Chimera
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Chimera is the sister to Snake Oil. I love both.

Like butter cream and cinnamon… The first thing that hits me about Chimera is its cinnamon – it comes on strongly and then joins with the inherent creaminess of the fragrance to create this tempting accord. Of course the creaminess and the cinnamon make it definitely gourmand but it's not really what I would call foody. It's very sweet in the background with an amber / honey / vanilla accord, but the sweetness is tempered a little by the resinousness of sweet myrrh that rises up from the heart. Also in the heart I get a strong floral element (honeysuckle) in combination with the cinnamon creaminess. It's quite an attractive heart accord, but in the end, it is too sweet for me. The drydown is an excellent vanilla / amber skin scent with traces of a dryer, softer cinnamon and the continuing resinousness of the heart notes. The dry down is my favorite part of the fragrance, and while it does not have much sillage, it lasts for hours.Chimera reminds me of a couple of other BPAL scents but for sure this is my favorite of the sweet ones I have tested. I'm still working out if it is unisex enough for me to wear – probably not… the honeysuckle note in there gives me pause.

Though it's become one of my favorite fragrances (if not my very favorite), I doubt I would have chosen Chimera myself. I received a free 1 mL (imp's ear, in BPAL terms) with decants of some other Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oils. Granted, the Chimera of mythology was pretty awesome, and chimeras in the biologoy sense are fun, but "cinnamon, thickened by myrrh, honeysuckle, and copal" doesn't really sound like me! I didn't even know what copal was...In the vial, it's a sweet cinnamon, almost like a red hot but with a bit more depth. It reminds me of the Lip Venom my sister bought me last year... And I get a thick, syrupy sort of feeling, but in a good way.Wet, it's still sweet cinnamon, but it's less candy-like. Maybe that's the myrrh.Once dry, the cinnamon blends in with the rest of the notes. I don't really think "cinnamon" anymore. However, it's beautiful, warm, and rich, with a touch of fire.I never really smell the honeysuckle, but I bet it's the bridge between the cinnamon and the resins. Yes, that's what copal is: a resin.