2024
I was planning on posting this up as the culmination of 31 Days of Horror as I did last year, but…
1. I finished these reviews last night, and I am impatient. If something is done, the temptation to share it is too great not to do it immediately! ‘
And 2. holding off until Halloween isn’t helpful for those who are looking to place orders before Halloween and may need a bit of help in the way of a review that tells them something, while… if not useful or helpful (I don’t kid myself about the kind of “reviews” that I write) at least…illuminating? Insightful?
I don’t know, man. I’m helping!
Moroccan Pumpkin (pumpkin spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia) Immensely slatherable, an oozing study in autumnal comfort, heavy and sweet on the skin. The pumpkin note is rich and velvety, with a buttery smoothness that goes beyond coating the back of a spoon…I think the spoon would stand straight up in this if it were an actual edible thing! Spices add depth and complexity – warm cinnamon and golden, resinous amber – their heat tempered by the syrupy sweetness of brown sugar crystals seemingly dissolving into the blend. There’s a thickness to this scent, almost tactile in its presence, like the last spoonful of preserves clinging to the jar. It’s a scent that embodies the season’s most indulgent desserts – think slices of custardy pumpkin pie topped with dollops of whipped cream, warm cinnamon rolls dripping with gooey icing, and sticky toffee pudding saturated with a rich maple butterscotch sauce.
Darling, Darling (sugared pear and wild violets with orris butter, coconut milk, white musk, and vanilla silk) opens with a creamy, candied tartness that swoons into a misty moody, melancholic violet – a fevered vision nestled in the heart of a midnight reverie. This is a sugar-frosted bloom with a nocturnal appetite – powdery yet sharp, a strange, romantic sweetness on which one feeds exclusively and voraciously. A velvety richness mingles with a subtle lactonic note, providing a silky backdrop that amplifies the scent’s confectionery nature. A diaphanous veil of clean musk intertwines with gossamer-light vanilla, forming an ethereal shroud of tender menace clinging to trembling skin. TLDR; this smells like the tender caresses of a succubus who is feeding you a handful of Smarties.
Dead Leaves, Incense Smoke & Oud Imagine you are Mazzy Star circa 1993, but you are also slowly being consumed by the trees. Damp, earthy autumn leaves whisper songs of decay, a slow plume of incense smoke hangs low on the breeze, and the sun drops below the bloody, burning horizon. Rich woody darkness, a tree’s shadowy heart, and you, a pile of dust, an endlessly fading chord.
Dead Leaves, Black Tea & Bergamot The earthy, euphoric scent of autumn rises from a carpet of fallen leaves, their colors a blanket of umber and gold spread beneath rusted wrought-iron gates. Wisps of aromatic steam curl from an abandoned mug on a weathered stone bench, mingling with the garden’s fading sighs. At twilight, a crisp breeze rattles the trees, carrying a jolly, vegetal brightness that disperses the melancholy haze like a peal of laughter at an unexpectedly inappropriate joke! A moment, a reflective pause between seasons, rich with the comforting warmth of autumn and the lingering mischief of the departing summer, the last chirp of a cricket giving way to the first croak of an autumn toad.
The Bell Witch (rusted iron, mandrake root, burnt vetiver, and patchouli leaves) What is it about the human heart that loves a place forsaken? This is a quote from a book I read recently, so I can’t take credit for it, but it is super appropriate for this perfume. In a forgotten corner of an abandoned homestead, weathered tools rest against crumbling walls, once-gleaming surfaces now a canvas of rust and patina, shadows pool in the pitted surface of an old axe head. From between warped floorboards, gnarled tendrils reach upward, twisted and pale, insistently seeking. A tenebrous botanical scent rises with them, vegetal and searching. It mingles with the musty air, a complex perfume of damp wood, old leather, and the faint memory of smoke. Dust hangs suspended in slanted beams of light; each mote a silent witness to creeping decay and desolation.
Single Note: Black Lipstick (waxy drugstore lipstick and clove cig residue) Velvety pigments and wine-darkened lips, inky midnight fruits, rich, jammy, plummy, plush malaise-as-a-lifestyle-choice kisses.
Pumpkin Spice Halo-Halo (ube halaya and ube ice cream chonked with mango jelly, flan, boiled taro, evaporated milk, sweetened kidney beans, dried coconut, kaong, gulaman, tapioca pearls, and a copious shake of pumpkin spice) This is a very creamy blend, but also very …earthy? Velvety ribbons of milky jam weave through wobbling mounds of coconut custard. Lumpy dollops of an almost figgy milk jelly jostle jiggingly aside pillowy palm sugar flan. But there is also the starchy nectar of sweet rice, beans boiled in fruit syrup, and the subterranean, geosmic sweetness of mashed tubers. This fragrance has all of those things…plus a tiny spoonful of salty, nutty, browned butter.
Pumpkin Musk & Black Oud Pureed gourd flesh and nutty, toasted grains steep in dusky, caramelized sweetness. A slice of pumpkin bread devoured at a forsaken crossroads, where a witching-hour deal is yet to be struck.
The Fading Crimson of the Sky (bergamot shuddering through lime leaves, ruby-tinged amber sunlight, violet leaf, oak bark, and sandalwood smoke) An unsettling missive scrawled in smoke; the honeyed light and amber glow of a strangely flickering twilight; a slice of citrus wrapped in lace, pale jade juice seeping into the threads. The pearlescent moon rises, and violet-tinged shadows writhe over a hushed glade.
Dry Ice Cocktail (a sparkling absinthe martini swirled with a glow stick and overflowing with cascades of dry ice fog) A spectral chill in frosted glass; anise and verbena spark with eerie luminescence. Icy tendrils spill over the rim, a fog that bites at curious fingers. The elixir shimmers with cold vapor suspended between tipple and mist – green herbal shivers and sharp, aromatic secrets swirling in misty limbo.
The Autumn People (hay-dusted oak, honey mead, pumpkin rind, vetiver root, corn husk, and maple leaves) An unexpected autumnal breeze; crisp leaves carry secrets of golden fields. Honey-tinged sunlight clings to weathered bark, earthy roots anchor fleeting warmth. Tattered pumpkin rind scrapings compost with the sweet decay of fallen foliage. Deceptively fresh, almost cheerful, yet a ghostly chorus lingers in wind-stirred branches – a chill, whistling echo of summer’s fading warmth.
The Ruins of Karnstein (the rich, earthy depth of oud, vetiver, and moss, grounded in the untamed wilds of the forest, echoing the ancient stones that remain) Monstrous vegetation breathes a verdant miasma, its exhalations heavy with the weight of countless eons. In the same space, the same breath, the other eye observes a study in boreal archaeology: a drift of dead branches, ancient pine cones, desiccated moss. Tendrils of primordial green intertwine with crumbling stone, suspended in time. Undergrowth, thicket, and canopy exude a vast murky viridescence, revealing a mirror world where forest and ruin reflect endlessly, an unsettling symmetry of growth and decay.
Traditional Sheet Ghost A farmers market fruit basket tumbles into the washing machine, emerges an olfactory apparition. High-thread-count luxury cotton sheets, spin cycle séance, rustling with tales of anemic fruits transfused with linen-fresh detergent. Bedclothes drift through air heavy with warm humidity and the powdery tang of fabric softener, an olfactory bedtime story of fruits gently haunting your freshly laundered linens.
Datura Blossom This impression of chlorinated florals, aquatic honey, and a slight mineral effervescence is not at all what I expected… although I think this is going to be a summertime favorite! . This is a midsummer fever dream, foamed with flowers, pearled with light. Narcotic petals lounging poolside: honey-sweet poisonous blooms take a dip in cerulean waters at high noon in mid-July, and they’re floating on neon pool noodles and drinking slightly flat but icy-cold Topo Chico. For those who appreciate such things, this one reminds me a bit of the long-discontinued Danube.
Hollow Hallow (a suffocating pumpkin kyphi soaked in dark red wine and darkened by vetiver, opoponax, and black oud) The pores of the earth yawn open, exuding an inky miasma perfumed with earthy autumnal spices and sweet brown sugar musk. This glazed, glistening cascade of aromatic sap gleams under a harvest moon, a glossy pool of honeyed incense golden and thick, an aromatic oil slick of resinous depth and syrupy darkness. From the viscous depths, a pumpkin-headed silhouette emerges, its hollow eyes glowing with ancient malice—an old god awakening to reclaim its hallowed home.
The Great and Titled Dead (the haunted stillness of a long-decayed cemetery plot choked by ivy and wild blackberry thorns) Did I hear a blackberry giggle? And why did it sound so chilling, soulless, and evil? A chorus of tiny, wicked voices rises from the brambles, their sweet menace carried on a gentle breeze. The scent drifts lightly, deceptively airy, its delicate touch belying the weight of ancient malice it carries.
Tropical Print Sheet Ghost (cascades of banana Leaf, bamboo fiber, mango, papaya, and hibiscus, streaked with ectoplasm and sticky tears of strelitzia sap) I always list the notes with these reviews because sometimes I forget myself and get lost in impressions or dreams or memories or go off on labyrinthine tangents that stray very far from perfumereviewlandia. In this case, it is helpful to share the perfumer’s notes because I am going to list a very different set of smeller’s notes: honeydew, rhubarb, & honeysuckle preserves, a translucent shiver of ginger leaf, a rosebud preening, its reflection glassy and cool in a pool of clear rainwater. Fresh, clear nectar, lush and swirling in a prismatic jelly jar, balancing on a small tray carved of young, green wood.
Pumpkin Latte (espresso, pumpkin syrup, smoky vanilla bean, milk, raw sugar, and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg) I don’t know how I’ve been reviewing these Halloween scents for so long, and yet I have never talked about this one. Perhaps it’s because it’s been lurking in the shadows, biding its time, waiting for the perfect moment to reveal its true nature. And that nature? It’s not what you’d expect. The coffee is strong and smoky, a dark roast rebellion against the expected sweetness. This is not the sticky-sweet pumpkin syrup bomb of your coffee-chain drive-thru order with your name spelled ridiculously wrong (ugh, poor “Keighleigh”). Instead, imagine a barista witch concocting a potion of bitter mysteries and autumnal secrets in a cauldron of burnished copper. Vanilla bean smoke curls around the edges, more felt than tasted, while cinnamon and nutmeg whisper spicy nothings from the shadows. A ribbon of milk weaves through it all, not to soften but to complicate – binding the realms of wake and sleep, summer’s fading warmth, and winter’s approaching chill. Raw sugar lingers as an afterthought, crunching softly like leaves underfoot or the last grains of sand in October’s hourglass. This is a PSL for those who find comfort in decay and seek beauty in the turn of seasons – a not-too-sweet (ultimate compliment) toast to endings that taste like new beginnings, the best, most perfect, most WEENDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR.
The Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab 2024 Halloween collection is currently live and available for purchase. As this is a limited edition series, sample sizes imps are not available.
Need more ‘Weenies? Have a peep at my ‘Weenie reviews from the autumns of yesteryear 2023 // 2022 // 2021 // 2020 // 2019 // 2018 // 2017 // 2016
And PSSSST! Did you know I have collected all of my BPAL reviews into one spot? Here you will find 88 pages of my thoughts and rambles on various limited-edition scents from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab over the years: BPAL REVIEWS BY S. ELIZABETH (PDF download)
Are you new to one of our very favorite indie perfumers, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab? See my three-part primer here, here, and here.
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