Similarities Between BPAL Scents - GC and general discussion

[thedarklady]

Athens - Myrrh, golden honey, red wine, and sweet flowers.

Bengal - Skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger.

Cockaigne - Milk and honey, sweet cakes and wine.

Dana O'Shee - Milk, honey and sweet grains

Dorian - A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea.

Eve - Apple blossom, rose, ylang ylang and golden honey.

Hollywood Babylon - Egyptian amber and heliotrope, infused with the sweetness of strawberry and vanilla. Dragged into debauch by lusty red musk and a dribble of black cherry.

Honey Mone - Honey Moon contains five different honeys, ranging from pale and sweet to deep and heady, with hints of jasmine, white gardenia, Hawaiian white ginger and thyme.

Kill Devil - Sugar cane, molasses, oak wood, and honey.

Kitty - French vanilla, tot house orchids, strawberries, white sandalwood, bergamot, and honey.

Milk Moon 2005 - Cream and warm honey soften our traditional blend of lunar oils.

Milk Moon 2007 - Sweet milk, golden honey, fig fruit, pomegranate, dates, and white grape.

Obatala - soft, white and pure: milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water.

Osun - Honey and herbs of love, passion and desire.

Skuld - Ylang ylang, honey, Egyptian and Arabian musks and labdanum.

Edited March 3, 2013 by thedarklady

[Mokiefraggle]

With the Carnaval Diabolique back-stock up in the Lab's Etsy store, you might consider trying to get Zarita the Doll Girl. Haven't tried it or Alice myself, but whilst cruising the reviews to find a CD scent for myself, I noticed that Zarita was more than once described as being "Alice with orange blossoms." The notes in it are listed as "Soft, yet sociopathic: white carnation, iris, orange blossom, and sugared cream," which might be right up your alley.

[jamcde03]

absolutely try klara, and for some reason, jezebel (honey, roses, orange blossom and sandalwood.) reminds me very strongly of alice and klara without the powdery or milkiness.

[Floria]

If you can find some of the late, lamented Prunella (plums, wildflowers, and cream), that might be up your alley. I don't know what floral note the lab used for the "wildflowers," but it has a nice slightly spicy quality.

[orata]

Try Three Brides--rosey carnation loveliness!

[Foxdreams]

I have since sampled Eat Me and Hony Mone!

 

Hony Mone went right to figgy chocolate on me and never went back. But Eat Me went to delicious creamy vanilla deliciousness without being foody, so it's actually on my bottle list now.

 

And since trying Harlot I realize I love the rose notes the lab uses too.

[Monday]

You might want to try other rose scents like Libertine (-Rosewood and chamomile with bergamot, violet, red sandalwood, primrose and Arabian musk.) and Phantom (-Myrrh, dark musk, attar of rose and ylang ylang.).

[Quillifer]

I love Alice too I strongly suggest Lyonesse, which I absolutely love: creamy vanilla and golden musk.

 

Also you should try Sudha Segara - that's rice pudding and sweet spices, good to try since you like the milk note.

 

You could try Black Pearl, which has coconut.

 

Also maybe you might like Black Lily, which is a sort of creamy lily (floral but fairly light).

[JasminDreams2010]

I second Jezebel!

Also from black Phoenix trading post essence de la passion actually works well with Alice

[stellamaris]

Oooh I love Night Raven and Kitsune-Tsuki too, so I might be able to suggest some things.

For creamy I would say Al-Azif it is really amazing, rich and creamy and not dark to me at all. If it had a color it would be pale yellow.

For honey the most amazing one to me is Crib Girls.

You also may like Skuld.

Zarita is crazy good, and also for the cream note you might like Boo.

for rose there is no other but Seance.

Edited March 28, 2013 by stellamaris

[ivyblossom]

I thought I knew my #1 top favourite bpal (White Rabbit) on my growing list of top favourites (Bread-and-butter-fly, Glasgow, Halfling, Dorian, TKO) but then I got Door. I'm in love with Door. It's the first one that made me instantly want a second bottle just in case of...you know, anything.

 

Any recommendations for variations on Door in the GC?

Edited August 11, 2013 by ivyblossom

[sharkdiver]

Just curious as to the similarities between

 

Sudha Segara and Vespertillo Proterus?

 

I have VP which is a creamy vanilla/spicy ginger that to me, kind of smell like a Gingerale float made with vanilla ice cream - akin to creamsoda, but have never tried SS...I am wondering if they would be too similar? I'm kind of hoping it randomly gets tossed in as a frimp on one of these orderes...LOL

 

 

can anyone compare the two for me?

[hiddentwilight]

So, I'm fairly new to BPAL, but I'm working on expanding my collection. My first BPAL scent was "Ode on Melancholy" (an imp was included as an extra as part of a fragrance swap on a different site), and I absolutely fell in love with it. Between ordering from the site and from the forum I've slowly started to amass my own collection of imps

Recently, I tried Libertine and it smells lovely on me, but it seems a bit familiar. Am I crazy? Does anyone else think Libertine and Ode on Melancholy smell similar? If not, what note(s) is being amped by my skin that both of them share?

 

Ode on Melancholy: Lavender and wisteria, heart-wrenching pale rose, desolate white sandalwood and thin, tear-streaked white musk.

 

Libertine: Rosewood and chamomile with bergamot, violet, red sandalwood, primrose and Arabian musk.

 

So we have "pale rose" (the website tag is just rose, but it is definitely not the full normal rose note) vs. primrose, white sandalwood vs. red sandalwood, and white musk vs. Arabian musk. Perhaps it's the combo of all three in each?

[DoktorDandy]

I was wondering- my favorite sent so far, by FAR out of the dozen or so I have tried has been Vicomte de Valmont by a landslide. What other scents, especially those that can be found in the GC, have a similar profile? I can't identify what I find so heavenly about it, some notes are unfamiliar to me and don't seem to match the list of notes, but it's glorious.

[rawgirl75]

I was wondering- my favorite sent so far, by FAR out of the dozen or so I have tried has been Vicomte de Valmont by a landslide. What other scents, especially those that can be found in the GC, have a similar profile? I can't identify what I find so heavenly about it, some notes are unfamiliar to me and don't seem to match the list of notes, but it's glorious.

Ambergris is 'fresh', white musk is 'clean'. Moss, geranium and orange blossom are common notes in some modern 'fougeres'. Mint helps with the fresh as well. I think you should begin with those as a place to start.

 

I think you might like The Black Tower (GC) "A sepulchral, desolate scent. Long-dead soldiers, oath-bound; the perfume of their armor, the chill wind that surges through their tower, white bone and blackened steel: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine."

Edited May 18, 2015 by rawgirl75

[annemathematics]

I was wondering- my favorite sent so far, by FAR out of the dozen or so I have tried has been Vicomte de Valmont by a landslide. What other scents, especially those that can be found in the GC, have a similar profile? I can't identify what I find so heavenly about it, some notes are unfamiliar to me and don't seem to match the list of notes, but it's glorious.

Put yourself on the waiting list for Spider and pick up a bottle of aubin grandpied bunmanchi from the sales page while you wait. I think bluestblood had a couple on her sales page...

 

Vicomte is amazing, as is his associate, the marquise de merteuil (sp)

Edited May 18, 2015 by annemathematics

[DoktorDandy]

 

I was wondering- my favorite sent so far, by FAR out of the dozen or so I have tried has been Vicomte de Valmont by a landslide. What other scents, especially those that can be found in the GC, have a similar profile? I can't identify what I find so heavenly about it, some notes are unfamiliar to me and don't seem to match the list of notes, but it's glorious.

Ambergris is 'fresh', white musk is 'clean'. Moss, geranium and orange blossom are common notes in some modern 'fougeres'. Mint helps with the fresh as well. I think you should begin with those as a place to start.

 

I think you might like The Black Tower (GC) "A sepulchral, desolate scent. Long-dead soldiers, oath-bound; the perfume of their armor, the chill wind that surges through their tower, white bone and blackened steel: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine."

 

 

 

 

I was wondering- my favorite sent so far, by FAR out of the dozen or so I have tried has been Vicomte de Valmont by a landslide. What other scents, especially those that can be found in the GC, have a similar profile? I can't identify what I find so heavenly about it, some notes are unfamiliar to me and don't seem to match the list of notes, but it's glorious.

Put yourself on the waiting list for Spider and pick up a bottle of aubin grandpied bunmanchi from the sales page while you wait. I think bluestblood had a couple on her sales page...

 

Vicomte is amazing, as is his associate, the marquise de merteuil (sp)

 

 

Ahh some great recommendations and some lovely advice! I will have to check these out! The black tower was scaring me with it's list of ingredients, but man, yeah, it is on my wishlist.

 

I also think this is the third time someone is saying I should try spider?...

[seida]

Does anyone know anything in the GC that's similar to Behemoth? I got a frimp of it in my most recent order, and fell in love with it only to discover you can't buy it!! So disappointing...

[LizziesLuck]

Does anyone know anything in the GC that's similar to Behemoth? I got a frimp of it in my most recent order, and fell in love with it only to discover you can't buy it!! So disappointing...

 

On me, Behemoth is almost entirely tobacco flower. In that way, it ended up being very similar to Fractured Singularity on me (which is not a GC, but isn't too difficult to find a bottle of). Of course this will be different for you if you don't amp the tobacco flower like I do. I also had fairly similar results with Door, which is GC - it was the tobacco flower (nicotiana) that I amped like crazy in that too. Sorry I can't be more helpful!

[lookwaffles]

Hi

 

I recently tried BPAL for the first time and am looking for suggestions based on what I liked. I really like Smokestack, I also liked Bard, Goblin, Bayou. Scents I got which didn't work for me were Yorick and Iago.

 

Based on that what would the more experienced people here recommend next time I order?

 

Many thanks!

[sqwook]

Hi

 

I recently tried BPAL for the first time and am looking for suggestions based on what I liked. I really like Smokestack, I also liked Bard, Goblin, Bayou. Scents I got which didn't work for me were Yorick and Iago.

 

Based on that what would the more experienced people here recommend next time I order?

 

Many thanks!

 

@lookwaffles - Hi!

Bayou -- Perhaps try Arkham, Banded Sea Snake, Nuit

I haven't tried the others actually!

[Auspicious Q]

Hi

 

I recently tried BPAL for the first time and am looking for suggestions based on what I liked. I really like Smokestack, I also liked Bard, Goblin, Bayou. Scents I got which didn't work for me were Yorick and Iago.

 

Based on that what would the more experienced people here recommend next time I order?

 

Many thanks!

Yay! Welcome! Based on your list above, you might enjoy Obatala and Beer from the Marshwoman's Brewery.Also, you might like some of the scents in the Picnic in Arkham collection. Lots of those blend aquatic notes with green or smokey ones. I haven't tried smokestack, but if it is the sweet smokiness that you like, you might try a blend from the Ars Draconis collection, all of which have Dragons Blood Resin and smoke with other notes. Goblin is one of my husband's all time favorites! Edited May 7, 2016 by Auspicious Q

[Elspethdixon]

Hi

 

I recently tried BPAL for the first time and am looking for suggestions based on what I liked. I really like Smokestack, I also liked Bard, Goblin, Bayou. Scents I got which didn't work for me were Yorick and Iago.

 

Based on that what would the more experienced people here recommend next time I order?

 

Many thanks!

If you like the aquatics + moss + wood + "hothouse blooms" in Bayou, you might want to check out Kumari Kandam (which also has "hothouse blooms" and aquatic notes, though with clay and incense rather than moss and cypress), and Ogygia (notes includes cypress and "sea air"). Both are from the Wanderlust collection.

 

Smokestack is one of my favorites and is all woodsmoke and wood/resin on me; I'm pretty sure that it has a strong Vetiver note and possibly some tobacco, so you might want to check out other blend with tobacco, Vetiver, or "smoke" listed as notes. Starting with Antikythera Mechanism (tobacco plus beeswax and wood, which means it also has similarities to Bard with its beeswax and wood notes). Dark Chocolate, Black Tobacco, and Vetiver is an LE from this year's Lupers and not a GC, but it has a "warm resinous wood" smell that's similar to the later stages of Smokestack.

 

And if you like Bard, you may also like Mr. Nancy, which has a similar bay rum component plus tobacco, sugar cookies, and lime.

[lady_pandora]

Djinn was very woodsmoke and wood for me--IIRC it kind of went like a bonfire in reverse, starting out with the smoky smell and morphing into the still intact wood smell.

 

Bard is nearly a dead ringer for Lights of Men's Lives on me--I amp the beeswax to the moon apparently.

[Lillice]

How similar are Stekkjarstaur and Detestable Putrescence? I am asking because Stekkjarstaur smells exactly like I imagine Detestable Putrescence would smell based on the description.