Ghosts are real, that much I know. I’ve seen them all my life…

In a groundbreaking departure from past film tributes, Black Phoenix Alchemy presents a series of scents, jewelry, and more inspired by Guillermo Del Toro’s sumptuous gothic romance CRIMSON PEAK.

As audiences are already discovering, CRIMSON PEAK is more than mere ghost story or cinematic spectacle: it is a director’s love letter to the dark tales which formed his childhood sense of wonder, nudging him toward becoming the visionary artist he is today. For contemporary viewers this serves as a gateway to an entire form of storytelling — one which may seem as outdated as whalebone or laudanum, but retains its power to shock, arouse, and illuminate.

Perhaps it’s fitting that in the 21st century, the gothic romance genre has itself become a wandering ghost — one which, not unlike the film’s heroine Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), certain among us can still hear, see, and even smell. What is it so desperately trying to tell us?

Set in Victorian New England, Del Toro’s film explores the terrible power of doomed relationships, of love struggling to bloom in a world fraught with death and suffering. Stalked since childhood by the specter of her mother, Edith stubbornly chases the dream of becoming an author, fantasizing about becoming the next Mary Shelley and delicately resisting the advances of her childhood love, Dr. Alan McMichael (Charlie Hunnam).

Edith inadvertently steps into the pages of her own haunted love story when she finds herself being wooed by the dashing Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), a baronet seeking investors to help salvage what’s left of his crumbling birthright. A series of tragedies put Edith front and center in the lives of Sir Thomas and his brooding sister, the Lady Lucille Sharpe (Jessica Chastain), and confine her to Allerdale Hall — a decaying British manor that veritably breathes, bleeds, and screams under the strain of the elements, not to mention the spirits of those who’ve perished within.

Unraveling the mystery of these strange events, Edith is forced to confront her fears of communing with the dead, gradually coming to appreciate her dead mother’s warning — Beware of Crimson Peak — as the line between life and death grows ever fainter in the snowfall in and around Allerdale Hall.

While the ghosts of Crimson Peak are far more than “just a metaphor,” Del Toro’s film is unabashed in its emphasis on the uniquely human experiences of loss, grief, and remembrance, painting the supernatural as a realm where pain (as well as love) can linger long after death.

Thanks to the director’s artistic vision and penchant for practical effects, the world of these characters (living and otherwise) is astonishingly tangible — an orgy of bold colors and rich fabrics, of flesh both livid and sanguine. Those who feel at home in such a lavish world may consider it an invitation from Del Toro himself: return to Allerdale Hall as often as you dare, and feel welcome to stay a long, long time.

At Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab we present Crimson Peak perfume oil blends, $30.00 per 5ml bottle. Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial. Because of the nature of this project, imps are unavailable.

400 bottles were created for each scent.

With the assistance of our sister shop, Black Phoenix Trading Post, you can drape yourself in the myriad colors of the film, adorn yourself with Sharpe Family heraldry, infuse your home with the scents of Allerdale Hall, and conceal your secrets within our cold-cast resin keepsake boxes.

Guillermo Del Toro is both a master storyteller and a virtuoso of evocative design. All of Crimson Peak is awash in color – vibrant or decaying, somber or aflame. Every shadow has a meaning; every angle has a purpose. Every single hue was deliberately chosen as a thread that binds the tale, and every single hue tells a story within itself.

In this nail lacquer series, we celebrate the colors of Crimson Peak: the dark palette that brings the characters to life.

The lacquers represent the film itself and four of its characters: Edith Cushing, Alan McMichael, Lady Lucille Sharpe, and Sir Thomas Sharpe. Each bottle is silkscreened with symbolism depicting the aspect of the film that the color represents.

Three hundred bottles were created of each color.

It is our great pleasure to present a line of jewelry dedicated to Guillermo Del Toro’s gothic masterpiece, Crimson Peak. Bedeck yourself with Sharpe family heirlooms: show your familial allegiance with the Sharpe Coat of Arms and Family Crest, and embrace terror itself with the Fear Monogram.

300 pieces were created of each design. Crafted in Los Angeles, CA. This is a pre-order; our Crimson Peak jewelry will ship in January of 2016.

Ghosts fade away — along with the past — like mist in the daylight… Leaving only small lessons behind — Small certainties —

There are things that tie them to a place — very much like they do us — some remain tethered to a patch of land or a time and date… but there are others — Others that hold to an emotion, a drive: loss, revenge… or love…

Those — they never leave…

Memory is an intimacy we share with forces both seen and unseen, a place where the living and the dead co-exist — though not always peacefully.

Wherever she goes, CRIMSON PEAK heroine Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) seems to uncover an urgent longing, the kind that leaves an indelible stain on time and space. In this way, anything can become haunted: a room, an object, a certain hour.

In this unique series of atmosphere sprays, Black Phoenix Trading Post conjures singular moments from the past which ache to be relived over and over again, locations which demand to be revisited until their secrets are unearthed. Which carries the greater risk: denying them, or indulging?

For secrets that yearn to be divulged — or atrocities hidden in plain sight — Black Phoenix Trading Post presents Crimson Peak memento boxes inspired by the grim interiors of Allerdale Hall, hand-crafted by Dellamorte & Co.

THE SKULL CREST BOX

An irresistible invitation: a relief of the distinctive skull-faced Allerdale Hall crest extruded from blood-red clay: Ad Montes Oculus Levavi Mors Vincit Omnia.

Cold-cast resin, hand-cast and hand-painted by Dellamorte & Co. for Black Phoenix. Each piece is one-of-a-kind, so there will be variations in color.

 

Crimson Peak: © Legendary 2015. Used with permission, all rights reserved.