Statistically Favorite Scent

[RasAlgethi]

I've been trying to figure out why I've been getting some pretty "meh" imps lately. They're not bad, just not for me. I typically go for scents that sound just lovely in the description, but then I noticed that imps in my favorites pile didn't sound exciting on paper but I adore them just the same. So I put it to the test.

 

I took all the descriptors from my top 40 scents and tallied the notes.

 

What I came up with was totally surprising! I would have sworn up and down that I had more ozone. And all that vanilla??

Note # Of Appearances on Favorites List (>2)

Vanilla 11

Red Musk 5

Tea (Green, Black etc.) 5

Amber 4

Black Currant 4

Orange, Mandarin etc. 4

Milk and Cream Descriptors 4

Honey 4

Balsam, Rosewood, Oakwood etc. 4

Honeysuckle 3

Leather 3

Lemon 3

Lily 3

Marine 3

Neroli 3

Ozone 3

Plum 3

White Musk 3

Of course, this is just how often the word is mentioned. For instance, a lot of scents had only a hint of vanilla. I can't think of many that I have that are dominant vanilla (bahaha, dominant vanilla! )

(Also noted, because I'm a nerd and I can't stop myself, favorites are still a selected group from descriptions that sounded good originally. It's possible that there are notes out there that I never ever would have considered that are fantastic for me. The word "note" doesn't even look like a word at this point.)

Based on this, does anyone have recommendations? It would be greatly appreciated

I know a lot of you like to use the excel spreadsheets too Anyone else try this out?

Edited November 13, 2015 by RasAlgethi

[LizziesLuck]

 

I've been trying to figure out why I've been getting some pretty "meh" imps lately. They're not bad, just not for me. I typically go for scents that just sound just lovely in the description, but then I noticed that imps in my favorites pile didn't sound exciting on paper but I adore them just the same. So I put it to the test.

 

I took all the descriptors for my top 40 scents and tallied the notes.

 

What I came up with was totally surprising! I would have sworn up and down that I had more ozone. And all that vanilla??

Note # Of Appearances on Favorites List (>2)

Vanilla 11

Red Musk 5

Tea (Green, Black etc.) 5

Amber 4

Black Currant 4

Orange, Mandarin etc. 4

Milk and Cream Descriptors 4

Honey 4

Balsam, Rosewood, Oakwood etc. 4

Honeysuckle 3

Leather 3

Lemon 3

Lily 3

Marine 3

Neroli 3

Ozone 3

Plum 3

White Musk 3

Of course, this is just how often the word is mentioned. For instance, a lot of scents had only a hint of vanilla. I can't think of many that I have that are dominant vanilla (bahaha, dominant vanilla! )

(Also noted, because I'm a nerd and I can't stop myself, favorites are still a selected group from descriptions that sounded good originally. It's possible that there are notes out there that I never ever would have considered that are fantastic for me. The word "note" doesn't even look like a word at this point.)

Based on this, does anyone have recommendations? It would be greatly appreciated

I know a lot of you like to use the excel spreadsheets too Anyone else try this out?

 

 

This is so interesting! When I have a sec, I will sit down and do this as well, you could learn a lot from it and get better at blind bottle purchases!

 

I just wanted to quickly recommend Iulia to you (Best. Tea. Ever.) and also Satan Starting from the Touch of Ithuriel`s Spear (OMG the Blackcurrant is to die for!!).

[RasAlgethi]

That Iulia sounds absolutely divine. Top of the wishlist! And I'm in love with Blackcurrant too <3 The Vetiver in SSFTTOIS has me a little concerned, but I guess the idea is to branch out a little and try new things so... Vetiver, I'm giving you a shot.

[gentle-twig]

I don't think I have enough stand-out favorites for your methodology to work for me, RasAlgethi, but I do try to rate everything I test (and not just BPAL, but mostly BPAL) on a love/like/dislike/hate scale and then have a weird algorithm that is very unscientific to see where things stand and here are my top notes:

 

1. Tobacco

2. Vetiver

3. Cedar

4. Amber

5. White Musk

6. Orange Blossom

7. Teakwood

8. Black Musk

9. Clove

10. Herbs (unspecified)

 

I feel like the top 4 are solid loves, but the rest are kind of surprising with the exception of clove.

[LizziesLuck]

That Iulia sounds absolutely divine. Top of the wishlist! And I'm in love with Blackcurrant too <3 The Vetiver in SSFTTOIS has me a little concerned, but I guess the idea is to branch out a little and try new things so... Vetiver, I'm giving you a shot.

 

I can`t even pick the vetiver out in SSFTTOIS. There`s an earthiness, but to me that`s more the Patch than anything. I adore my decant. Just ordered a bottle today!

[LizziesLuck]

Ok, here`s my actual list. I had to go through my spreadsheet and rank my bottles, before I could even begin to sort this out. The scents these notes came out of are the only ones scoring a 9 or higher (10 favourites in total)

 

Honey - 3

Coconut - 2

Caramel - 2

Milk/Cream - 2

Vanilla - 2

Rose - 2

Cake - 2

Incense - 2

 

And then a ton of other notes that were just once. I think what I learned is that my tastes are super varied and eclectic. No surprises there, really. You should listen to my Ipod...

 

What did surprise me was that Ginger, Apricot and Fig, three of my fave notes each only had one `hit` on my top 10 list.

 

Super interested thread idea!

[Balame]

I guess since I've been BPALing for so long I've gotten a good sense of which notes work for me (or not) and they usually pull through. There are always the odd exceptions where something that should be amazing based on your top notes turns out funky, but I think putting something like this together will help in picking winners in the long run!

 

Based on this, does anyone have recommendations? It would be greatly appreciated

Yeah!

 

Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht - Amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak.

Alma Venus - Amber-infused blood orange with Italian neroli, ambergris, orange flower absolute, French beeswax, tuberose, Himalayan cedar, and honey.

Avunculus - Orange blossom honey, white coconut, and pear with flecks of golden amber that glimmers like sunlight on water.

Cockaigne - Milk and honey, sweet cakes and wine.

Contemplating the Moon through an Open Window - Milk accord, tuberose, oakmoss, Asian pear, opoponax, and carrot seed.

Dee - Soft English leather, rosewood and tonka with a hint of incense, parchment and soft woods.

Geisha in Orange Kimono Admiring a Samurai - King mandarin, tuberose, white sandalwood, white moss, yerba mate, tangerine, and styrax. (One of my fave tea/mandarin blends.)

Ivory Vulva - Marshmallow root, coconut, macadamia milk, cream accord, and a drop of golden amber. (This was one such example where something that sounded great didn't work on me, but you'll likely have better luck!)

Kubla Khan - Roses unfurl amidst dancing waves of serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine.

My Baby and a Baby Goat - Fuzzy baby goat musk, goat’s milk accord, wild rice flower, and a little bit of farmer’s market honey. (Best milky honey scent ever!)

Serving Tea After Coitus - Green tea, heady honey, white plum, ambergris accord, and vanilla flower.

The Waltz - Champagne musk, ambergris accord, white rose, rosewood, and vanilla amber.

 

And definitely try Iulia as Lizzies recommended.

[RasAlgethi]

LizziesLuck: You did it? Sweet! I see a lot of light foodie scents there. I wish I'd kept a "didn't work" list so I could find my disliked notes. Honey was also big on my list, and I would have overlooked it before.

 

Balame: Ooooh, thank you! These sound perfect. I spent some time working on a goat farm so now I can't rest until I get my hands on My Baby and a Baby Goat. Wild sentence, but I'm not editing it

 

Drat, I missed The Waltz in my Crimson Peak order. I'll definitely have to swap for it, now that I know that my nose wants vanilla, amber and musk.

[elbow]

Spreadsheets are my go-to for any significant quantity of data I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around... which describes BPAL's catalogue pretty well. Like gentle-twig, I give every blend I've tried a rating (1 = Nay, 2 = Ehh, 3 = Yay). Then I plug the notes into a five-column spreadsheet...

 

Column 1: note name, listed alphabetically

Column 2 (green): names of blends with that note that have a 3 rating

Column 3 (yellow): names of blends with that note that have a 2 rating

Column 4 (red): names of blends with that note that have a 1 rating

Column 5: info about the note, if I have any

 

This way I can tell at a glance what blends I've tried with a given note, and how many of them have or have not worked for me. Even if I don't know exactly what something smells like, knowing what blends contain it really helps me form a useful theory about whether it will work for me in a new blend.

 

This process has also made it obvious that Beth uses some notes way more than others! You may actually have so many fave blends with vanilla in them, not because it's your favorite note (though it clearly works for you), but because vanilla is in so many BPAL blends.

[RasAlgethi]

Spreadsheets are my go-to for any significant quantity of data I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around... which describes BPAL's catalogue pretty well. Like gentle-twig, I give every blend I've tried a rating (1 = Nay, 2 = Ehh, 3 = Yay). Then I plug the notes into a five-column spreadsheet...

 

Column 1: note name, listed alphabetically

Column 2 (green): names of blends with that note that have a 3 rating

Column 3 (yellow): names of blends with that note that have a 2 rating

Column 4 (red): names of blends with that note that have a 1 rating

Column 5: info about the note, if I have any

 

This way I can tell at a glance what blends I've tried with a given note, and how many of them have or have not worked for me. Even if I don't know exactly what something smells like, knowing what blends contain it really helps me form a useful theory about whether it will work for me in a new blend.

 

This process has also made it obvious that Beth uses some notes way more than others! You may actually have so many fave blends with vanilla in them, not because it's your favorite note (though it clearly works for you), but because vanilla is in so many BPAL blends.

 

Oh, you're making me wish I had that "already tried" list. It feels like it might be a bit too late at this point.

 

It's a very good point about the vanilla. I wonder about that sometimes.. it must be difficult to create so many scents. You have to make things that aren't to your taste and still trust that they're good. Otherwise everything would be the same notes.

[lady_pandora]

 

Spreadsheets are my go-to for any significant quantity of data I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around... which describes BPAL's catalogue pretty well. Like gentle-twig, I give every blend I've tried a rating (1 = Nay, 2 = Ehh, 3 = Yay). Then I plug the notes into a five-column spreadsheet...

 

Column 1: note name, listed alphabetically

Column 2 (green): names of blends with that note that have a 3 rating

Column 3 (yellow): names of blends with that note that have a 2 rating

Column 4 (red): names of blends with that note that have a 1 rating

Column 5: info about the note, if I have any

 

This way I can tell at a glance what blends I've tried with a given note, and how many of them have or have not worked for me. Even if I don't know exactly what something smells like, knowing what blends contain it really helps me form a useful theory about whether it will work for me in a new blend.

 

This process has also made it obvious that Beth uses some notes way more than others! You may actually have so many fave blends with vanilla in them, not because it's your favorite note (though it clearly works for you), but because vanilla is in so many BPAL blends.

 

Oh, you're making me wish I had that "already tried" list. It feels like it might be a bit too late at this point.

 

It's a very good point about the vanilla. I wonder about that sometimes.. it must be difficult to create so many scents. You have to make things that aren't to your taste and still trust that they're good. Otherwise everything would be the same notes.

 

 

Yep! It actually took me a while to realize vanilla really is a strong positive for me, in and of itself. Because it is in so many things, and because I had mediocre associations with it originally (like, cheap candles), I didn't really give it much thought for a while, but it turns out it's a divine elixir that can make all sorts of things work on me, and I like the scent of BPAL vanilla in itself too. (Amber can do this too.)

 

I've had to do some thinking about note combinations too. Like...I like citrus, but it's got to be grounded somewhere--a scent with nothing but citrus will be forgettable to me, but put that citrus in with some amber and florals, and now we're talking. Or, I figured out I could wear vetiver, but I like it better combined with some things than others. And vanilla/sandalwood is almost a master key to my heart apparently.

[RasAlgethi]

Lady_Pandora: Do you have a favorite Vanilla/Sandalwood? I love that combo too!

[lady_pandora]

Lady_Pandora: Do you have a favorite Vanilla/Sandalwood? I love that combo too!

 

The best might have been Monster Bait: Underpants back in the day. Of the ones I actually have, maybe (Not So) Penitent (Mini) Magdalene, or maybe Sinus Amoris, which has a lot of other stuff going on too, but the vanilla/sandalwood combo in it is just awesome.

[BetteNoire]

I had a hard time when I first got into BPAL because I had a tough time separating out which notes I love, which ones I like the idea of but don't actually work on me, and which I like in the air but not on my body.

Keeping an excel spreadsheet and tracking my best notes by the blends I tried has really improved my ability to blind buy bottles successfully, and to pass over others without guilt.

[lady_pandora]

I had a hard time when I first got into BPAL because I had a tough time separating out which notes I love, which ones I like the idea of but don't actually work on me, and which I like in the air but not on my body.

Keeping an excel spreadsheet and tracking my best notes by the blends I tried has really improved my ability to blind buy bottles successfully, and to pass over others without guilt.

 

Yep. And I've also done a lot of falling in love with the concept behind the scent but not so much the scent, or loving a scent I wouldn't have tried on my own because the concept doesn't really do much for me. (Frimps are great for the latter!)

[LizziesLuck]

LizziesLuck: You did it? Sweet! I see a lot of light foodie scents there. I wish I'd kept a "didn't work" list so I could find my disliked notes. Honey was also big on my list, and I would have overlooked it before.

 

Balame: Ooooh, thank you! These sound perfect. I spent some time working on a goat farm so now I can't rest until I get my hands on My Baby and a Baby Goat. Wild sentence, but I'm not editing it

 

Drat, I missed The Waltz in my Crimson Peak order. I'll definitely have to swap for it, now that I know that my nose wants vanilla, amber and musk.

 

I am a foodie, alright! Do you have a spreadsheet? I make notes on everything I try in my spreadsheet, so I can check if there are specific notes that never seem to work. It's how I figured out I don't like orange blossom when I thought I really did, lol.

[BetteNoire]

 

I had a hard time when I first got into BPAL because I had a tough time separating out which notes I love, which ones I like the idea of but don't actually work on me, and which I like in the air but not on my body.

Keeping an excel spreadsheet and tracking my best notes by the blends I tried has really improved my ability to blind buy bottles successfully, and to pass over others without guilt.

 

Yep. And I've also done a lot of falling in love with the concept behind the scent but not so much the scent, or loving a scent I wouldn't have tried on my own because the concept doesn't really do much for me. (Frimps are great for the latter!)

Good lord yes to the concept issue. Case in point: I have a toddler who's in love with goats, seriously. Every petting zoo, hugs every goat. But milk and honey scents don't smell good on me, after long trial and error wanting them to.

 

So I didn't buy My Baby and a Baby Goat.

 

Elf is the exact opposite. I've never had a thing for elves or played them in RPG's, but the misty pine and violets is SO GOOD.

[Cactus]

Based on your notes, have you tried Dorian, Morocco, and Baruch's Phoenix?

 

Edit:

 

And here's my list of overlapping notes in favorites. No spreadsheet, just did it this moment.

 

Moss (of various kinds) - 6

 

Tea - 3

grasses - 3

woods (not specified in the notes, just "woods") - 3

sandalwood - 3

dark/deep musk - 3

labdanum - 3

water/rain - 3

 

saffron - 2

beeswax - 2

frankincense - 2

sage - 2

rose - 2

Edited November 15, 2015 by Cactus

[RasAlgethi]

Based on your notes, have you tried Dorian, Morocco, and Baruch's Phoenix?

 

Love Dorian! Tried Morocco, and I remember that it didn't work for me. Maybe it was the dry down. A little too woodsy without anything to balance (on my skin at least). Baruch's Phoenix sounds excellent, I'll add it to my wishlist <3

[recklesslysober]

Great idea for a thread!

 

I picked my top 15 of the moment.. here are the results:

 

vanilla 3

sandalwood 3

honey 3

amber 3

spices 3

cocoa 2

bourbon vanilla 2

myrrh 2

red musk 2

currant 2

tea (green + black) 2

strawberry 2

woods 2

wind 2

 

A lot of these are no surprise, except honey and tea.. Pure Applesauce skewed my results there I think..

 

I was also surprised to find some of my often avoided notes, including rose (although it's a "rose-infused amber"), tobacco (the "tobacco tar" in Pure Applesauce), cinnamon, patchouli (from Second Spring), and woods. Sometimes a blend will just surprise you.. which is not something that I need to hear when ordering blind bottles..

[rix]

This is a really interesting topic, and it started me thinking. (Uh-oh). I'm a real computer idiot, can't to spreadsheets and things like that, but I broke my wish lists down into 4. Things I want to try, things I've tried and was OK with, things I've tried and hated, and things I've tried and loved. Only 5 scents have made it onto my Need a Bottle list: Bathsheba, Uruk, Obatala, Sea of Glass, and Paramatman. And that's the problem! They seem to have absolutely nothing in common! Does anybody see something I'm missing? I'm just baffled!

 

(I'd add the descriptions, but that's computer magic that's beyond me. Off the cuff, what I remember is:

 

Bathsheba-Carnation, plum and musk

Uruk-Almonds, saffron and jasmine

Obatala-Coconut meat, shea butter, and fresh water

Sea of Glass-no notes listed, but I get Lilies

Paramatman-Orange blossom, sandalwood and champaca

Edited November 17, 2015 by nekan

[DiesMali]

WELP. Far and away, vanilla and patchouli are at the top of my list. Not surprising. A few of my actual favourite notes aren't in the top statistical favourites yet, though, due to limited use in blends I have thus far purchased (vetiver, indigo musk, night-blooming cereus, fig). Here are the top 10 11 in order of how many I have with those notes:

 

Vanilla - 33

Patchouli - 32

Amber - 21

Rose - 17

Leather - 15

Frankincense - 14

Tobacco - 12

Sandalwood - 12

Red Musk - 11

Myrrh - 11

Clove - 10

[lady_pandora]

This is a really interesting topic, and it started me thinking. (Uh-oh). I'm a real computer idiot, can't to spreadsheets and things like that, but I broke my wish lists down into 4. Things I want to try, things I've tried and was OK with, things I've tried and hated, and things I've tried and loved. Only 5 scents have made it onto my Need a Bottle list: Bathsheba, Uruk, Obatala, Sea of Glass, and Paramatman. And that's the problem! They seem to have absolutely nothing in common! Does anybody see something I'm missing? I'm just baffled!

 

(I'd add the descriptions, but that's computer magic that's beyond me. Off the cuff, what I remember is:

 

Bathsheba-Carnation, plum and musk

Uruk-Almonds, saffron and jasmine

Obatala-Coconut meat, shea butter, and fresh water

Sea of Glass-no notes listed, but I get Lilies

Paramatman-Orange blossom, sandalwood and champaca

 

Well, variety is good too! I have some favorite notes and note combos, but I like to also have some stuff around that's totally different, for different kinds of moods.

[RasAlgethi]

Nekan: You're right, I don't see a lot in common there! Except maybe a little bit of floral? But with balance. Overall a sense of freshness perhaps

 

There are some scents that I love that have no business being in there but, as you all know, smell is incredibly powerful. One sniff can transport you back to a certain time and place. It's amazing. Sometimes I just get certain feelings from notes. It doesn't necessarily have to be tied with nostalgia.

 

I don't especially love Loup Garou but when I smell it for some reason it signals to my brain, "you're going out tonight and getting wild." That's another topic for another thread though.

 

So maybe they don't have common notes. It could just be that your brain gets activated in different ways for each.

[Cactus]

 

Based on your notes, have you tried Dorian, Morocco, and Baruch's Phoenix?

 

Love Dorian! Tried Morocco, and I remember that it didn't work for me. Maybe it was the dry down. A little too woodsy without anything to balance (on my skin at least). Baruch's Phoenix sounds excellent, I'll add it to my wishlist <3

 

If Morocco was too woody for you - you might have a little of the same issue with Baruch's Phoenix.

On the other hand, the orange is so fresh and good in it.