.
When BPAL scents don't work out, there is a lively secondhand market for imps and bottles. The customer forum has a subsection devoted to swapping and selling scents that just didn't work out. this softens the blow for any customer disappointed with their purchase, as it is quite easy to trade and sell on the forum. Moderators make an effort to address any issues with members who don't follow through with swaps, a practice known as "swap-lifting." There are also limits on the forum to prevent the prices of discontinued oils from spiking too high. eBay is another source for secondhand BPAL scents, with more freedom for pricing. However bidding wars for discontinued or limited edition scents can push the price up dramatically.
The Black Phoenix Trading Post (BPTP) is also affiliated with the Lab. Here one finds shirts, scent lockets and statues inspired by and for BPAL. Each month the Trading Post offers a shirt to correspond with the Lunacy update. Unlike the Lunacy blends, BPTP shirts usually stay up for sale for one week. There are several regular catalog shirts, as well as several heavy silver scent lockets designed by the Lab. BPTP plans to continue expanding their offerings over the coming year. Orders for BPTP products cannot be combined with orders from BPAL because they are separate entities.
BPAL is a small business, and has experienced a number of growing pains over the past few years. The wait time for shipments climbed dramatically, sometimes topping out at six to eight weeks. In 2006, shipping times have shortened and are now only a few weeks. On the customer forum, one of the most heavily trafficked threads chronicles the shipping notices received by customers. The Lab prides itself on excellent customer service and works quickly correct any problems. Because they are a small business, Lab staff have an unusually personal and friendly relationship with large chunks of their fan base. Lab staff are frequent contributors to the customer forum. Some offhand jokes in the forum have mushroomed into inspiration for BPAL blends, most notably the CarnavalNoir line in 2005, and the limited edition Enraged Orangutan Musk.
For scents to compliment lifestyles from the gothic to the geeky, the Black Phoenix Alchemy lab supplies quality perfumes. Few other companies can provide such nuanced and beautiful creations for such an inexpensive price. With a reasonable price for samples and an active secondhand market, it is easy to become hooked on BPAL oils.
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