Illyria
The Shakespearean Collection.
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s olfactory paean to the characters from Shakespeare’s plays.
PERFUME OIL BLENDS
Presented in an amber apothecary vial.
$5.75 – $23.00
Arabian musk with two roses and a bevy of Middle Eastern and Indian spices.
Illyria
The Shakespearean Collection.
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s olfactory paean to the characters from Shakespeare’s plays.
PERFUME OIL BLENDS
Presented in an amber apothecary vial.
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Created to represent the essence of Bram Stoker’s tragic heroine, Lucy Westenra. Seductive, wanton and deadly, but underscored with a soft, wistful innocense. The gentle scent of rose and a blend of Victorian spices
No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf’s-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss’d
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow’s mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.
But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.
She dwells with Beauty — Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine;
His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.
Beauty, joy, pleasure and delight: devastated. This is the scent of the hopelessness, torment and despair of love. Lavender and wisteria, heart-wrenching pale rose, desolate white sandalwood and thin, tear-streaked white musk.
Agony and ecstasy: black leather and damp red rose.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
And ‘mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And ‘mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight ‘twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst dancing waves of serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine.
Kristin –
Othello is mostly a rose scent, but the spices keep it from being boring and one-note. It may not be my absolute favorite BPAL rose scent, but I enjoy it, and it’s different enough for it to have a place in my imp collection, though not my big bottle collection.
lani057bp –
Oh, Othello, how you bewilder me so. Out of the bottle, you’re overwhelmingly pungent with an immediate soapy quality. At first whiff, I promptly turned away discarding the thought of you. That was unfair of me though, not to give you a proper chance; so I did. Surprisingly, on my skin you mellow out and become quite soft and velvety. Still, there is something in you that I just cannot embrace. Your mellow side still exudes soapy, albeit soft and velvety, roses.
[email protected] –
I get a bright, clean, slightly piquant scent from this. There is something distinctly watery, like a men’s cologne. On me, the roses blend into the background and it’s just a bright, clean scent with unisex appeal. I’d certainly order an imp and possibly even a bottle in the future.
Nuri –
Othello and I have a love hate relationship. I’ve opened the bottle and hated it and then a few days later opened it and loved it. The variable is me so I guess it depends on my mood. I think it is the rose, it either comes across classic or oppressive almost “churchy”. I think if you love a big velvety rose that has some depth you will like Othello.