When your favorite GC blends are discontinued

[Diana]

I got a wet stage of Samhain feel from it, if you could blend it with a berry note. But you might think way differently. Still, some of the Halloween scents that just went up might be a good place to start. I saw some comparisons to Blood Moon (which might be futile), Red Phoenix, and Blockbuster in the reviews thread.

 

Some current scents that might be in the save vein, both from Carnavale Diabolique:

Tiresias, The Androgyne : Dark, moody, and bittersweet: black currant, patchouli, tobacco, cinnamon leaf, caramel, muguet, and red sandalwood. This went super woodsy on me personally, but maybe it will work for you.

The Phantom Calliope : Ghostly, glowing, sweet and dark: black cherry, patchouli, cassis, cardamom and verbena.

[Myaru]

Hm, okay. Thank you for the recs! I'll check those out, especially the CD scents, because I've always wanted to at least try one.

 

 

(Still looking for recs! Just in case.)

Edited August 28, 2007 by Myaru

[ivyandpeony]

I found Malkuth unique - it had a lot of spicy patchouli for me, but also a big slap of vetiver that scared me away. I'd try some spicy patchouli scents and experiment with layering too if you don't get the right combo to your nose. I was thinking Arachnina (black currant, poppy, red and black musk, lilies, nicotiana, and patchouli), Umbra (East African black patchouli, cedarwood, vetiver and a dribble of cinnamon), The Great He-Goat (Haitian vetiver, Egyptian amber, carnation, black musk, pomegranate, patchouli, and smoked ginger), Malediction (red patchouli and vetivert).

[Myaru]

Patchouli didn't even occur to me. Hm. Thank you for those recommendations. The Great He-Goat looks closest, at least to my untrained eye - if there's not enough cinnamon, something with lots of that might layer well. All Night Long is all that comes to mind, and it's honestly not a far reach for Malkuth.

 

Hm, I have some Tan'iniver, which might work too. Except, it has dragon's blood. Why did I have to fall for something so... different?

 

Thank you again!

[indicolite]

Malkuth to me smelled ridiculously like Red Phoenix.

 

Cue chorus: "Shut up, Indi, that's not exactly helping!"

[Miss Lynx]

I never tried Malkuth, but if it smelled anything like Red Phoenix as indicolite says, then I can probably help because Red Phoenix is my all-time favourite LE. And I like a lot of scents with spicy and fruity notes.

 

Closest thing in the GC that I have found to RP is Frumious Bandersnatch. It's a bit lighter and sweeter, but it very much shares that musky-spicy-plum feel.

 

Other scents that have at least some trace of similarity include Chimera (the ultimate cinnamon scent), Tanin'iver (although dragon's blood doesn't always like me, either), Lot and his Daughters (from The Salon - rich and complex and spicy/fruity), Mad Meg (also Salon - earthy spiciness), Madrid (spicy-sweet wine) and Oya (rich, dark, plummy, spicy).

 

Maybe somewhere among those you can find a new love?

[Myaru]

Madrid and Oya sound good enough to try just for themselves - especially Oya. (Why don't I have more money? My pockets are open if any wants to float my way...)

 

Sorry for the late response, but thank you for all of your suggestions! I'll try everything I can get my hands on. The kind indicolite enabled me to find more of Malkuth, but since BPAL spice is one of my true loves... no reason to stop looking.

[ivyandpeony]

I don't know of discontinued scents count a LEs, but none the less: scents like Dublin?

 

figured I'd cross post this one over here, since most of the DC discussion falls in this thread - any suggestions for this newbie?

[quarble]

I've spent nearly a year thrilled with my bottle of Dublin. So pleased was I than I've returned to BPAL tonight after a long absence in order to purchase some more of my most favoritest scent, only to find that it is GONE. Disappeared! Vanished! What am I to do?

 

Does anyone know of some Dublin-ish scents that I might use as a substitute? I am so very, very disappointed.

[dzurlady]

I've spent nearly a year thrilled with my bottle of Dublin. So pleased was I than I've returned to BPAL tonight after a long absence in order to purchase some more of my most favoritest scent, only to find that it is GONE. Disappeared! Vanished! What am I to do?

 

Does anyone know of some Dublin-ish scents that I might use as a substitute? I am so very, very disappointed.

I'm sure I've seen other people looking for replacements, but I can't find the thread! Maybe someone else can help. Ivyandpeony is usually pretty on top of things.

Edited November 4, 2007 by dzurlady

[ivyandpeony]

Well, there isn't a stand-alone thread about blends that are similar to Dublin, so no wonder you couldn't find it, dzurlady! What we do have is a couple of threads pinned at the top of Recs. One is for finding things that resemble favorite LEs, the other is for comparing GC and discontinued blends that you find to be similar.

 

Here is a really quick way to find something simple in a multi-page thread. Open the thread where you think the information you need resides - any page will do. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, until you see the last post. At the bottom left, directly under the last post, you will see a box with the words "Enter keywords." Here, type in Dublin (or Hellion or Morocco or whatever your heart desires) and then click the button right beside the box that says "search topic."

 

This will give you every post within the topic that contains your keyword.

 

What I will do is leave this thread active for a bit so we can get some comments - then I will most likely merge it into the GC & discontinueds thread for the sake of keeping all those comparisons together.

 

And I will make a note to dab on a little Dublin today - I haven't worn it lately, I have been wearing lots of resiny-spicy-gourmand things. So a change would be nice, and I can ruminate on this question a little. I'm thinking some layering might help you achieve what you are looking for, since I saw a reference to Skadi and thought that a bottle of Dublin would be easier to find...

 

Oh, one other idea, Canpake Although it might not have helped in this case - when it was announced that Dublin was discontinued, there wasn't an opportunity to order one last bottle - you can subscribe to forum announcements. That way you can come by the forum as often or as seldom as you like, but you will get an e-mail anytime that the Lab announces updates (discontinuations often are announced then), eBay listings of rares, and other stuff like that.

 

(The story with Dublin was that one of the Lab's artisanal suppliers had to close shop - they supplied single note components for Arachne, Dublin, Empyreal Mist, Mantis and Neo-Tokyo. So those five blends had to be discontinued. It was announced with the Thunder Moon - Blue Moon update.)

[Electra]

The retail exclusive Salon blend Lucifer is a ringer for Tarot: Death on me.

[Kelism]

So the first scent I try that is no longer available I end up really liking...go figure.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on GC scents that are at all similar to Mantis? For me Mantis is a lovely light green...with nice (almost vanillaish) creamy undertones.

[smallvoice]

So the first scent I try that is no longer available I end up really liking...go figure.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on GC scents that are at all similar to Mantis? For me Mantis is a lovely light green...with nice (almost vanillaish) creamy undertones.

 

You might like The Unicorn or The Lion- The Unicorn for the herbs, and the Lion for the creamy amber. Leanan Sidhe is a beloved, green herbal scent, and I've seen The Apothecary and the Dormouse mentioned in the company of Mantis. Garden Path with Chickens is a very grassy scent, but there's not that creamy undertone, to my nose. Still, it could be worth a shot. 51 and Embalming Fluid are green scents, but they're not herbal like Mantis. I'm thinking the orange and amber are making it creamy for you, which makes me lean again towards The Lion, despite the lack of neroli. I'd suggest Black Hellebore, just because I like it and it's a lightly herbal blend, to me.

 

A search for neroli brings up a few that I hadn't thought of off the top of my head: Zephyr, Desire, The Caterpillar and maybe Phantasm. You'll have to experiment and then update with your findings!

 

ETA: 51 does contain neroli and is a very green scent. I highly recommend it.

Edited December 29, 2007 by cordia

[Kelism]

You might like The Unicorn or The Lion- The Unicorn for the herbs, and the Lion for the creamy amber. Leanan Sidhe is a beloved, green herbal scent, and I've seen The Apothecary and the Dormouse mentioned in the company of Mantis.

 

 

Thanks, I realized I've got Leanan Sidhe and The Apothecary on my wishlist, so that's a good sign. I will add Dormouse, The Unicorn, Desire, The Catterpillar and Black Hellebore. I just got an imp of Phantasm that I haven't tried yet.

 

I've tried Embalming Fluid and to me it was okay but a little on the cleaner-ish side. It was more yellow-green than green-green if you know what I mean. I've also tried Zephyr and it lasted about two seconds and was gone/powder. Maybe I will pull it out and try it again. I've also tried The Lion but I don't remember anything about it. It didn't stand out at me I guess.

[Pika]

Just thought I'd put in a word for Kali and Fairy Wine seeming similar to me.

 

I get the honey-wine-slight fruit element of Kali more than the chocolate/tobacco (though it's there...mmm) so the honey-wine-fruit smells in Fairy Wine are very similar. However, Fairy Wine's currant (I think) amps to the heavens on me, and turns it into very sweet, fruity, almost candyness. Ick. So for my part, I'm sticking with Kali, but I do think they're similar.

[jcdracon]

*sigh* I got a frimp of Phantom with my last order, imagine my dismay when I loved it and it was no longer available. Any rough equivalents people can rec to me?

[SkarlettBlaze]

I ordered an imp of Thaleia right before it was discontinued, so of course I fell in love with it. I want as much as I can get ahold of, but have had no luck tracking it down. Any ideas about other scents that could fill the Thaleia niche for me?

[smallvoice]

Port Royal smells AMAZINGLY close to what I remember Hamadryad smelling like when it was cinnamon-y.

[geeklite]

I am a n00b and got an imp of Vinland with my first order, I've worn it a couple of times and love it so very much - however I see that it's discontinued Is there anything that smells similar that I can pick up?

[eloiseattheplaza]

I was given an imp of Tum by a wonderful forum friend and I love it, but that's right, it's discontinued. It's a very pure warm glowing honey on me, incredibly beautiful and evocative. Any suggestions for similar GCs?

[eyeska]

Does anyone have any suggestions for Melpomene? ("Her scent is rife with pathos, and inspires us with the ability to express our grief, loss, and the pain in our souls in a cathartic, creative fashion: dark cypress with mint, geranium, Bulgar lavender, orange blossom and passion flower.")

 

I get a fairly light (in terms of throw and general initial sense), citrusy floral that's got an unusual depth and almost creaminess to it, when I wear it, though I get no mint. Anything out there that's similar? I suspect my frimp won't last past the summer.

[septima_pica]

eloiseattheplaza: if you can wear myrrh, try Athens maybe? It's got less of the grape note, but it's still there, and the honey is spectacular. (It's also a very strong oil, for fair warning. Not for slathering.)

[Lumina]

Since I'm realising my chances of ever finding a bottle are next to zero, can anyone recommend a GC (or even an easy to find LE) equivalent for Tarot: Death? I searched this thread and there was only the one suggestion so far:

 

The retail exclusive Salon blend Lucifer is a ringer for Tarot: Death on me.

 

Does anyone agree? Disagree? Have any other recs?

...And are the retail-only salons still available? I thought they'd gone away? Sorry to be ignorant

[tartchef]

Since I'm realising my chances of ever finding a bottle are next to zero, can anyone recommend a GC (or even an easy to find LE) equivalent for Tarot: Death? I searched this thread and there was only the one suggestion so far:

 

The retail exclusive Salon blend Lucifer is a ringer for Tarot: Death on me.

 

Does anyone agree? Disagree? Have any other recs?

...And are the retail-only salons still available? I thought they'd gone away? Sorry to be ignorant

 

Yes, they are, Lumina! They are, as far as I know, a permanent addition to the BPALiverse

 

I've heard that Lucifer & Tarot: Death are very similar, so it sounds like a good plan to track some down...