ivyandpeony

I remembered this one as a vanilla musk but wanted to be sure... I couldn't track down the notes on her Etsy site or weblog, but found that a couple of forum members here had posted the description in the Ava Luxe discussion thread in RT and that the notes listed were "White Vanilla, White Amber, Milky notes, Musk." Antique Lace immediately comes to mind, as do Black Opal, Lyonesse and Dorian. Good luck finding something similar - it's really frustrating when a favorite company pares back production so severely.

Oh, if Snake Oil is a favorite, you owe it to yourself to work your way through the entire Snake Pit! There are so many fantastic blends and unique combinations of notes. I was also surprised that my predictions of what would and would not work on me were not nearly as accurate as usual (which I found sort of fun). Seconding the Kataniya-Mechanical Phoenix comparison - they are reminiscent of one another although certainly not identical. From your favorites, it looks like scents that are a wee bit too masculine on me might be fabulous on you (Dee, Hunter Moon, Mechanical Phoenix) and that made me think that Isaac The Living Skeleton and The Organ Grinder might be good bets. And since you like sweet-spicy (like Chimera, Samhain and Snake Oil) I would suggest The Wild Men of Jezirat Al Tennyn.

No need to be sorry - I think it's good to hear when more than one person agrees on a comparison like this, especially when you both come up with it independently. I haven't smelled Sea of Glass in ages but I really loved Archangel Winter, it was one of my favorite Yule blends from last year. So I'm definitely looking forward to trying Sea of Glass again.

This thread should have come up for you since the word orange is in the title... have you tried limiting your searches to titles only? It can also help to limit to subforum if you see that you're getting a lot of results and want to simplify. To limit to titles only, you have radio button options on the lower right of the search form (there are four boxes under Refine Search); if you want to limit searches to subforums you do it by highlighting the area you want to search in the pull down box at the lower left of the search forum. There are quite a few shortcut links by note in this topic, too, just for reference.

There is a small thread with discussion of tangerine & related notes here, but most of the orange discussion is going to be found in this thread. My Butterflies and Plovers just arrived today and I have a terrible case of the flu, I can't even smell it to begin to compare it to anything else I've tried. But as far as orange-patchouli blends, I have heard lots of people say Vixen becomes an orange-patchouli on them (even though it has orange blossom listed as a note, not orange itself). Moxie (one of the Panacea blends) is such a delicious orange-ginger, if you find a patchouli blend you like that would be good with a shot of orange I think it would be great layered. If you want to get some input on things that may be similar to Butterflies and Plovers, you could also post a request in the LE Equivalents thread.

Galen, that is the one that always comes to mind when people talk about "the Lush shop smell" for me too. Although I can wear all of those notes, for some reason I can't wear them in the combination that is Masquerade, so I just passed my bottle along to a more suitable home. It's such a lovely smell, though, I may have to collect some imps and make some sachets or something I can't let go! When I have a minute, I need to go thru this thread and compile the most common blends people have suggested for the "Lush smell" and add that to one of the pinned posts, maybe the Short Guide to Common Recs or the one on comparisons to commercial perfumes... We need to get cupide430 in here to answer this, she is the Gavarnie addict and springtime-floral expert! I love those green-floral-springtime BPAL blends, and although I've never thought to myself, "Ooh, exact match for Gavarnie!" both versions of Beltane, One to Tie, Two to Win (which I almost hate to mention), Prague, Pontarlier, Tarot: Temperance (another that's hard to find) and Flower Moon are the ones that come to mind. Garden Path With Chickens is awesome but to me there's a wee hit of something aquatic that takes it over the line from pure flowers, grass & stems - definitely worth a try, though, if you're having a spring fling, Gavarnie party. There's a thread here about fresh, wet, green florals - when I went to look it up, I noticed that the OP actually mentioned Jungle and Flower Market when she was describing what she wanted. So you might find some ideas there, too. Viva la Gavarnie! *punches sky*

yay tartchef for tracking down those threads! DeusDM, another thread you will have fun in would be this one, discussing the spiciest BPAL blends. I agree with the posters who have cited Bakeneko as the ultimate spicy tea scent. It can be hard to find, though, because it's so damn good that no one wants to part with a bottle (it was an LE from January 2007). Famine, from the Good Omens series, is a very unusual tea blend: it's smoky and a bit sweet and spicy, not a drop of vanilla in sight (the listed notes are black tea, tobacco leaf, frankincense, lilac, and white musk). It's not available from the Lab in imp form, though, so you'd either have to take a chance on a bottle or track down a decant in the swaps forum. If you like Kumiho, have you tried The Apothecary? In comparison, the tea note is stronger and the ginger is lighter, but it's so pretty and fresh. I also love the spicy, creamy tea that I get from The White Rabbit. Although vanilla is a listed note (the others are black tea, milk, white pepper, ginger, honey and linen) I don't get vanilla from it at all. If you read the reviews, it seems to be one of those blends that can smell wildly different from person to person, depending on what notes you happen to amp. But since it's GC an imp won't set you back much and trying it will be an adventure. Oh, and one quick mod note - I added a subtitle to the thread, so people will see it's a request for personal recs and not a dupe thread of the tea, spice &/or chai threads.

The vetiver kills Blood Kiss for me. I love Red Phoenix though. The only similar scents I can think of are LE, and Blood Moon can be hard to find these days. But Alone was re-released with the Poe scents at Dark Delicacies very recently. I think there's a possibility that they share a patchouli note or that there's an unlisted drop of cardamom in RP and Blood Moon that I pick up.

Mortarion, I'm not the number one go-to girl for recommending men's scents because I can't get my husband to wear BPAL (or any scent). But of things that I have tried on myself, Anubis came to mind for evoking death and the desert. It's resinous and spicy and definitely gender neutral (the notes are holy myrrh, storax, balsam, and embalming herbs). Ozymandias might be a good choice if you're looking for something that's on the more sophisticated end (vs. natural/earthy), although your character looks like he'd be more of an outdoors, roughin' it kind of guy. The description doesn't list the notes, and although I have heard some people compare it to Chanel No. 5 it smells very dry and masculine to me. (I'm sure you're already picking up on how different a blend can smell from one person to another from reading reviews and looking at threads here in Recommendations!) Good luck finding something to inspire you!

I smell a lot of ylang-ylang in Seduction too! I do like it, although ylang-ylang is one of those notes for me: when it's good, it's very very good, when it's bad it's horrid. I recently found a Seduction bath bomb from the days the Trading Post was selling them and I really like the way that the scent of Seduction blooms in a warm bath. So I may be putting my bottle to use in the bath. I was curious to see if I could discern a pattern in my ylang-ylang likes and dislikes so I looked at the search engine on the lab's site. It seems like blends where it's paired with other sweet florals are the ones that work well on me: Blue Moon 07, Melancholia, Loralei, Suspiro, Veil. If it's paired with a note that has a tendency to go sharp on me like apple blossom or dragon's blood or if the blend doesn't fall more on the sweet side of the scale, then the ylang-ylang ends up taking on a sharp or acrid quality.

Hi LizardQueen I think your question is just fine in this thread, for the record. Not everything's going to be a perfect fit and I want someone to slap me to my senses if I spend an afternoon going through these giant similarities threads, splitting out posts and making yet another pinned thread titled "LE scents you can substitute for Discontinued GC scents!" Dublin is one of my all time favorites - oh, I seriously love it. I just got my Lupercalia order this week, and although I think The Passionate Shepherd is going to be a favorite of mine this spring, a resemblance to Dublin didn't even cross my mind, I am sorry to say. Of course, this is all my evaluation of how these two perfumes work on me, so it will be interesting to see what other people say. I also find that BPAL blends can change a bit after a month or two of ownership. So for those reasons I definitely think The Passionate Shepherd is worth trying on its own merits, it's a gorgeous scent. Here's how I would describe them... The Passionate Shepherd is green in a bright, grassy way, with a hint of woody spiciness from the ivy and carnation and a bit of soft rose adding a bit of femininity. The florals also seem to make this one sweet enough for my chemistry (heather in particular tends to be a sweet note). Dublin is predominantly evergreen, although somehow it's a very sweet and mellow evergreen, and I find the white rose is a prominent element - it's soft, as in the opposite of sharp, whereas in TPS the rose is a team player, more of a contributor to the overall feel of the scent and the green notes are predominant. If I can answer any specific questions about them, just let me know, I'll do my best. Hmmm... what does remind me of Dublin? The LE bath oil, Ice Prince and Snow Moon - both have that combination of evergreen forest with floral notes to my nose. It's difficult, though, there's not a lot! Maybe some layering is in order?

I haven't tried Fascinuum on my own skin, but I smelled it on Andra's and it indeed was very reminiscent of Doc Buzzard. That combination of rich resins and lime is just so lovely. I definitely am going to add it to my wish list - although I loved Doc Buzzard in theory, I never wore it because somehow, I make masculine scents even more swarthy and masculine! Not a drop of sweet girliness in my natural skin chemistry, I have to get it all from my perfume. And my husband just won't get into BPAL with me, so the manly stuff ends up being swapped away.

Policyoftruth, BPAL has a very nice pineapple note, but I don't think that Beth uses it in a lot of blends. It sounds like the L'artisan blend is based around that note (I haven't smelled it myself, but since they named it Ananas Fizz, I am assuming a little bit). If you click here, you should get the results of a search that you can then skim over. I searched through the Recs subforum for all the posts where the word "pineapple" was mentioned. If the link gives you problems, go to the search form and try this: search for "pineapple" highlighting the Recommendations subforum only, specifying that post text and titles should be searched and results displayed as posts (as opposed to topics). You can also try the same search in the Reviews subforum to see if any additional scents pop up! Looks like Drink Me, Elegba, Tzadikim Nistarim, and Shango are most frequently mentioned and the new GC addition Defutata is getting a few comments. The 2007 version of Milk Moon also gets mentioned a bit, but it could be harder to track down. I'd try the GC ones first since you can order imps so easily, then if nothing seems similar, you can branch out into old LEs... zankoku_zen, there's nothing worse than when a bad memory ruins a nice scent! I knew a girl who wore Coco back in the 80s but she smoked so damn much that she warped the smell into something awful - so when I smelled the normal, should-have-been-lovely Coco on anyone else I would get so grossed out by it even though the ashtray reek element was missing. If I smelled Coco today I bet I would have the same reaction.

I'm finding The Presence of Love to be very balanced - although the floral notes are dominant, the jasmine doesn't stomp out everything else in sight the way that it sometimes can when it's touched my skin. I want to erect a statue to Beth for her genius in combining pink grapefruit and jasmine - love it intensely in BiggerCritters and I love it just as much here. This is a more sophisticated scent than BiggerCritters as you'd probably expect from the notes - I agree with clover's assessment, it's very traditional (and I am very fond of traditional, as interpreted by BPAL of course!) I don't think there's been a single jasmine blend I've received from the Lab that I haven't loved even more after a couple of weeks, so I am looking forward to seeing what The Presence of Love is like just a little bit down the road. I don't know if jasmine doesn't travel as well as its friends, or if it takes time to meld with other notes, but invariably I open a bottle after its little resting period to find mellower, smoother jasmine. The jasmine in this blend isn't sharp or pushy at all (and my package just arrived a few hours ago) so there may not be a dramatic difference - which is fine with me, it's an absolutely beautiful variety that Beth chose.

There are tons of recs for Euphrosyne and I will throw my cap in the ring for her, too. Gardenia, jasmine, tea rose, and vanilla - they're all so lovely together and the other notes complement the gardenia wonderfully, playing up its sweetness. I also get some gorgeous gardenia from Eternal (which also contains stephanotis, cyclamen, heliotrope, and white rose) - it's a beautiful sweet, simple floral. Mad Kate, from the retail exclusive Salon series, was Mad Gardenia on me (not a bad thing in my book). If you don't have a retailer near you, shelldoo here on the forum is an official retailer and can help you out. I am hoping to move my gardenia bushes this spring - they do bloom, but I don't think they get enough sun to be truly happy. They've gotten much taller and spindlier than they should be and they don't bloom as profusely as my sister's do (hers are in a much sunnier spot in her yard). They smell so incredible when they're in bloom! I will bring just one or two blossoms in and they scent the entire downstairs.

ha ha! I like the way you put that, OdetteOdile, as you know you and I are around the same spot on the Road To Old Lady Map. Technically, you could consider ALL my perfume "old lady perfume." Rose and violet seem to incite the most "ew, old lady" comments from my husband, who has no idea what notes he is actually smelling. So the old ladies in his life must have smelled like roses and violets. But not every blend with one or both of those notes gets that label from him. Hope and Faith have gotten compliments, Moscow, The Haunted Palace, Le Serpent Qui Danse, Rose Red, Rose Moon and White Moon have too. Some other rosey &/or violetty blends that I think no one could accuse of old ladiness are Morgause, Ace of Hearts, Three Brides and Utrenyaya - all seem very sophisticated and sexy to me. Havisham was probably the one he disliked most - which was fine, it was already extremely hard to find three years ago when he told me he hated it and used the OL label.

Madame Tracy reminds me a bit of Marie, as the tea rose and violet are dominant on my skin. But Madame Tracy is more complex and sophisticated than Marie, with more depth, a different sweetness and a hint of green. I can't pick out the geranium, but I think it anchors the blend and provides that hint of green and some spicy depth under all the sweet blossoms that Beth chose to include in this one. It's very much like Madame Tracy herself: younger and sassier than meets the eye (although I don't see any signs that it's possessed). I like the comparison to an old fashioned garden with a bit of damp instead of bright sunlight - that's a great description! My feeling would be that if you don't like rose and/or violet, you will not like this - but if you are a fan of the two, you'll want to add Madame Tracy to your floral line up.

Magpie, honey might be my favorite BPAL note (well, in honesty, there would be an ugly cage match with amber ) and I love florals with honey. I haven't dabbed on my Brides of Dracula lately - I will try to make a note and remind myself to do so - but a couple ideas just from skimming my spreadsheet are Jezebel (which shares BoD's honey and sandalwood notes, has rose & orange blossom), Khajuraho (honey & sandalwood again with tropical flowers), The Penitent Magdalen (honey & sandalwood again, with lily of the valley & almond flower) and The Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree (once again, honey & sandalwood, this time with lilac and cherry blossom).

There's a thread here discussing the "sunniest" scents - I'm not sure that I understand completely what you mean by "wealth" in the title, but if that's the ritual aspect you were using Ahathoor for, you can search the TAL sections for information on the Prosperity blends such as King Solomon's Gold, Aunt Caroline's Money Draw, Perpetuum Bonuum or Foundation of Fortune. I second northatlantic's recommendation of The Lion - it's warm, sunny and spicy. I haven't tried Ahathoor in ages but I have heard people compare them favorably.

natarae, I can't speak as an authority on Angel at all, I have only smelled it once or twice on other people. However, after modding this section for 2+ years, I can say that many more people have said that Xiuhtecuhtli smells like Angel than any other BPAL blend. It doesn't mean that econley is "wrong" for thinking Masabakes smells like it - BPAL definitely is known for smelling different from person to person, and I think that Xiuhtecuhtli is also a more popular blend than Masabakes, meaning that odds are more people have tried it and therefore more people are prone to mention it. If you need to choose between the two, maybe you should try Xiuhtecuhtli first - then if it doesn't fit your expectations, you can add Masabakesl to your next order.

I find Bandersnatch to be much fruitier and sweeter than Bathsheba - I'd classify Bathsheba as a musky perfume with spice, floral and fruit tones, and Bandersnatch as a fruity perfume with spicy tones. On my skin at least, the carnation in Bandersnatch probably cuts the sweetness of the plum a bit with its herbal spicy qualities, but I don't pick it up as a distinct note. I do smell lots of carnation in Bathsheba (it is especially nice to layer with Lush's Potion lotion, if you are a hoarder of that stuff). I really like them both, personally, and it's actually kind of interesting how two blends with such similar sounding notes can end up being so different. You really need to order Morocco - no matter how selfish all those swappers seem to be, the Lab will always be happy to sell it to you! You're depriving yourself! People who think they hate florals love it, people who think they hate sandalwood love it... even if you splurge on a bottle instead of an imp, as you see from its rare appearance in the swaps forum, you will probably not have any trouble finding someone who will give it a new home if, horror of horrors, it doesn't work for you.

If you're looking for the posts that refer to one scent, try this trick - look to the bottom left below the last post on the page. You'll see a box that says "Enter Keywords" and a button beside it that says "Search Topic." Type in "olive" or "fairy" or whatever you like and you will get a list of all the posts within the topic where someone's mentioned your favorite Lush smell.

I think the success of a blend you use can depend a lot on personal preferences - if you don't care for a certain smell it isn't going to help you very much. From what you're saying, it sounds like you need something that will help your mind stop racing to other issues so you can concentrate on what you're doing, that will relieve your stress without putting you to sleep with your face in a book. There are two Panacea blends that sound good to me, Quietude and Succor. Quietude (the Lab says: Peace, serenity, tranquility, silence) has a nice sandalwoody feel and Succor (the Lab: Relaxation, calm, finding center) smells like a spicy geranium blend to my nose. If you're thinking you want to add a TAL to the mix, Concentration has aromatherapy properties so it could be a great help.

Bumping this old thread because I stumbled on it during forum tidying and I just had a sad-for-me, might-be-good-for-you moment... I wore Al Azif yesterday for the first time in a while. (I have the original version, not that I think it's been reformulated, but it's 2 1/2 years old and nicely aged.) And wow, don't know what my chemistry has done to it, I didn't smell anything different when I applied it, but it went super-sharp on me although it still had that lovely sweet incense note anchoring it. I have a wiggedy-whack thyroid and I am actually very lucky that this doesn't happen to me more often when I pull something out that I haven't worn in a few months. Anyway, when I read SurrealReality's list of requirements there, I thought, "Hmmmm..." Because our chemistries and perceptions are so different from person to person, it could end up being lovely on you or other Chergui fans. If you love incense it's a must-try anyway, and since it's in the General Catalog now the only obstacle is your budget.

I was weeding out this thread this morning and happened to notice this post - futuregirl may have made up her mind already I have plenty of Kali experience but not enough Midnight Kiss experience to answer. Just thought I would bump it to see if anyone had comments!