Limited Edition

LIMITED EDITION BLENDS
No imp’s ears are available for Limited Edition scents.
Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.

Note: only 5ml bottles are offered in our limited edition scents. Please check the BPAL forum for stock updates. No samples can be requested for any limited edition scents, as they are not taken into consideration or assimilated into stock when the limited edition oils are made. Simply put: there are none to give. If you request a sample of a limited edition scent, we will swap for a random “permanent” scent.

Limited Edition

LIMITED EDITION BLENDS
No imp’s ears are available for Limited Edition scents.
Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.

Note: only 5ml bottles are offered in our limited edition scents. Please check the BPAL forum for stock updates. No samples can be requested for any limited edition scents, as they are not taken into consideration or assimilated into stock when the limited edition oils are made. Simply put: there are none to give. If you request a sample of a limited edition scent, we will swap for a random “permanent” scent.

  • This image is decorative

    Fuck This Heat Perfume Oil

    What global warming? Slivers of ice to cool things down, lavender and hops flower to soothe the nerves.

    Proceeds benefit getting the goddamn AC fixed in the front parlor at BPAL so Teddy and Claire don’t sweat to death and we don’t roast people alive at Lunacy.

    Add to cart
  • Please Scream Inside Your Heart Sticker

    Please do not stick these on or inside your heart.

    Illustration by Drew Rausch for Black Phoenix!

    Add to cart
  • Please Scream Inside Your Snake Oil Perfume Oil

    Tying in with our experimental work in fear: we have screamed into our Snake Oil… and we can’t stop sniffing ourselves! BPAL’s signature scent — deep, rich earthy notes swirled with vegetal musks, sugared vanilla bean, and dark spices — has been polluted by the funnel cake frenzy that is our Please Scream Inside Your Heart perfume blend. The results are so comforting, we almost forgot why we started screaming in the first place. (Almost.)

    Note: This product DOES NOT come with the limited edition sticker that was included with Please Scream Inside Your Heart. Just one more thing to scream about! (Elizabeth clearly has a possum bias. -Ed)

    Label art by Drew Rausch!

    Add to cart
  • Illustration of blue social media bird with three daggers in it that reads Schrodinger's Checkmark

    Schrödinger’s Checkmark Perfume Oil

    A  hubristic statement fragrance that says: You are valid, you are official, you are VERIFIED… or are you? Guess you’ll have to shell out for it first, try it on, and then see how you feel (an experience that old-school indie fragrance fans are already well accustomed to).

    Anyway, we haven’t market-tested this product or cleared it with any investors. We just rushed it into production with the intention of fine-tuning later based on reactions online. So… what do you think? Would you pay for it as-is? How about now, if we claim to have made subtle improvements? We definitely made them. Wait, come back!

    The scent of questionable clout: airy, sticky marshmallow fluff, oily benzoin, and blackened, slick patchouli.

    Add to cart
  • This image is decorative

    Snake Oil: 2009 Vintage Perfume Oil

    Back in 2009, we bottled a hooch-jug of Snake Oil and put it aside in a cool, dark nook. We’ll be selling the fruits of our labor and patience in 100 bottle increments.

    We will be making announcements prior to each hundred-bottle release.

    By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. Our signature scent, deep, rich earthy notes swirled with vegetal musks, sugared vanilla bean, and dark spices.
    .

    Out of Stock

Limited Edition - December Blithe as May

December Blithe as May

Kind hearts can make December blithe as May,
And in each morrow find a New-Year’s day.

– Hartley Coleridge

Limited Edition - November: Winter Tightens Its Grip

November: Winter Tightens Its Grip

I have come to regard November as the older, harder man’s October. I appreciate the early darkness and cooler temperatures. It puts my mind in a different place than October. It is a month for a quieter, slightly more subdued celebration of summer’s death as winter tightens its grip.
– Henry Rollins

Limited Edition - Lightning Strikes

These perfumes were created in collaboration with PS Publishing to celebrate the release of their new Electric Dreamhouse book The Bride of Frankenstein, a companion of collected writings exploring the history and legacy of the classic horror film. Edited by Emma Westwood, contributors to this book include: Jez Conolly, Jon Towlson, Sally Christie, Dr. Dan Golding, Dr. Eloise Ross, Scott Essman, Stephen A. Russell, Lee Gambin, Dr. Andrew Nette and Cerise Howard.

It also contains a biographical essay about Elsa Lanchester written by the Lab’s own T. Bloom, who helped nudge the actress’s out-of-print 1983 memoir back into publication.

The book is released this Halloween with a foreword by none other than Sara Karloff, and is available to pre-order now!

To honor the occasion, we’ve concocted three new variations on BPAL’s original  LIGHTNING perfume oil to showcase how elements of Mary Shelley’s original vision have continued to evolve over time, illuminating imaginations around the world.

  • Lightning Strikes Cinema Perfume Oil

    The scent of sitting in a darkened theater in a rainstorm circa 1935, marveling at the alchemy that transforms scribbled words into specters of light, shadow, and sound: dripping umbrellas, a nicotine haze clinging to musty velvet curtains, camphorous vapors rising from strips of hot celluloid.

    Add to cart
  • Lightning Strikes Literature Perfume Oil

    The incendiary moment when a human hand snatches fire from the gods of creativity and channels it onto the page: a lightning storm stirred with beeswax candle smoke, yellowing notebooks, and pools of India ink.

    Add to cart
  • Lightning Strikes the Future Perfume Oil

    Iconic images that ripple through decades of culture and counter-culture, forming an exquisite corpse of horror, glamour, intellectual discourse, and feminist rage that rises to meet the challenges of humanity’s increasingly uncertain fate. The ultimate lab experiment: streaks of feral red musk twining in a double-helix around a pulsing, electrified core of fossilized amber, erupting from a glimmering pool of reactor coolant.

    Add to cart

Limited Edition - Fire Down Below

A collection of sea chanteys, hauling and pulling shanties, sailor’s songs, and sea chants.

On Halloween 2007, Ted and I got married. Our wedding was pirate-themed: pirate invitations, pirate garb requested of all guests, pirate everything. The guy who designed and constructed our wedding clothes was one of the people from the costume department on the original Pirates of the Caribbean film (the perks of living in LA?); my wedding dress was loosely modeled on Tia Dalma’s outfit in At World’s End. I didn’t walk down the aisle to the Wedding March – the violinist played the song from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride for us while Brian – in privateer finery – escorted me to the altar. During our reception, there were nonstop pirate shanties, sailing songs, and nineteenth-century drinking songs on rotation.

Thirteen years later, I’ve got a tween that is tiktok obsessed, so of course I heard ALL about the resurgence of the sea chantey. I was saving these scents for our thirteenth anniversary – which was in 2020 – but we were drowning in pandemic horrors and the nightmare of creeping authoritarianism, so our anniversary was spent quietly and with too-little fanfare. Well, better late than never! Maybe I can talk Lilith into doing covers of some of these?

(Lilith, please – cover some of these as a favor to your ma, but maybe not the ones with the filthy lyrics til you’re a wee bit older. Actually, never mind. Let’s put a pin in this until you’re eighteen.)

Surely, the Sea Shanty (Chanty, Chantey) Renaissance is a sign of brighter times ahead! Happy (belated!) 13th Anniversary, Teddy!

  • A Hundred Years Ago Perfume Oil

    Well a hundred years on the eastern shore
    Oh yes, oh
    Oh, a hundred years on the eastern shore
    A hundred years ago

    Well its Bully John from Baltimore
    Well I knew him well on the eastern shore
    Well it’s Bully John’s the boy for me
    He’s a buckle on land and a bully at sea
    Well its been a long time and a very long time
    Well its been a long time since I made this rhyme
    Well my old mother she wrote to me
    Me darling son come home from sea
    Well I thought I heard the first mate cry
    That bleeding top main sheave is dry
    Well I thought I heard the old man say
    Well it’s one more pull and then belay

    Well a hundred years on the eastern shore
    Oh yes, oh
    Oh, a hundred years on the eastern shore
    A hundred years ago

    A woody, sea-crisp scent, sun-blasted and creaking: green vetiver and ocean mist with a blast of elemi, verbena, and wild bergamot.

    Out of Stock
  • A-Rovin’ Perfume Oil

    In Amsterdam there dwells a maid
    Maid of Amsterdam

    In Amsterdam there dwells a maid
    Mark well what do I say
    In Amsterdam there dwells a maid
    And she is mistress of her trade

    I’ll go no more a-rovin’ with you fair maid
    A-roving, A-roving, since roving’s been my ruin
    I’ll go no more a-roving with you fair maid

    A perfume for mistresses and masters of a very specific trade: sultry red musk, heady jasmine, tobacco leaf, red sandalwood, hay sugar, golden honey, sweet carnations, and warm leather.

    Proceeds from the sale of this scent benefit Decriminalize Sex Work, a national organization pursuing a state-by-state strategy to end the prohibition of consensual adult prostitution in the United States. “We work with local organizations, advocates, and lobbyists to build community support and convince legislators to stop prostitution-related arrests. Evidence shows that decriminalizing sex work will help end human trafficking, improve public health, and promote community safety.”

    Add to cart
  • Asleep in the Deep Perfume Oil

    Many brave hearts are asleep in the deep so beware! Beware!
    What of the storm when the night is o’er? There is no trace or sign!
    Save where the wreckage hath strewn the shore, peaceful the sun doth shine.
    But when the wild raging storm did cease, under the billows two hearts found peace.
    No more to part, no more of pain, the bell may now toll its warning in vain.

    Loudly the bell in the old tower rings
    Biding us list to the warning it brings.
    Sailor take care! Sailor take care!
    Danger is near thee, beware! Beware!
    Beware! Beware!

    A hymn to all who sleep beneath the waves. Sailor beware! A lightless abyss of black plum, sea salt, opium tar accord, labdanum, and indigo benzoin.

    Add to cart
  • Boney Was a Warrior Perfume Oil

    Boney was a warrior
    Way hey ya
    A warrior a terrier
    John Francois

    Boney fought the Russians
    Way hey ya
    The Russians and the Prussians
    Jean Francois

    Moscow was a-blazing
    Way hey ya
    And Boney was a-raging
    Jean Francois

    Boney went to Elba
    Way hey ya
    Boney he came back again
    Jean Francois

    Boney went to Waterloo
    Way hey ya
    There he got his overthrow
    Jean Francois

    Then they took him off again
    Way hey ya
    Aboard the Billy Ruffian
    Jean Francois

    He went to Saint Helena,
    Way hey ya
    There he was a prisoner,
    Jean Francois

    Boney broke his heart and died
    Way hey ya
    Away in Saint Helena
    Jean Francois

    A brief and succinct biography of Napoleon jumbled with the French shanty, Jean François de Nantes. Relevant to our shared interests: Napoleon was a fragrance connoisseur, and he kept a standing order with his perfumer for a delivery of fifty bottles per month.

    A fresh, light Napoleonic-era cologne with hints of rosemary, almond, oakmoss, and jasmine.

    Add to cart
  • Good Ship Venus Perfume Oil

    The third mate’s name was Morgan
    By God he was a gorgon
    From half past eight he played till late
    Upon the captain’s organ

    The rest of the lyrics are too bawdy for me to post outside of a Lupercalia warning.

    Salt-crusted wooden planks warmed by cardamom, 7-year aged patchouli, tonka bean, mace, and black pepper.

    Add to cart
  • Hanging Johnny Perfume Oil

    They call me Hanging Johnny
    Away, boys, away!
    But I never hanged nobody
    So hang, boys, hang!

    They says I hanged my graddy
    And then I hanged my family

    They says I hanged my mother
    It is they and my brother

    I hanged a rotten liar
    But I hanged a bloody friar

    They tells I hang for money
    But hanging’s so bloody funny

    We all will hang together
    It’s all for better weather

    I’d hang to make things jolly, I’d hang all wrong and folly, we all will hang together: hemp rope, red sandalwood, and white cedar.

    Add to cart
  • Haul on the Bowline Perfume Oil

    Haul on the bowlin’, the bully ship’s a-rolling,
    Haul on the bowlin’, the bowlin’ haul!
    Haul on the bowlin’, Kitty is me darlin’.
    Haul on the bowlin’, Kitty comes from Liverpool.
    Haul on the bowlin’, it’s a far cry to payday.

    A short-haul shanty for getting the job done. A thumping chant of patchouli, tobacco absolute, black cedar, and cocoa bean.

    Add to cart
  • Leave Her, Johnny Perfume Oil

    Oh the times are hard and the wages low
    Leave her, Johnny, leave her
    Oh the times are hard and the wages low
    And it’s time for us to leave her.

    Oh my old mother she wrote to me
    ‘My dear son, come home from sea.’

    It was rotten meat and weevilly bread
    ‘You’ll eat or starve,’ the Old Man said.

    I thought I heard the Old Man say
    ‘You can go ashore and collect your pay.’

    It’s time for us to say goodbye
    For the old pierhead is drawing nigh.

    Leave her, Johnny, leave her
    Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her
    The voyage is done and the winds don’t blow
    And it’s time for us to leave her.

    A sailor’s love song to her ship: Laotian oud, white cedarwood, sweet black patchouli, spiced rum, blackened fig, and coconut.

    Add to cart
  • Roll the Old Chariot Perfume Oil

    Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm,
    Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm,
    Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm,
    An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

    So we’ll ro-o-oll the old chariot along!
    An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along!
    So we’ll ro-o-oll the old chariot along!
    An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

    It is said that after Horatio Nelson’s death at the Battle of Trafalgar, his body was preserved in a cask of rum (or in some tales, brandy) in order to preserve it for transport back to England. When the cask arrived, though, it was empty of spirits, and a hole in the cask was found where the sailors had been sucking the booze out with a straw.

    Oak planks, iron, brandy, and spiced rum.

    The remains of Vice-Admiral Nelson have been omitted from this fragrance.

    Add to cart
  • Row Bullies Row Perfume Oil

    The boardinghouse masters came aboard in a trice
    A shouting and a promising all that was nice
    Til one old crib took a liking to me
    Says he you’re a fool, lad, to follow the sea

    And it’s row, row bullies row

    Says he there’s a job as is waiting for you
    With lashings of liquor and beggar-all to do
    Says he what you say lad, will you? – or two?
    Says I you old bastard, I’m damned if I do

    And it’s row, row bullies row

    But the best of intentions they never goes far
    After thirty two days at the door of the bar
    I tossed off me liquor and what do you think
    That rotten old bastard had doctored me drink

    And it’s row, row bullies row

    Next I remember I woke in the morn
    On a the three skysail yarder bound south round Cape Horn
    With an old set of oilskins and two pair of socks
    And an IOU nailed to the lid of my box

    And it’s row, row bullies row

    Honeyed rum, a whiff of almond, and a hint of something suspiciously soporific.

    Add to cart
  • The Wellerman Perfume Oil

    There was a ship that put to sea,
    And the name of the ship was the Billy at Tea
    The wind came up, her bow dipped down,
    Blow, my bully boys, blow.

    Soon may the Wellerman come
    And bring us sugar and tea and rum.
    One day, when the tonguin’ is done,
    We’ll take our leave and go.

    She had not been two weeks from shore
    When down on her a right whale bore.
    The captain called all hands and swore
    He’d take that whale in tow.

    Before the boat had hit the water
    The whale’s tail came up and caught her.
    All hands to the side, harpooned and fought her,
    She dived down below.

    A line we dropped all in pursuit
    She raised her tail, a last salute.
    But the harpoon lodged there’s no dispute
    She dived down below.

    For six long days and six long nights
    She drove us south with all her might,
    Until we were too tired to fight,
    Then we let her go.

    The line was cut, the whale was freed;
    The Captain’s mind was not on greed.
    He belonged to the sailor’s creed
    And he let that whale go.

    Sugar, tea, and rum.

    Add to cart

Limited Edition - 7 Word Story

  • This image is decorative

    Seven Word Story: Envy Perfume Oil

    The subject of our latest #BPAL7wordstory contest was Envy. The winning entry was submitted by Tyler Butler:

    Galatea wept as Pygmalion carved new statues

    Marble-white sandalwood, vanilla blossom, and orris root veined with whorls of ambergris accord, rose-touched with life, slowly shattering tears of bitter carrot seed and cistus.

    Add to cart
  • Placeholder

    Seven Word Story: Gluttony Perfume Oil

    The subject of our latest #BPAL7wordstory contest was Gluttony. The winning entry was submitted by Crystal Rose-Thompson:

    The Sirens Eagerly Beckoned the Approaching Ship

    Sea splash on murky labdanum and gleaming olibanum, veiled in lavender, diaphanous osmanthus, gilded saffron, and honey incense.

    Add to cart
  • This image is decorative

    Seven Word Story: Greed Perfume Oil

    The subject of our latest #BPAL7wordstory contest was Greed. The winning entry was submitted by Melanie C:

    Killed the last rhino for its horn.

    Ambergris accord, orris root, and carrot seed.

    Add to cart
  • This image is decorative

    Seven Word Story: Lust Perfume Oil

    Quoth one of the wordiest humans who ever lived: “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

    This spring we challenged friends and fans to answer that call, baring their souls (and more) in our steamy, Lust-themed #BPAL7wordstory contest

    “Seduce us in seven!” we demanded, promising the winning story would be enshrined in a Limited Edition fragrance. The response was overwhelming — and downright filthy. Over eight hundred entries later, Lust found its new champion. The winning story, submitted via Twitter by @GeekDame, took flight in our perfumer’s imagination and resulted in the following myth-tinged tryst.

    Congrats to the winner, and keep your quills sharp! #BPAL7wordstory is only getting started.

    He breathed smoke across her pomegranate-stained lips.

    Chthonic incense and blood-red pomegranate.

    Add to cart
  • Placeholder

    Seven Word Story: Pride Perfume Oil

    The subject of our latest #BPAL7wordstory contest was Pride. The winning entry was submitted by Cam Collins:

    The alligator selfie was a bad idea.

    A swampy blend of Spanish moss, green tea, green oakmoss, celery seed, cucumber, and murky black patchouli.

    Add to cart
  • This image is decorative

    Seven Word Story: Sloth Perfume Oil

    As Baudelaire once wrote, “We revel in the laxness of the path we take.” As such, we weren’t convinced anyone would bother entering the Sloth edition of our #BPAL7wordstory contest.

    Somehow, hundreds of you summoned the strength to string seven words together — plus the dozens who cheekily declined to muster more than six. The winning entry by Amy DeNies epitomizes that (lack of) effort with aplomb.

    Congrats to our winner, and keep those heavy eyelids propped open — #BPAL7wordstory could strike again at any time.

    can’t commit to finishing a whole banana

    The effort is too much: banana weighed down by blackened cacao, bourbon vetiver, and tobacco absolute.

    Add to cart
  • Placeholder

    Seven Word Story: Wrath Perfume Oil

    The subject of our latest #BPAL7wordstory contest was WRATH. The winning entry was submitted by Miss Paulette:

    The poison worked slowly, to her delight.

    Bitter almond swirled into black patchouli, with red amber, rum absolute, and lemon peel.

    Add to cart