aromatherapy

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titkitten
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aromatherapy

Post by titkitten »

hi, do you like to smell??? how? please describe.

i used to wear issey miyake sport, which i'd describe as citrusy and sharp: like the sound of a piccolo (high, sharp, yet round/balanced; though without much body). i first smelled it on a coworker in 2013, really liked it, and asked for an id. i've gone through maybe 2 or 3 bottles of the stuff since; but when i ran out two years ago, i instead bought the jo malone oud & bergamot. what a rich, comforting smell. spicy, woody, a tiny hint sweet; evokes for me a forest scene with druids and fresh dirt at dusk a la cs lewis novel.
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Julio
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by Julio »

i like the idea of smelling:

probably like the air that greets you when you pass by an open door to a spice shop, ideally one with heavily varnished wooden shelving that hasn't been re-varnished in a while. and maybe sometimes someone smokes tobacco out back, but only sometimes and mostly never. and they also sell candied citrus peels at the counter. the ghost of potpourri? sure, why not add that on there. mostly those things without being too strong is a nice idea maybe.

that's one example of what i'd like, but also i'm very allergy prone and strong smells can set me off, especially when aerated/spritzed. even essential oils can be a bit much sometimes. so by default i just try to find a deodorant that doesn't smell too strongly of anything.

considering the savings i'll call it a double-edged sword, but i may try to dip my toes into the world of fragrances again (post-pandemic)

edit: i don't know how to tag anymore (????) but
scented candles can be a bit much, depends on the scent! incense has been the best thus far, but that also depends...
Last edited by Julio on Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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frannyglass
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by frannyglass »

i like the idea of wearing fragrances but for some reason i find it really intimidating? i get worried that some i wear might be overpowering or unpleasant for other people or not suit me or something. my grandma used to wear some really intense perfume and it was fucking horrible being in a car with her, i don't wanna inflict that on anyone.

doesn't help that i only really thought about trying any just before the pandemic started and don't really have an opportunity to smell anything irl

for now i just like laughing at that jeremy fragrance guy
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rubymtn
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by rubymtn »

I wear Égoïste sometimes (like, very rarely) for special occasions, and then only very lightly. Otherwise it's just Dr. Bronner's almond Castile soap for me.
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Toonces
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by Toonces »

Just started getting into this. Here are the few bottles I have from back in the day. I've tried to read as little as possible about them online to avoid influencing my opinion.

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  • Polo Explorer: Definitely the best of the lot. I used to wear this one on the daily in college and it brings back memories from the winter. It has a sort of amber/woody smell but it's still a bit bright and sweet. If I do wear anything on the daily, it's this one, although I do find it a bit inoffensive and would like to try branching out. I did read that this is unfortunately discontinued and is now hard to find.
  • Polo Blue: Similar to the explorer but a bit sweeter (?) and cheaper smelling.
  • Armani Eau de Nuit: I don't know what to make of this one. It has a really overwhelming powdery smell at first but seems to get better. I feel like this might grow on me so I'm going to try it a bit more before dismissing it.
  • Armani City Glam: Doesn't necessarily smell bad, but kind of smells like a cheap bodyspray.
  • Dolce & Gabanna Man?: I can't really find anything about this one online. My girlfriend seems to like it but I find it has a vanilla tone I don't like.
  • (Not pictured) Nautica Voyage: It's a pretty inoffensive aqua scent but it brings up really specific memories for me. Idk it makes me think of what Sugar Ray's music would smell like.
I went through the old threat on Care-Tags1.0 and saw a ton of good recommendations.

My short list of ones to try from there are:
  • CDG Wonderwood or Le Labo Oud 27
  • Dior Fahrenheit
  • Vetiver Guerlain
  • Tam Dao Dyptique
  • L'eau D'issey pour homme
What's everyone wearing this fall?
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alex
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by alex »

One of my cats smells like cinnamon and lavender when you get really close, is there any fragrance like that?
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by Trench Witch »

rub the cat on your body
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edmund
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by edmund »

went to DSM with a friend of mine and he comes up to me with a bottle of CDG Wonderwood and goes "bro this smells like you" and i had to tell him that's been my scent of choice for 5 years now

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Re: aromatherapy

Post by freddy »

Aesop deodorant and spray
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edmund
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by edmund »

i forgot i have a gift card to le labo from 2020, do i just pull the trigger on santal 33 or are there others i consider? i went to their store to test some out but ironically a fragrance store is the worst place to compare them with all the ambient smells there
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skunk ape
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by skunk ape »

All my Me smells are pretty much soaps, cologne on the rare occasion that I leave the house to do something that's not exercise or buy groceries, which is extremely rare. I am much more interested in how I can make my home office smell. I'm currently using a Target brand reed diffuser( Ginger Black Tea) that makes my area smell like a 'luxury' apartment leasing office: One pleasantness tick above nothing but not really exciting, inoffensive but not invisible, was actually pretty impressed for the tenbux. I also tried my hand with some Earl of East room sprays since they were on sale at ssense and I wanted to pad the order and I find both my attempts too cloying (strand, viagem).

Now we are approaching candle season and I'm back to recommending Maison Louis Marie's No 2. It smells like a woodshop if it only cut good wood instead of shitty plywood from home depot. The greatest candle of all time is DS and Durga's Tomb of the Eagles but 1) I'm not made of money and 2) it lives in the living room, not my office. Always on the lookout for a cheaper alternative. Another ssense sale swingandamiss is this Frama Deep Forest candle which just smells like a fucking headshop despite being expensive even on sale and small.
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Toonces
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by Toonces »

I forgot I posted my collection last year. I've completely gone down the rabbit hole since then. Some of these are from recommendations from the old CT forum. Here's what I have now:

Dior Fahrenheit - smells like lighter fluid. pretty versatile but I don't find myself reaching for it that often - 4/5
Polo Explorer - still my all-time favourite. it's a shame they discontinued it - 5/5
Polo Blue - a fuller aqua scent but not very interesting. smells a bit like gasoline - 3.5
Polo Green - apparently they switched the ingredients up. smells like soap or very old - 2.5/5
Versace Eros Flame - kind of smells like cat pee but also mint and fire. good in the summer or for going out - 4/5
Versace the Dreamer - I tried this once and liked it, ordered it and was overwhelmed. maybe I need to give it a try but it smells like bug spray rn
Versace Pour Homme - definitely my best aqua scent. I find it works really well on humid summer days - 5/5
Tom Ford Tuscan Leather - was really stoked when I first tried it but I'm over it. smells like cigarettes mixed with melons and sand. best for cold weather. 3/5
Tom Ford Ombre Leather - I really like this when going out / when it's winter but other people seem to hate it. smells like new cars and pepper - 3.5/5
Terre D'Hermes - smells like grapefruit and dirt - 4/5
Guerlain Vetiver - smells like a French botany lab in the 1920s - 4.5/5
CDG 888 - blind buy - idk smells like candy mixed with vinegar (kombucha?). I'll need to give it more of a chance. nice bottle though
Sung Homme - smells like soap. I'll need to give it more of a chance
Salvatore Ferragamo - aqua scent but slightly grittier. good value for the money 3.5/5
Armani Eau de Nuit - did a 180 on this one - really good for evenings, hard to describe but definitely powdery - 4.5/5
Armani City Glam - did a 180 on this one too - smells like old oranges in a good way - 4/5
Victorinox Swiss Army - really good for the price. smells kind of 2000s - 4/5
MM Autumn Vibes - a lot of maple - I really like this in the fall and spring - 4.5/5
MM By the Fireplace - been going back and forth on this one. really nice on cold winter days but kind of sweet. smells like marshmallows I guess - 4(?)/5
MM Jazz Club - hated this at first but it grew on me. smells like rum a bit and works well in the evening and summer 4/5
MM Coffee Break - smells fresh and clean - I like it but maybe not on me?
MM Sailing Day - aqua scent with a lot of coconut and laundry detergent - 3/5
Hugo Boss (some random sample) - decent woody/spicy generic scent - 3.5/5
D&G unknown fragrance (possibly By Man) - really not great, smells sweet and there's nothing else to it - 1.5/5
Burberry for men - really good, works well in the fall and spring and on evenings. works ok in the summer too. smells like a rainy day and inoffensive - 4/5
Joop - really not sure how I feel about this. smells like raspberries?
Perry Ellis - worst thing I've ever smelt .5/5
I've tried some other MM samples but find them all pretty plain.

I really want to try the CDG classics and Le Labo.

What's everyone else been wearing? I'd be happy to do some trades if anyone is interested.

I've been using candles quite a bit too. I'll check out the recommendations above but have mostly been using ones I've received as gifts and a few from this local place. I've also been considering getting some of those reed diffusers from Muji - has anybody tried those out?
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foxtail_grass
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by foxtail_grass »

I love-love scents. Have you ever visited Surrender to Chance? Great website for buying small samples of perfumes, individually or in custom sets.
https://surrendertochance.com/

My all time favorite perfume is Slowdive by Hiram Green. It smells like honey and dirt. It's incredible.

Once when I was very sad in California I went and bought some 'custom' perfume at a now-defunct shop called Atelier Cologne (they were bought by L'Oreal and now operate online). The parfumier gave me a camellia-based scent that is right on the edge of too floral and femme for me. But I still wear it sometimes. It's called Camellia Intrepide. Smells like a cool grandma.

Right now I'm trying out the Cowboy sampler from StC. My favorites are DS & Durga's Cowboy Grass and Tauer Perfume's Lonestar Memories. Lonestar wins by a hair. It's gentle and grassy and sweet and tobacco.

In the summer I like Eau Des Merveilles by Hermes and Dior's Dune. Both beachy but not coconut-y.

I really hate a lot of the 'classic' feminine scents: lavender, vanilla, etc. When I was in college we had to design a perfume and its packaging. I designed a perfume that smelled like charcoal, leather and damp. I wanted it to smell like an old jacket that had been left in a garage for many years. Made a cool black pod to hold it. That was really fun.
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by funyuns »

I’m a big hinoki fan so I’ve gone through many hinoki note scents. Currently using Tamburins French Needle, previously using Aesop Hwyl, CDG monocle 01 and 04.

I like to layer my current scent with Tamburins 000 scented lotion
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thewisdomoftime
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by thewisdomoftime »

About 2 weeks ago, I was walking by a Diptyque store, went in to smell the two Tam Daos (EDT/EDP are distinct with Diptyque) and try to resist buying it. The thing I heard about Tam Dao that I'm drawn towards is the idea of temple smell; I've sampled the Tam Dao EDT and the CdG Incense 3 Kyoto. Tam Dao was very strong, rich, spicy (if I was better at sampling, I probably would've been impressed that apparently the spices are in the base, and some of the woods are in the top). Kyoto was light, smoky, and gentle (kinda like reading Handke in the mornings: maybe a touch too smart for me, or requesting a pace that's slower than I go). I liked both Tam Dao's at the Diptyque store, I loved Orpheon. I did not resist buying Orpheon. I liked the Italian guy Marcel working there. I swear I remember I asked and he was Milanese, my brain might be being creative; I remember entirely that he lives in Woodside Queens, which takes him right into LES on the M or R, and he doesn't pay rent. I feel a spiritual buyers remorse because Orpheon was a really expensive 75ml EDT. I feel no actual buyers remorse because this is such a favorite scent I want to use less of it when I wear it. The notes are so simple and ideal but extroverted and lighthearted. Top: juniper; mid: jasmine; base: powder, cedar, tonka. The duration is great, the juniper and jasmine really stay with it. I love the powder. I feel sweet but opposite gourmand with this on, I feel like an event. It's brilliant.

I think male floral might be my wheelhouse, rather than woody aromatic. I need to try Dior Homme Original or Parfum, which apparently is hard, even though I work in Times by all the hole in the wall fragrance discounters. Are those stores sketchy? I'm gonna try Terre d'Hermes, which is trivial to find and gets discounted. The Terre eau Givree looks even better but gets slightly less discounted.

Two friends got me a sample of Whispers in the Library for my birthday. Someone told me I should try it, because of the way I am. I like books, and knowledge. In actuality it's a woody vanilla that's overpowered by the vanilla. Strange. Not a very roomy room scent.

Anyway, what I'm building towards: why isn't "ideal" a fragrance adjective? What can we say as an opposite to edible and gourmand?
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titkitten
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by titkitten »

recently emptied the jo malone oud + bergamot that i mentioned in the first post.

i bought it maybe five years ago. at the time, i was really grasping at straws to find any small joy. graduate school will do that to you.

it definitely succeeded in being a small joy. it smells comforting yet energising. it's hard to describe how spraying it on in the morning made me feel -- like it promised that my day ahead may hold some mystery or novelty.

i didn't want to get the same thing again, but there are very few oud fragrances available in my area for me to smell in person. instead, i got aesop hwyl after smelling it for the first time. it reminds me a LOT of the diptyque feu de bois candles (of which i have burned through several). smells like you've been sitting next to a campfire at first, fades off to something slightly spicier but still just as smokey. first day wearing it today -- already excited i get to smell this way for the next few years.

really wish there were more fragrance options near me though ): it's hard to commit to buying a scent without smelling it first.

also really wish i could find unscented shampoo because i hate how most shampoo smells of extremely artificial/sugary fruit.
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Re: aromatherapy

Post by foxtail_grass »

Still rocking Slowdive which will likely be a lifetime fragrance for me, but lately it’s felt too warm/summery. So I ordered a sampler pack from Mizensir. Excited to review the four scents when they arrive.

Meanwhile I still have a small vial of Cowboy Grass, and hope one day to have a larger bottle. It’s lovely- ended up winning out over Lonestar Memories, which was a bit too musky.
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