perfume oils
duende - fantome perfumes
oakmoss, cedar, fir, resinous labdanum, benzoin, tree sap, wild violets, lilac.
*** the one that started it all! duende has been recommended as a top pick for "you want to smell like a
forest?" so i had to snag it. i really like duende, but on me the florals really stand out. so it feels
more like the forest the last unicorn resides in at the beginning of the book than "creepy and weird
forest" which personally i would like to smell like that more on a daily basis over 'meadow clearing'.
however, it's still a lovely scent and i like to wear it. worth mentioning since i first bought this it
has gotten significantly more forest-y the longer i let it rest, so now i get more creepy forest over
meadow, although my skin still loves the florals a lot. a very pretty but forest-y perfume.
restless dreaming - cherrykas trunk
birch, lavender, marine air, cotton.
*** a scent themed after james sunderland from silent hill 2 (i know). i really like this one a lot and
it sort of kicked off my obsession with the themed perfume stuff. on me this scent is cold and watery
but the lavender rounds it out more into a little more floral--for me it really reminds me of the
initial part of the game where james is running down the forest path into the graveyard just before
meeting angela. it feels a little lost, a little wistful, and deeply drenched in fog.
occult detective - cherrykas trunk
cistus, suede, amber, labdanum, coconut.
*** the best way i can explain this is "you read the description for maison margiela's jazz club and
tried it but it ended up smelling overly coconut-y and not so much noir cigar lounge-y". on me this
scent comes off as almost ozone-y, with a touch of coconut to round it out and make it more wearable. to
me the scent reminds me of pathologic classic's yellow-hued streets, with the sweet far-off scent of
twyrine in the air amidst an otherwise slightly oppressive-feeling landscape. aka this is my jazz club
substitute. it's not really a scent for everyone but i really love it.
made of - cherrykas trunk
spanish moss, romanian birch, cypress, dirt, moss, gunpowder, mushrooms.
*** this is a scent inspired by My Beloved ethan winters from resident evil. i really like this scent a
lot, however, it is really strong on my skin at first and since a lot of the notes in this are meant to
invoke a sort of wet floral landscape, it can be almost pungent at first. the scent mellows out super
quickly into like. a floral bog scent that isn't nearly as overwhelming, but those first couple of
whiffs are like whew. this is a scent that definitely reminds me of the baker house; a house hosted in a
bog in the humid south with lots of wet fauna and flora in the vicinity.
silver handsome - cherrykas trunk
leather, tobacco, gunsmoke, ocean, ginger, cherry blossom, tequila, sand.
*** a scent based off of johnny silverhand. i bought this one kind of on a whim to wear while i play
cyberpunk and i wasn't sure if i'd like it much given the tequila note, but i really like it a lot. it's
fiery, a little boozy, but also shockingly grounded, which works perfectly for johnny's impulsive
behavior despite his well-rounded insights.
sandalwood guns - cherrykas trunk
gunpowder, denim, leather, tobacco, desert, red rose.
*** i have no idea what character this is supposed to be based off of but it's good. the leather and
gunpowder stand out the most on me. it smells...well-oiled?? like you're in a workshop in the desert and
you're oiling a gun or something mechanical. for that reason, i actually associate this scent kind of
with fullmetal alchemist and wore it when i cosplayed edward elric. my friend made fun of me for trying
to match perfumes to my outfits, but when i had him smell this one he agreed that it did smell like
something ed would smell like, so i guess i'm right lol. warm, mechanical, a little dusty, grounded.
cthulu - black phoenix alchemy lab
seaweed, oceanic plants, seawater.
*** i really like how watery scents interact with my skin, and cthulu is certainly the wateriest scent i
have tried so far. the seaweed takes a minute to show up, but it is definitely there--and i like it, but
it doesn't really offer the nice floral element that restless dreaming's lavender does. cthulu smells
stormy and bristly. funnily enough i wouldn't say it smells like seawater to me despite the sea note.
rather it makes me think of a large looming lake teeming with unknown secrets. so maybe the seaweed
smells more like algae to me? definitely one to pick up if you really just want to smell like a wet
lake, since there's nothing particularly floral to this scent to me.
hunger - black phoenix alchemy lab (oil)
black narcissus, orange blossoms, vanilla.
*** the friend of mine who is a huge bpal fan once had us pick between some perfumes for him one night
and this was the one i voted on after i smelled them so it only made sense to grab it for myself since i
loved it so much. could not stop smelling his wrist that whole night. now that i've tried it out for
myself, this is probably my favorite one of the batch!! the orange blossoms are nice and floral but in a
more citrus sort of way -- but it doesn't smell like orange slices in cake or anything gourmand like
that, but rather a 'brightening' element to the scent. narcissus is a floral note i'm realizing i'm
especially fond of because it's not quite as "light" and "airy" as stuff like rose or lilac tends to be.
it's deeper and a little more earthy somehow. basically, the floral is what feels like grounds the
perfume while the orange is what uplifts it. like most of the other bpal scents, i'd call this a pretty
sensual scent.
black moon milk - paranormal perfumes (oil)
sweetened condensed milk, warm vanilla, black cardamom, black peppercorn, musk, woods.
*** black moon milk is a really good name for this one. obviously the milk note really stands out (which
i wasn't sure i'd like but turns out i really do) but the cardamom and peppercorn tinge it a little and
make it more of a darker scent than something just smelling of sweet milk. also it's a pretty light
scent, so i don't worry about offending anyone with it. also, it lasts pretty long for me even though it
doesn't project much--but it's nice to reach up and muss my bangs or something and smell it again from
where i applied it to my wrist.
soft - poesie
rice.
*** this does exactly what it says on the tin. it smells of steamed, slightly sticky rice. it's soft for
sure. warm, comforting, something that lingers just above your skin. this is so yummy. i don't do
bedtime scents due to sharing a space with my cats but i could see this being a great one. great for all
weathers, if that's your thing too. if you are looking for a rice note, do yourself a favor and go here.
neutral gourmand is probably the best descriptor for this.
codex - calyxfragrance
old books, leather, dusty pages.
*** i said that i've been looking for a book scent -- this one, i think, fits the bill perfectly. it
starts off very pulpy and light, almost creamy in scent, but overtime the scent morphs into something
darker and more leathery. per the etsy description it is meant to transition from "new modern
bookstores" into "aged tomes" which i think makes sense - it's interesting to have the scent go from
something creamy to something more dry. it's really good if you're looking for a book scent, but i will
say it doesn't last terribly long on my skin nor does it project much. i also think i prefer the initial
'pulpy' and creamy scent to the later notes of the leather. one i'd like to keep on me for sure.
papier d'armenie - calyx fragrances
benzoin, vanilla, sandalwood.
*** i got this as a spray because i thought it might make a good room spray given that the scent it's
inspired off of is a sort of incense paper that is quite popular in europe but i've mostly been
spritzing it into my damp hair. it's a really good neutral sweet scent, touched with just a hint of
cream and smokiness. makes me feel like i'm sitting on a fancy balcony over a cobblestone street.
sipping tea with a candle burning behind me in my apartment. since buying this i've been indoctrinated
with buying the actual pieces of papier d'armenie paper and this gets really close to the real thing.
highly recommend especially as a linen and/or room spray and a hair perfume.
tweed waistcoat - calyxfragrance
cognac, vanilla, oakmoss.
*** smells like the creamiest earl grey or london fog you could ever have. this was my sample i received
from them and i fell in love with it immediately. it's a gourmand scent for sure but because the
gourmandy-ness reminds me more of adding milk to my tea, it's something that doesn't surprise me or make
me feel like i need to be in a bakery or something. there's something there resembling leather for sure.
i can see the dark academia influences, but i think for me it mostly reminds me of ordering london fogs
when i lived in seattle because the perfume has a sort of 'humid' note to it that might be the oakmoss,
although i wouldn't say the perfume smells particularly watery or anything.
a riddle and an enigma - cherrykas trunk
violet, suede, almond, ozone, metal, green tea, fern.
*** this is a scent inspired by ed nygma from DC. i'm not a comics fan. however! this was initially a
limited re-release of this scent from the store, and as a huge fan of their stuff, i knew i had to pick
it up, especially since it had been discontinued initially since people were complaining it smelled too
'ozoney'. as a big fan of weird scents and of using fragrances for immersion, and since occult detective
(from the same store) has a similar sort of floral ozone-y-ness to it, i knew i had to try it. and
honestly people who were complaining it's too ozone-y for them are cowards. i know my skin tends to draw
out floral elements, so the way the more gentlemanl-y notes pair with the ozone is something that works
really well for me. i don't claim to know much about ed's characterization outside of the movies and
ways i've seen him portrayed in games and stuff, but i think he'd be pleased to know that i, someone who
could care less about his series, think the fragrance smells quite sophisticated while also undercutting
that sophistication with hints of metal and ozone that make you wonder 'hmm...is there something wrong
with this?'
leopardite - hexennacht - july 2024
sandalwood, golden sandalwood powder, vanilla husk, chamois accord, cedarwood, tobacco leaf, black oak,
cardamom, saffron threads, miel blanc.
*** a very sandalwood forward fragrance with an accord that i can only describe as 'sharp'. i'm guessing
that's the chamoi. it's woody, slightly musky thanks to the musk sharpness? but it isn't hazy in the
same way a lot of musky fragrances tend to be, at laest on me. this fragrance has a lot of body to it.
the tobacco might also play a role in it. warm but not candle-esque. woody but not wood-centric.
santal - hexennacht - july 2024
sandalwood incense, golden sandalwood, mysore wood accord, vanilla sandalwood.
*** basically does what it says: mmmm sandalwood! after being disappointed by the longevity of another
sandalwood-centric perfume i got i thought this might be nice...and it is a significant improvement. i
do get some of the mint-elements some synthetic sandalwoods have in this one, but overall this is very
creamy and delightful and lasts quite a long time on me!
strawberry fields forever - hexennacht - july 2024
strawberries, fresh cut grass, dirt.
*** this one was a bit of a disappointment. i like strawberry as much as the next person but this smells
primarily syrup-y to me with little 'real' strawberry to it, let alone any strength to the more green
notes. over time the syrup-y nature of the strawberry does die down and get a little more green, but it
never fully goes away enough to invoke any outdoor imagery to me. i'll be trying to get rid of this one
i think, it doesn't do what i wanted it to do at all :(
to different oceans - cherrykas trunk - aug 2024
vanilla, citrus, sandalwood, rosewood, ocean, lavender.
*** i'm not as into this perfume as i was when i first bought it admittedly. it's beachy, light, airy,
and the way the vanilla and salt notes of the ocean interact on my skin is sooo yummy. it's just
sophisticated enough to make me feel fancy wearing it, and yet the tang of the sea salt and ocean turns
everything on its head to make it feel playful. the rosewood offers a nice floral element without
turning it into a floral--instead it feels distinctly driftwoody, washing up on vanilla scented shores.
moon lust - alkemia - dec 2024
creamy white ambers, blonde woods, luminescent skin notes.
*** when i first got into perfume i thought i would be all over wood notes but i think i've found they
tend to be too 'astringent' to be something i like to actually wear. however, i've found such a happy
place with ' blonde woods' and especially the ones in this perfume. almost like how blonde coffee just
smells lighter than dark roast counterparts, the woods in moon lust smell bright and soft and
dream-like, playing into the soft creaminess of the ambers. a warm, diffused glow of a perfume that
settles easily into your skin. this is one of alkemia's "not a perfume" perfumes so there isn't much
projection here but i think this is one i can see myself getting a larger bottle of, it's so lovely in a
blurry ethereal but subdued rather than divine way. the warm impression of a ghost's hand on yours,
suffusing your skin with heat. could see this being my go-to for daily wear.
luminae - alkemia - dec 2024
no listed notes, described as "an illumination of creamy olfactory radiance - your skin but better"
*** this seems to pull pretty differently on people based off their skin chemistry. a lot of people were
mentioning a buttered popcorn element to this, calling it a more gourmand your skin but better
perfume...fragrantica review are all over the place on its scent as well. on me it's not as creamy as
moon lust is, and pulls into a more salty and maybe muskier(?) sweet wax-like scent. i get the
impression of a weeping salt-scented beeswax candle. this perfume definitely still gives the intended
'luminating' effect, and i like it a lot, but i like moon lust that much more! but this is more about
how my skin behaves with the scent than the scent itself, as people get pretty varied experiences out of
this one. i'll be curious to see how it interacts on my friends.
the lady's yes - alkemia - dec 2024
fig, magnolia flowers, amber, white sandalwood.
*** when i smelled this right after it got here i really only could smell the sandalwood and amber, so
i'm glad i didn't try it on right away. after a few days of resting when i opened the bottle all i could
smell was fig, so i'm surprised that the note was totally dominated by the others in travel! this is a
fresh fig indeed--ripe and juicy but lightened by the magnolia, and it blends nicely into the skin
thanks to the amber and sandalwood which warms the fig just enough to give the impression of smelling
like the palm of your juice-stained hand after you've eaten a few figs. i am very delighted by this, fig
has been something i've wanted to try but haven't been interested in the more dessert-y and
flora-centric takes from other houses (or i'm worried the other notes will override the fig and make it
candle-y, which this does not do).
old books and fresh flowers - alkemia - dec 2024
neroli, heliotrope, paper, leatherbound books.
*** oh this is just beautiful. in the bottle the leather and paper give a stronger impression to
perfectly mimic the title of the perfume--that is, pressed flowers between the pages of an old book. i
don't get as much of the leather on my skin, but i can sense it lingering somewhere, giving the
heliotrope and neroli a sort of dusty afterquality that i think is gorgeous. even as this is drying down
on my skin i get more and more of that dust element, making it smell almost musty in a very enchanting
way, like unearthing a secret love journal in the corner of the basement. a gasp of a kiss from words
you forgot about. the heliotrope is awakened just enough by the citrus in the neroli to make it feel
like a fresh floral and not an old one--fresh flowers dampened by old books, indeed. my skin loves
florals so i was worried this would just go straight heliotrope on me so i'm glad that didn't happen.
personally this is everything i want out of a floral perfume.
enchantress - alkemia - dec 2024
amaretto liqueur, star jasmine, orchid, bourbon vanilla caramel, guaiac wood, vetiver, botanical
pheromones.
*** the amaretto note is very strong and very liqueur-y, giving the opening of this perfume a 'sharp'
element that's not bad but not great either. but the almond that comes after that sharp liqueur scent is
sooo yummy it keeps me sniffing my wrist. the bourbon vanilla caramel shows up next, deepening the
amaretto and making it more sultry and seductive, promises of riches and a fae lady curling her pointer
finger to beckon you closer from where she lingers in the shadows. maybe it's because my skin likes
florals so much eventually this turns into more of a flourmand on my skin, but it's definitely darkened
by the wood, vetiver, and botanical notes, giving it a sticky sweetness and a sexy bog witch kind of
vibe. i really love that almond but less so the alcoholic tang or the caramel, it's a little too
poisoned sweets in vibe for me.
haunted and bewitched - alkemia - dec 2024
egyptian amber, jasmine, rosewater turkish delight, madagascar vanilla, caramel, patchouli.
*** this rose turkish delight note really does smell like rose turkish delight. a sweet, powdered rose
is the star here, but it's not an overpowering rose scent. eventually the caramel and patchouli peek
through the rose and give a sort of shifting, sultry element to an initially delicate and powdery
fragrance, although it's certainly not nearly as cloyingly sexy as enchantress is. i used to wear lush's
karma perfume a lot in high school and this kind of feels like a more grown-up variant of that, less
heavy on the citrus and patchouli and more sophisticated and complex with its other notes. again, not
really my vibe, but plenty yummy enough to wear.
head like a hole - sixteen92 - dec 2024
black ink, kohl eyeliner, scratched vinyl records, latex, fog machine and strobe lights, clove
cigarettes.
*** i could see this eliciting a very specific scent memory for people; on me the clove cigarette and
fake fog are what show up the most. it's a brutal, sexy but definitely "cheap" clove, which isn't bad
'cause who was rolling up to industrial clubs in the 90s with expensive cigs? no one. anyway i love the
fake fog note here, but it might give someone sensitive to that smell a headache. again, i could see
this giving someone who was lucky enough to be part of this scene in its heyday some flashbacks. it
definitely gives me the vibes of the harsh sexual brutality of early NIN works, and while it's not a
scent i'd go to for daily wear, it's cool they were able to distill pretty hate machine into a scent.
funnily enough my boyfriend gets more of the eyeliner note, which show up like grimy-esque pencil
shavings offset by the clove which is a fun distinction from how the fragrance works on my skin.
glass houses - sixteen92 - dec 2024
glass, wind, concrete, neon violet, static synthesizer hum.
*** inspired by skinny puppy's song glass houses. a quite subtle, 'cold' and weather-bitten violet.
stark violet, bleak in the edge of the city. a violet that makes you almost cringe to smell but not
necessarily because it smells bad--just that it doesn't really smell 'healthy' in the way you'd expect
it to smell in other perfumes. more and more of the concrete and rain come through on dry-down, giving a
petrichor-like quality to the perfume, although i wouldn't say it quite just catches that humid scent of
rain on the way. it's a shame that s92's reputation regarding fulfilling orders isn't so great because i
could see myself falling in love with it the more i wear it because it's definitely a one of a kind
scent but they aren't exactly well-regarded in the perfume community anymore (and if i had known of this
i wouldn't have ordered from them but i didn't oopsie).
pas de deux - sixteen92 - dec 2024
pink macarons, sugar wafers, candied pistachios, silk tulle, rosewater tea.
*** this is definitely a different scent for me since i don't generally opt for gourmands, but i like
macarons and pistachios and was curious what 'silk tulle' would do to this. sugary-sweet scent for sure,
i really get the candied pistachio...it almost smells marzipan adjacent, but more sugary. as the oil
dries the rosewater comes up to soften the sugar and sophisticate the scent a bit. it definitely stays
in sugary-sweet territory, but i like how the rose mixes to bitter the sugar when i'm so used to it
being a strong floral. i think i'm realizing i like rose when it plays against musk and dust-like scents
or when it can tone down an otherwise bright and powdery scent. i still have no idea what silk tulle is
supposed to smell like but i do get a sort of sugary nutcracker ballerina vibe from the fragrance
overall, so i'd say mission accomplished.
lady amalthea - black phoenix alchemy lab - jan 2025
white winter musk, lilac, wisteria, white chocolate, white mint, tuberose.
*** i've wanted this one for a while purely because i adore the last unicorn so much but i've always
held off just because i wasn't sure if i'd like it and with bpal's collabs and LEs you unfortunately
can't order them in trial sizes. after my recent alkemia order upon which i realized how much i adore
heliotrope i've warmed up more to floral-centric perfumes, especially when used in a more atmospheric,
dreamy way. this perfume is just perfect for amalthea. a wilting droop of sad and cold florals--then
made just a touch creamy by the white chocolate and musk. the mint cools the perfume wonderfully and
doesn't actually invoke much mintiness imo, which is nice. i think the florals take a little while to
peek out of the dry-down and shine, but once they do it's an invocation of the softest, dream-like bed
of ice cold petals, soft and delicate but frost-lined and cold to touch. in my experience bpal stuff
gets closest to its intended scent profile after a few months have passed, so i'm excited to see how it
does in march. very evocative of the character it is named for, and i'm glad i took the chance on it.
caramelized pecan rum cake - black phoenix alchemy lab - jan 2025
exactly as described.
*** i can smell it through the little freebie vial, that's how strong it is. smells very true to its
notes. i'm not someone who usually opts for gourmands like this, but i like them plenty as candles! just
not as perfume. anyway me and my boyfriend tried this on at the same time; on him it truly smells like
what it is, the rum especially shining on his skin. it smells like a very boozy, sweet, caramelized and
candied cake. on ME however, i mostly get a sweet pecan. which is honestly something i'd prefer to wear
as a perfume anyway. it's light, airy, still got a little bit of that cake element but it mostly smells
like opening a bag of candied pecans, especially if the candied element is on the lighter side and not
super intense. kind of surprised by how much i like this on me especially with how intensely like a rum
cake it smells in the vial and on my boyfriend.
djinn - black phoenix alchemy lab - jan 2025
smoke, flame, ashes.
*** this smells exactly like promised. whatever my skin chemistry does to this is just lovely too, since
i tend to play better with cooler notes. this is the first perfume i've smelled and gotten a distinct
scent memory of: being outside camping in the mountains sitting around a fire, breathing in the smoke
and relishing in the heat and the pine. i don't think there's actually a pine or tree note in this. and
it does smell more like "fire" not "campfire" specifically. but that's what it reminds me of. on people
with warmer skin chemistries i get more of a direct flame image, more of an indoor fire vibe than the
outdoor fire i get on me.
snow white (2007) - black phoenix alchemy lab - jan 2025
snow, winter wind, night-blooming flowers.
*** got lucky with a full bottle from 2007 of this on ebay. this initially pulls quite similarly to moon
lust on my skin somehow... which i like! i really like moon lust. but there's a bitter almond note in
here that i really adore that peeks out as the opening slowly dries onto my skin, and a similar minty
note i get in the lady amalthea perfume too--i assume they use similar notes to replicate winter air. i
feel like this one does a better job at smelling like a powdery kind of 'cold' than amalthea does by
which i mean i get more of a direct winter chill effect while amalthea reminds me of frost-crusted
petals if that makes sense. snow white is cold wind and lady amalthea is cold flowers. this has that
bitter non-gourmand-y almond scent i've been searching for as well as capturing a delicate, ethereal
floaty snow vibe...huge fan for sure, glad i took a chance on the ebay listing.
milk teeth - pierrot perfumery - feb 2025
strawberry milk, toasted vanilla, white musk, amber.
*** pierrot perfumery is probably my new favorite house. bf and i split on a 3 set sample pack and i
love every single scent. they are all so unique and blended really, really well. this is the house to
shop at for weird. so: milk teeth is just...unusual. there's that strawberry shampoo note a lot of
strawberry perfumes have, but it immediately gets almost smokified and smoothed out by the white musk
and the toasted vanilla notes, make it come across as the strangest, sheerest strawberry scented musk.
while this definitely hasn't been the green type of strawberry i've been on a quest for for from a
perfume this is way, way more my vibe, and i'm pretty happy to stop my strawberry quest here because
this perfume is just so unbelievably strange but addicting to smell. it's smooth and creamy and has a
breath of strawberry artificial goodness, it's even inviting--but also just straight-up bizarre.
ravenstag - pierrot perfumery - feb 2025
virginia pine, whiskey, pinewood, sandalwood, black musk.
*** a will graham nbc hannibal scent! this one takes inspiration from poor will from S1 when he's going
through it. so of course i got it. i thought this wouldn't be very wearable due to it referencing things
like sweaty skin and 'the plea of a mind on fire' but it really is. at first the whiskey is kind of
strong, to the point that my boyfriend said it smelled like a drink to him, but i didn't get the whiskey
as strongly as he did. it's still there though: whiskey and pine and damp. then the dry-down kicks in
and the musk, which is reminiscent of sweat but it's not gross or anything, it's more like a clean
sweat, comes in to hold everything together. slightly-hot skin pressing out against the forest. the
relief of stepping outside at night to cool down when you're overheating in bed. even when you know
being outside in the cold like that is probably kind of bad for you, it just feels so relieving anyway.
seriously, this house gets it.
the rice field - black phoenix alchemy lab - late 2024
rice milk, hay absolute, oolong tea, honey dust, champaca, frankincense smoke, golden sandalwood,
heliotrope.
*** my boyfriend got this one in mid 2024 but gifted it to me at some point and i forgot to ever add it
here. but geez this one is good. i'll add a better description soon.
person suit - pierrot perfumery - feb 2025
the GHOST - black phoenix alchemy lab - feb 2025
the kiss of the sphinx - black phoenix alchemy lab - feb 2025