Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Testing Day: Anniversary Phoenices!

purchased and reviewed by ThoraSTooth

Aelian's Phoenix (Anniversaries 2015) --  Golden amber and patchouli with fiery peppercorn, cocoa, white cedar, neroli, vanilla pod, and frankincense.

Claudian's Phoenix (Anniversaries 2015) --  red patchouli, sweet frankincense, and the figs and pomegranates of the seven mouths of the dark Nile.

Clement I's Phoenix (Anniversaries 2015) -- A sepulchre of frankincense and caramelized myrrh.

Statius' Phoenix (Anniversaries 2015) -- Pomegranate root, honey, white cedar, and frankincense.

*****
Aelian's Phoenix reminds me very much of Gelt at first sniff, with the same cocoa and golden amber yet much more complete and nuanced.  Wet on my skin I get mostly golden amber (which smells vanillic) with some cocoa and neroli.  It is complex, sweet-ish, full but not rich.  On drydown it's a classic BPAL vanilla-resin scent, more amber than frankincense but with some of both.  The vanilla is noticeable, but the cocoa isn't.  (My skin kills chocolate scents pretty quickly.)  The neroli is just barely present, and there's just enough patchouli to hold it all together.  But at maturity it's all vanillic golden amber, warm and foody with little of the previous complexity.


Claudian's Phoenix is a very rich and well-blended patchouli, frankincense, and pomegranate.  I cold-bought this bottle since it's so full of notes I love.  But like most red patchouli scents, it takes a while to develop properly.  Wet the patchouli note goes a little sharp, and the fig note comes up to thicken and soften the pomegranate.  On drydown it's mostly a patchouli scent but it seems to have gone off in an unexpected herbal direction rather than the fruity one I anticipated.  At maturity it's patchouli and pomegranate, another in the long line of fruity-patchouli scents I love so much; this one is less fruity and more resinous than some, and still with that unexpected herbal overtone.  I am happy with my purchase and will love wearing this new phoenix.


Clement I's Phoenix has a particularly delicious frankincense note similar to the one I love in Hermes Trismegistus, Anne Bonny, and The Blasphemare Reliquary.  Wet on my skin the caramelized myrrh develops; it smells thickish but not dark or heavy, adding depth to the resin blend.  On drydown it is a warm, cosy, and slightly sweet myrrh-frankincense blend.  It matures slowly, without much change, as is typical for myrrh scents on me.  If I didn't have Sunbird and a couple of other delicious myrrh-forward scents already to hand, I'd very likely buy this one in quantity because it is  lovely:  less sharp and clear than Priala, less robust than Minotaur, not as sweet as Sunbird, softer and warmer than some of the GC myrrh scents I love.

Statius' Phoenix smells of slightly foody honey and pomegranate until it hits my skin, at which point a splendid but perplexing fruity cherry note develops.  The base seems buttery like the pleasant type of orris (not the bitter rooty aspect nor the high blue floral one that gives me instant headaches).  There is something just a bit astringent and mouth-watering in it that keeps it from cloying.  That impression is sustained on drydown, kind of reminding me of Chokecherry Honey which, oddly, smelled of red currant on me.  This could easily be classified as a red currant/honey scent.  It doesn't change much at maturity; the floral aspect of the honey ripens a bit, is all.