Christmas has always been portrayed as a time of comfort and joy. So it makes sense that people will take comfort in the many and various Christmas traditions like the tree, the carols, and the complaints. But Christmas traditions are not set in fruitcake–new ones get added and existing ones get changed all the time. For instance, along with those classics It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle On 34th Street (the original in black and white, naturally), your Christmas viewing may also include A Christmas Story, Scrooged, or even Die Hard.
But alongside these, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has its own Christmas traditions and wants to share them with you.
[ad#longpost]This year’s Yule perfume line hits all the unusual spots we expect from Black Phoenix. There are perfumes inspired by winter traditions not included in the Global Standard Christmas Manual such as the scared incenses of Midnight Mass 2012 and the complex layered scent of Nes Gadol Haya Sham 2012, derived from what seems to be a simple toy, the dreidel, but which holds much deeper meaning.
Black Phoenix also gives you other Christmas avatars that aren’t the sanitized or ‘santa-ized’ version of the big guy. There is the Knecht Ruprecht 2012, the German companion to Saint Nicholas who comes out of the Black Forest and gives good pious children apples and almonds. I know, it doesn’t seem like much but, hey–fruit and nuts were the Tickle Me Elmo of the Middle Ages. He also beats naughty blaspheming children with a bag of ashes. But that is nothing compared to the premiere Christmas horror, Krampus. When you smell Krampus 2012, you get the red musk produced by such a demon, the black leather from his whip to punish all wicked children, and fresh cut wood from his switches to punish those wicked children in the same way that Bugs Bunny would batten down the hatches. I’ve done some research on Krampus, but there’s one thing I can’t find out: is he single?
Christmas always has good things to eat so Black Phoenix has good things to smell in response. There is Gelt 2012, based on the Jewish chocolate coins used with the dreidel, so you have a wonderful mix of cocoa and golden amber. You also have Sugar Cookies 2012 which reminds you of those cookies shaped like Christmas trees, snowmen, and Santa, all covered in colored sugar. Then there is Lick It Softly 2012 and its mix of peppermint and vanilla, reminding you of a delicious treat to run your tongue up and down until it’s all sticky. And for the record, I’m talking about a candy cane. What did you think I was talking about? I mean, honestly, what else has a shaft that you stick in your mouth?
Remember, this and other festive scents are available at Black Phoenix. But hurry, like the snow, they will melt away soon.
