Similar to Vivienne Westwood Boudoir?

[fallow deer]

Hello everyone!

 

This is my first post to what I can see is a very friendly and helpful (not to say inspired!) noticeboard - hello!

 

I'm going to make my first BPAL order soon.

 

I was wondering whether anyone could recommend something similar to Vivienne Westwood's Boudior, but lighter and fresher, ie. more wearable during the day?

 

Any suggestions, please!

 

TIA

 

fallow deer

[allamanda]

Pleased to meet you fallow deer

 

to the madness.

 

I'm not familiar with Boudoir, but the decription I found was:

 

Boudoir blends the scent of the viburnum flower, a fresh, sparkling note never before used in perfumery, with french marigold, it creates a feminine harmony with turkish rose, iris and the spice tones of cardamom, coriander and cinnamon.

 

It sounds to me as though you are looking for a light floral?? I tend towards the heavier scents, but from the descriptions and reviews you might want to take a look at the following:

 

Feu Follet - Deceptively gentle and lethally alluring. Jasmine and rose, touched with sparkling heliotrope

 

Noir - Our olfactory tribute to the film genre: a dark, moody, brooding scent that embodies moral ambiguity, alienation, and soul-wrenching cynicism. A complex, seamy blend of Lily of the Valley, opoponax, myrrh, black rose and plum with a slithering twist of clove, deep plum and star jasmine. (this seems to be heavy on some users, but light on others)

 

Ophelia - Wistful and vulnerable: lotus, water blossom ivy, stargazer lily and white rose.

 

Maiden A gentle vision of purity, goodness and virtue: white tea, carnation and Damask Rose.

 

Hopefully the descriptions above might trigger thoughts of particular smells / notes you like. Then it is worth using the Lab site search function to find perfumes containing those notes. Check the reviews on the forum too. With luck someone who is a lighter perfume fan will spot this post and respond.

 

Hope this helps.

[fallow deer]

thank you very much allamandra!

 

i'll keep the board posted if i find a nicer-than match (i'm sure i will, too!)

 

[shriekingviolet]

actually I find Boudoir to be very heavy, though not so much in its floral components as I would in its spicier ones. It's quite the oriental.

 

Unfortunately it's been ages since I've smelled Boudoir so I couldn't make a good comparision. However I will say, that I don't think finding a "match" or even that similar with BPAL to a commercial perfume is ever that successful of an idea. I would just use it as a guide for your taste. You know which notes you like, what sort of scent family, try looking for fragrances with similar spice/floral combos. if you're looking for a lighter spicy floral for daytime wear, you might try looking at a few carnation scents?

 

Just a suggestion

[fallow deer]

Thanks for the advice, shriekingviolet!

 

You mentioned the carnation note - i've settled for trying maiden which sounds gorgeous.

 

Boudior is the only commercial perfume i've felt comfortable wearing and doesn't give me a headache.

 

I'm so glad to have found a company producing essential oil based perfumes and can't wait to delve further!

 

-fallow deer.

[Galen]

I used to wear Dior's Dolce Vita, and on me, it had a really spicy musky base note that made me think of, well, naughty things! I recently tried on Vivienne Westwood boudoir, and it seems to have a similar basenote... I was trying to do some detective work as to what the culprit is, using the fragrance descriptions which I found online:

 

dolce vita

 

...This feminine scent possesses a blend of magnolia, rose, cinnamon, peach, apricot, and bottom notes of vanilla and sandalwood.

 

boudoir

 

Scent Type: Oriental - Green

Top Notes: Viburnum, marigold, orange blossom, orris

Heart Notes: Red rose, cinnamon, coriander, cardamom

Base Notes: Amber, vanilla, sandalwood, patchouli

 

 

 

I don't know... Rose, cinnamon, vanilla and sandalwood come up in both lists, so it could be one of them, or the combination.

 

Any suggestions for a BPAL scent with a similar brand of sexiness??

[Macha]

Hopefully someone who has tried either of these will throw in their two cents....but let's see.

 

Namaste is Sandalwood, jasmine, rose, patchouli, cedarwood and lemongrass.

 

Queen Mab is black orchid, sandalwood, night-blooming jasmine, osmanthus, Somalian rose, and Chinese musk.

 

Tamora is Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean.

 

Jesibel is honey, roses, orange blossom and sandalwood.

 

You might also want to take a serious look at Morocco, which contain Arabian spices, warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia (which is another type of cinnamon.) and Sin, which drops the brighter notes in favor of amber, sandalwood, black patchouli and cinnamon.

 

Hope this helps!

[Galen]

Macha - it does indeed help - thank you very much! Hopefully I'll be able to hunt down this elusive fragrance by process of elimination if nothing else

 

I checked my 'new to BPAL, must try every imp that appeals' wishlist, and funnily enough, all of the ones you mention - except Tamora - are on my list

[fallow deer]

One of my first posts referred to Boudoir, Galen!

 

Its one of the few commercial perfumes that I love, but while I still sniff the bottle occasionally, I havn't actually worn it since I discovered BPAL.

 

*grabs bottle and re-sniffs*

 

Oh, it /is/ gorgeous!

 

But I have yet to find a BPAL that smells like it. I gave up long ago, actually; I got completely distracted by everything else along the way!

 

Sorry this doesn't help!

 

[Macha]

I'd like to add that I highly doubt you'll find a perfect match, particularly since the Lab isn't trying to copy other commercial perfumes, per se. But you may find something with the same qualities as what you love, even if it's not identical.

[Galen]

I'd like to add that I highly doubt you'll find a perfect match, particularly since the Lab isn't trying to copy other commercial perfumes, per se. But you may find something with the same qualities as what you love, even if it's not identical.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, no, I don't want the same fragrance! I just want that elusive note that tickles my nose, and um, other parts...

[lizbetann]

Okay, I don't know if this is the most useful place to try this, but I also have a commercial scent I am trying to find *similar* BPAL's to.

 

Long story short, I bought an absolutely gorgeous vial of perfume at a Ren Faire 12 years ago (they called it Celtic Dawn, or Celtic Moon, I can't remember which). Loved it to pieces, wore it sparingly, used it down to the last quarter of the bottle (then refilled the bottle with jojoba oil, and the scent is strong enough that it is surviving even diluted and hopefully the jojoba will keep it from going rancid).

 

Visited my mother and took one sniff and said, "What are you wearing?!?!!? It's exactly like a perfume I've been trying to find for years!"

 

She shamefacedly admitted that it was (gulp) JLo's Glow, which she had fallen in love with through a magazine sample.

 

According to the only source I could find, BizRate (of all places), the major notes of JLo's Glow are jasmine, vanilla and grapefruit. I bought Mata Hari for the jasmine/vanilla blend and find that I adore it for reasons that have nothing to do with its resemblance to my old Celtic Dawn/JLo's Glow.

 

So much for the short story. Anyone have any suggestions for me? I loved Celtic Dawn because it was very floral and very musky. It wasn't girlish at all.

 

Any suggestions?

[Macha]

Have you tried Siren?

 

that's white ginger, vanilla, jasmine and a little apricot, and a lot of people comment that white ginger can smell very citrus.

[lizbetann]

Have you tried Siren?

that's white ginger, vanilla, jasmine and a little apricot, and a lot of people comment that white ginger can smell very citrus.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, I haven't, but I love all those smells individually, so I would probably love a mix of them!

 

Thank you! --<--<--@

[Galen]

Oh, it /is/ gorgeous!

 

But I have yet to find a BPAL that smells like it.  I gave up long ago, actually; I got completely distracted by everything else along the way!

 

Sorry this doesn't help!

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks, fallow deer; nice to see there are others who like it; it's the most rich, complex department store fragrance I've liked so far; I have a 2.5ml handbag-sized spray which I occasionally use - much easier to use up imp-size perfume than get bored of a full-size bottle

 

Anyway...

 

Completely unexpectedly, I've found that elusive note I was referring to - or one pretty close to it! - in, of all places, Tushnatamay! No-one seems to have completely figured out what's in tushnamatay though, so it's not helping me isolate what THAT SMELL IS. Meanwhile, enjoying Tushnatamay very much...