#what's in a fragrance

[libra-doll]

riri by rihanna, 2015 🧁🎀🐩🫧👛

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

[improbable-outset]

You can almost smell his cologne from the screen 🫦

[hyruviandoctor]

The day I discovered who Jeremy Fragrance was my entire life changed. I thought Justin McElroy just made up a guy named Richard Stink with no greater context for the bit. I had no idea he was a parody for YEARS. I just thought Justin was really good at creating absurdist characters for his brothers to laugh at

[mysteriousmissme]

MITSUKOU CRUMBS i dropped to my knees

[pamrak]

YI-MING & TING-TING FRAGRANCE OF THE FIRST FLOWER, S2

[letterful]

Jean Madar, chairman and CEO of InterParfums Inc, recently told Bloomberg that fragrance is part of a person’s “core identity”. And while cosmetic companies can face criticism for conflating external products with existential outcomes [...] perfume conveniently sidesteps the problems of the flesh. It’s not trying to change how you look, but how you feel, and, for the span of a spritz at least, it does. In the age of wellness-as-beauty and neurocosmetics, the science of scent is marketing gold.

[...] I wonder if what we’re after here is not a sense of self but a (related) sense of life.

I say “we” because – despite my documented skepticism of beauty brands – I, too, am powerless against a good perfume ad.

Last month, casually depressed and subconsciously seeking comfort and some sort of release, I spent $240 on a scent called Tears by Régime de Fleurs. “What a luxury to weep,” the website read. It described the perfume as “emotion in liquid form, the romance and the sadness”. It promised “nostalgia” too, with notes of lilac to remind me of my grandmother’s front yard and frankincense to call up childhood Sundays spent in incense-blessed church pews. I suppose I wanted Tears to take me back to a time when someone who loved me baked me cookies every week, when I believed in God and goodness, and life stretched ahead of me in an endless expanse of hope and potential.

Of course, it didn’t do that. It smelled fine. I felt something, for a second. But I was still me, and I was still mostly numb.

I thought of that perfume the other day while reading the preface to Henry James’s 1902 novel The Wings of the Dove. James summarized it as the story “of a young person conscious of a great capacity for life” – someone “passionately desiring” to “achieve, however briefly and brokenly, the sense of having lived”.

Something clicked: how to explain Tears if not a brief and broken sense of having cried?

[jellyscats]

challengers characters and their signature scents;

⤹ tashi wears boy eau de parfum from chanel,a unisex perfume that leans extremely lavender heavy on the opening with a lemon and grapefruit undercurrent. it’s intoxicating enough to draw you in but has a dry quality that means you either love it or hate it,no one is really in between on boy or tashi duncan. it dries down soapy and powdery but not in a lactonic way,there something almost sterile about it,clean and a little cut throat (just like it’s insane price point)

⤹ clean,fresh and inoffensive,grey vetiver is a crowd favourite just like art.this isn’t a scent thats too loud,it clings to skin and honestly works so well in hot weather or on hot bodies. it’s icy lemon and grapefruit work with the sage and artemisia (get it?ARTemisia) to turn almost medicinal,like a french pharmacy.

⤹ cheap,sharp on the nose and obnoxious; sitting somewhere between juvenile and cheeky it’s a perfect scent profile and price for patrick zweig. perfect for throwing on before a match..maybe not for trying to woo ladies but im sure patrick’s charm will get him by. the patchouli,incense and pepper really fight with the grapefruit and lavender in this one and no ones really too sure who’s coming out on top.

[ladybuggirlxox]

Pls

[kortac-sweetheart]

i haven’t been a big fan of putting on fragrances for bed but now i am because like… i love dabbing some perfume on my suprasternal notch (space in between collar bones) and usually because i use oils it’s a more intimate scent bubble and uhh :) cuddling with nikto and his head is pressed right against your chest, nose nuzzled right near your sternum; super close to your collar bones where your perfume is.

of course he has his favorites out of your collection, ones that remind him of a home long gone— one that only exists in his dreams. of a time in his childhood where there would be a steaming pot of russian caravan on the table, of toasted silk road spices and worn leathers and suedes, of a roaring hearth in the heart of a home. (you’re already his home but whenever you wear that one, you become even more comforting than usual.)

but as usual, he’s also partial to ones that you like as well. that floral one… he doesn’t know how to describe it. but to him, it’s walking hand in hand with you while snow gently drifts to the earth, lying together under the wisteria blossoms (you had to tell him what flower was in here, otherwise he’d never know.)

or that one, with creamy rose and marshallowed jasmine—it reminds him of when he was young again. just a mere boy, trying to sneak a bite of dessert before being caught red-handed by his mother. reminds him of the vase of fresh roses that always adorned their living room. of christmas celebrations.

and another one that you got recently, of delicate and sheer peach skins and spring blooms that make you seem spring incarnate. reminds him of rolling green fields and of his desire to hand feed you peach slices until you smile.

he always looks forward to bed time with you. not that he didn’t before, but drifting off in your arms with the scent he helped you pick out is nothing short of a dream for him.

[mankillercalledbunny]

One of the problems with being both a nerd and someone with a minor special interest in fragrance and perfume is that I put in a casual throwaway mention of someone's cologne and immediately went "wait what could that be" and proceeded to compile a list of options from MY OWN SAMPLE COLLECTION (bar Eau de Audacity which I've smelled but they didn't have a sample of when I went)

Anyway if anyone wants "warm amber" fragrance recs to imagine your character wearing to a gala, here you go, I've added descriptions but they're usually a vanilla, resin, and/or incense base with some kind of spice, tonka, leather or wood note as the focus (though there are a few surprises), and I've linked their Fragrantica pages for more detail! Several of these are cross-recommended for each other, so if you like one on the list it's worth checking out a couple of the others.

Penhaligon

The World According to Arthur (my all time favourite, wore this to my wedding reception)

Terrible Teddy (another favourite, amber incense and leather)

Eau de Audacity (bold, orange blossom, frankincense and pepper over vanilla and leather)

Le Labo

Vetiver 46 (woody with strong vetiver and spice notes, the vanilla and amber take a back seat)

Kuumba Made

Amber Paste [now discontinued] (Musc Rav's sneaky cheaper alternative; opens pine resiny but quickly settles into a gorgeous vanilla tonka blend that lasts AGES)

Amber & Sandalwood (similar to above with more wood and resin rather than sweet)

Frederic Malle

Musc Ravageur (complex head turner that opens with with lavender, bergamot, then shifts to clove and sandalwood on a vanilla tonka base)

Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Gentle Fluidity Silver (beautifully blended juniper and nutmeg over bergamot, cedar and vanilla, a clean, woody amber)

Grand Soir (hits like vanilla bourbon, softens out as it goes; not for people who have sensitive noses or an aversion to boozy scents)

Diptyque

La Duelle (vanilla-forward with woody and spicy/smoky notes)

[kxsagi]

YOU HAVE ISAGI MILK??? 😨 AND FULL CREAM??????? 😰

[betterfragrantica]

Funeral Home - Demeter Fragrance

[vengeancemoths]

the fucking. autistic experience of looking at the ingredients list on something to see if you'll tolerate it and it just says "spices". thanks you could not be any more unhelpful. uh yeahhhh this one's got flavors.... not telling you which ones