Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Bien Loin d'Ici

I wasn´t much of a shopper when I was small. I hated to go with my mother and shop for clothes, it was sooo boring. But, during pre-puberty that changes. No, I was still not that interested in clothes, but at least my pocket money went to something else than just candy. Comics, barettes, recordings (ABBA, Baccara, Boney M), lipglosses and stickers.


People from my home town, Boden, often went to the bigger neighbor town, Luleå for shopping. Especially we used to go shopping at "Shopping" a big mall, the first in Sweden built with American shopping malls as role model. It was two things that made it funny to visit "Shopping", first it was my fathers cousin working as a shop decorator in a big apartment store, his work shop was really exciting with display dummies and part of them all over.


The second thing that was fun with "Shopping" was store called Anarkali. It was a really small, narrow and dark shop that was hiding in a corner behind the stairs. I thought of it as a really small shop when I was about 11, so it must really have been small. Despite it´s lack of size, Anarklai was filled with a lot of strange and interesting stuff, incense, jewelry and trinkets, clothes in bright colors made of thick velvet or silky chiffong, bags and shoes. I bought a pair of black chinese shoes there, cheap jewelry, a bag and a lot of incense. I loved incense and since my mother also liked it, it was OK. But later on I become so allergic to it.


Now I wonder if I didn´t visit Anarkali much thanks to the smell of the shop. It was a mix of incense, strong perfume oils, dusty clothes and textile color (beck then all kinds of Iniand clothes was so overly colored you get color on your fingers only by touching them, my mother HATED it). Some years later, Indiska ( a big chain) opened a store in Luleå, at Shopping. Indiska had a big, bright and airy shop and pretty much the same kind of things as Anarkali, but so much more of it. At first I didn´t liked Indiska, and kept on visiting Anarkali. But, however, I couldn´t resist Indiska for so long. I even had bad consience and didn´t want the lady at Anarkali to know that I also shopped at Indiska. Well, shortly after, there wasn´t any Anarkali shop left...


Well, after a long time of waiting my "imps" (samples) from BPAL finally arrived (I ordered 27/3 and they arrive 15/5). Even though I love perfumes from Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle, L'Artisan and all the others I also love me some perfume oils now and then.


One of the oils takes me back in time about 30 years. Bien Loin d'Ici smells exactly like the shop Anarkali. It is a little stronger then the shop itself, but apart from that spot on. It make me become 11-12 years old again, and standing in front of the desk in the shop with my spare money in my hand... Before smelling Bien Loin d'Ici I didn´t hardly remember that I remembered Anarkali...


Bien Loin d'Ici smells of spices, incense and flowers and are almost overwhelming strong from start. It is a warm, rich and saturated scent, it feels oriental in a very genuin way. Maybe not that exclusive or refined, but still filled with emotions and memories, at least for me. One fun thing with the oils from BPAL is that they smell one thing from the sample vial and a little different on the skin, and that it goes through several stages of changing until it dries down. During the first phases Bien Loin d'Ici smells likes Anarkali, later on it changes to something else.


The light floral scent and the spices dissapears and now it´s all about incense, wood and amber. It is a really warm and comfy, maybe more suitable for colder weather then now, during a heat wave. During the first phase it has good sillage for an oil, it become more of a skin scent later on. Lasting power is absolute great, at least 12 hours. I put it on last night and still it´s lingers clearly on my skin. The dry down is most about glowy amber and soft, sensual and sexy musk. Really nice and easy to like.


I have several imps to test and it´s so much fun since they are quite different from most other perfumes. And just the other day I´ve got samples from a very exclusive perfume house. And now I mean very exclusive! It´ll be wonderful to try them to. All the time I get enchanted by the variety, richness and differences that can be found in the art of perfumes. Isn´t that amazing!?


My daughter in law is two weeks past time (expected birthd date) and they will start the delivery by saturday if it doesn´t start by itself. My oldest daughter and her family arrive here later today, I guess they was hoping to meet the new baby....





Pic: shopping_interiorer, tirsen aili