Floral Recs for those who usually don't like florals

[zankoku_zen]

Hmm, the first to jump to my mind was Amsterdam, and Kitsune Tsuki.

 

Maybe the East or E Pluribus Unum, if you're not opposed to hunting down LEs.

[shadowdoll]

Ophelia

Zombi

Thalia

Titania

Lucy's Kiss

[lavenderfrost]

Prague is a beautiful soft "pink" floral - more clean than sweet, so it's fresh without being childish. Juliet is sweeter, but again, less childish and more soft pink young-woman's-first-romance.

[Quackglobe]

I’d like a floral WITHOUT any musk, vanilla, incense, or darkness.

 

Despite the name, Grandmother of Ghosts! It's a light floral with a hint of wood and pepper in it. 3, 5, 7 is a really nice rose, and Persephone is a rose with pomegranate.

[animalcule]

I have issues with florals too. Most smell like straight soap/hair product to me, and pretty much spoil any scent they are in.

 

However lots of my most favorite BPAL have a floral:

 

Aeval: heavy on the sweet pea, which is an absolutely delectable fresh, watery floral (IMO) with sage, white musk, and tonka (which is said to smell similar to vanilla, but I don't find this to smell at all vanilla-y - it just gives it a warm undertone). This is the perfect springtime scent.

 

Faith: only if you like both violets and vanilla and sugar! It's definitely a frosting/candy smell, but the violet here is wonderful.

 

Josie: has magnolia which is not usually workable for me, but it's great here. Livens up the peachy honey and keeps it from being a foody scent.

 

Rose Red (I have 2010): I do love the smell of roses, but I do NOT like most rose perfumes. This is absolutely frigging fantastic, though! It's a rose-garden smell - fresh roses, but also green (and some say fruity - I've seen a lot of mentions of an 'apple' and/or 'blackberry' vibe) notes. I've also seen it described as 'bitter' but I don't think it is - it's not a rose-water scent for sure though.

 

Snow White (I have 2010): honestly I don't get much floral from this, but it is listed as having them and I love it so I figured I'd mention it. I suppose I'd describe it as a fresh coconut-apple-vanilla.

[Floria]

A little background: I'm fine with most florals - and stargazer lilies are one of my favorite flowers - but something in either my skin or my nose does not like the lily note in Black Lily and Sheol. (I can wear Lampades, although it's more cranberry potpourri to me than florals, and lily of the valley/muguet is fine.)

 

Have any other lily-challenged BPALers tried Ave Maria Gratia Plena, and did it work for you? I'm going through a bit of a rosewood phase right now, and it seems like an interesting blend of notes, but I'm worried that the "dusting of lily" is going to make the whole production turn bitter.

[Floria]

I’d like a floral WITHOUT any musk, vanilla, incense, or darkness. I amp musk and vanilla like crazy, and they always make things richer and more masculine on me, not what I’m looking for.

 

If you like a bit of sass in your feminine florals and don't mind amber or a bit of fruitiness, there's Hermia. Pink pepper, golden amber, honeysuckle, and passion flower.

[hibari05]

Hello all! This thread seems like the proper place to ask my question.

 

I generally don't like florals, and I absolutely despise rose scented things. But I've wanted to try and find some florals that might work on me, because I've recently discovered that some of my favorite scents have unexpected florals in them. I'm very fond of Morocco, as well as Mouse's Long and Sad Tale. I can say for sure that I don't like rose, violet, most blossoms, and heady jasmines.

 

Can any of you rec me any bpal scents with unique florals? I particularly lean towards musk and amber scents, but can't do patchouli.

[BoneBone24]

I'm also not a big floral fan - especially when it comes to violet, lily, rose, patchouli, and water-type flowers. However, I've discovered several floral scents that I actually love quite a lot here at BPAL.

 

For amber and musk, I'd recommend:

Marquise de Merteuil: Stately, bold, aristocratic and cruel. Opulent galbanum and amber, glistening peach, and a bouquet of French florals, with a merciless undertone of jonquil and heartless vetiver. - a sophisticated amber-floral pairing

 

Cleric: Rose amber, frankincense, myrrh, champaca flower, Peru balsam, cistus, palisander, cananga, hyssop, and narcissus absolute. - mostly resins with floral background notes

 

Cordelia: The essence of faith, love and devotion: lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk - soft & woodsy lilac

 

Others that I happen to like:

Defututa: Olive blossom, honey, smoky vanilla, cinnamon, jasmine, sandalwood, and champaca flower. - this one varies a lot depending on skin chemistry, but on me it's a tropical blend of light flowers and smoky honey

 

Ladon: The hundred-headed dragon that guards the garden of the Hesperides: dragon's blood resin, golden apple, apple blossom, white musk and hyacinth. - tingly & spicy hyacinth

Edited March 21, 2012 by BoneBone24

[Floria]

I've tried both Marquise de Merteuil and Ladon, and both of them were notably fruity on me (peach and apple, respectively). This probably depends on body chemistry.

 

Brisingamen is a lovely amber with floral elements and just a bit of herbal sharpness from the myrtle.

[Honey]

OK, I'm gonna hijack this thread and ask for very specific recommendatons!

Forum fairies, can you work your magic on me?

 

 

I am looking for a floriental - although I'm usually not much of a floral scent person.

I do not like rose (too soapy) or violet (makes me nauseous). Carnation is sort of meh for me, as it kinda smells like band-aids on my skin.

 

I really love Queen of Sheba, and I like Hunger. (As far as "other" scents are concerned, I really love Snake Oil and variations of it - such as Asp Viper! - and musky blends like Giant Vulva or Xiu..ha..youknowwhatimean)

I used to like Defututa, but I swapped it away because it seemed too green to me after a while, and I stopped wearing it.

White Phoenix and Opuhi were TOO floral for me and both gave me a severe headache.

 

I am not too fond of really dark scents (anything black or smoked), and I am careful with fruity notes (no apricot, peach, pom) and patchouli.

Almond, spices, vanilla, lighter or oriental musks (white, skin, Arabian, Egyptian etc.) always work on me. Now.. just some florals in the mix would be great!

 

Any ideas? Can be GC, LE, DC, whatever.

 

I hope this is not too.. specific and impossible.

 

(I also take floral recs that are not strictly florientals..)

[elka_knits]

I always recommend Mama Ji for floriental fans. I am still loving Defututa so maybe my tastes won't work with you. MJ is a sweeter/damper, due to flowers, Morocco in my head

 

 

OK, I'm gonna hijack this thread and ask for very specific recommendatons!

Forum fairies, can you work your magic on me?

 

 

I am looking for a floriental - although I'm usually not much of a floral scent person.

I do not like rose (too soapy) or violet (makes me nauseous). Carnation is sort of meh for me, as it kinda smells like band-aids on my skin.

 

I really love Queen of Sheba, and I like Hunger. (As far as "other" scents are concerned, I really love Snake Oil and variations of it - such as Asp Viper! - and musky blends like Giant Vulva or Xiu..ha..youknowwhatimean)

I used to like Defututa, but I swapped it away because it seemed too green to me after a while, and I stopped wearing it.

White Phoenix and Opuhi were TOO floral for me and both gave me a severe headache.

 

I am not too fond of really dark scents (anything black or smoked), and I am careful with fruity notes (no apricot, peach, pom) and patchouli.

Almond, spices, vanilla, lighter or oriental musks (white, skin, Arabian, Egyptian etc.) always work on me. Now.. just some florals in the mix would be great!

 

Any ideas? Can be GC, LE, DC, whatever.

 

I hope this is not too.. specific and impossible.

 

(I also take floral recs that are not strictly florientals..)

[Honey]

Oh, no, that sounds fantastic!

I was also thinking about Flowering Chrysanthemums...

[Floria]

OK, I'm gonna hijack this thread and ask for very specific recommendatons!

Forum fairies, can you work your magic on me?

 

 

I am looking for a floriental - although I'm usually not much of a floral scent person.

I do not like rose (too soapy) or violet (makes me nauseous). Carnation is sort of meh for me, as it kinda smells like band-aids on my skin.

 

I really love Queen of Sheba, and I like Hunger. (As far as "other" scents are concerned, I really love Snake Oil and variations of it - such as Asp Viper! - and musky blends like Giant Vulva or Xiu..ha..youknowwhatimean)

I used to like Defututa, but I swapped it away because it seemed too green to me after a while, and I stopped wearing it.

White Phoenix and Opuhi were TOO floral for me and both gave me a severe headache.

 

I am not too fond of really dark scents (anything black or smoked), and I am careful with fruity notes (no apricot, peach, pom) and patchouli.

Almond, spices, vanilla, lighter or oriental musks (white, skin, Arabian, Egyptian etc.) always work on me. Now.. just some florals in the mix would be great!

 

Any ideas? Can be GC, LE, DC, whatever.

 

I hope this is not too.. specific and impossible.

 

(I also take floral recs that are not strictly florientals..)

 

Salome (almond with star jasmine, oakmoss, red sandalwood and Egyptian musk) has a lot of your "yes" notes and might work well for you if you can wear jasmine.

[Honey]

I think I tested Salome a while ago and felt pretty "meh" about it. But I may give this another try - thank you!

[aiobhan]

So I generally DETEST floral perfumes. So far the only BPALs I've tried with any hint of a flower was Prunella (which gave me a migraine) and Peach VIII from D*C this year, which just ended up smelling like weird jasmine old lady couch cushions (sad!) - otherwise, I haven't tried anything with a floral scent. I did take a small sniff of Against Idleness and Mischief and the honey/chamomile put me off enough to not skin test it.

 

That said, if anyone can do a floral that I would like, it's Beth and her minions. I'm not adverse to jasmine or rose, but they generally amp on my skin and I can only smell those notes.

 

Otherwise I love warm, soft, cozy scents! Are there any floral BPALs out there that would be a good place to start for someone who generally dislikes them?

 

Your recommendations are so appreciated and I love you guys.

[Haltija]

Hi dear. I am like you and am not the biggest fan of florals. I do love rose but jasmine amps horribly bad on me and it takes a special scent for it to be toned down. I really hated magnolia until recently but I still am not the biggest fan of gardenia or carnation.

 

Here are some of the recommendations I have for you. Some of these have worked really nicely on me and hope they are of help for you

 

Lucy's Kiss- Created to represent the essence of Bram Stoker’s tragic heroine, Lucy Westenra. Seductive, wanton and deadly, but underscored with a soft, wistful innocense. The gentle scent of rose and a blend of Victorian spices.

 

Darkness- Bottled gloom; the essence of oblivion. Blackest opium and narcissus deepened by myrrh.

 

Les Fleurs du Mal- The scents of the blossoms of darkness, condensed into one perfume. Features a rose base, softened with lilac and wisteria.

 

Hell's Belle- Sweet, smokey and sensually wicked. A thick, steamy scent, truly sinister in its voluptuous sexuality. The perfume of a demon’s favored consort, or of the devil herself. Oleander with wet, sweet mandarin, lush magnolia, a rush of deep musk and a touch of spice.

 

Marquise de Merteuil- Stately, bold, aristocratic and cruel. Opulent galbanum and amber, glistening peach, and a bouquet of French florals, with a merciless undertone of jonquil and heartless vetiver.

 

The East- The scent of the winds beyond the wall: bluebonnet, passion flower, freesia, jasmine tea, mint, thyme, and redcurrant.

 

Venice- A complex, voluptuous scent that captures the robust beauty and of the Italian Renaissance: lemon, red currant, wisteria, red rose petals, heady jasmine, Florentine orris root, waterlily, red sandalwood, violet plum, and violet leaf.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Haltija

[Balame]

I hate the majority of florals - at the top of that list are violet and jasmine. Out of the ones Haltija recommended I only like Darkness and The East (not saying her recs are bad, just my experience). Rose has an okay record of working on me, and my favorites with it are:

 

Beauty, the Aggrieved - A white rose draped by a delicate, pale, sheer veil of vanilla, the depth and darkness of her black lace embodied by tobacco absolute, Indonesian patchouli, Bulgarian oakmoss, frankincense, white sandalwood, and myrrh.

 

Séance - A mysterious, enigmatic blend of dry, mellow rosewood, crushed rose leaf and the slightest touch of warm hazel.

 

La Mort: Mon ironie depasse toutes les autres! - Pomegranate accord, red rose accord, opopponax, benzoin, champaca flowers, and star anise.

 

A Thought and a Legend Too Hideous for Sanity or Conciousness - Black rose, oudh, rosewood, and sea-kissed patchouli, and the smoke of a snuffed tallow candle.


 

In all of those those the rose isn't super strong and melds into the other notes, except for maybe La Mort. It's very strong there, but the juicy pom is equally powerful so it doesn't quite overwhelm.

 

On the paler side of things... which usually trigger headaches even quicker...

 

You might like The Silver Stream (Bittersweet: the scent of forgetfulness, peace, and oblivion. Like asphodel petals on moonlit water). I'm a little hesitant recommending that one because nearly all the other reviewers here got very heavy white florals. Yet amazingly, for me, it was like a less floral and soapy Vial of Holy Water. Very clean, soothing and pretty.

 

The White Peacock (Teak, ebony wood, osmanthus, patchouli, red sandalwood, vanilla orchid, tonka bean, tobacco, wild musk, spikenard, and sugandh kokila) is one of my favorite scents, and the florals do a great job playing second fiddle by sweetening the rich resins.

 

Ditto with Who In the World Am I? (Sheer vanilla, hinoki wood, lavender, bergamot, cotton blossom, and lightly spiced oriental blossoms) except the blossoms support the lovely lavender, vanilla and cotton.

 

I would probably be remiss if I didn't mention the ever-popular blends Morocco (Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia) and Vasilissa (Creamy skin musk and blushing pink musk with soft sandalwood, white amber, dutiful myrrh, and star jasmine) as well. I actually used to have bottles of both of them, but while Morocco was beautiful, creamy spices for a long time, it eventually developed an unpleasant bitter bite on me (almost smelled like hairspray). Vasilissa I just grew out of. It's a very delicate, sweet scent.

[mineralgirl]

I can't stand florals ... heady florals give me a headache, lavender sends me straight into hell... but I do ok with light, white florals and it's even better if they are paired with something fruity, woods or sweet ... that said, I couldn't wear most of the ones listed above by everyone else. LOL We are all so different... luckily, with the GC's you can try before buying. These are ones I consider florals in my foody world and they work for me:

 

GC - 51, Pele, Morocco (not really floral tho but everyone should just have it), Vasilissa

 

LE's - Tiki Princess

[keileya]

I am so, so not a floral person either -- to the point where I will automatically discard any scent that has certain notes like jasmine and ylang ylang without even testing. To me, usually the problem is that perfume-flowers don't smell like the actual flower, and wind up very fake-smelling with my skin chemistry (and that's saying nothing of the fact that my skin chemistry turns jasmine into smelling like decaying rotting flowers, funeral home, and cat pee). But I've found a few that are exceptions to that rule.

 

From the GC:

 

• The other day I was sniffing a giant pile of imps I bought off eBay in preparation for putting them in the "frimps for decant circles" box, and I accidentally got a bit of Cobra Lily (Rappacini's Garden) on my fingers. I grumbled and went to go wash it off, and halfway on my way to the bathroom I said "wait a second, I actually ... really like this?" It's the exception to every one of my rules in terms of what I like and don't like: fresh, green-growing flowers, a hint of rain, and something darker underneath that has a hell of a lot of attitude.
• The Enterprise of Night (Kabuki) is like a patch of green and growing flowers in the heart of a city. (I don't know if you've ever played the video game Final Fantasy 7, but if you have: it's what I imagine Aerith's church smells like, with the only growing things in all of Midgar.) It had a bit of blankness to it, while I was decanting it, that makes me think it will be much better with another six months' aging, but it smells like spring just after the rain and a bit like somebody dangerous lolling around in a field of flowers, and a bit like the heart of a city, constantly changing and growing and shifting. It wound up being my favorite of the Kabuki scents. I definitely recommend tracking down a decant.

• The Harlot's House (Bewitching Brews) is another one I expected to hate and really wound up liking, although it runs very quickly on me. Lush and green like walking into a florist's display case, with something spicy underneath it all like an old penny candy bin. It's an overwhelming blast of FLOWERS! at first, but that blast clears off quickly and it winds up as a mossy, slightly-spicy, cozy green-and-growing-things.
• Two, Five, and Seven (Mad Tea Party) is one of the only rose-dominant scents I've tried that I've actually liked. (I, too, amp rose to the ends of the earth and beyond, and it turns so artificial on me it's not funny -- I get this effect that I call "Body Shop Tea Rose" because it's this fake artificial sharp plasticky cheap smell on me. This generally happens no matter how high-quality the rose note really is.) This one comes across more as the greenery -- leaves and stems -- than the rose, though; wet grass and stems and leaves and a surprisingly mannerly rose that does not smell fake on me. And since it's pretty much just rose and stems, you don't have to worry about the rose taking over everything else.
• Juliet (Illyria) is a blast of fruity pear and very in-your-face white flowers for five minutes on me, then settles down into a very quiet, soft, candied floral with the musk grounding it nicely. (As I put in my notes: "The pear and flowers keeps the white musk from being too Bounty-dryer-sheet; the white musk keeps the pear and flowers from being too omg!flowers.")
• Dirty (Sin and Salvation) has the white musk and plumeria that many people's noses can read as "Bounty dryer sheet" -- white musk is a common laundry-detergent scent because it can be commercially manufactured cheaply and quickly, and it's got a lot of staying power, so scents containing white musk tend to read as "laundry detergent" to American noses -- but that having been said, I found it very pleasant: a bit peppery, a bit metallic, a bit aquatic, a bit heady, and kind of hard to describe. The flowers in here are primarily plumeria, I'm pretty sure, and I was really surprised it managed to be heady and floral without tripping my "get it off me" reaction.
• Venice (Wanderlust) is the only jasmine-containing scent I've tried so far that did not make me bust out the alcohol wipes immediately! This sounds like damning with faint praise, but the jasmine in this is a very midnight, spicy floral, not the aldehydic rotting-petals that jasmine often turns into. My wife and I were really divided as to how this one reads, gender-wise -- I think it's way too femme for me, she thinks it's more masculine -- but even though it wound up as too femme for me, I liked it a lot.
• Seraglio (Ars Amatoria) is the only other of BPAL's rose scents I've liked. I didn't get any of the almond at all, which is good because I think it would have made me dislike it, but the first act of it was this complex woodsy floral with a bit of spice to the background, with the orange peel lightening the whole thing up just enough. What really made me love it, though, was the third act: it faded into thickets of old-growth roses that are just about to tip over the edge to dying but haven't yet, growing wild around an abandoned castle, with the occasional waft of nutmeg and clove from the copse of spice trees at the edge of the kitchens' garden -- Briar Rose, ninety years in to her hundred-year sleep. (The original fairy tale, not the Disney version.)
• If you want a hint of floral without being actual floral, The Ifrit (Neil Gaiman) comes out on me as all the floral end of dragon's blood, with a dry and deserty, sand-warmed-by-sun primary sense-feel and a waft of spices on the air to balance out the floral bits.

Discontinued GCs or older LEs:

 

• Eve (Only Lovers Left Alive) is layers and layers of the history of perfume in one bottle, a well-rounded and sophisticated scent that manages somehow to be both thick and rich and sweet and resinous all at once. There's a reason it was the first one to sell out from the collection!
• Likewise, Neo-Tokyo, though long discontinued and highly sought-after, absolutely deserves its reputation: cherry blossom and ozone and ... well, my sniff notes call it "flowery without being OMG!FLOWERZ, light without being quick to disappear, crisp without being sharp, ozone-ish without being nose-burning, and the "urban metallics" really do smell like a city's best face."
• The Emathides is well-rounded woods, amber, and musk with the florals there to warm it up and keep it from being a dank oppressive cloud; it settles into a light mezzo-soprano woodsy sweetness that's just sweet enough, just creamy enough, just floral enough, just assertive enough.
• La Vita Nuova, I described as "really classy fruity/floral shampoo" -- more the fruity end than the floral, but it's very light and refreshing, the fruits smell like actual fruits and not fakeish approximations, and it's a rose-containing blend that did not become All About The Rose on me in three seconds or less.

Hopefully that will help.

[aiobhan]

Thanks for the recs!! I'll have to go read all the reviews on these guys.

 

I actually did try Morocco, and didn't like it at all. It got weirdly saccharine, which I think was because of one of the spices, since it happened with Snake Oil too.

 

A lot of these sound lovely. I'll be pretty busy researching them when I get home tonight.

[elbow]

Thanks for starting this thread, Aiobhan - I'm in the same boat, or a similar boat in the same millstream. I can't do jasmine or lilies, which are in so many floral scents that I tend to just avoid them altogether. Rose and lavender are hit and miss with me.

 

I haven't tried most of the scents mentioned above, but I can vouch for Venice being "not so bad for a jasmine scent." I could definitely smell jasmine during the first phase, but it softened to a gentler fruity-floral after that. I gave it an "okay but didn't grab me" rating. Delight (Frangipani, with rose, tuberose, and jasmine) is a floral I like so much that I almost don't mind the jasmine... almost.

 

If a floral works for me, it tends to have just one or two floral notes. Bathsheba (carnation, sensual plum, and Arabian musk) and Belle Epoque (Sweet opium, Lily of the Valley, vanilla, mandarin and red sandalwood) are both floral, but not overwhelmingly so. On a brief encounter, I thought Desire (bittersweet neroli, black patchouli and black musk, gilded by apple, bergamot, blood red rose, teak, and vanilla) was absolutely gorgeous. Glasgow (the rich scent of wild blackberry breezing over gentle rosy heather) is very restrained in its use of rose. The only floral I wear regularly right now is Kurukulla (a harmonious, sweet, enchanting blend of three lotus blooms and three roses).

 

The loveliest floral I've ever sniffed is Gold Phoenix (three ambers representing common gold, astral gold, and elementary gold, with verbena, angelica, and heliotrope that has been purified by frankincense and Gum Arabic). But that's an LE from 2009, and I don't know how it's aged.

[FragranceLush]

Yeah, I generally shy far away from florals - especially rose! - but there are a few BPAL things that have amazed me. I ended up getting bottles of Hedylogos and Queen Venus, both of which have very noticeable rose notes. And I personally never consider lavender "floral", it is so astringent......and I love Somnus and TKO.

[PumpkinGuts]

Snow White came to mind right away. It has kind of a creamy, coconutty vibe to it and the florals are well-behaved. I bet it'll come back this year! Definitely a soft and cozy one.

 

As for GC scents, maybe Titania (A nocturnal bounty of fae dew-kissed petals and pale fruits: white grape, white peach, iced pear, musk rose, sweet pea, moonflower and snapdragon). I read that you like peach and pear, and this is really pretty. Fae (A brilliant, ethereal scent: white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss) is a bright peachy floral, and one of my favorites.

 

I really dislike florals, too. They have to be well balanced with other notes for me to wear them at all. Best of luck!

[aiobhan]

Oooh Titania and Fae sound lovely! So do Glasgow and Bathsheba for darker scents.

 

It's not like I already bought 5 bottles in the last month or anything. Maybe in November I'll make a strictly GC and imps order.