New and Overwhelmed

[madiespider]

Hello! I'm pretty much new to bpal, and am completely overwhelmed by the dizzying array of scents available. I'm looking for some recommendations on beginner-friendly perfumes to start out with, preferably ones that aren't musky, incense-y, or generally anything you'd find in a shady new age shop.

If it helps, I tend to like sweet or clean scents.

Please help!! Any recommendations would be much appreciated!!!

[stellamaris]

Why hello!

There are many non shady BPALs LOL.

I would recommend Alice, Dorian, Leanan Sidhe, Whitechapel and The Head (very flowery) from the new Lupers.

You can always start by just reading reviews and seeing if you get a feel for anything. Then order some imps and see what you like.

[SimplySyra]

For sweet and clean I would recommend:

 

Sea of Glass--Clean clear aquatic floral

White Rabbit--Clean linens, milk, honey

Shanghai--Green tea and light floral

 

Agree on Alice which is milk, honey, spicy floral and Dorian which is warm sweet vanilla tea and citrus.

 

Do you like food sweet scents or more floral?

[Little Bird]

These are all a mix of sweet & clean, popular, and fairly easy to wear: Alice, Cheshire Cat, Dana O'Shee, Dorian, Embalming Fluid, Lyonesse, Mouse's Long & Sad Tale, Roses Pearls & Diamonds, Tamora.

If you're interested in actual foodie/gourmand scents: Bliss, Cockaigne, Drink Me, Eat Me, Shub-Niggurath, Miskatonic University, Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener...

And Dirty is the literal clean laundry scent in the catalogue. Sea of Glass is also a beautiful clean fragrance.

[madiespider]

For sweet and clean I would recommend:

Sea of Glass--Clean clear aquatic floral

White Rabbit--Clean linens, milk, honey

Shanghai--Green tea and light floral

Agree on Alice which is milk, honey, spicy floral and Dorian which is warm sweet vanilla tea and citrus.

Do you like food sweet scents or more floral?

Sea of glass and white rabbit sound lovely! I was intimidated by sea of glass' abstract description on the bpal site, but clean aquatics are always nice.

I like food sweet scents!! Most florals tend to go rancid on me

These are all a mix of sweet & clean, popular, and fairly easy to wear: Alice, Cheshire Cat, Dana O'Shee, Dorian, Embalming Fluid, Lyonesse, Mouse's Long & Sad Tale, Roses Pearls & Diamonds, Tamora.

If you're interested in actual foodie/gourmand scents: Bliss, Cockaigne, Drink Me, Eat Me, Shub-Niggurath, Miskatonic University, Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener...

And Dirty is the literal clean laundry scent in the catalogue. Sea of Glass is also a beautiful clean fragrance.

I've heard great things about both eat me and miskatonic university. Are they overly heavy or cloying?

Why hello!

There are many non shady BPALs LOL.

I would recommend Alice, Dorian, Leanan Sidhe, Whitechapel and The Head (very flowery) from the new Lupers.

You can always start by just reading reviews and seeing if you get a feel for anything. Then order some imps and see what you like.

I found myself really drawn to Dorian's description. Is the tea note predominant?

[stellamaris]

I don't find Eat Me cloying. You might like Love's Philosophy which is a Luper limited edition out right now. One man's cloying is another mans perfect so it's hard to say if you will find it to be so.

[Soupy Twist]

Another vote for Sea of Glass; one of my favorites.

 

Grief: hyacinth (similar to Sea of Glass)

Lilium Inter Spinas: mostly lily-of-the-valley

Titania: peach and flowers

Embalming Fluid: tea and lemon

Baobhan Sith: grapefruit and tea

[Balame]

I would add that Kumiho (A sharp, biting blend of crisp white tea and ginger) and Obatala (Milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water) are both pretty popular, clean picks.

 

Squirting Cucumber is good if you like the scent of cucumber. It's essentially cucumber water + grass, so great for hot days. The Grave-Pig (Fig, oakmoss, mushroom caps and pathcouli), despite having a weird name and notes, is actually super clean too. Seriously, check out the reviews and you'll be surprised. It's a very light, earthy fig blend. The patchouli is not hardcore at all like it is in a lot of other BPAL perfumes.

 

You might like Y'ha-nthlei (Deepest marine notes with bergamot, eucalyptus and foamy ambergris) as well. It was one of the first blends I tried and I still love it. It's decently rich for an aquatic, and if you've never smelled ambergris before you're in for a treat. It's like a fizzy, almost incense-y amber (but it's not heavy here). It really does feel "foamy" and the sweetness combined with the bright citrus is fantastic.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Balame

[LizziesLuck]

 

For sweet and clean I would recommend:

Sea of Glass--Clean clear aquatic floral

White Rabbit--Clean linens, milk, honey

Shanghai--Green tea and light floral

Agree on Alice which is milk, honey, spicy floral and Dorian which is warm sweet vanilla tea and citrus.

Do you like food sweet scents or more floral?

Sea of glass and white rabbit sound lovely! I was intimidated by sea of glass' abstract description on the bpal site, but clean aquatics are always nice.

I like food sweet scents!! Most florals tend to go rancid on me

 

Hi! I love sweet/foodie scents as well, so I'll list a few General Catalogue faves - but I also wanted to say, you should give BPAL florals a try, if you haven't! I used to think I hated florals. Then I tried BPAL florals - now maybe a good quarter f my collection is florals! They won me over. But anyway, here is sweet and foodie!

 

Seconding Eat Me - Three white cakes, vanilla, and red and black currants I find that the fruity currants keep this from being cloying.

For more of a fruity type sweet Bewitched blackberry, sage, green tea, wild berries and dark musk Don't let the musk worry you, it's blended in really well and I bet you wouldn't notice it if you didn't know it was there!

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

Sudha Segara Sweet milk and warm, healing ginger with a touch of golden honey and our blend of Ambrosia

Elegba coconut, tobacco and sweet, sugared rum.

Halfling Porridge, kukui nuts, and pastry crumbs.

 

 

Welcome to the forum! I hope you find scents that you love! Best advice I can give is to try as much variety as you can so you can narrow down what you love. The forums sales page is a great place to start, you can often get a good deal on a bunch of Imps.

[SimplySyra]

 

For sweet and clean I would recommend:

Sea of Glass--Clean clear aquatic floral

White Rabbit--Clean linens, milk, honey

Shanghai--Green tea and light floral

Agree on Alice which is milk, honey, spicy floral and Dorian which is warm sweet vanilla tea and citrus.

Do you like food sweet scents or more floral?

Sea of glass and white rabbit sound lovely! I was intimidated by sea of glass' abstract description on the bpal site, but clean aquatics are always nice.

I like food sweet scents!! Most florals tend to go rancid on me

 

The BPAL catalog is very intimidating, even for me and I've been buying BPAL for years haha! More recent scents have come with better and clearer descriptions on their notes, I've found. If you're unsure it's definitely worth doing a search in the forum's Review section as generally many people with talented noses can pick out which key scent notes are likely involved. I've found it easiest to do a Google search rather than a forum search by typing in the name of the scent and then just "BPAL." The reviews for the scent are generally the first or second result! Although admittedly for Sea of Glass no one seems to really agree on anything other than it's an aquatic with potentially fruit and some sort of bright light floral haha.

 

I find florals can give me headaches but Sea of Glass is something special in my personal opinion. Your milage may vary, of course!

 

Lizzie has given you a much more comprehensive list of foody scents than I could. Of note is the Lab's sister company, The Black Phoenix Trading Post, is currently offering a limited run of pie scents which are ABSOLUTELY delectable if you like that sort of thing. Currently available in perfume, hair gloss, or bath oil form are:

 

—Pecan Pie

—Key Lime Pie

—Banana Cream Pie

—Blueberry Cream Pie

—Apple Pie

—Marshmallow Cookie Pie

—Peach Pie

 

You can check out the Trading Post here.

Edited March 30, 2016 by SimplySyra

[Numanoid]

Welcome!!
It can be overwhelming!!! What always helped me was reading the reviews for certain scents I was interested in. On that note, also, as most here can probably agree with me, is don't rule out any scents that might have notes you don't like. For a LOOOOONG time I HATED patchouli... and I still do in a way, but there have been a couple scents (Revenant Rhythm hair gloss and Ask the Nearest Hippie) and they have been BEAUTIFUL!!

 

AND just to make it more overwhelming, be sure to check out the Black Phoenix Trading Post.... the sister site with amazing goodies there as well!!!

[sunlitgarden]

In addition to the recommendations you've already gotten, I would add:

 

The Dormouse (Mad Tea Party) -- "A dizzying eddy of four teas brushed with light herbs and a breath of peony." This is a light and refreshing tea scent. I've been wearing it a lot lately, as it's very springy to me.

 

Vial of Holy Water (RPG) -- "The gleaming, indescribably clean scent of purified, ritually consecrated holy water." It's a clean aquatic.

 

Aizen-Myoo (Excolo) -- "Yuzu, kaki, and mikan with cherry blossom and black tea."

 

Sjofn (Excolo) -- "Our song to the Norse Goddess of Love is scented with apples and birch and bound with apple blossoms."

 

These are all scents I personally have found that fall into the clean/sweet/fresh category. While there are some florals, I don't find them too overpowering or cloying in these scents.

 

I would also recommend that you try everything you get as a frimp (free imps you get as bonuses with a purchase) even if you don't think it will work based on reading the scent description. I've had some great surprises over the years!

[ZephyrStorm]

Advice one person gave me, was if you're not sure of what something smells like, google search it. Just put in bpal and the name of the scent, and then look for the bpal link where people give their impressions of the scent.

Also the way I started, I looked for people selling imps and picked up a whole bunch at once. Tried them all out, then ordered just a few of my favorites.

[freyasfae]

Hello! I'm pretty much new to bpal, and am completely overwhelmed by the dizzying array of scents available. I'm looking for some recommendations on beginner-friendly perfumes to start out with, preferably ones that aren't musky, incense-y, or generally anything you'd find in a shady new age shop.

If it helps, I tend to like sweet or clean scents.

Please help!! Any recommendations would be much appreciated!!!

 

I would recommend ordering one of the imp packs from the lab to get started. They are divided into a variety of general scent categories such as green, gourmand, leather, etc. It's a good way to get started and you don't have to go the work of picking and choosing as it has already been done for you.

 

https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/imps-ears/