Newbie here! Would love recommendations based off of notes I like!

[Bich Hang Pham]

Never tried BPAL before and the overwhelming scent catalog makes it hard to sift through everything to see what I might like, so I'd love to be recommended some scents from you all! Sorry if I'm going into way too much detail. o_O

 

Overall I like gourmands, fruits, florals, skin-like scents, aquatics... For specific perfumes:

• Darling Clandestine Harpy (coconut, lime, rum, sea salt, milk)
• Haus of Gloi Olde Cider Haus (old oak, drying hay fields, crushed apple pulp, vanilla bean husks)
• Haus of Gloi Spider Silk (water mint, grey musk, amber, oakmoss, torchwood, copaiba resin, violet leaf)
• Haus of Gloi Cozy Sweater (Pale skin musk, faded perfume, Egyptian amber, softly burning nag champa incense and a fine aged vanilla.)
• Haus of Gloi Ghost Puffs (toasted marshmallow, popcorn)
• Sixteen92 Black Sugar (Spun brown sugar, red berries, vanilla and tonka bean absolute dance with a sprinkle of dirt, a swirl of cauldron smoke, and a drop of bittersweet cocao absolute.)
• Sixteen92 Boardwalk (Coconut pulp, coconut milk, Coppertone, sand, sea breeze, driftwood, melted vanilla ice cream cone, sticky cotton candy)
• Smelly Yeti Not the Bees (sweet confection of candied honey and honeysuckle, punctuated by the faintest hint of citrus and underscored with smooth vanilla.)
• NAVA Crystalline (A thick viscous Vanilla that comes on soft and subtle then creates a cacophony of a beautiful cloud of vanilla purity. It is not a food vanilla, but a vanilla that makes you feel at peace, tranquil and right with the world.)
• Solstice Scents White Fox (Vanilla Musk, White Fur, Wood Blend, Frozen Dirt, Snow)
• Possets Sex In Heaven (Coconut, vanillas (two fabulous types: Mexican and Tahitian), and a lashing of sandalwood. Glory, this is heaven!)
• Darling Clandestine Tapadero (Bold and bright sage and roses, dusky sweet smoke and leather. Unisex. Very clean, very cuddly, fresh but comforting—open spaces and worn saddles.)
• Darling Clandestine (crisp, green, ethereal tea fragrance with a little opium bite)

 

What's on my BPAL wishlist:

• Mouse Circus
• Miskatonic University

 

Anyway, here are a bunch of notes I like so far:

 

Gourmand/Foody:

• popcorn
• cotton candy
• coffee (I love the smell of freshly grinded coffee beans as well as brewed coffee)
• green tea
• vanilla
• chocolate
• marshmallow
• honey
• cream (like ice cream, whipped cream)

 

Fruits:

• most fruits, but I especially like coconut

 

Florals:

• any florals, expect probably lavender?

 

Atmospheric:

• aquatic notes like sea salt, ozone, ocean, etc. (although I'd like to avoid notes like seaweed)
• rain/petrichor
• grass
• dirt
• vanilla
• smoke/bonfire

 

Things I don't like or I think I don't like:

 

• spices (I can deal with a small hint of spices, but I prefer none!), I avoid all perfumes that sound like it would be even moderately spicy.
• earth-y notes (I haven't tried many perfumes containing notes like myrrh, moss, patchouli, labdanum, tobacco, anise etc. and would rather avoid them for now)
• scents that sound like they're too "dark", incense-y, wood-y.

Please recommend your favourites too and you don't necessarily have to restrict recommendations to notes I like!

[Balame]

Hi Fleur, welcome! It's always easier to give recommendations when people put together nice lists like this. I'm not a floral lover, but I can definitely help you with the other types of blends.

 

Bliss - The serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate.

Embalming Fluid - White musk, green tea, aloe and lemon.

Midnight on the Midway - Sugared incense, flickering blue musk, and night-blooming flowers.

Mouse's Long and Sad Tale - Vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea and white sandalwood.

Obatala - Milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water.

The Candy Butcher - Bittersweet chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

The Lights of Men's Lives - The wax and smoke of millions upon millions of candles illuminating the walls of Death's shadowy cave.

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

Vasilissa - Creamy skin musk and blushing pink musk with soft sandalwood, white amber, dutiful myrrh, and star jasmine.

Y'ha-nthlei - The deepest marine notes with bergamot, eucalyptus and foamy ambergris.

 

And well, you've already got Mouse Circus and Miskatonic U on your list. My personal favorite BPAL perfume is Atlas (Mallow, oak bark, coffee bean, hinoki wood, and khus) which hits on some of your favorite notes. It smells like a glowing bonfire with melty marshmallows, soft incense and coffee beans. It's a limited edition but blessedly not too hard to find if you look for people selling decants here in the forums.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Balame

[lady_pandora]

Some more you might like:

 

Carnaval Diabolique: opium smoke, lemon flower, heliotrope, tuberose, black musk, vanilla, coconut, apricot flower. (Starts out lemony, turns into florals with coconut)

The Sea Foams Milk: Milk cresting on an ocean wave. (This one did not work on me at all, but it sounded like something you might like)

O: Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla.

Belle Epoque: Sweet opium, Lily of the Valley, vanilla, mandarin and red sandalwood.

Black Pearl: Coconut, Florentine iris, hazelnut and opalescent white musk.

 

I meant to only list ones I've tried, but couldn't resist breaking my rule for these:

Dana O'Shee: Offerings of milk, honey and sweet grains were made to placate these creatures, and it is that the basis of the scent created in their name.

Obatala: Obatala’s ofrenda is soft, white and pure: milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water.

[xeia]

I also love Belle Epoque as someone else mentioned, because it somehow smells greater than the sum of its notes to me. The sandalwood and opium serve to ground it a little, not overpowering or "dark" on me.

You might try Eden, which is heavy on the coconut and fig.

If you like fruit and floral together, you may want to check out Croquet (citrusy floral) and/or Lampades (cranberry floral).

I also immediately thought of the LE Lilith Mermaid, because for me it splits the difference between floral and aquatic, a great blend. (I hope it wouldn't break your seaweed rule. I'm not great at picking out the different parts of aquatic, so I can't tell you how "seaweedy" it is.) You can probably get some from another forumite on For Sale because it's no longer available from the lab.

[BoneBone24]

Oooh! I love that you went into such detail, that makes it easier for us to make good recs!

 

I know I'm repeating some that have already been mentioned, but here's what popped into my mind:

 

Dorian - Victorian fougere, three pale musks, sugared vanilla tea (a crowd favorite and for good reason)

 

Eden - fig leaf, fig fruit, honeyed almond milk, toasted coconut, sandalwood

 

Iulia, L'Artiste du Diable - white tea, sugar cane, orange blossom, rockrose, lemon balm, white mint, honey

 

Kubla Khan - sunlit caves of ice, roses, opium smoke, amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, balsam, Moroccan jasmine (don't worry, it's nowhere near as dark as it sounds)

 

Lady Una - honey musk, green tea leaf, blackberry leaf, vanilla bean, fae spices (ymmv, but I didn't get any spices from this one, mostly honey)

 

Lyonesse - golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris, sea moss (beachy vanilla)

 

Obatala - milk, coconut meat, shea butter, cool water

 

Sea Foam's Milk - milk, ocean

 

Shoggoth - white amber, green coconut meat, iris, palmarosa, Chinese peony, lime, water lily, snowdrop, muguet, lemongrass, osmanthus, wisteria, glassy musk, hinoki

 

And once the Yules come around, you should definitely order Snow White! - - virgin snow, crisp winter wind, night-blooming flowers (there's much speculation about the actual notes, but it definitely has something creamy, a la vanilla or coconut or tonka)

[lady_pandora]

And once the Yules come around, you should definitely order Snow White! - - virgin snow, crisp winter wind, night-blooming flowers (there's much speculation about the actual notes, but it definitely has something creamy, a la vanilla or coconut or tonka)

 

Oh yes, definitely Snow White! It smells like the most expensive hair conditioner I've ever tried. If that sounds like a diss, allow me to mention that this expensive hair conditioner smelled amazing, and if i were rich, I'd drench my hair in it every day. I definitely think there's a little coconut in it.

[Bich Hang Pham]

Thanks so much everyone for your recommendations, I'll take some time to sift through and see what I like and I'll pop into the Sales part of the forum some time!

[Floria]

Amsterdam (Tulips, peony, fresh flowing water and crisp green grasses) has a lot of stuff you like, and is definitely worth checking out if you don't have problems with stuff going soapy on you. Ameles Potamos is a nice sweet and salty aquatic.

You might be interested in Apple V (Apple with white coconut, fig, and tiare) from the current Halloween collection as a sweet, tropical apple scent.

[LizziesLuck]

Based on your likes, here's a list of general catalogue or currently available limited edition scents:

 

Foodie

Eat Me - Three white cakes, vanilla, and red and black currants

The Candy Butcher - Bittersweet chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

Cockagine - milk and honey, sweet cakes and wine.

Halfling - Porridge, kukui nuts, and pastry crumbs.

Dana O'Shee - Offerings of milk, honey and sweet grains

 

I see others have made recommendations for coconut scents. I am a huge coconut lover. I've tried most of the Lab's general catalogue scents that contain coconut. Most of them were not what I was looking for. So I thought I would mention

Death Cap - A warm, soft, ruddy scent, earthy and mild. I know it doesn't list coconut, but I swear it's in there. It's my favourite GC coconut scent. If you want to venture into LE's, Paper Kite is gorgeous coconut. Ivory Vulva is more of a coconut cookie on me. Both are glorious. Body, Remember is a more tropical coconut mixed with sweet florals.

 

I am a dirt lover too. My GC faves are:

Zombi - Dried roses, rose leaf, Spanish moss, oakmoss and deep brown earth

Yorick - Grave dirt, bone, decay, angel's trumpet, and moldering scraps of shroud: the essence of finality.

 

Hope you find some things you love!

[daladoir]

BPAL also sells a gourmand and a vanilla imp pack. I'm currently working through the vanilla one, and Eat Me definitely reminds me of vanilla cake

[Danielle DiFusco]

Another newbie here! Thought since you wonderful people were giving some suggestions I might ask for some help! I lean towards fruit perfumes, fruity floral, soft florals and citrus. Some perfumes I love are:

 

Escada Born In Paradise: apple, watermelon, guava, pineapple, coconut, sandalwood, cedar, musk

Escada Agua Del Sol: mandarin orange, sorbet, citrus fruits, raspberry, ice cream, pear, pink pepper, fruity notes, apricot, rose, musk, sandalwood, Tonka bean

Marc Jacobs Daisy: violet leaf, blood grapefruit, strawberry, gardenia, violet, jasmine, vanilla, white woods, musk

Vera Wang Hippie Princess: mango, freesia, apple blossom, apricot, lotus, jasmine, musk, vanilla, woody notes

Versace Bright Crystal: Yuzu, pomegranate, aquatic notes, peony, magnolia, lotus, amber, mahogany, musk

 

 

Suggestions limited to perfumes currently available would be preferable!

Much love!

[Joyleaf_]

Hello!
With your list I suggest:

 

Bordello: Bawdy plum with amaretto, burgundy wine and black currant.

Titania: A nocturnal bounty of fae dew-kissed petals and pale fruits: white grape, white peach, iced pear, musk rose, sweet pea, moonflower and snapdragon.

Cordelia: The essence of faith, love and devotion: lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk.

Roses, Pearls, Diamonds: Red roses, dazzling crystalline musks, and pearlescent coconut-tinged orris.

Cheshire Cat: Grapefruit, red currant, dark musk, Roman chamomile, delphinium, and lavender.

These are all from the GC catalogue and are ones Ive tried that have the most in common with your list. Hope this helps!

[Christine Daae]

FleurWitch, hello and welcome! You've gotten a lot of really good recs for your tastes so far, I'd like to second Lyonesse, Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, Black Pearl (very coconutty!) and Death Cap (I find Death Cap more vanilla-y than coconutty but your mileage may vary wildly!). It seems like you enjoy soft gourmands that may or may not have floral aspects to them, so here's another couple of recommendations.

 

Another couple you might like!

Alice: Milk and honey with rose, carnation and bergamot.

Blood Pearl: Lustrous, sanguine, soft and lavish: soft orris, blood musk, and coconut.

Roses, Pearls, Diamonds: Red roses, dazzling crystalline musks, and pearlescent coconut-tinged orris.

(Generally I find that you can count on anything with "pearl" in the name or description to have coconut in it, the lab seems to use that scent association a lot!)

 

I haven't tried a lot of the blends based on the Orisha, but a lot of them contain coconut and other sweet notes that you might like!

 

 

dsqrd44, hello!! I definitely second the recommendation of Titania! It's very beautiful, a sweet, very sparkly fruity-floral (emphasis on the fruit). Roses, Pearls, Diamonds is gorgeous, too! It looks like you like sweet, fruity floral perfumes so here's another handful of recommendations!

 

Others you might like, all from the general catalog:

Fae: A brilliant, ethereal scent: white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss.

The Dormouse: A dizzying eddy of four teas brushed with light herbs and a breath of peony.

Muse: A light, invigorating floral and citrus blend. Tuberose, lotus and jasmine with a hint of lime.

Lolita: Glittering heliotrope, honeysuckle, orange blossom and lemon verbena. (There's no actual fruit listed here but it comes off very sweet and fruity on my skin!)