Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab: Blauer Mond

purchased and reviewed by ThoraSTooth

BPAL Scent of the Day:  Blauer Mond (Brian's Interpretation 2012):  sea buckthorn berry, terebinth pine, frankincense, hyssop, white sage, Neptune's night-blooming jasmine, cucumber, lavender, ambergris accord, and violet leaf.

Every blue moon, the Lab releases a scent to celebrate the occasion.  Of all the Blue Moons they've put out, this one is my favorite.  In the bottle it's gently aquatic, a touch salty, with some bitter herbal overtones.  It smells cool and insubstantial.

Wet on my skin, the night-blooming jasmine and lavender are most noticeable.  Night-blooming jasmine has an earthier impression than regular jasmine, with fewer indolic overtones.  There's some evergreen in the background, cucumber in the middle, and the white sage and frankincense bond into a smooth, slightly tingly base.  With its aquatic and jasmine overtones, this scent reminds me of walking by moonlight in Berkeley.

It dries down quickly into a soft aquatic-tinged resin scent.  The jasmine has lightened considerably and the herbs have blended with the terebinth evergreen note into a mysterious bitter green ensemble.  Supported by cucumber and ambergris over a frankincense base, it's shadowy yet verdant.

Because of the frankincense, this one hangs around on my skin for a while longer than I'd expect from an herb-based scent.  As it matures, the floral lightens into inconsequence.  This is like nothing else in the catalogue that I've tried, save perhaps Velvet Cthulhu.  It's definitely a once in a blue moon kind of scent.

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