Laudanum
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Blinking bottles of the mind that throttles
Poeceanicreverie of the purnee laudanum

I was so looking forward to this because I am a fanatic about resinous fragrances. I must say, the opening didn't disappoint… virulent… herbal… strongly masculine… resinous… The myrrh in the opening comes across as smoky, incensy burnt rubber. It's a deep accord with strong medicinal vibrations that holds for almost and hour on my skin. The spices – nutmeg and sassafras in the accord gradually integrate with and mellow out some of the darkness and exoticness, while the myrrh smoothes down and becomes far less raspy – I like it both ways: rough / medicinal and smoother / fuller. The fragrance retains its grasp on the myrrh concept through the drydown and picks up a little sweetener in the background, gradually losing strength, and I never get tired of the resinous variations. The projection is quite strong at first as one would expect, but the drydown does lose some – just some – of the resinousness of the myrrh, and turns a bit sweeter – could it be the sassafras influence? It has quite good longevity. Needless to say, Laudanum is an intense and intriguing fragrance for those of us who love this sort of thing.