¡Ombligo!

BPAL Beatrice


As much as I try not to buy fragrances unsniffed, I admit that I'm a sucker for awesome descriptions. My previous unsniffed orders from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL) have been more hits than misses and had decided to no longer order unsniffed until I read the description for Beatrice.

Beatrice -- "Am I awake? Have I my senses?" said he to himself. "What is this being? Beautiful shall I call her, or inexpressibly terrible?"

A scent inspired by Beatrice, Rappaccini’s delicate, beautiful, innocent and deadly daughter. A fragile, winsome, poisonous blend of rare, precious and graceful flowers, rich blossoms and spicy perfumes that passes heavily, as a broken heart, across the borders of time.

I'm not crazy about this fragrance upon it's initial application but it gets better as it warms up to the skin. In the beginning you are slapped with a huge wiff of powder but once that goes away there is a whole lot of rose and clove and a bit of black pepper. The rose seems rather dry. There seems to be hints of magnolia and carnation in here but not a lot. There is aslightlyy sweet touch to it.

I'm not crazy about how it smells at first but over time it really turns into a beautiful scent. The staying power is okay, as it's rather heavy at first. I could see wearing this year round but I think it would be very nice as the weather gets cooler.

Beatrice was available through August 19 - September 1, 2005. I ordered in on August 19th and it arrived October 8th so I didn't have to wait as long for this bottle as I have for bottles in the past.

Beatrice retailed for $15/5ml bottle and while it's no longer available, it can be found at Ebay.