Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Kubla Khan

After Arams post about 24 The Fragrance, I´ve tought a little about idols. I do belive that you can have idols, even fictive one´s, no matter if you´re grown-up or not. And I´ve also tought a little about the difference between idols and role models, and somehow having role modles feels a little more adult. But, also a little more boring, role moldes are usually people that have achived something that you admire and hope to achive yourself one day, while idols don´t necessary need to have a lot of good feautures that you wish for yourself. Idols are also kind of unattainable. Hey, idols can even be nothing but plain old good looking and strong. Personally I´m a die hard Uruk-Hai fan girl!


An idol that have existed for real, and that I still have some kind of admiration for, is Djengis Khan and also his son Kubla Khan, even though I think Djengis have a much cooler name, I even named my siames cat after him once upon a time. Maybe some of you think that having Djengis and Kubla Khan as idols is as having Hitler or Stalin as idols, but I don´t care that much for their war success (or cruelties). I think it´s the whole thing with men in leather armor on horse back, and the little nerd in my also loves the fact that Djengis is the historical person with most living off-springs! Any of us plain regular citisens can have some drops of diluted Djengis-blood in us! That is sooo cool!


Anyhow, I don´t seem to be the only person with a little father and son-Khan cult. Everyone knows about Serge Lutens famous musc, Muscs Koublai Khan and the scent I´m about reviewin today is inspired by Coleridge´s well-knowned poem, Kubla Khan:


In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.


I totally agree that this poem is so inspiering. And of course it deserve a scent of it´s own! And I belive that Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has manage really, really good. Kubla Khan is a dreamy, subtle scent. It´s obvious that the fact that Coleridge in his turn was inspired by a dreamlike opium fuddle also has inspired the guys at BPAL. There is an all time present smokey note in Kubla Khan, and it is the most subtle, soft and enjoyable smokey note one can imagine. In a very genuin and convincing way it smells like a soft, sweet, sheer and narcotic smoke. I will gladly imagine that this is what opium smoke smells like!


The pleasant opium smoke at first lingers beyond sweet fruits like fresh apples, tropical fruits of all kinds and ripe melons. When the fruits are wearing of, the floral notes are coming up front, and such nice, soft and likeable floral notes. The flowers are gilded with the opium smoke, but also a incense note occurs, making the smoke more spicy and full bodied. The different smoke notes makes me think that Kubla Khan also works really good on men. Eeven tough the floral notes are obvious, even a little powdery, they don´t seem that feminine. The last of the floral notes are a mix between rose and violets that on my skin smells like sweet, creamy lipstick.


After that I can smell warm, golden notes of hay, amber and soft spices. Kubla Khan is a sweet scent, but all the time very dreamy and soft. And it is amazing to sleep on it I´ve discovered! Just before I fell asleep I have no problems imaging that I´m on a soft couch in a golden parlour in a castle in Xanadu. Kubla Khan is extremly soft, caressing and sensual. Together with Bayou, Kubla Khan is one of the scents I´ll have in a bigger bottle eventually.


BPAL is with all it´s different scents and not least, the fab descriptions quite addictive itself, I can easy find about 60-70 different oils that sound interesting enough to give them a try. And that´s a part of the problem, sometimes it feels like not seeing the forrest because of all the trees. It is a little to much of everything, and since i´ve got so many other nice fragarnces I want to test, I can´t really enjoy BPAL as much as their most devoted fans seem to do.


Do you have any favorite from BPAL that you think I need to try? Or don´t you care about them at all, and save your money for proper fumes?






Pic: John Kiraly, Rendezvous at falls head

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Bayou

It´s been a while since I´ve got my imps (samples) from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. And until now I´ve only write about one of them. Is it because the rest of them was just boring? No, not at all, I didn´t like all of them, but some of them are really interesting and good. One of the good one´s is Bayou.


Bayou is the wetland swamps that you can find -mostly- in the state of Louisiana, USA. No wonder, Louisiana is one of the states in the US, that I am most curious about, and I dream about to visit not only New Orleans, but the swamps as well. BPAL`s perfume oil, Bayou makes me want to go there even more...


Bayou starts very bright and tart, like a mix between high tuned aldehydes and really tart citrus. I´m not sure which kind of cirtrus, but a really tart one without sweetness. After a short while the citrus are getting accompanied by soft greenery, the green notes are also kind of tart, soft and fresh. This phase makes me think of sunbeams shining through green grasses and plants. Bayou is also a very warm scent, without being sweet, which makes it both pleasant and different.


But, it´s first when the oakmoss makes entrance I truly surrender and feel like transported to a genuin bayou. At the same time as the oakmoss also some lazy, almost tranquilising white flowers occurs. Gradually the citruses dissapears, but during about an hour, the citrus, the oakmoss and the flowers exists side by side, replacing each other all the time. During this time, bayou is also getting darker and deeper.


More and more I realise that it makes me think of an entire day in the bayou swamps. From the first bright sunshine in the morning, through the heat of the day with it´s flickering shadows and overwhelming greenery, until the oakmoss totally domintes the scent, and make me think about dusk and nightfall.


Even though Bayou makes it´s best to smell like a certain place, I woudln´t hesitate to wear it as a perfume. I find it to be enjoyable, complex and very interesting. As it is a perfume oil, two little drops is more then enough. I think I will buy a big bottle (5 ml) of it when my little imp is empty. Bayou is a must try for everyone that likes perfume oils, but also for all of you that like green scents with lots of oakmoss in. And I do suggest that those of you that still isn´t convinced about perfume oils give Bayou a try! Bayou could be the perfume oil that makes you change your mind.


It has excellent sillage and good lasting power. One of my biggest faves from BPAL.


And whats up then? Well, I will introduce a guest blogger soon. And while mentioning it, if you feel like contribute to this blog with a article, it could be a review or whatever you feel like that has some kind of perfume/fragrance/scent theme, feel free to contact me and make a suggestion. I can´t promise to publich everything, that depends on how many that are interested, but also if three persons would like to write a review about the same scent, maybe I can only publish one of them. It doesn´t matter if you would like to write in Swedish, English or both, I can translate the article.






Pic: daily headlines and from the movie "Pirates of the Carribean"

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

Some of my disliked perfumes.

I am quite entusiasthic as a person, especially when it comes to perfumes. Readers of my blog can easily belive that I really looooooove everything that I encounter, but that is of course not true. Among ten tried perfumes, maybe I swoon about 1 or 2 at most. Sometimes, even if it is rare, I come across an entire line that I really like, as Odori. The usual is that among ten perfume I find about 6-7 ok, nice but not at all good enough to make me go ooooooh. From time to time I even come across perfumes I don´t manage to wear at all, all I want is to run and scrub myself.

Today it´s time to write about the perfumes I´ve come across during the winter and that I don´t like at all. I know I´ve write very positive about some of the oils from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, but I´ve also experienced oils from BPAL that is horrible. Do you feel like smelling like poison mushroom, slowly rottening and molding in a damp cave? Well, then I think you should try Destroying Angel from BPAL. Honestly, I didn´t think it was really a scrubber, but my husband tought it smell like a relative when he has a hangover, so my husband beg me to wash it away, so of course I did. Another from BPAL I have to scrub off was Oya. It smell like something acrid, sedating and headache inducing, the closest I can think of is some kind of narcotic tranquiliser. Not good! Both Oya and Destroying Angel make me shrud when I think about them. The picture above is of Destroying Angel, I find it quite beautiful, but it is one of the poison mushrooms killing most people in US what I can find out. Obviuosly among the one´s that eats mushrooms, I guess more people die of heart diseases and cancer, but you get it.

Another disapointment was Hermes Eau de Merveilles, not a scrubber, but so boring. I try to like it, many do, but on me it smells like something old and stale. Rue de Cambon from Chanel is also a bad one on me, something in it make me think of wet diapers and something moldy. Thanks, but no thanks.

And, Amouage, oh really. For 195 euro/bottle I do expect something more than a nice and strong floral! I have only tried Gold and Lyric, but they don´t manage to make me curious about the others.

And also, CdGs Stephen Jones, that I loiked so much when I´ve got the sample a coupple of months ago. I tried it again some days ago, and no, it didn´t do anything for me no more. It was so artificial and cold, all I could think of was that it would stop smelling.

Well, one good thing is that I´ve order Luckyscent´s samplepack with Le Labo perfumes. I am looking forward to try them finally, it was about time, wasn´t it?