Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, also known as BPAL, is an

online retailer Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the r ...

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

s. BPAL is owned by Elizabeth Moriarty Barrial and Brian Constantine, and is based in Philadelphia.

Ethics

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab does not test their products on animals. Their perfume oils are blended by hand, using sustainably sourced essential oils and absolutes, with synthetics to replace substances such as civet and ambergris. With the exception of blends containing honey and beeswax and Butter Extract, the oils are vegan-friendly.

Influences and inspirations

The blends are inspired by works of

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

, folk superstitions,

voodoo Voodoo may refer to: Religions * African or West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups * African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo ** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...

, classical literature, historical figures,

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

s, and

carnivals Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

. Themes include aromatherapy, locations both real and fictional, devilish garden plantings, role playing games, fairy tales, vampire lore, gothic and pagan themes, Lovecraftian mythos, Japanese "

Shunga is a type of Japanese erotic art typically executed as a kind of ukiyo-e, often in woodblock print format. While rare, there are also extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate ukiyo-e. Translated literally, the Japanese word ''shunga' ...

" artwork and deities and concepts from a variety of pantheons. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has also worked with and licensed the rights to create products based on popular and cult favorites such as Guillermo del Toro's film, ''

Crimson Peak ''Crimson Peak'' is a 2015 gothic romance film directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Matthew Robbins. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, and Jim Beaver. The story, set in Edw ...

''., '' Pretty Deadly'', ''

Only Lovers Left Alive ''Only Lovers Left Alive'' is a 2013 fantasy comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi and John Hurt. An international co-producti ...

'', '' Sherlock Holmes'', ''

Fraggle Rock ''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, created by Jim Hen ...

'', ''

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by t ...

'', ''

Paranorman ''ParaNorman'' is a 2012 American stop-motion animated comedy horror film directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler (the latter's feature directorial debut), and written by Butler. Produced by Laika, the film stars the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, ...

'', ''

The Last Unicorn ''The Last Unicorn'' is a fantasy novel by American author Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968, by Viking Press in the U.S. and The Bodley Head in the U.K. It follows the tale of a unicorn, who believes she is the last of her kind in the wor ...

'', ''

Hellboy Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossover ...

'', ''

Witchblade ''Witchblade'' is a comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owner Marc Silvestri, editor David Wohl, writers ...

'', David Mack's Kabuki, and numerous other lines inspired by classic literature and comics. In April 2017, BPAL revisited its collaboration with Neil Gaiman (see Social Causes below) in celebration of the premiere of the ''

American Gods (TV series) ''American Gods'' is an American fantasy drama television series based on Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel of the same name and developed by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green for the premium cable network Starz. Produced by Fremantle North America an ...

'' on Starz Channel, ten years after they first released fragrances based on his novel of the same name. The newly launched products include perfume oils, atmosphere sprays, and nail polishes. Proceeds once again will go to the CBLDF. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab maintains a gothic aesthetic of its website, framing product descriptions with snippets of poetry and category art (monochrome drawings or etchings) by

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the ...

, Beresford Egan,

Félicien Rops Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de Siecle. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in ...

Harry Clarke Henry Patrick Clarke (17 March 1889 – 6 January 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. His work was influenced by both the Art Nouveau an ...

, Albrecht Dürer,

John Tenniel Sir John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914)Johnson, Lewis (2003), "Tenniel, John", ''Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online'', Oxford University Press. Web. Retrieved 12 December 2016. was an English illustrator, graphic humorist and poli ...

Andreas Vesalius Andreas Vesalius (Latinized from Andries van Wezel) () was a 16th-century anatomist, physician, and author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, ''De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem'' (''On the fabric of the human body'' ' ...

, Jennifer Williamson,

Julie Dillon Julie Dillon (born in 1982) is an American artist specializing in science fiction and fantasy art.

s based on the works of Neil Gaiman inspired by, among others, the novels '' American Gods'', '' Stardust'', ''

The Graveyard Book ''The Graveyard Book'' is a young adult novel by the English author Neil Gaiman, simultaneously published in Britain and America in 2008. ''The Graveyard Book'' traces the story of the boy Nobody "Bod" Owens who is adopted and reared by the s ...

'', ''

Coraline ''Coraline'' () is a dark fantasy horror children's novella by British author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman started writing ''Coraline'' in 1990, and it was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best ...

'' and ''

Anansi Boys ''Anansi Boys'' is a fantasy novel by English writer Neil Gaiman. In the novel, "Mr. Nancy"—an incarnation of the West African trickster god Anansi—dies, leaving twin sons, who in turn discover one another's existence after being separate ...

''. All profits from the Neil Gaiman-inspired scents go to the

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) is an American non-profit organization formed in 1986 to protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers covering legal expenses. Charles Brownstein served as the organiz ...

. Black Phoenix also released a collection of perfumes based on ''

Good Omens ''Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch'' is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the c ...

'' (co-authored by Neil Gaiman and

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his '' Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first no ...

) and sales went to benefit the CBLDF and th
Orangutan Foundation UK
By the end of the first week of July 2007, Neil Gaiman announced on his blog that they had raised $1,500 for the Orangutan Foundation UK and the year-to-date fundraising for the CBLDF had raised over $15,000. By 2010, the CBLDF reported that BPAL's Neil Gaiman line of fragrances had raised over $50,000 for the organization. In 2012, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab became a corporate member of the CBLDF and they continue to sponsor the CBLDF's Welcome Party each year at the San Diego Comic Con. In July 2015, a line called The Collected Poetic Works of '' Antonin Scalia'' debuted, based on the Supreme Court Justice's "colorfully vitriolic superlatives." A portion from the sale of every bottle is donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Trevor Project and the National Center for Transgender Equality. In November 2015, BPAL released a scent called ''

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...

''. All proceeds after the cost of manufacture went to benefit the ''

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...

''’s efforts to aid refugees and meet humanitarian needs. In October 2016, BPAL released a scent based on Donald Trump's unprecedented remark directed at Hillary Clinton during the third Presidential debate, ''Nasty Woman''. Proceeds from this fragrance were split between Planned Parenthood and Emily's list.

Collaborations

In 2013, BPAL created a perfume called The Gatekeeper which was inspired by ''The Maze of Games'', an interactive puzzle novel written by Mike Selinker and illustrated by Pete Venters. The scent was offered as a Kickstarter perk and then became part of the catalog. Erin Morgenstern, author of ''

The Night Circus ''The Night Circus'' is a 2011 fantasy novel by Erin Morgenstern. It was originally written for the annual writing competition National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) over the span of three competitions. The novel has a nonlinear narrative wr ...

'', named "the olfactory geniuses of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab" in the book's acknowledgments. In April 2007, ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, pri ...

'' published a piece of original fiction entitled "Six Scents" by Lisa Mantchev, which drew its inspiration from six BPAL fragrances. In 2005, the Lab was named as ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'''s Best of New York: Best Scent Indulgence for Your Inner Goth.

Notes

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External links

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab
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List of celebrity-branded fragrances Many celebrities have signed contracts with perfume houses to associate their name with a signature scent, as a self-promotion campaign. The scents are then marketed; the association with the celebrity's name usually being the selling point of the ...

Perfume houses Online retailers of the United States