So you're devastated about Antique Lace...

[ivyandpeony]

The temporary hiatus of Antique Lace has so many people flustered, I thought I'd compile some of the suggestions from the big similarities thread, reviews and a couple of other spots for easy access. These suggestions come from lots of different people and different chemistries, so some may make you go "Huh?" and some may make you go "Yeah!" but that's the fun (and occasional frustration) of BPAL.

 

Feel free to comment on what you do and don't find similar, add suggestions, discuss at length and comfort one another.

 

LEs

 

Atrocious Attic - more floral, but with similar lineny notes

Bearded Lady

Berenice

Black Lace - pretty hard to find so if you are new to BPAL, skip for now

Boo (current Halloweenie) - vanilla with a little linen

Cottonmouth (current Carnaval Diabolique)

Enraged Bunny Musk

The Girl (current Halloweenie)

Hope and Faith (current CD) - rose and violet AL respectively

La Fee Verte - another HTF one

Love's Philosophy

Monsterbait: Underpants - if you don't have it now, pretend you didn't see this, but enough people mentioned it in reviews that I thought I'd note it.

Opuhi

The Oval Portrait

Pink Moon 2007

Snow White

White Rose

 

 

GCs

 

Black Opal

Dirty - the lineny notes more than the vanilla

Dorian - likely to be more lemony than AL

Euphrosyne - a heady white floral AL

Lyonesse

Morocco

Mouse's Long and Sad Tale

Peitho

Regan - sweeter and girlier than AL, must like orchids

Vechernyaya - not vanilla-y but similar musks and airy feel

Victoria

White Rabbit

Zephyr

 

others

Haloes (Retail Exclusive)

[cfrancesca]

Thanks for the recommendations! I'm really loving the musk in the The Girl at the moment, it's similar to Antique Lace on me.

[cinderfallen]

I remember being super disappointed when I got my bottle of (fresh) Morocco because I was like, "WTF this smells exactly like Antique Lace." For what it's worth.

Edited October 16, 2009 by cinderfallen

[tristessa]

AL is one of my most adored oils and my signature scent if I had to choose... has it been officially discontinued yet? UGH this is sad sad news! I just enabled my 'lil sister and she's all over AL, she almost used her whole bottle and its only been a short time since she got it.

 

Hrmm I think Enraged Bunny Musk isn't at all like AL but a scent I really like. I thought Pink Moon's pepper was a bit overpowering actually. The Girl smells similar out of the decant I have, but I haven't tried it on the skin yet. And Morocco, I didn't find this to be like AL at all. How weird. My other sister has a bottle from like, 2006 sitting at her house unused somewhere. I should ask her about it... haha.

 

I would recommend a GC that's not on this list but is amazing... Antikthera Mechanism. It's a vanilla-ish scent although its quite different, this would have to be my second favorite oil. Anyone agree?

[cfrancesca]

You know I don't find Dorian like AL at all. I think I'm one of the few that don't like Dorian, it gave me a headache I really can't put my finger on what I don't like about Dorian.

I'm going to try a lot of the recommendations, I love white musk, feminine, vanilla and some linen scents.

Edited October 16, 2009 by cfrancesca

[ivyandpeony]

Here's the official announcement Beth made last week about it - she doesn't know yet if they're going to have to discontinue it permanently or if they'll be able to overcome the component problem.

 

Antique Lace is temporarily unavailable. =( There is a possibility that it may have to be discontinued due to component issues, but we’re holding onto hope. The AL dilemma does not affect anything else in the GC; the component in question has been in past LE’s.

 

Over the next few days, we will be contacting those of you that have orders pending that contain Antique Lace to make arrangements for either a refund or substitution.

 

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding through this challenging time. =/

 

And one modly note - if you haven't had a chance to read over this topic, please take a quick look at it - and please take any discussion of other companies' scents to their respective threads in Retail Therapy and/or to PM. I've actually had to send a couple PMs about this lately in other threads so I figured I'd go ahead and mention it here. It's certainly not something that I send reminders or warnings over, just a housekeeping thing, and I think it's pretty well explained in my posts there, but feel free to shoot me a PM about it if you have any questions.

[saralaughs]

Thanks for the list Ivy. I'll make my notes next to the list below...

 

LEs

 

Atrocious Attic - more floral, but with similar lineny notes I found this to be too understated. It was weird on me.

Bearded Lady Never tried. I probably won't get the chance.

Berenice I'll have to hunt it down.

Black Lace - pretty hard to find so if you are new to BPAL, skip for now Total yuck on me.

Boo (current Halloweenie) - vanilla with a little linen Total chemcially yuck on me.

Cottonmouth (current Carnaval Diabolique) Must try now that you've said this.

Enraged Bunny Musk This was too musky, not enough vanilla for my tastes.

The Girl (current Halloweenie) This is nice but I don't get any vanilla out of it. More of a creaminess. I do get the comparison in some ways though. If you want to know more, my review is in the thread.

Hope and Faith (current CD) - rose and violet AL respectively Haven't tried. Rose and violet just aren't my thing.

La Fee Verte - another HTF one Haven't tried. From your note, I probably won't either.

Love's Philosophy This didn't work on me like I wanted it to. I liked Her Voice more.

Monsterbait: Underpants - if you don't have it now, pretend you didn't see this, but enough people mentioned it in reviews that I thought I'd note it. Yucky. I know, I know...blasphemy.

Opuhi Love this. Love. But it doesn't remind me of AL. It's more of a tropical vanilla, if you will.

The Oval Portrait Tried this. Don't remember it. *shrug*

Pink Moon 2007

Snow White Didn't work on me. Went herby.

White Rose

 

 

I'll be back (tomorrow maybe?) to do the GC's.

Edited October 16, 2009 by saralaughs

[lookingglass]

I'll add Inez to the list. AL is mostly vanilla musk on me, which Inez has. She's definately a sister scent.

[LadyLuckless]

I only tried AL once, but to me it was a dead ringer for Faith.

[cinnamonster]

Man, I am so sick about this and I KNEW - I have had this feeling for the last three weeks, but I rarely can get on the forum so I only just saw and I have been busting through the end of a bottle like nobodys business. I think I may cry.

[ivyandpeony]

The list I compiled in the first post came from posts that people made in the big "comparisons" thread as well as comparisons from reviews. What I did was search for "Antique Lace" within posts, within the Reviews forum - I got 41 pages of results because it pulled all of the AL reviews from that thread, too, but I skimmed those pages looking for a pattern, where more than one or two people mentioned that a scent reminded them of AL, and if there were some comments that seemed to be typical that stuck with me, that's where those comments came from.

 

so THESE comments are mine, from the ones I've tried.

 

LEs

 

Atrocious Attic - definitely see the resemblance, although there's more violet and more of a powdery quality.

Bearded Lady - I don't remember BL well, but I do remember that it went sharp and odd on me, so I didn't get a resemblance.

Berenice - definitely a lineny floral, worth a try if you track it down

Black Lace - much darker and muskier than AL. I wouldn't seek it as a replacement because I find it so different and it is so hard to find - you'll swap your dearest bottle or pay through the nose on eBay.

Boo (current Halloweenie) - One of the few vanilla scents that's ever gone a little plasticky on me, but a lot of people are loving it and I can see why they are making the comparison.

Cottonmouth (current Carnaval Diabolique) - I need to revisit this one.

Enraged Bunny Musk - I can see a resemblance here, on the powdery/lineny side as opposed to the vanillic side.

The Girl (current Halloweenie) - definitely! One of those scents like AL that reminds you of vanilla even though vanilla isn't listed as a note, has that airy quality too.

Hope and Faith (current CD) - Very similar, but if you do not like rose or violet respectively, you will not like these. They are very strong on their respective floral notes.

La Fee Verte - never saw the vaguest resemblance. This one's very heavy on the honey and anise-y absinthe notes on my skin.

Love's Philosophy - much creamier and sweeter than AL on me.

Monsterbait: Underpants - Also a lot creamier and sweeter than AL to me.

Opuhi - don't get much resemblance, it's more similar to Regan to my nose.

The Oval Portrait - maybe a vague resemblance, much more floral, and that's lots of honeysuckle/white florals.

Pink Moon 2007 - See Hope and Faith - to me this is like a carnation version of those scents.

Snow White - I find Snow White to be unique, I am one of the few people who don't smell vanilla, coconut or almond in it. Nothing about it reminds me of AL.

White Rose - It is a clean and crisp scent but I don't find it very close to AL.

 

GCs

 

Black Opal - definitely, whatever gives it that crisp mineral quality is similar to the crisp linen note or notes to me.

Dirty - on my skin, this one almost veers to ozone instead of clean linen. Nope.

Dorian - I'd say it's worth a try, the lemon & fougere add a crispness to the vanilla. Can be too masculine on me at times.

Euphrosyne - this one's hard-core gardenia on me with very little of anything else.

Lyonesse - definitely worth a try as well. Has an airy vanilla quality.

Morocco - not much resemblance to me, but lots of people disagree. I find it much spicier, more carnation-heavy, very little vanilla.

Mouse's Long and Sad Tale - definite similarities.

Peitho - very floral on me, little vanilla.

Regan - a lot heavier and sweeter than AL without any linen or airy quality

Vechernyaya - mostly a white musk blend on me

Victoria - heavily floral but with a creamy vanilla undertone

White Rabbit - this is a creamy, honeyed pepper on me, no resemblance

Zephyr - a lemony white musk on me, very little resemblance

 

others

Haloes (Retail Exclusive) - One of those occasional odd experiences - I could barely smell this on my skin when I first got a decant; when I bought a bottle at WF I loved it at first but every time I wore it, it faded in about 30 minutes so it eventually was re-homed. So I just don't know this one well enough.

 

so... there you have it from me =)

[unlaced]

The blend that I find closest to AL is Mouse's Long and Sad Tale. The vanillas are very similar to my nose and I've always smelled something a little creamy about AL that Mouse's has too. The first time I tried Morocco it reminded me a lot of AL. But I think as it ages it will get more spicy and less vanilla. Boo smells more like sweet cream to me than vanilla but it's worth a try. Same goes for Love's Philosophy. It smells more like vanilla ice cream than AL's vanilla but it might be worth a shot.

[thestrangeheart]

This is echoing what has already been said, but if you do like rose and/or violet, Hope and Faith are children of AL. When I first smelled Hope I said that "it smells like Rose Red and Antique Lace had a baby," and it's a lovely scent for floral-lovers. The thing that I love most about Antique Lace is that gorgeous, faintly floral vanilla musk, and that's hard to duplicate. . . but if you don't mind additions of stronger florals, I recommend Hope and Faith.

[cfrancesca]

I'd like to add Under the Harvest Moon, because on me it's like a sweet, light musk scent and very feminine. Similar to AL.

[teamilk]

Victoria smells nothing like Antique Lace on me! And Love's Philosophy smelled more like cream soda than anything else!

[eoifemacbeth]

Victoria smells nothing like Antique Lace on me! And Love's Philosophy smelled more like cream soda than anything else!

Well, suggestions and recommendations are always YMMV. I can't distinguish between Morocco and Antique Lace, but my friend swears they smell completely different to her.

 

I say, if you haven't tried it and it's on that list, try it! You may be surprised

Edited September 6, 2010 by Eoife Macbeth

[scarletgenesis]

To my nose, the vanilla notes in TKO are like AL. In fact, I think TKO smells like AL with lavender added. So if you like lavender, you might want to also try TKO (which reminds me that I need a new bottle soon)

[oakmoss]

I just did a sniff comparison with most of the bottles listed here, and I'd say the closest scents are Mouse's Long & Sad Tale and Black Opal. Which is nice since they are both GC and you can get imps for them to sustain you until Antique Lace comes back.

[jizatt]

Morocco was fairly close on my skin. Its spicier of course, and missing the linen twang thing, but still a similar smell.

[hlemonds]

I find most of those quite different from Antique Lace in terms of how they smell on my skin, but as another poster mentioned, recommendations are always ymmv. As far as scents that i find to be similar in "feel" although they may not be a perfect match for the scent itself, i'd have to say The Girl (which i actually love just as much as Antique Lace, and i get a definite vanilla vibe from, but it is still different) and Antikythera Mechanism (soft, warm vanilla base once dry, don't let the teak top note scare you off).

[jarvenpa]

Morocco is very pretty, but nothing like Antique Lace on my skin.

 

Black Opal is nice (very Shalimar) but doesn't have the throw or the lasting quality.

 

must try the Mouse, I don't think I have, but....

 

I suspect the only scent like Antique Lace is Antique Lace.

 

excuse me while I go and quietly weep in a corner.

[opticnerd]

The only thing I've sniffed that's very close to Antique Lace is Black Lace, but that's even harder to find than AL. I think the second most similar (to my nose) is Under the Harvest Moon. Its a bit more floral/outdoorsy and rosy, but there's something there that's similar. I love Boo and Snow White for the same cool, sweet white scent, but its just not the same.

[lookingglass]

Honestly, when I smell straight up vanilla-musk at Whole Body, it smells just like Antique Lace on me. When I wear AL people have even said, "Oooh, vanilla musk?".

[hellomoonglow]

For me the closest is Mouse. But it lacks something.... Oh! I know! Antique Lace!

[saralaughs]

Um...Liz.

 

Seriously. If you like leather and smoke (just a *bit* of smoke, not much), you need to try Liz.