[clover]

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)

This post has been edited by ivyandpeony: 03 March 2013 - 08:00 PM
Reason for edit: correcting broken links

[ivyandpeony]

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!

[ivyandpeony]

Added a few new links and reorganized some things. Hope they are helpful!

[ivyandpeony]

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!

[ivyandpeony]

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

This post has been edited by ivyandpeony: 27 October 2008 - 01:28 AM
Reason for edit: Told ya I'd update it ;-)

[ivyandpeony]

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

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! )

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