Stink so good: perfume, fragrance, etc

today's stink: verbena geranium by l'occitane en provence

can't really give a SUPER detailed review because i was embalming all day and that stink was overwhelming but now that i am not in the prep room and freshly applied some perfume during my lunch break it is helping a lot to keep formaldehyde stonk from lingering in my nose SO THERE'S THAT. anyway.

this is hands down my favorite perfume from l'occitane that i've tried, i love it so fucking much. it's spicy in a green and vegetal way, not in a black pepper way, just slightly floral, and ofc has the citrus note from the verbena. it's fresh and clean and really comforting for me to smell. sadly it is also a limited edition stink but it does still seem to be in stock on their website. idk if i can in good conscience recommend a blind buy though especially when it's way more expensive than say, even a full size oil from an indie house. but i do love it!

like i've said prior, l'occitane fragrances are kind of ass about throw and longevity, but i can smell it on me even though i was running around in the prep room, so it's a good close-to-you scent. i wear fragrance for me so this doesn't bother me. this is definitely one of my daily drivers which is a shame since it's limited ed. i'll have to try plain verbena and see if i like it as much

Top Note: Lemon Grass Essence, Bergamot Essence, Litsea Cubeba Essence
Heart Note: Verbena Essence, Geranium Essence, Clary Sage Essence
Base Note: Cedarwood, Musk

that being said, does anyone have any favorite notes in specific? i'm finding i'm really drawn to clary sage, tuberose, and pink pepper--usually when i see those on a perfume, i'm gonna like it. also a big fan of oakmoss and dirt notes :-)

 

today's stink: a city on fire by imaginary authors.

this was a sample gifted to me by a friend :D i'm glad to try it, especially because it's not one i think i would have picked by myself. it is EXTREMELY smoky, that is the primary and almost the singular note i get from it. it took a while for the dry-down and the initial strong smoky note to fade back a little bit, but i also pick up a slightly sweet undertone. i think the labdanum? this scent smells good, but i'm not sure if it's one for me! i'll have to wear it more. despite being extremely smoky, it doesn't at least to my nose have incredibly strong throw, which is good because i don't want to scentbomb people LMAO. i'm not sure if this is an appropriate office scent for me at least, though, so i'll probably continue to wear it on my days off while i decide how i feel about it.

it is definitely "burning wood and leaves" smoky and not "bbq or grill" smoky, so if you like alcohol based perfumes that evoke a campfire, this might be for you! a sample is only $7 i think before any discounts from their sample packs, so it's not a super risky buy. i love imaginary authors' packaging and theming -- every scent is designed to evoke an imaginary novel, and the packaging matches that with designs that look like book covers. it's really clever and charming, and they have a lot of themes and scents you're only going to see in a niche or indie house, so their fragrances are highly unique. i have a few more gifted samples from them i'm going to be trying, and one day i'd love to buy their "short story collection" (eight samples of your choice).

Notes: Cade oil, Spikenard, Cardamom, Clearwood, Dark Berries, Labdanum, Burnt Match

 

today’s stink: coastal veil by pineward perfume

y’all….y’all. oh my god. so my samples (16 in total iirc) came a couple days ago and i won’t lie i was actually kind of scared because the pouch they came in was so strongly fragranced it was kind of unpleasant and made me a bit nauseated. so i tried coastal veil last night to see if it was safe to wear to work, because i love aquatics and knew i liked most of the notes, and ohhh my god. oh my god.

this one could become a daily driver for me, easy. it opens with a pine note, but not an overpowering one— it’s just present enough to notice it. the aquatics make this smell crisp and fresh, and i think the mushroom note adds just a faint dirtiness. it really feels like being on a rocky coast, conifers in the background, sky overcast, wind hitting your face. it’s so fucking good. i put it on after a bath today just because i wanted to smell it again. for $6 a sample, i really can’t recommend this enough. i have a frankly disgustingly expensive aquatic perfume i was gifted that i can’t be normal about, and coastal veil hits everything i like about that fragrance for like a third of the price. amazing!

notes and description from the site below just because it is incredibly accurate

Notes: Juniper Berries, Juniper Needles, Sea Water, Bladderwrack, Coastal Cypress, Oyster Mushroom, Water Pepper, Blue Gum Eucalyptus, Pacific Ambergris, Irish Sea Moss, Sandalwood.

Misty shroud of grey and white

A coastal veil that falls tonight

A veil of mist and seawater shrouding an overcast beach in a tapestry of atmospheric ambiance. Salty seaweed rubble and algae underfoot, twisted coastal cypresses growing on rocky cliffs overhead.​

 

my nightingale sample is almost gone, as is my dragonfly sample. RIP wallet. anyway, more pineward testing

yesterday's stink: funerie by pineward perfumes

i got this sample, which wasn't in the sampler kit, like 90% off the name alone because i am a shitty little edgelord and wanted to wear funerie to my funeral job. i am not 100% sure if i can, i'm going to wear it again tomorrow and decide what i think for office wear, but it is very nice. a warning is that the perfume liquid is very dark, and a single spray on my wrist was noticeably dark green until spread out and dried. i do not think you should apply this while wearing light colored clothes; if you have a specific outfit maybe apply it first beneath clothes and get dressed once it's dried down.

it does warn that it is a challenging perfume, but personally it doesn't bother me at all. it has a very strong earthy/dirt note, i think definitely from the mushrooms. it's slightly sweet and warm, and there's a faint note of smoke that i found very appealing and not overwhelming at all. it smells like a wet fall day, standing in a copse of pine trees while someone a down the way burns leaves and pine needles. really good and in my opinion very wearable. it's earthy and mysterious and somber but not at all unpleasant or the kind of atmospheric that i would say smells good but is not functional as a perfume. this is an atmospheric, yes, but not one that i would be surprised to smell on someone

Notes: Morel mushroom, decayed rose, leather, tobacco, smoke, pineboard, incense, sweet myrrh, blood cedar, dried needles, rotting wood (oud).
Rites of the dead, a shroud of bleakness. Feasting fungi and wilted roses nestle atop charred pineboards and a base of heavy resins and incense. (A challenging perfume)​

 

you thought you'd be free from my autismposting......never

today's stink: saint thomas by nateeva

my mom still has a subscription to scentbird apparently...for some reason....so she brought me all the ones she didn't like when we met up for a trip last weekend. i took the ones i liked to sample further and this is one of them! it's, fine? it's extremely strong frangipani/plumeria and reminds me a lot of gardenia as well-- i don't know if they added gardenia, but i'm definitely getting some. it is an EXTREMELY sweet tropical floral. pretty much all i get is "sweet floral" and that's fine, but i don't know that it's the kind of thing i would pay $125 for a fullsize of. it doesn't smell cheap but it also doesn't smell like the kind of thing i personally want to pay premium prices for. it's a scent i'll keep in my purse and use up but probably won't seek out again. it was fun to have a scent that is both undeniably sweet and features vanilla without making me feel like i smelled like food!

notes: frangipani, salty/watery accord, rose absolute, orange flower absolute, vanilla, musk

 

if you happen to find something similar that's a little less bank-shattering I'd like to hear about it. I'm a big fan of frangipani so this sounds like something I'd potentially enjoy

 

i will keep my eyes and nose peeled!! if you want i think scentbird sells fairly large samples for not too much without a subscription…and the subscription is the part where they’re evil

at end of day my update is the longevity is REALLY nice, my hair still smells pleasantly of frangipani 13 hours later

 

last weekend’s stink: paper by commodity

this was another gifted sample, and in a total curveball i just flat hate this one. it had a strong, sharp note that i had always, before getting into perfume, assumed was the alcohol. i associated this a lot with the inexpensive perfumes i disliked (it wasn’t in the ones i like) and assumed it was lower quality materials or bad blending. it was not!

it is Iso E Super. apparently some people can’t smell it at all? god i wish that were me.png. it’s apparently supposed to smell woody and clean, but all it smells to me is sharp, overpowering, and chemical (not unlike a household cleaner that’s okay to smell in passing but chokes you out if you’re stuck in a bathroom with it). absolutely nothing smelt in any way like paper whatsoever to me. hate, hate, absolute loathing, hate. i wore it for a night out because initial sniff was inoffensive and even pleasant, and i assumed the sharp note would fade, but it did not. all night long i was smelling it on me, and the fact that i never went nose blind feels like a hate crime.

but! i just apparently really, really hate Iso E Super! now that i can connect those dots a lot of the perfumes and body sprays i hated as a kid were because of that too. SO if you like Iso E Super, it’s probably a perfectly nice perfume to sample?

notes: Iso E Super, sandalwood, cedarwood