Well, yes, yesterday saw the return of Mandatory Romance Occasion or as it is commonly known, Valentine’s Day. That day when couples desperately reach for the same cliche activities like the Fancy Dinner TM, the dozen roses, and, you know, some sort of jewelry. And for the singles, you might have drowned your loneliness in some sort of sugar, fat, or alcohol or–and more likely–a combination of all three. But complaining about Valentine’s Day has become a cliche in itself. So no more bitching and moaning, we move on to Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab‘s perfume that broaden your perspectives while delighting your nose.
[ad#longpost]Black Phoenix continues its tradition of perfumes based on passages from the annuals of poetry. They run the gamut of Ovid’s Sic Erit, where Cupid’s arrows conquer all with the scent of aromatic woods, musk, and amber to add some warmth you feel in your heart and other places and also Catallus’ Qaeris Quot Mihi Basiationes, where he tells how an infinity of kisses is not enough from his love–and does so with the sweetness of honey, red current, and ginger for that extra zing. We go all the way to the Modern Era with the French poet Rimbaud and his interpretation of Antique, where the faun of myth may have more going on than we thought–this is complimented with the smells of the forest with oak-moss, juniper berries, and white cedar. Also there is D. H. Lawrence’s On the Balcony, where a couple only have each other while a storm is bearing down–but you have the warmth of amber, copal, and lily surrounded by (what else) ozone.
You can’t have Valentine’s Day without chocolate. It can be used to bring pleasure to your lover or it can console your loneliness (or both). So Black Phoenix can have you smell like chocolate. This isn’t the chocolate you find at the local convenience store, though. This is the fancy chocolate with all sorts of exotic ingredients. There’s Dark Chocolate with Wormwood, Fennel, Sweet Flag, AND Lemon Verbena, Dusted With White Sugar which is very fruity and slightly bitter to emphasize the sweetness more. Mayan Chocolate with Annatto Seed, Anaheim Pepper, Cinnamon and Vanilla Bean continues the trend of juxtapositing the sweetness of chocolate and vanilla with the spiciness of pepper, annatto seed and cinamon.
Black Phoenix again returns to Novel Ideas For Secret Amusements, the perfume line based on Japanese pornography prints of the Edo period. Intercourse Through Folding Screen may be the first ever depiction of a glory hole (if you don’t know what a glory hole is, and feel you must know, look it up on Wikipedia (which is always right)). Of course you have the scent of rice paper and a heady mixture of Oriental scents. What I like about the prints is that they don’t take themselves too seriously. They acknowledge that sex and its pursuit is a little silly. Delight and Consternation shows the difference between virility and the lack thereof in a rather…exaggerated fashion shall we say. You can see what I am talking about here (Warning: Very NSFW). This absurdity is reflected in the sweet scents of bourbon vanilla, custard accord, and cocoa absolute.
For these and many other awesome scents from our friends at Black Phoenix, check out their website here.
In conclusion, I think I will show you a wonderful animation short from Katy Towel of Childrin R Skary fame that succinctly depicts what we all want to do to Cupid, that little shit.
