Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

All 5 Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfumes on ScentVerdict have a verdict. 3 are Statements and 2 are Acquired. Each verdict sorts a perfume by character, using the same measures for every house, whatever it costs or who makes it.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, known to its fans as BPAL, is an American indie perfume house that makes hand-blended perfume oils. It is owned by Elizabeth Moriarty Barrial and Brian Constantine, was established in 2000 and has sold online since 2002. It is one of the earliest independent fragrance brands on the web, and Snake Oil, the house's first perfume, is still its signature.

The lab says every scent is created in-house by Barrial or Constantine and blended by hand. Names and ideas come from mythology, folklore, poetry, classical literature, art, vampire lore, pirates, carnivals and gothic and pagan themes. Many scents are tied to a story or a character, from Alice in Wonderland and Dorian Gray to Egyptian goddesses and Irish fae. The house has also made licensed scents with film, comic and book makers, and a long-running activism line that gives profits to charity.

The core product is a perfume oil in a 5 ml amber apothecary vial, with a 1/32 oz "Imp's Ear" vial for sampling. Many scents are also sold as hair gloss, lotion, bath oil or beard oil. The house says everything is vegan apart from honey-based products, and that it does not test on animals. New releases follow a calendar: a monthly A Little Lunacy scent, Halloween, Yule and other seasonal collections. Limited editions are made in a single batch and are not offered as samples. The permanent Eternal Collection, and the older general catalogue behind it, is where most first-time buyers start.

The house states that its oils are handmade in batches, so a new bottle can smell a little different from an older one, and that unopened oils keep for years if stored cool and dark. Wearers often say aged oils turn darker and deeper. BPAL sits with other long-running goth and geek perfume makers: story-led, oil-based, heavy on vanilla, resins, incense, musk and food notes, and priced at the lower end of independent perfume.