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BPAL Madness!
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A Short Guide to Common Recommendations, with direct links

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BPAL for Beginners:

Brand new to BPAL and don't know where to start:

BPAL scents that remind us of favorite commercial perfumes
The Forum Top Ten list is a good resource (most recently compiled November 2008).

Scents for men/gender neutral scents:Refer to this thread in the FAQ.

Advanced BPAL:


Everything you've always wanted to know about layering

GC Scents that are reminiscent of your favorite Limited Editions

GC Scent Staples for Newbies

Similarities Between General Catalog Scents

BPAL-Lush Similarities

Translating TALs to BPAL scents (for when you love the smell of a TAL oil but want to wear perfume without ritual)

Scents to Wear for a Job Interview

Bridal BPAL - scents for your wedding




Fond of particular notes? Look here to find recommendations for:

Almond (includes Amaretto)

Amber
Egyptian amber

Anise, Licorice and related scents

Apple

Bakery - baked goods scents

Banana

Bay Rum

Berries

Raspberry

Carnations

Chai

Chocolate

Cinnamon

Citrus, featuring Orange (see Lemon, Lime, Tangerine, Grapefruit threads as well)
Lemon
Lime

Civet

Clove and Clove Cigarettes

Coconut

Coffee

Dirt, Earth, Soil

Dragon's Blood

Evergreen notes, including Pine

Fig

Ginger

Grapes

Grass and Hay

Honey

Honeysuckle

Incense and Resins

Iris

Ivy

Jasmine

Lavender

Leather

Lilac

Lotus

Magnolia

Milk and cream

Mimosa

Mint

Moonflower

Musk - general discussion, see these separate threads for Red and White/light musks:
Animalistic Musks
Red Musk
White Musk and lighter musks

Nag Champa

Nuts

Orange Blossom

Patchouli

Peach, Apricot and Nectarine

Plum

Pumpkin

Rose

Sandalwood

Smoke and Fire

Spicy Scents

Tea

Tobacco

Tuberose

Vanilla

Vetiver

Violet

Ylang-ylang

**If a note doesn't appear on this list, it doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't a thread about it in Recommendations. Please do a search before starting a new thread and if you happen to see that a popular, widely discussed note hasn't been added here, feel free to PM the current Recs mod, ivyandpeony, to let her know. And of course you can PM her for search help, with suggestions and what have you.


BPAL by the season:

Spring:Springtime Scents
Summer: Scents to beat the heat, and Late Summer into Fall
Fall: Autumnal Scents
Winter: Here, including the perfect winter forest, Scents for a cold, crisp night & Holiday scents


Looking for a category, a mood, help with a problem? Look here to find recommendations:
Aquatic
Bakery Scents
[ Bonfires, campfires, burning leaves
Calming, Relaxing, Comforting
Clean
Dark, Scary, Ghostly, Foreboding...
Gourmand & Foody
Green scents, including green florals and green grass
Light, Gentle, Subtle, low throw
Longest-lasting BPALs
Metallic
Old books, paper & libraries
Sexy
Stimulating - for waking up and staying awake
Sweet
Good for Bedtime, or Problems with Sleep
Sweet BPAL scents, including candylike scents]
Tropical
Woodsy

BPAL to fit the weather!
Rain

(Edited to remove broken links, etc. by ivyandpeony 8/10/06)
(New links added 1/24/08 by ivyandpeony)

(Broken link fixed by LiberAmoris 11/28/17)

Edited by LiberAmoris
correcting broken links

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I have added some new links to Clover's original post here and will continue to do so periodically - hopefully this guide will serve as a helpful index for the Recommendations section.

 

Do keep in mind that this index is not comprehensive - so please don't assume that the absence of a link here indicates the absence of an existing topic! Continue to use the search engine to look for existing topics to build on before starting a new thread, and don't hesitate to PM me if you have any problems finding something or if you have any questions/suggestions for Recommendations.

 

Thanks!

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Just thought I'd mention, I have been adding new links and tidying the list. If you have any suggestions, feel free to PM me!

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What do I have for you here?

 

I have compiled a list of LE equivalents/substitutes/similarities based on member posts after reading through the entire LE equivalents thread. Yep, all 4+ years of discussion condensed here.

 

A couple of things to keep in mind. I only listed separate versions of an LE in the cases where the Lab has made clear that the later version is a reformulation. I didn't editorialize the comparisons as I made the list, so if something seems off the wall to you, remember the person who posted a suggestion may have a completely different body chemistry from you. Their post may have also included a caveat like "on drydown" or "not quite as much vanilla." I would not have had the stamina necessary to make a list that included that much detail - the same reason I did not include layering or mixing suggestions. But hopefully this will be helpful as a starting-off point, or you can think of it as "if you liked this blend, you should try these." You can still search the thread itself by opening the topic, putting your search term in the box at the bottom left and clicking "search topic," so if you want to explore exactly what was said, try that.

 

I will be updating as regularly as possible, based on our continued discussions in that thread and around the entire Recs forum. If you happen to spot an older thread or post with some good material for this thread, feel free to bring it to my attention via PM. I am going to try to set aside some time to go through the GCs and discontinueds thread as soon as possible and add what I can find to this post.

 

13 (April 2007): Cleopatra Testing Poisons On Those Condemned To Death

 

Ace of Hearts: Ophelia, London

 

The Agony of Heartache: Bewitched

 

Al-Aaraf: Tiger Lily

 

All Souls: Brown Jenkins

 

Anaconda: Trick or Treat

 

Anactoria: Nanny Ashtoreth

 

Angeronalia: Xiuhtecuhtli, Mad Kate

 

Annabel Lee: Desdemona, Titania, Lady of Shallott, Danube, Amsterdam, Aeval, The Darkling Thrush

 

Archangel Winter: Sea of Glass, Lightning, Tempest, Szepasszony

 

Asp Viper: Uruk

 

Baba Yaga (unreleased): Manila

 

Bakeneko: Dracul

 

Beaver Moon 2005: Hollywood Babylon, Sugar Cookie, Antique Lace, Eat Me, Dana O'Shee, Velvet

 

Beaver Moon 2007: Hermia

 

Beltane 2005: Tarot:Strength

 

Berenice: Olokun

 

Bezoar: Hay Moon, No. 9 Engine, Mag Mell

 

Black Lace: Antique Lace, Euterpe (dc), Dorian, Haloes, Black Opal, Zephyr, Desire, Anactoria, The Sailors’ Den, The Antikythera Mechanism, Galvanic Goggles

 

Black Moon: La Belle Au Bois Dormant

 

Blue Moon 2004: Empyreal Mist (dc), Danube, Unseelie (dc), Dissipation (dc)

 

Blood Moon 2005: Alone, Tezcatlipoca, Red Phoenix, Tanin'iver, Eclipse

 

Brides of Dracula: Nosferatu

 

Buck Moon: Yddgrasil, Coyote, Dorian, Juke Joint, Ochosi, Robin Goodfellow

 

Budding Moon: Kitsune Tsuki, The Dormouse

 

Butterflies and Plovers: Imp

 

Cancer 2007: La Belle Au Bois Dormant, Queen Mab

 

The Candy Butcher: Hellcat, Cockaigne, Bliss, Centzon Totochtin

 

Carfax Abbey: Death Cap, Cathedral, Eshe

 

The Castle: Wolf’s Heart, Fenris Wolf

 

Cerberus: Hearth 2004, Gomorrah, Tezcatlipoca, Intrigue, The Great Sword of War

 

The City In the Sea: Cthulu

 

The Chapel: Djinn

 

Chanukkiyah: Kill-Devil

 

Chaste Moon: Dana O’Shee, Leanan Sidhe, Tarot:Temperance

 

Cheshire Moon - The Unicorn

 

Chintamani-Dhupa: Carceri D'Invenzione

 

Chrysanthemum Moon: Mama-Ji, Faiza

 

Clémence: Port Royal, Dracul, Voodoo

 

The Clod and the Pebble: Seance

 

Corazon: Tamora, Kuang Shi, Lampades

 

Count Dracula: Port Royal, Dracul, The Smiling Spider, Calico Jack

 

The Cracked Bell: Tarot:Judgement

 

Crumpet Rebellion: The Knave of Hearts, Sugar Skull

 

Crypt Queen: Mme.Moriarty

 

The Darkling Thrush: Cloister in the Graveyard Snow

 

Decadence (unreleased): TAL Amor, Fruitcake

 

Devil’s Night: Smut, Jazz Funeral, Xiuhtecuhtli, Plunder

 

Dia de los Muertos: Kali, Bruja (dc), Centzon Totochtin, Block Buster

 

Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal: Hermia, Jailbait, Pepper, Tweedledee

 

Doc Buzzard: Fascinum

 

Dr. John Seward: Blood Countess

 

The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife: Nostrum Remedium

 

Dragon Moon: Neo-Tokyo (dc)

 

Dublin (dc): Mistletoe

 

Dyan Moon: Juliet

 

Earth Rat: Yemaya

 

Ebisu Making Love: The Apothecary, Fae

 

Egg Nog: SN Vanilla Bean (dc), Golden Priapus, Grog

 

Et Lux Fuit: The Lion, Brisingamen, Black Phoenix

 

Fée: Fae, Yemaya, Titania, Fire Pig, Ogun

 

Flower Moon: Eos, Phantom Queen

 

Formula 54: Perversion, Wanda, Santo Domingo, Dracul, Lilith

 

Fortunato: Omen

 

Freak Show: Intrigue, Carnal, Velvet

 

Frost Moon: Cathode, Shattered, Neo-Tokyo (dc), Utrenyaya. Tarot:The Fool

 

Fruit Moon: Aglaea

 

Fruitcake: TAL Amor

 

Gamaliel - Eden

 

Gennivre: Queen Gertrude, The Unicorn, The Dormouse

 

Geek: Two Monsters, Doc Constantine

 

Gingerbread Poppet: Sudha Segara, Shub-Niggarath, Bengal, Port-au-Prince, Ra

 

Glowing Vulva: The Antikythera Mechanism, Haloes

 

Graveyard Dirt: The Premature Burial

 

Green Phoenix: Mock Turtle's Lessons

 

Gypsy Queen: Sybaris, Baghdad, Alice, The Masque, Desire, Sed Non Satiata, Magdalene, Mictecacihuatl

 

Haloa: Hymn to Proserpine

 

Harvest Moon 2004: Jack

 

Harvest Moon 2005: Mabon, Block Buster

 

Harvest Moon '06: Les Bijoux, Verdandi

 

The Haunted Palace: Versailles, Moscow, Three Brides, Tamora, Brisingamen, Tarot:The Sun

 

Havisham: Zombi

 

Hay Moon: Bezoar, No. 93 Engine, Mag Mell

 

Hearth 2004: Jack, Herr Drosselmeyer

 

Hellhound on My Trail: Kathmandu, Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener, Baron Samedi, Pickled Imp, Shub-Niggurath

 

Hellion: Khajuraho, Nahemoth, Malkuth, Chokmah, Blood Countess, Imp

 

Herr Drosselmeyer: The Black Tower

 

Hexennacht 2005: Hunter Moon 2004, Samhain, Black Forest, Nocnitsa, Thanatopsis, Greed, Samhain

 

Hod: Morocco, Pink Moon 2007

 

Honey Moon: La Petit Mort, Sudha Segara

 

Hony Mone: Love-Lies-Bleeding

 

Hunger Moon: Scales of Deprivation, Death of The Grave Digger

 

Hungry Ghost Moon: Fae, 51, Night Gaunt, Sudha Segara, Spirits of the Dead

 

Hunter Moon 2004: Lampades, Lady MacBeth, Hexennacht 2005, Gomorrah, Siren, Grand Guignol, Fortunato, Bewitched

 

Ice Queen: Blue Moon 2004, Frost Moon, Cathode, Lady of Shallott, Nuclear Winter, Talvikuu, Cloister Graveyard in the Snow

 

The Illustrated Woman: O

 

Inez: Lyonesse

 

Jacob’s Ladder: Tarot:The Heirophant, The Lion, Brisingamen

 

June Gloom: Nanshe, Arcana

 

Khajuraho: Hanging Gardens, Hellion, Himerus

 

Kindly Moon: Pele, 51

 

King of Clubs: Bastet, Viola

 

King of Diamonds: Chypre (dc), Villain

 

King of Spades: Yerevan

 

Kingsport: The Apothecary, Olokun

 

Kunstkammer: Tweedledee

 

La Fee Verte: Zorya, Oblivion

 

Lady Lilith: Kubla Khan, Hell's Belle, The Great Sword of War

 

Lemongrass SN: Phobos

 

Lenore: Serpent’s Kiss, Devil’s Claw

 

Leo 2007: Bastet, Anubis

 

Libra 2007: Persephone

 

Litha: Cairo, Gennivre

 

The Living Flame: Venom (dc), Tarot: The Lovers, Othello

 

Love's Philosophy: Tombstone

 

Love in the Asylum: Séance, Ouija

 

Lump of Coal: Bliss, Gluttony, Bastet

 

Lune Noire: Shadow Witch Orchid

 

Luperci: Greed

 

Mabon: Blood Countess, Verdandi

 

Mme. Moriarty: Vixen, Eat Me, Bathsheba

 

Marae: Euphrosyne

 

Marianne: Scherezade

 

Marshmallow Poof: Midway, Antique Lace

 

The Masque: Brisingamen, Magdalene, Masquerade

 

Mechanical Phoenix: Phoenix Steamworks, Robotic Scarab

 

Medicine Show: The Apothecary

 

Mi-Go Brain Canister: Jester, Shango, Tweedledee, Tweedledum, Xanthe The Weeping Clown, Croquet

 

Midnight Kiss: Urd, Centzon Totochtin

 

Midnight Mass: Penitence, Heavenly Love

 

Midway: Grog, Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo, Cockaigne

 

Midwinter’s Eve: Bordello, Aunt Caroline’s Joy Mojo, Lady Macbeth, Jester

 

Milk Moon 2005: White Rabbit, Tarot:The Star, Obatala, Love’s Philosophy

 

Milk Moon 2007: Strangler Fig, Obatala

 

Minotaur: Heavenly Love and Earthly Love

 

Misk. U. Spring Training 2008: Cockaigne

 

Mistletoe: Loup Garou, Hemlock

 

Mitzvah: Trick or Treat, Kill-Devil

 

Moana: 51

 

MonsterBait:Bloody Mary: Vice

 

MonsterBait: BiggerCritters: Euphrosyne

 

MonsterBait: Closet: Eat Me, Bordello

 

MonsterBait: Tokyo Stomp: The Mad Hatter

 

MonsterBait: Underbed: Velvet, Black Pearl

 

MonsterBait:Underpants: Love’s Philosophy, Grog, Tushnamatay, Drink Me, Bastet, Dorian, Cockaigne, Lyonesse, Hymn to Proserpine, Opuhi, Antique Lace

 

MonsterBait: Ventriloquist Dummy: Tiresias the Androgyne, The Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil

 

Nahemoth – Hellion, Blood Countess, Red Phoenix

 

Night's Pavilion: Utrenyaya

 

The Oblation: Lady Una, Envy

 

October: Samhainophobia

 

Old Moon: The Jersey Devil

 

One to Tie, Two to Win: Roadhouse, Garden Path With Chickens, Pontarlier

 

The Passionate Shepherd to his Love – Envy, Garden Path with Chickens

 

The Peacock Queen: Black Rose, Kali

 

Penumbra: Arachnina, the Spider-Girl

 

Peony Moon: Budding Moon, Amsterdam

 

Pickled Imp: Chimera

 

Pinched with Four Aces: El Dia Reyes, Cockaigne

 

Pink Moon 2005: Sugar Skull, Arkham (f/k/a Revisited), Maenad, Pink Phoenix

 

Pink Moon 2007: Hod, Alice, Hope, The Reaper and the Flowers, Morocco, Zarita the Doll Girl

 

Pink Phoenix: Aunt Caroline’s Joy Mojo, Hollywood Babylon, Bon Vivant, Strawberry Moon

 

Pirate Moon - Hellfire

 

The Pit and The Pendulum: Cathedral, Midnight Mass, Ra (dc), Anne Bonny, Penitence

 

Poisson d'Avril: Love-In-Idleness

 

Priala: Laudanum, Masabakes

 

Pruno: The Hamptons, Bon Vivant

 

The Pumpkin Queen: Jack, Leo 2007

 

Punkie Night: Coral Snake, Poison Apple, Jack

 

Purple Phoenix: Horreur Sympathique

 

Queen of Clubs: Arachne (dc), Crossroads, Penny Dreadful

 

Queen of Diamonds: Titania

 

Queen of Spades: Lampades, Megeara, Black Phoenix, Blood Countess, Medea, Bewitched, The Hanging Gardens

 

Quincy Morris: Dee, Death on a Pale Horse, Endymion

 

Red Lantern: Gluttony, Perversion, Tezcatlipoca, The Black Tower, Hellfire, Elegba, Wanda, Incubus

 

Red Moon 2004: Desire, Ra (dc), Dragon’s Tears, Blood Countess, Wildfire, French Love

 

Red Moon 2007: The Maltese Cross of Sanctus Germanus, The Ifrit

 

Red Phoenix: Blood Moon, Alone, Frumious Bandersnatch, Tanin'iver, Silk Road

 

Rose Moon: London, Tarot:The Empress, Hope, Victoria

 

Rose Red: The Apothecary, Persephone, Tarot:The Empress, Ophelia, Whip, Endymion, Eternal, Queen Mab, Two, Five & Seven,

 

Roux-Ga-Roux: Bayou, Robin Goodfellow

 

Sagittarius 2007: The Apothecary, Nemesis

 

Samhain: Hellfire, Hexennacht 2005, House of Night, Tanin'iver

 

Scorpio (Original 2004): La Petit Mort

 

Schwarzer Mond: Scherezade, Sin, Dragons Bone, The Music of Erich Zahn, Minotaur, Carceri d'Invenzione

 

Selkie: Titania, Y'ha-nthlei, Cancer 2007, Earth Rat

 

Shanghai Tunnel: Singing Moon

 

Singing Moon: Jezirat al Tennyn

 

Skadi: Alecto, Dublin, Hemlock, Golden Priapus, Snow Moon, Snow Bunny, Black Forest

 

Sleepy Moon: Juliet, Belle Epoque

 

Smut: Sed Non Satiata, Devil’s Night, Scherezade, Spellbound, Eat Me, Imp, Vixen

 

Snake Charmer: Snake Oil, Golden Priapus, Eat Me, Nahemoth, Mme. Moriarty, Boomslang, Temple Viper, Bathsheba

 

Snow Angel: Phantasm

 

Snow Bunny: Snow Moon

 

Snow-Flakes: The Torture Queen

 

Snow, Glass, Apples: Poisoned Apple, The Hesperides

 

Snow Moon: Tintagel, Snow Bunny, Thanatopsis, Nocnitsa

 

Snow White: Dana O’Shee, Szepassony, The Unicorn, Defututa

 

Spanked: Loviatar

 

Spirits of The Dead: Severin, Baobhan Sith, Sudha Segara, Embalming Fluid, Holiday Moon

 

Spooky: Tarot:The Star

 

Sol Invictus: Ra

 

Storm Moon: Lightning

 

Storyville: Smut, Spanked, Devil's Night, Wezwanie-Hold, Love Me

 

Sturgeon Moon – Danube, Bayou, Tempest

 

Sugar Cookie: Chimera, Mr. Nancy

 

Sugar Skull: Gluttony, Mr. Nancy, Cockaigne, Kill-Devil

 

Tarot: The Star: Eden, Shoggoth

 

Tamamo-No-Mae: The Lantern Ghost of Oiwa, Zarita the Doll Girl

 

Tiki King: Intrigue, Havana, Satan and Death with Sin Intervening

 

Tiki Queen: Vasakasajja

 

Thunder Moon: Slobbering Pine

 

To Helen: Versailles

 

Torture King: Voodoo, High John the Conqueror, Doc Constantine

 

Treat #2: Carnal, Eden

 

The Unheavenly City: Sacred Whore of Babylon

 

Upa Upa: Sed Non Satiata

 

Usher: Tarot:The Fool, Dorian, Ode on Melancholy

 

Vampire Tears: Baobhan Sith, Severin, Whitechapel, Dorian

 

Vasakasajja: Shadow Witch Orchid, Tiki Queen

 

Voodoo Queen: Perversion

 

Whippoorwill: Silk Road, Singing Moon

 

White Phoenix: Yvaine

 

Wildfire: Dragon’s Bone

 

Winter of our Discontent: Golden Priapus

 

Winter Stress Relief Elixir: Rome

 

Wolf Moon 2007: Black Forest

 

Yog-Sothoth: Niflheim

 

Yuletide: Jabberwocky

 

Xanthe, the Weeping Clown: Tweedledee

Edited by ivyandpeony
Told ya I'd update it ;-)

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This particular list is a work in progress and even though I am posting it in December 2009, in reality I am quoting a post of mine from sometime in 2008 that hasn't been updated for a while. But watch for that little "edited" line at the bottom, I will update it.

 

This is a list of the most commonly noticed BPAL-to-commercial perfume "smell alikes." if you happen to notice something that seems oft-discussed that I've left off, feel free to drop me a line. If you enjoy discussing this sort of thing, have some comparisons to share or some questions to ask, this thread is the one for you.

 

You'll find it very helpful to search for the perfume name and company within the Recs subforum - it may have its own thread. If it doesn't, and you want to start one, that is fine.

 

You may also find this thread helpful - if you can provide a list of the notes that are in the commercial perfume, people can more easily help you match BPALs that contain those notes and share their experiences about which are dominant in those blends.

 

I will periodically add links here to threads that have lots of discussion and suggestion - if there are only one or two replies to someone's request for a smell-alike or similar scent, I'm going to wait until it's a juicy enough topic to earn a link here. ;)

 

This first list is for specific scents that are very popular and will link you to threads about them if they exist - and when particular BPAL blends have been identified by members as similar, I've attempted to list them for your convenience.

 

Alien by Thierry Mugler: GC 51, UFO related coincidences completely unintentional according to the Lab :D

 

Angel by Thierry Mugler: GC Xiuhtecuhtli

 

Body Shop White Musk (find and discuss other Body Shop fragrances here, too)

 

Butterfly - Hanae Mori

 

Chanel No. 5: GCs Ozymandias, Dance of Death

 

Chanel No. 19

 

CK One: GC Vicomte de Valmont; LE House of Mirrors

 

Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf: GC Xiuhtecuhtli

 

Jo Malone Red Roses: LE The Peacock Queen

 

Old Spice: GCs Dracul, Omen; LE Count Dracula, Mr. Jacquel (Yes, lots of us LOVE Old Spice! :blush: )

 

Opium by YSL

 

People of The Labyrinths - Luctor et Emergo

 

Poison by Dior: Venom (sadly discontinued), GCs Spellbound, Shadow Witch Orchid; LE Dark Delicacies

 

Shalimar: GCs Vixen, Haunted, Snake Oil, Ravenous; LEs Jacob's Ladder 05, Stardust 05

 

YSL Yvresse (fka Champagne) - GC Bon Vivant

 

 

There are a few companies that members seem to really like, and you can find links to threads discussing their scents here:

 

BPAL blends that resemble Victoria's Secret fragrances

 

BPAL blends that resemble Bath & Body Works scents

 

BPAL blends that resemble Aveda scents

 

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