Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

To begin, let me establish some credibility for this review by telling you that I've always been one of those violently anti-perfume people – you know, the ones who need someone else to rip all the perfume pages out of magazines and not just those pages, but the ones before and after. I've always sniffed people before letting them use my phone or pen, and bought unscented everything whenever possible. So how did I become the hopeless perfume junkie I am today?
Four little words: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

BPAL (as it's generally known among aficionados) has been offering fine perfume oil blends for more than ten years. Don't be put off by the elegantly Goth feel of their website with its Aubrey Beardsley artwork or by some of the darker perfume names. The energy of these oils is powerfully positive, and there is no trace of that ooky-spooky pretension found in some other "magical" perfume oils. BPAL blends are evocative, not intentionally empowered for magical use (that's their sister company, Twilight Alchemy Lab; more about that in a moment). It is the scent that awakens the emotional response – and what scent! With more than 500 perfume blends and more added all the time, you will never lack for olfactory orgiastics.

The BPAL perfumes are categorized into collections, such as Bewitching Brews and Rappaccini's Garden, with deliciously mystical blends such as Moon Rose and Belladonna. The Illyria collection features perfumes inspired by Shakespeare, and Excolo invokes deities from worldwide traditions, including Bastet, Lilith, Hecate, Persephone, and Yemaya. The Illuminations collection features oils that honor the Kaballah and a series for the Chakras. There is a Tarot collection, with beautiful scents for each of the Major Arcana cards, as well as the Aces. My favorite in this group is Temperance, a cool, sweetly balanced blend that evokes the classic tarot image of the angel with one foot on the flowery shore and one foot in the fresh flow of water. Other favorites include Alice (milk and honey with rose, carnation, and bergamot), and Anne Bonny, a blend of Indonesian red patchouli, red sandalwood, and frankincense, named after a female pirate. For rose lovers, Two Five & Seven (another from Alice's Mad Tea Party collection) must be the most perfect rose perfume ever devised.

The regular catalogue blends are augmented by limited editions. Some, like the monthly Lunacies perfume, are only available for a day or two. Others, like the Carnaval Diabolique collection, are offered for several weeks or months. New blends are always in the works, with names such as Astarte, Avalon, the Eyes of Beauty, and Freyja, not to mention upcoming collections like Alchemical Allegories, the Arthurian Collection, and The Sphinxes. Annual Samhain and Yule collections have included such treats as Dia de los Muertos, Pumpkin Queen, Skadi, Mistletoe, and Sugar Cookie.

The magical arm of BPAL, Twilight Alchemy Lab offers oils blends specifically intended for ritual use. The ones I've tried so far (which include Attuning, Concentration, White Light, Peace, and Lionheart) feel very pure and high, nothing remotely manipulative or negative. As with all of the BPAL perfumes, I would not hesitate to recommend any of their blends for sacred use. An exciting addition to the Twilight Alchemy offerings is a series of more than 20 temple oils, including Babylonian, Celtic, Egyptian, Ordo Templi Orientis, and Yoruba, as well as Temples of the Maiden (and Dark Maiden), Mother, and Crone.

Sample vials (called Imp's Ears) are available of most BPAL blends for $3.50 each (no samples are currently offered for TAL oils). Bottles (5ml or 10ml) range in price from $15 to $25. Because these are highly concentrated oils, a little goes a very long way! Unlike most mainstream perfumes, these blends don't just sit on the surface of your skin and scream their own autonomous scent. BPAL oils interact with your skin's chemistry, and the scent will metamorphose as it warms on your body, blooming into something even richer and more lovely. But if you find a certain perfume doesn't work for you, there are plenty of takers on BPAL's lively swap forum! The Black Phoenix community of perfume fanatics is a great place to browse online, as recommendations and reviews of the oils abound.

The Lab's own descriptions, though, are enough to set your imagination afloat. Here's Crossroads, from the Wanderlust collection: "The forks of the road: an in-between place, sacred and tangibly magickal in innumerable cultures and faiths. This scent is dark with mystery, taut with power. A chill twilit garden of blooms over dry earth and mosses, heavily laden with incense and offertory herbs." Or how about Tintagel: "The scent of a castle's great hall in the midst of joyous feasting. Spicy mulled wine flowing through the musky heat, warm leather and bright clash of armor, the damp branches of Cornish hawthorn, blackthorn, juniper, English elm and bayberry, and the magical tingle of dragon's blood resin." Don't say I didn't warn you – even the most adamantly anti-perfume person can easily be converted to a BPAL addict with just a few sniffs! Highly recommended.