ivyandpeony

With another round of unexpected GC scents being discontinued, I thought it might make it easier for all of us to have a thread dedicated to those from now on. You can find it here: http://www.bpal.org/topic/71400-when-your-favorite-gc-blends-are-discontinued/ I'll be slowly moving posts about discontinued scents over there from this thread. And of course, this thread can still be used to discuss similarities and scent families or request advice on scents you might like. Let me know if you have any questions

just the every so often bump

I think that E Pluribus Unum is one of the overstock scents that the Lab has in its etsy shop right now, if anyone is currently seeking it. I wish I had some March Hare suggestions - I tend to really amp clove, and apricot is pretty much a doom note for me. I love that scent in theory and if there was an abundant endless supply, I'd love it as a room scent but that's blasphemy now!

We've always included discontinueds in the general BPAL to BPAL similarities thread in the past - but I think that the list has gotten long enough that a separate thread would be more useful for everyone. Please feel free to start adding your observations or requests to this thread - I will start going through the general thread and moving posts over here bit by bit, just wanted everyone to get used to seeing this title and have a chance to read this post before I start moving posts with earlier dates into the thread. Also, please keep in mind the guideline for this subforum that we keep it to BPAL recommendations - Retail Therapy is the area for discussing other companies.

When I first sniffed Sibyl in the bottle, it reminded me of White Rose from the BPTP rose duo - and for about the first 30 minutes it smelled very similar on me. I think maybe the tea note is similar and I was amping the rose while it was drying down. Once it had time to settle on my skin, it started to morph into something different from White Rose and became a deep vanilla musk with hints of honey and rose. I love BPAL's cognac note(s) so was a teeny bit disappointed that I couldn't really detect it, but who knows what will happen with some aging &/or a different week of the month - it's a beautiful thing

Moonflower is a note that seems to work well on me - although I couldn't take an oath that I could identify it in a blend without fail. It's a clear and sweet floral, not as keyed-up or heady as jasmine, gardenia, or the other "white" florals. A lot of the Lab's scents that include "night blooming" stuff in the description seem to suit me & moonflower often gets included in those. I just discovered Halloween: Brooklyn in the past week or so and the sweet moonflower stands out really nicely against the crisp green woods. Here are a few LE favorites: Silver Phoenix, from last year's Anniversaries (Opalescent orris shimmering through a blend of mallow, moonflower, wild pear, iris, starwort, juniper, and mugwort) The Witching Time of Night (Moonflower, night-blooming cereus, white hellebore, English ivy, monkshood, angel's trumpet, oleander, and eastern hemlock) The Gibbous Moon (Moonflower, Madonna lily, orris, white ginger, cucumber, hyacinth, and Irish moss) White Moon (the blossoms of loss and liberation, soothed by the calm, comforting scent of sandalwood : lilac, calla lily, wisteria, white sandalwood, moonflower, night musk, phlox, and violet) From the GC, Titania has moonflower - I can't fully evaluate it for you because peach kills it for me, but I am sure someone else will! Although these LEs don't specifically have moonflower, I have gotten the moonflower vibe from them & they might be worth trying: Black Butterfly Moon (Lady of the Night orchid, benzoin, opopponax, currant, black chypre, white gardenia, ambergris, damp, wooded mosses, and black lily) Ether (Translucent blooms, ethereal white resins, and davana)

I'm not big on foody scents - I like them but often sugary or caramel-y notes end up warping when they hit my skin, and in a bad way. So I don't have tons of suggestions, but Midway immediately comes to mind. It was an LE release with Carnival Noir in 2005, reappeared when that Carnival briefly came back to town in 2006, then was also resurrected for the Lab's anniversary in 2007. It can be hard to find because people love it so much and don't want to part with it - but I do see it pop up on swaps and on eBay on occasion. To me, it smells just like the description - "A bombardment of edible carnival indulgences. Funnel cake, caramel apple, cotton candy, salt water taffy and sugar tart." There was another blend in the Carnaval Noir series that you might like to try if you can track some down - Shill. It smells like buttered popcorn. I have a feeling that you could layer it with all sorts of foody things to get more of a carnival food effect though. I wonder if Bread-and-Butterfly might be work similarly. (And just a brief mod note - responders please keep in mind that we do limit this section of the forum to BPAL recommendations only. The Retail Therapy section is for recs of other companies' scents Since the OP doesn't mind receiving PMs you can feel free to send her those suggestions via PM as well. Thank you everyone!)

Deep in Earth is very mossy and foresty to me, with nothing sweet at all. I don't know how you feel about lily notes, but Ulalume has the most mossy, deep in the woods, crunching on leaves and turning up the wet leaves below kind of scent to me, with just a little bit of stargazer lily wafting on top.

Red Tide. It was all raspberry all the time when I skin tested it!

Don't feel bad, there's no requirement that you be a member for X length of time to buy a forum-only scent Usually when the Lab leaves an LE up beyond the date that they previously announced it would come down, it means the scent's still available and they will honor orders. So if those scents are still live on the forum-only page of the Lab's site and can be added to the CCNow cart, then you should be able to order them successfully. I've ordered lunacies under the same circumstances with no problems. The Lab will always contact you if there is an issue - and if you are really nervous about it, you can always e-mail customer service first.

The Velvets is actually considered a GC blend, as are all the Neil Gaiman scents - so this is the right place I moved your post over here for you! It's no big deal if a post gets put in one thread but really belongs in the other - I move posts back and forth all the time when I spot them. For all members, not just Lorna Brigid, I know it can be confusing -but if you think of our goal with these threads is for fans to easily find comparisons to their favorites, it helps you visualize the best place to put your posts. Here are the rules of thumb that I use. Scent requests: If you are looking for something that is similar to a limited edition, use the LE thread to ask. If you are looking for something similar to a GC, use this thread. If you are looking for something similar to a discontinued GC, use the discontinueds thread. Scent discussions: If you notice that any scent, GC or LE, resembles an LE scent and want to tell the world, it's best to put it in the LE thread. That way people who are looking for something similar to that LE can find it there. (If you are posting about an LE scent that resembles a discontinued GC, you might also want to crosspost to the new Discontinued GCs thread so that people who are pining for that DC blend will find that info.) If you notice a similarity between two (or more) GCs, this thread is the best place for it. If you find something that seems to be a good replacement for a discontinued GC, the discons thread is the spot. And of course, you can just answer questions wherever they have been asked and recommend BPAL scents from any category when you do . If there's been confusion & the discussion belongs elsewhere, I can always move it to the proper thread. Hopefully that makes sense - again, it's not a big deal, definitely not even something you would ever get reminded/warned for

Mme Moriarty is an LE but it's still available in the Carnaval Diabolique section of the website - http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/cdiabolique.html It's a gorgeous red musk, vanilla, plum & patchouli blend.

ISO = In Search Of Around here, that's shorthand for posting in the Wanted section of swaps.

I may have to think on this pumpkin pie question a little bit more - I haven't pulled out all my pumpkin-y stuff yet because we still are having some warm days in the South. I'm thinking that layering may give you the effect you really want more than a single scent, though. The most baked-good, edible pumpkin scent I've tried is Pumpkin Cheesecake, but it does have those creamy notes that make it cheesecake instead of pie. The Pumpkin I scent from the 2005 & 2006 Pumpkin Patches - pumpkin w/apple and mulling spices - has a lot of spicy pumpkin dessert feel for me, so layering it with something that gives you a little buttery vibe might work. A pumpkin blend layered with Lambs-Wool might be an option too. I get a lot of creamy, dessert spices from it. I haven't tried Pumpkin Pie Bath Oil from the Trading Post, just sniffed it, but it definitely hit the mark - and reviewers seem to love it. I like to use the bath oils as after-shower moisturizers and they usually give me a lot of scent. So whatever you might want to try, using it for a base might be a good start. Or you might even find that you get enough scent from it to suit you.

From the PacSun website: Nollie Live! (pink) fragrance comes from a blend of pineapple, cassis and juicy pear with apple, passion fruit and freesia to create a fragrant bouquet scent. Nollie Real! (purple) perfume features Pink Cyclamen blended with a mix of Crisp Red Apple and Red Currants combined with a floral mix of Star Jasmine and White Lilies along with Diamond Orchid. The fragrance is also rounded out by Tonka Beans and White Musks. Nollie (green) combines the scents of sweet fruit & light floral undertones with hints of pink rose petals& white jasmine. Nollie Shine! (orange) perfume features Mandarin and Grapefruit blended with Cassis and Pear with a splash of fruity florals. The background is blended with Jasmine, Cyclamen Strawberry and Apple scents and is finished with Sandalwood, Cedarwood and Musk.

You reminded me, there's actually a whole thread about Pink Sugar resemblances here. Feel free to bump it if you like! that's so sweet.

So I was curious whether anyone who's tried Pumpkin Latte could compare it to some of the other coffee scents for me. I seriously love Pinched - it's perfectly balanced for me, not too sweet, the coffee isn't too strong. Sadly Misk U. gets way too caramel-y and sickly sweet on my skin, and El Dia Reyes is almost coffee single note. And I like Bah! but it isn't something I reach for that often. I don't think I skin tested the Pumpkin Patch scent w/coffee from last year for comparison purposes.

I just edited the title of the thread - the only term that was in the title before was "aniseed" and all of the other terms were in the subtitle, so that could be why it wasn't turning up. Right now the search engine isn't picking up terms in subtitles. I think that might have been a software tweak and if so, perhaps we'll be able to get it back eventually.

Spare Change was a freebie with purchase from the Trading Post with the Yule Inquisition this past year, part of a batch with names like Tchotchke, Trinket, etc.

The periodic bump!

You may want to check with your Department of Driver Services (or whatever they may be called where you live) to find out what they will accept as proof of your residence. Usually they want something like a utility bill, which would have to include a physical address where the service is provided regardless of the address to which it is mailed. Paying for power, cable TV or water at a physical address is much more definite proof that you actually live at that address than receiving packages at that address. If you are a renter, a copy of your lease will often work; if you have purchased, you should have some documents that show the address of the property. I'm not saying that they won't believe you if you show them a package you have received, I really do not know - I just think you should find out exactly what they will accept before you go to too much trouble to obtain any one item for this purpose.

I do think Liz & CC Female have a similar, soft leather note - but I also thought Tombeur had that note. So I was surprised when I saw the note list (well, not completely surprised because I think there's a bit of vetiver in most of Beth's leather bouquets - and only the ones with the very lightest touch are the ones I can wear). I think I remember you liking it at will call, but don't remember if you got any leather or vetiver from it.

I don't recall seeing an announcement, etc. about reformulations of any of the CD scents - but there could always be something I missed out there. It seems like true reformulations have been announced in the past. Although I wasn't around for it, there's been a notation in the description for Hellfire as long as I can remember, and I could have sworn there was one for Lady MacBeth too. I didn't keep my decant of Priala, but thought it might be worth mentioning that I'm a huge vetiver amper, and Priala smelled like it had vetiver in it when I tried it (it has been a couple of years). A number of scents with smoke notes, but not all of them, have had that effect on my skin. If there is some vetiver in Priala, I wonder if there could be a batch variation in the vetiver itself, making it stronger in comparison to the other notes in your new bottle? My Inez is definitely warmer and richer now than it was when I first got it. There are times it seems to me that BPAL amber falls into two categories - one's golden, sweet and spicy, and the other is thinner and more cologne-like, if that makes sense? Inez seemed to fall a little more into that thin/sharp category for me at first and I wasn't even sure if I would keep it (I love amber, and my HG amber scents are stuff like The Lion and Jacob's Ladder which I'd put in the former category). Anyway, I'm kind of rambling and probably not lending much insight but despite the big difference you are seeing between the old & new Inez batches, I wonder if a little age will make a difference in the sharpness. Regardless of the reasons, it is a bit of a bummer when a new bottle of a favorite seems so unfamiliar. I hope that age will bring both of them around for you.

I think it's subjective too, and that you should wear what you love and what works with your skin chemistry. BPAL scents tend to stick a lot closer to you than commercial perfumes so I think they're much less likely to stun other people with their throw in hot weather. With resinous, spicy, &/or heavy scents, you might find that you are applying less in hot weather than in cold - although in your case, Kiraze, since it's hot all the time, there may be no difference! And with every category of scents, there's a scale of intensity. There are some resinous, spicy, &/or autumnal scents that are much lighter than others. Witchblade is the lightest red musk scent I've tried and I really love it. Silk Road is also a summer favorite of mine when it just seems too hot for something like Snake Oil (we have really hot and humid summers where I live - days can be in the 90s and humidity can be in the 90-ish percentiles). I also have layered spicy scents like Bengal with Sudha Segara or Kumiho to lighten them up on my skin. A lot of BPAL fans love to wear the icy winter perfumes in hot weather, so you will be in good company there. I don't have a lot of recommendations for you there because ice, snow, and mint notes are rarely compatible with my skin - and many of those are limited edition, and I don't like to send even a relative newbie tramping off to the swaps forums first thing Some GCs that have a cool feel are Absinthe, Shattered, Lightning... wish I had more recs for you. There may have been rules about daytime/nighttime perfumes and seasonally appropriate perfumes back in the days when your shoes were supposed to match your handbag, you were supposed to wear a hat to church, never wear white before Easter or after Labor Day, etc. but I don't think too many of us observe any of those rules either. There's a thread discussing the general concept of "perfume rules" in BPAL chatter if you want to read through it or participate there as well.

Sweet-tart pink candies with delicate florals floating about - really pretty and summery. I don't find it as neon-sign sweet as Candy Phoenix, Sticky Pillowcase or some other sweet candy scents, if the candy descriptions are scaring you off. The lemon blossom and acai seem to give it a little tart note to offset the sweet notes. And I'm not one to generally think of insects as cute (move to Georgia, you'll see what I mean), but Rosy Maple Moths are pretty darn cute, all fuzzy and pink and yellow. I wouldn't have known that if it weren't for BPAL!