My good blog-buddy Janet mentioned some really intriguing perfumes a while ago in her blog. She shares my love of all things Snape, and comments were made that if he made perfume, he’d have made these. Or something like that. I meant to check out the company immediately, but forgot, as often happens.

Several months later, I stumbled across another mention of said perfumes, in a totally different blog. This time, I checked out the website for the company: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and read almost every description, coming up with a short list of favorite scents that was 18 items long. (You don’t want to know what the long list looks like.) I mentioned the name to Janet, and she reminded me that this was the same place she’d mentioned.

In the mail on the 23rd was a card from Janet with a sample (BPAL calls them “imp’s ears” or just “imps”) of a scent called Calliope, one of the scents in the MUSES collection, which can be found here. The description reads, in part, “Hers is the scent of creative inspiration, and it is a boon to writers, poets and arbitrators: lavender and bright mint with bergamot, verbena, thyme and a touch of sweet orange and warm almond,” and yes, it smells as delicious as it sounds.

I told my husband I wanted something from Black Phoenix for Christmas, and he printed out their logo and gave me a dollar amount of spending cash, which I used today to order a bottle of one of their Christmas/Yule 2006 Limited Edition scents, “The Winter of our Discontent,” as well as six imps (“Asphodel,” “Dragon’s Heart,” “Intrigue,” “Lightning,” “Midnight,” and “Miskatonic University”), as well as purchasing a mystery pack of imps from a member of the BPAL forum, where there are recommendations based on astrological sign and blood type as well as just ‘preferences,’ swaps, and reviews of the products.

I admit, I wanted to buy one of everything, but to do so would require one to be independently wealthy. I confess I also keep going back to read the forum and the descriptions on the actual site. They’re marvellous. Inspiring. Amazing. But don’t believe me. Go check them out for yourself.