Bpal

I know I started a thread about BPAL (Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab) when I first joined but it was very general and more about the line than individual frags. I have actually tested a LOT of BPALs and at first pretty much disliked the vast majority (*many* of their frags have a syrupy note that while not horrible is, I feel, too widespread). I've come around to a few of them lately, and I'm wondering if anyone else here, even if they aren't a general fan, has one or two specific frags from BPAL that they have a soft spot for? Which ones and why?

The big one for me is EDEN. A surprise even outside of the BPAL bounds, a very unique frag. The drydown is weird and nothing I've ever smelled before. I can't even say I 100% love it but it's so strange and compelling I do keep coming back to it. The listed notes are: fig leaf, fig fruit, honeyed almond milk, toasted coconut and sandalwood.

Cordelia - this is a rarity for BPAL, imo. It's floral, but earth floral, and it's not sweet or heavy at all, although nor is it insubstantial. I actually think this one would be quite popular here if lots of people could try it! Notes are lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk.

Obatala - I just unashamedly love a well done coconut frag and this is actually one of my favourites. It's not cloying at all and it doesn't dry down into foulness. It's clean and milky and softly, warmly coconutty. Notes: milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water

Also: Dragon's Blood (Dragon's blood resin and honeyed vanilla), Hell's Belle (oleander with wet, sweet mandarin, lush magnolia, deep musk and a touch of spice), Vampire Tears (wisteria, white grapefruit, neroli, green tea, jasmine, white ginger, honeysuckle, iris, and tonka). All of these are in the soft, feminine, sweet (possibly gourmand-y), lush, sexy, easy, simple category that I admittedly have a weakness for.

Final Note: huh! This is the first time in awhile I've looked at the actual notes of these frags - some of them don't sound, on paper, like what I am sniffing at all! Vampire Tears especially - I had that pinned as a gourmand - no citrus or tea in there to my nose.

Lizzie_j I did what you did - purchased a ton of imps at one time and worked my throught them. Same experience as you, too - I'd say 2 or 3 were FBW (and at least FB's of BPAL frags are not pricey) - Obatala, Eden and ... one of the other ones I listed. I'm not even sure about Eden, I think I might like its weirdness more than I want to smell of it. I aslo agree with what you said about fragrancing a room. Most of the BPALs I tried would be better as a room scent than a personal scent. They have so many seasonal ones, too, which is something I like in room scents.

Veuve Amiot - I have (I think) 3 Possets samples I have yet to give a proper try-out so I think I'll do that today and see if I can pick up a similiar note, or at least a BPAL-style similiarity in their frags.

Interesting comments about being overwhelmed by the sheer number of BPALs. Me too. I have always thought their site was pretty much marketing genius, but it looks like a lot of people are actually turned off by the too-many possibilities. I spent some time on the BPAL forum when I was figuring out what imps to purchase and it seems like it's a younger (I'd say 15-25 ish) and generally female customer base, in which case I can sort of understand the tons of frags - these customers were clearly collectors and many were trying every single new release. They also seemed to fit more into the 'fan' mode and less into the 'critic' mode like we do here. I wish someone else would test them all and sort the wheat from the chaff for me, though!

Darkdreams - they have a search function on their site. My advice would be to search by note. Searching by name is too random (in terms of what notes you get in the results). The BPAL forum has, as I remember it, boiled down and categorized most of it, too, so you might want to check that out if you have a specific genre of frag in mind.

Debbbora - I could be wrong but I'm under the impression that BPAL is run by very few people. I don't know if they have the resources to respond to individual mail. An auto-response would be nice, though. If anywhere is going to have a selection of 'hippie' scents, it's there. Maybe check the Forums?

Hi Fountaingirl, and welcome!

I've seen some of the BPAL LEs go for a lot on eBay, too - over $100 for some of them. If I was a collector that would piss me off, too - just the amount of LE's - I'd almost feel forced into buying them without testing first.Do you have details of the $600 scent? I'm curious about that one.

Also, what are the notes in Death of Autumn? I like the name.