Donna Karan and DKNY scents

[HighTechRadiance]

What BPAL scents can you recommend that might be similar to Donna Karan Black Cashmere? Alternatively, if you like Black Cashmere, what BPAL scents do you also like?

 

Thanks much

[hypothermya]

Wel...I'd love to make recommendations, but I've never tried Black Cashmere (besides in sweater form, of course). Would you be willing to tell us what it's like? Is it a clean scent? A fruity scent? A musky scent?

[Fulltiltredhead]

High Tech Radiance! How are you, darlin'? Nice to see you here.

 

Notes include Saffron, Masala Spices, Clove, Nutmeg, Pimento Berries, White Pepper CO2 Extract, Mediterranean Broom Flower, Patchouli Singapour, Crimson Red Marechal Rose, Ethiopian Guggal Incense, Wengue Wood, Bois de Miel. Exotic. Sensual. Luxurious.

 

Those are Black Cashmere's notes, gang. So .... what on BPAL is woody/spicy/incensey, tiny bit of rose ...

 

HA

 

What isn't?!? You'll go nuts here ...

 

I can't wear Black Cashmere, have trouble with that much incense/wood. But now that I've posted the notes, maybe someone else will have a recommendation.

[Fulltiltredhead]

Ok, I did a search.

 

Have a look at Old Kathmandu

Old Morocco

Scherezade

Black Forest

Black Lotus

Hamadryad

Incantation

Magus

Mystery

Seance

Umbra

Deimos

Glasya

Noir

Shroud

Othello

Desire

Queen of Sheba

Sin

Wrath

Kweku Anansi

 

Hope that helps.

Edited August 13, 2004 by Fulltiltredhead

[HighTechRadiance]

Wow - thanks so much!!! So much to explore! I don't need to read my tarot cards to see there are many MANY BPAL samples in my future

[hypothermya]

Just glancing at the notes in Black Cashmere, I have two recommendations right off the bat:

 

Scherezade

 

I just got my 5ml of this yesterday, and I still can't get over how much I love this one. It's warm, and dry, and musky, and *saffron*... And smells *so* good! Out of the bottle, I had someone comment that it smelled a great deal like antique books and dry desert winds. On my skin, it just smells heavenly, and exotic, and sexual.

 

Old Morocco

 

A bit sweeter than Scherezade, this one is to die for. And practically everyone who tries it loves it. It's got a bit of spice, and bit of floral, a lot of exoticism...

 

 

And....a week or so ago, I did a Forum's Top Ten post....And looking at that, one of the more popular ones from Fulltiltredhead's list would be Incantation. It got a ton of mentions. I haven't tried it myself, but it does sound delicious....

 

Also, why not give Kali a try? She's a bit of a rogue scent, in that she doesn't readily fit into a classifcation, but she is heavenly. She's got some woody notes, some incence notes, but mainly she's an exotic creamy floral, with tobacco and honey. I don't even like florals and honey notes, but I really love the way she smells. It's kinda weird how Beth can make something that you normally wouldn't wear smell absolutely to die for.

 

Oh, and if you do end up trying Old Kathmandu, post a review ASAP! I'm dying to hear from as many different sources as possible how it smells!

[lauraherman]

Wow - thanks so much!!! So much to explore! I don't need to read my tarot cards to see there are many MANY BPAL samples in my future

 

 

How did your samples compare to Black Cashmere?

 

BC is the only scent that has ever smelled right on me. I am waiting for a slew of samples of my own.

[Batgirl]

Black Cashmere is my all time favorite commercial perfume (followed by Pink Sugar - how's that for a weird juxtaposition) and I haven't found any BPAL to be terribly similar. The problem is that dry spicy smell that I love in Black Cashmere tends to be too heavy in BPAL scents. That being said I think Morrocco would be a good choice. I also really like Snake Oil (sweet, but with an incensy undertone) and Sybaris (which is sweet but also "dark" in a way).

[wolfie13]

I like Black Cashmere, too. Nothing comes to mind in terms of an EXTREMELY similar bpal, but I would try:

 

Aureus

Sin

Thanatos

Tushnamatay

 

Dia de los Muertos

Midnight Mass

 

Morrocco

Scherezade

 

(these last two don't work for me personally, but I can totally see why others would recommend them and they're worth a try.)

[greywind]

Baghdad is marvellous and has saffron and nutmeg.

[lauraherman]

I like Black Cashmere, too. Nothing comes to mind in terms of an EXTREMELY similar bpal, but I would try:

 

Aureus

Sin

Thanatos

Tushnamatay

 

Dia de los Muertos

Midnight Mass

 

Morrocco

Scherezade

 

(these last two don't work for me personally, but I can totally see why others would recommend them and they're worth a try.)

 

 

My skin does something strange to perfume - most smell sort of sour on me (am I rotting inside?). On my skin, Black Cashmere ends up smelling like doublemint gum and incense - I'm sure that sounds nuts.

 

I ordered before I found this topic. Silly me.

 

I knew I should have tried Midnight Mass, I had a feeling about it. Dang!

[YanaMei]

I wore Black Cashmere exclusively for years. (and then I discovered BPAL. But I still wear BC on occasion.)

 

My absolute favorite BPAL so far? Dee. Spicy incense and woods, and a hint of sweetness from the tonka. Heaven.

 

I agree with the Scherezade and Morocco and Sin recommendations -- in fact, I love to wear Scherezade layered with Sin. Snake Oil is also nice layered with Sin, or lovely just on its own. I guess I like layering Sin -- the sandalwood and patchouli -- with spicy scents that don't have a woody complement. (Which seems like a direct connection to the BC notes...) Sin on its own is slighly spicy as well.

 

I also like Bengal and Baghdad (spicy), Sri Lanka (incense and woods), and Fenris Wolf (woody). Limited Editions I love are Blood Moon and Red Phoenix.

 

And last but definitely not least, for a much darker, but deadly sexy feel, Hellfire. Incense and leather. Whew.

 

Have fun!

[parrot_suspect]

If you like Black Cashmere, I'd suggest going for blends that have incense or woods as the predominant notes. Anne Bonny would probably be right up your alley, and I second the previous recs of Sin and Aureus. Cathedral is another you might like to try, and Depraved, Lust and Vixen are worth checking out as well.

[xith]

I knew I should have tried Midnight Mass, I had a feeling about it. Dang!

You can always look for it in the swap forum.

[lauraherman]

I feel like crying:

 

I have now tried Al-shairan, Baghdad and Thanatos. I thought these would be close matches to Black Cashmere.

 

I must be smell-impaired or rotting from the inside out but Al-shairan smelled like cedar (no cedar listed in it -?), Baghdad was pure musk on my skin (dead on Skin Musk by Bonne Bell) and Thanatos was woodsy/metallic but OK.

 

So I'm kind of weirded out now. What is it about Black Cashmere that smells right? Am I smell-blind? Could my personal chemisty be THAT far off?

[Torrilin]

Stupid question: what *does* Black Cashmere smell like to you when you wear it? It's hard to tell why what you tried is wrong until we know what "right" smells like

 

Kalli

[lauraherman]

Stupid question: what *does* Black Cashmere smell like to you when you wear it? It's hard to tell why what you tried is wrong until we know what "right" smells like

 

Kalli

 

It smells like pepper (verging on downright minty, like doublemint gum), incense, nutmeg.

 

Thanks for the help!

[Torrilin]

Huh. Incense like Catholic Church incense, or incense like an incense store? There are a lot of different resins used for incense, and they can give wildly different vibes *g*. Snake Oil is often accused of smelling like an incense shop, and Cathedral/Penitence/Hymn get accused of being Catholic incense a lot. Dragon's Blood is a single note of dragon's blood resin, which is yet another incense smell. There are a couple oils with Nag Champa as a note, and Cairo is kyphi, a kind of Egyptian incense.

 

I haven't smelled a lot of different BPALs, so I'm not sure where to point you :-/. Plus everyone's skin is different. Morocco gets a lot of love, and depending on how the Lab's carnation and your skin get on, it might have some elements of what you like. If the almost minty element is important to you, Pain might work really well for adding it to an "almost" scent. Pennyroyal is a kind of mint. The clove and/or masala spices listed in the official description of the scent might also be giving you the minty vibe. Sassafrass also strikes some people as minty - its bark is used for flavoring root beer. Those notions lead me towards Gingerbread Poppet, Three Witches, and Bengal... Which is not too helpful since only one of 'em is a catalogue scent.

 

You *may* be amping musk or musks in BPAL (Beth lists something like 24 different musk variations in her descriptions) so that may tilt things somewhat for you. Not real sure what happened with Al-Shairan, but with that one it might be worth emailing the Lab to ask about ingredients.

 

You're probably not going to find a clone of Black Cashmere here, but you probably can find something that is fun and enjoyable due to similar elements. I'd look mostly for spicy scents, since it sounds like those are closest to how Black Cashemere is on you (mostly because you are IDing a couple specific spice/flavor notes).

 

Kalli

[lauraherman]

Thanks for the recommendations! I have Gingerbread Poppet on the way. Maybe I'll try Snake Oil and some of the mint scents with my next order.

[Carolyn]

Hey Hightech! Just wanted to pop in and say hi. I hope we get to go to another perfume event soon!

 

BTW, I love Black Cashmere. I also love Snake Oil. I don't think the two are similar, except that BC has a vanilla-ish drydown on me. I do think Cathedral is a bit like BC. At least its top notes are. I wonder how Snake Oil would be layered with BC?

 

Snake Oil layers beautifully.

 

Hope this helps somewhat.

[linared]

I am looking for perfumes similiar to DKNY Be Delicious

[linared]

I am looking for something that is similiar to DKNY be deliscious.

[tmcm]

I'm looking for a BPAL that smells like Donna Karan's Cashmere Mist. It's all my mom will wear - and I'm thinking in an oil form, maybe won't be so overpowering?

 

Here are the notes:

Lily of the Valley, Suede Notes, Bergamot, Ylang, Jasmine Maroc, Sandalwood, Orris, Amber, Vanilla, Cedarwood, Patchouli, Musk.

 

Thanks so much!

[kwsix]

I'm looking for a BPAL that smells like Donna Karan's Cashmere Mist.

I think it only smells a little like Cashmere Mist, but Antique Lace has a very similar feel to me. Maybe your mom would like it.

[Jadys]

I love Black Cashmere, so I was very happy when I tried Mme. Moriarty. They smell similar to me (although Mme. is better of course).