You Don't Know Jack (But You Need To!)

Next to the book, you see a collection of bottles.  Some are rather large, while others are tiny.  Each has a label, printed in lovely, flowing script, and some of the larger bottles have pictures on them as well.  You realize that these bottles contain the fragrances described in the book.  Curious, you reach out and pick up the first bottle.  It's labeled with the word "Jack".  You remove the lid and raise the bottle to your nose to take a whiff....

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First review time!  Let’s start with a good one:

This time I’m discussing a fragrance from Black Phoenix (BPAL), called “Jack”.  According to the website, Jack is:

The scent of warm, glowing jack o’lanterns on a warm autumn night: true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove.

Mmmm, sounds delish, no?  Well, in fact it is.  Jack is not so much the actual smell of pumpkin (which, in my experience, is a sweetish, stringy, fruity smell), but more of what theidea of pumpkin smells like.  You know the smell that comes to mind when you see pumpkin pie in a cartoon?  Yeah, that’s what BPAL has managed to encapsulate in Jack.  Pumpkin pie and peach in a bottle.

When I tried Jack, I noticed two things:  One, this is NOT something you should wear when you’re hungry.  Seriously, I wanted to eat my arm.  In fact the only thing that stopped me (other than not being a fan of self-mutilation and PAIN), was knowing that it just wouldn’t taste like it smelled.  And two, this puppy is S-T-R-O-N-G.  As in, Jack O’Lantern himself appears before you and punches you in the face, strong.  But it’s a pleasant punch, one that you wouldn’t mind experiencing again and again.  (Does that contradict my not liking pain?  Great, now I’m going to go into an existential crisis…)

Jack is a scent I prefer for dark, cold fall and winter days.  The combination of pumpkin with peach, and especially the bright spice of the nutmeg and clove, creates a warm scent that envelopes you like a soft blanket, and lights your way through even the darkest, spookiest Halloween night.

All in all, I give this an A+!

And, if you’re interested in picking up a bottle, or even getting a tester (called “Imp’s Ears” by the lab folk), you can check them out here:  Black Phoenix, and navigate to the “Bewitching Brews” category.

(By the way, thanks to the lovely Black Phoenix forumites for the image that goes with this post!)