Founder of the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Elizabeth Barrial has gathered quite the cult following as the creator of mysterious and luxurious gothic scents. The company, known for their almost unending collection of “household blends with dark, romantic, and sexual tone[s],” sells their wares nationwide at local shops and comic conventions.

But Barrial herself is no snake-oil seller. Behind her brand is a real authentic witch and ordained Santero; deeply passionate about the occult and the art of perfumery. Now, Barriea is teaming up with Guillermo Del Toro for a new line of atmosphere sprays, nail polishes, custom jewelry, scents, and statuary, based on the horror film Crimson Peaks.

We sat down with Barrial to discuss the new products and her explorations into the dark arts—just in time for Halloween!

How did you get started with BPAL?

I've always been fascinated by the idea of Proustian memory. So, for example, when I was 12 there was a night when I snuck out of my house. I told my parents I was going to sleep at a friend's and my friends told their parents they were going to sleep at a friend's. We all went into a field, and, you know, rolled around, played, did whatever 12-year-old's did. It was perfect. I thought they were going to be my best friends forever.

Several years later, when things were less perfect, I was out at night. I was about 16 years old. There was a smell in the air and all of the sudden—I had kind of forgotten about that night, you don't hold on to memories of being a kid the way you do as an adult. It was the feeling in the air, the temperature, the breeze itself, and the smell. And I remembered what it felt like. Not just the memory but the feeling again, of this night that I had totally forgotten about. It was so powerful and so overwhelming. That's what triggered my interest in scent. 

So, much later on Black Phoenix kind of came about because. Why do people feel as though roses symbolize love? Why is that such a universal thing? Why does frankincense and myrrh create a religious experience for people? Can you take things that are either symbolic in southern conjuring or medieval magic or literature and can you bring those things to life in something you can wear daily? I messed around with it because I loved it and that's turned into this whole thing. 

And how does this relate to the occult element of BPAL?

Scent is so primal…When I met the guy that I eventually ended up marrying—he was cute, but I wasn't interested in him …We were at a bar one night and when I turned to grab my drink I smelled him. After all the people I had gone out with in the past I had never smelled someone and knew that that was it. That I didn't want anyone else. That's one of our fragrances now, his smell. Dorian!

And part of that is magic! If you're setting something up in a ritual capacity, whether you're catholic or neo-pagan, why do you burn incense? Why do you use oils or herbs and why do they have those scent triggers? It's to put yourself in another state of being. So if I'm making a scent that is based on a story, it's not just cobbling together scents that everybody loves to wear. I'm trying to bring the story to life. I sound like I'm starting a cult, but that's what I mean! I'm trying to figure: how do you want to feel today? Do you want to feel like a werewolf? A debutante?

And how did you get interested in the occult? 

I was raised Catholic. My mom's Jewish and my dad's Catholic. They were very very very devout … Growing up in a very strict Catholic household, going to church every Sunday; observing all the rituals, it embeds something in your consciousness so that even if you reject the faith that you were weaned on you're bound to find the comfort of ritual psychically appealing.

I don't think there's a thick line between the occult and other faiths. We all have our rituals. It just depends what gives you comfort. What helps you understand yourself and your place in the world together—without fucking over a bunch of other people. 

How did the Crimson Peak line come about?

I love Guillermo del Toro. I think he is one of the greatest storytellers of our time. I respect him as a person. He's so in touch with himself and his vision. He never seems to forget that he's a fan. There's nothing about him that's above the material he's working with. What he does and what he creates he believes in with all of his heart, whether it's giant monsters or Lovecraftian horror or gothic romance.

We have mutual friends and we had been trying to see if we could work something out for Pan's Labyrinth or one of his older works. When Crimson Peaks was announced two years ago, I thought this would be a really good opportunity. We had just come out of our Only Lovers Left Alive series so we approached him. He put us through to Legendary and here we are. It was a huge honor to be able to interpret his world through scent. 

What goes into making the scents?

It depends! I'm being careful, I don't want to spoil anything! If you are making a scent that looks like the clay vats underneath the mines you have a very specific scent in mind. It's going to smell chalky and earthy and wet. So you can build off of that. With characters you have to look at what the personality is. This is the Gilded Age, even more so than Victorian. Some of the characters, because their families have fallen into misfortune, they're wearing clothes that are 10-15 years out of date. So would they be wearing a fragrance that was contemporary at the time, which was 1901, or would they be wearing colognes and perfumes that would have been worn a decade before? 

So you're doing historical research for these scents? 

Yes! It's kind of like when you do costuming for a film. You have to take some liberties. We've done historical replicas of scents in the past. Which is an interesting social experiment. Cultural preferences and historical preferences for scents don't match what people want to wear right now. There are certain eras where jasmine or rose were heavily featured in perfumes. People now say, “Oh that smells like a grandma scent!” 

You also have a line of spirit boards coming out, what's the story behind those? 

I love all the trappings of Victorian spiritualism. It's fascinating to me because there was so much death. We don't realize how lucky we are in 2015. We don't have people dying on the streets of cholera. I don't have to produce 17 children just to have one survive. We take everything for granted now. The Victorian process of accepting death is fascinating. And part of that is the religious movement of spiritualism, which was contacting the dead through automatic writing and through spirit boards and mediums and spirit photography. It's really fascinating.

So we made spirit boards with accompanying scents that I think actually gets to the heart of what the company is about! I think they actually disturb some of our customers!

So what's your Halloween ritual? 

Halloween is a very meaningful day for me; it's the day I married my husband. We've got a 7-year-old, so I want to make it special for her. But because of what we do and because of what our company is, it's the busiest time of year for us. So this Halloween is not super exciting. I'm going to high-five my husband, like, woo we made it another year! Then I'm going to get the Crimson Peak update live. And then take my daughter to her best friend's house so they can give goldfish out to trick or treaters! 

We'll make up something else I guess. Like, Groundhog's Day, it's the spookiest time of the year! 

How do you feel about the pop-cultural zeitgeist around witchcraft now? 

It's a grasping for nature when you're surrounded by concrete. There was a point where we accepted what our parents told us, from the nature of the divine to where you put your fork on the plate. There is no certainty now. It permeates every aspect of our lives. From actual battle and war and suffering to internal conflicts. Economic uncertainty. We have to grasp for something that gives us back some sense of control. Because whatever religious faith you have is such a part of your identity as a human being; we're always looking for something we can relate to. It doesn't matter which god or goddess or multiple you choose to believe in, it's looking for a way of being that reflects your value system. The Ten Commandments aren't good enough for us anymore.

If you look at the history of horror, it always reflects our insecurities as a society. I think that right now it's a catharsis. It's a way of being able to process the horror of the everyday.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's 'Crimson Peak' line of merchandise will be available on October 31^s, fully licensed with Legendary pictures. Follow Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr for more info.