SACHS & VIOLENS PERFUME OIL (Aug 2009)
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Death, Hell, and Sweet Scents
By Sheena McNeil September 28, 2009

The Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is known and loved by many, including several of us here at Sequential Tart. Their newest scents include some comics-based titles like Who Killed Amanda Palmer, Hellboy, and even a little Sachs & Violens. Needless to say, we were very eager to check out these new aromas and the exciting, dark, and lingering ways the BPAL perfume oils provide mental images of these books. And some of our Tarts couldn't help but talk about their personal faves.

(excerpt)


Two of the vials I received were based on characters drawn by George Perez, Sachs and Violens. I'm not familiar with their series, but I must say, after looking them up, I'm intrigued, partially because I'm a fan of the writer, Peter David, and partially because the story sounds intriguing. Sachs is a model for Violens, a photographer who was a photojournalist during the Vietnam War; together, they go under cover to investigate the murder of her friend during a snuff photo shoot. The vial of "Violens" is a very musky scent — unfortunately for me, musky scents often trigger that ice pick headache, and this scent was no exception. Considering the character, that seems highly appropriate! And a musky scent fits the idea of a big, burly man. So on one hand, it's not a scent I intend to revisit, but on the other, in terms of evoking the character, it's a clear winner!

The scent for "Sachs" is a very sharp, almost fruity scent that's also a bit flowery around the edges, with an underlying mediciney after-smell that reminds me of some cough syrup from my childhood — I'm not a drinker, but I imagine it's something like bourbon. So again, I think it suits the character — soft and sweet masking a hard interior. While it's more appealing than the one for Violens, though, it's not one I'd wear - especially since it gave me a bit of a headache as well (though not nearly as bad).

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