Perfume / Cologne

Looking through the notes in the fragrances I've especially enjoyed: citrus, yuzu, pink pepper, bergamot / white blossom, ylang ylang, oakmoss, sea salt / ambergris, white musk/'musk' (idk the difference?), cedar, vetiver. All pretty basic, I think. Not adept enough to refine any further.

For now, depending on weather/mood, I want things that smell like a pirate ship, or a stormy sea bashing against a pine-lined shore, or a breezy tropical or Mediterranean beach, or a jungle at night, or a campfire in a forest, or some combination of those. During deepest winter I thought about trying 'warmer' fragrances, but didn't find any I loved, though I also didn't try very hard.

For pirate ship, it might be worth checking out Tonnerre by Beaufort, which has gunpowder, marine and brandy notes, inspired by the Battle of Trafalgar.

Cape Heartache by Imaginary Authors is one of the better pine-centred things I’ve come across (pine and wild strawberry, with a touch of smoke).

Zoologist have a bunch of jungle-themed scents, from approachable (Sloth) to very divisive (Bat). Debaser by DS&Durga has been my go-to tropical-ish one recently, though.

Picked up an impossibly cheap bottle of 31 Rue Cambon at a benefit shop along the way and love it on slightly overcast days like today.

Bat by Zoologist is disgusting, don’t even try it out of curiosity. It smells exactly like it sounds, and it hangs around forever.

yes, I agree it is disgusting, but I think it's worth experiencing.

I think I like scents that don't last that long, which is one of the reasons I like Diptyque. I don't want to wake up in bed the next morning wondering if there is a stranger next to me

I love Oriza L. Legrand's Rêve d'Ossian (and the corresponding soap) and am theoretically on board with all of their scents, but they are very very strong. Their Relique d'Amour is interesting but also smells like a dank crypt, and their Chypre Mousse is lovely at first, but I can't help but eventually feel I'm being smothered under a pile of wet leaves

their Vetiver Royal Bourbon is astonishingly strong. If you want a scent that will last you all day and into the next, they are the brand for you

I wanna love Zoologist bc they’re hometown but so far… zero winners have met my nose. I got a sample of the famous T Rex and I just hate it

I’m wearing Anubis all the time. Bf is getting into “contemporary scents” to match the tastes of his co-workers and brought home a sample of frankly lovely Ariana Grande thing? It’s ridiculous off the top (marshmallows?) but dries down as nicely as a Guerlain

Civet was kinda aiight. The one I really wanted to love, sloth, I really just didn’t.

A DS&D limited I caught and absolutely wish I’d bought a second bottle of is Rockaway Beach. Smells actually of beach in a very unsentimental way

I like a lot of Zoologist fragrances but Bee is the real standout. Smells exactly like Russian Orthodox churches filled with beeswax candles.

I've been meaning to try Cape Heartache and some of the Beauforts but forgot about them when I was in Bloom last week. I ended up with Albatros by Mendittorosa and Resonant by Oddity. Albatros seems to have a similar destination to IA Every Storm a Serenade (what I've been using most), but a different journey. Resonant is citrus and 'metallic notes' which is weird but I like it and I'm trying to use my paltry 1mL sample sparingly - might save it to try in warmer weather - because a full bottle is unjustifiably expensive for me.

I like the idea of Zoologist but the ones I've tried have mostly not been good

I need to catch up with the newer Mendittorosa ones. Le Mat is an all-time great.

A friend came over with her small but amazing collection— she has a preference for intense ambers, dirty rose, conifers and iris notes. Our interests are divergent but complimentary, I have a “I want to smell everything” attitude and she has a “I want to specifically smell like this particular thing and I’m going to invest in that, specifically” attitude.

The showstopper was unfortunately the breathtakingly expensive Areej “Siberian Musk”, I think in an attar concentration. I feel like I’d been betting against that company and their ridiculous price point and claims to the finest materials; I lost the bet.

The also-spectacular was Orto Parisi “Stercus”. I had no experience with that brand and this was something really amazing.

I’m off the new buys, and I’m taking a break from the homebrewing until I can find and purchase a better bergamot ingredient— the one I got isn’t working for me. Made some Chanel No.5 for my aunt-in-law and, honestly? better than store-bought, it turned out marvellous. I’ve been stumbling hard on all other assemblies :(