The scent of imagination

[sathari]

Over in the welcome post, synecdochic  and I had a bit of a discussion about scent and imagination/synaesthesia, as a result of which I promised to post the following questions for the comm to play with!

- Do any of you have synaesthetic effects around your perfumes and other scented things? (For those who aren't feeling like clicking links, synaesthesia is when you have two or more senses that overlap or interact--- some of the most common ones are associating colors with letters or numbers, although just about any combination is possible--- the link is to a book called The Man Who Tasted Shapes, in which an MD was inspired to research synaesthesia as a result of a friend who could tell that chicken was undercooked because "it didn't have enough points on it". In this case, we'd be talking about sounds, colors, textures, etc., that your perfumes and other scents call up for you--- or other scent-related overlaps: did you buy a perfume because it smells like your favorite song, for example, or your favorite color?)

- Relatedly, do any of you associate particular scents with fictional characters (ones you follow in others' work, ones you work on yourself, ones who are both, etc.?)

I'll post my answers down below as an example, if anyone's curious.

(Suggested tags: meta; maybe something related to "things we relate to scents" or "ways we experience scents")

Comments

[sathari]

Synaesthesia with my perfumes: the two I'm most conscious of right now are Dee and Jezebel, both from BPAL. Dee: as I said over in the thread I linked above, "sniffing it on me is the mental equivalent of curling up in an overstuffed leather armchair in front of a roaring fire and that is just the beginning of my description". I can see/feel the fire, and the dark stone room with no light but the fire, and the deep brown leather armchair, and the plaid fuzzy blanket I'm wrapped in, and the mug of dark hot tea on the table--- all from a sniff of Dee on my skin! If I'm going for a quicker description, "it smells warm and brown" would be what I'd say about it (so temperature-feels as well as color ones!)

Jezebel is a little less thorough in its imagery for me: I'm wearing it right now, and it's the color of honey and sand and sunsets and just a hint of something green, and something orange-and-red and blossoming, and the feel of a kind of humid almost-warmth. It's kind of a desert-after-the-rain scent to me (not that I know what actual deserts smell like after rains), which brings me to my next point...

Characters you associate with certain scents: there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that the "cactus-flower perfume" that I have been known to write Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca from Final Fantasy XII as wearing? Smells exactly like Jezebel even though it would be made from different things in her world (like, um, actual cactus flowers, lol) than it is in ours. Similarly, I am developing whole headcanon structures around the rules for the different Archadian Houses' scents, based around the use of sandalwood and pine "chops" as social currency/markers in canon. (All of which is actually no more nor less than a way to explain exactly why the scent that Vayne Solidor always wears smells uncannily like BPAL's Bow and Crown of Conquest. Which in turn has to do with the cedar note in it and the existence of cedar chops as an Imperial-family-exclusive status mark--- I just basically have a chicken-or-egg problem: did the Solidors get a House scent blended for them with cedar in it because cedar chops were used by the Imperial family and they were marking/staking their turf, or did they start using cedar chops as an Imperial-family-only symbol after they took the Imperial throne, because it was part of their House's signature scent? Oh, decisions, decisions!) Likewise, I am trying to pick an awesome sandalwood scent for House Bunansa, so that I know what Balthier wears when he's feeling nostalgic or embittered, or needs to prove a point/establish his status at a visceral level to an Archadian.)

Those are the ones I have a lot of current headcanon about, and strangely I don't have a lot of scent thoughts for characters from other games (except that I seem to have adopted the broad general bit of fanon that SOLDIERs from FFVII are hypersensitive to scent and probably don't wear cologne etc. even when they're not in the field.) On the other hands, back when the first Iron Man movie came out I amused myself imagining someone telling Tony Stark about BPAL and him promptly trying a variety of the scents with sexually suggestive names, especially names that he would see as letting him introduce the topic of his own sexuality into the conversation, like Casanova and Golden Priapus, lol. Also, Padme Amidala from the Star Wars prequel trilogy has a scent with plum notes in it but I don't know what else or what the scent is!

[lunabee34]

I love your Tony Stark head canon. LOL

[sathari]

Thanks! So glad it amuses! (I also have even more out-there headcanon that he processes scents the same way more-neurotypical people do faces/names: he's kind of faceblind, but if you wear the same scent profile you did when he met you, he'll remember that. This has interesting social consequences, not least of which is making him look like a douche who doesn't remember all the women he's slept with--- he does, it's just he remembers what they smelled like at the time, not their faces or names! Oops! Christine he remembered because she has a very regular set of trusted products she uses all the time, much like Natasha has an arsenal of trusted weapons, and so she did smell the same all the times they met, even though he couldn't get her name right to save his life.) (Man, I haven't thought about my Tony headcanon in a long time; this is hilarious to play with!)

[lunabee34]

That's pretty perfect. LOL I love it.

I am waiting desperately for my BPAL order to arrive; I was a bit dismayed when I started digging around the site and realized it could take a loooong time (but it makes sense since everything is hand made etc), but one of things I plan to do is write fic for each of the perfumes I try based on a character the perfume reminds me of. I just don't know what those are yet. LOL

I do have some ideas about more commercial perfumes. Like, Cordelia Chase totally wore Exclamation in seventh grade.

[sathari]

Oh, wow, I'm so glad! (He's one of the characters it's just too easy for me to come up with cracky headcanon for, it's hilarious.)

Oh, man, waiting for BPAL. It's... a thing. As you say, makes sense since everything is handmade, but the process of waiting for the sniffies is almost part of that particular perfume-fandom's culture. (It has been a while since I bought anything new from the, but I still remember the excitement of a shipping notice! It was kind of like two gifts in one, because there was the fun of picking out the perfumes and then they'd arrive so much later that it was like a separate thing! Especially given the surprise random imps.)

And, wow, writing fic around scents sounds amazing! (Also like the sort of thing other people here would enjoy reading--- I'd get a kick out of it as a scent-fan even if I don't know the other canons involved.) and love the ideas with more commercial perfumes too!

[lunabee34]

Oh that's right! I had seen that sometimes you get free imps with a purchase. Or is that every time? Either way, it sounds awesome.

I hope other people are interested in scent!fic. It kinda sounds a wee tad pretentious when I say it out loud, but I think it would be so fun to think of the perfume as a writing prompt. Plus, it's not like BPAL doesn't wax poetical itself on the site with all the scents. LOL IDK

[sathari]

It was every time back when I was buying regularly; not sure if that's changed, as it's been a while for me.

Not pretentious at all--- admittedly, I've only ever played around the edges of the "active BPAL fandom", if you will, but it seems very much like a natural "thing" in the fandom! :)

[lunabee34]

Oh good. :)

[kore]

There's at least one BPAL RP comm on LJ, altho I don't remember if it's been updated recently.

[kore]

Writing prompt is a great idea!

I've ordered from them recently -- the shipping times have improved a lot, and they do still send frimps, altho they seem to send fewer now.

[sathari]

I've ordered from them recently -- the shipping times have improved a lot, and they do still send frimps, altho they seem to send fewer now.

That is awesome to hear! *has just placed an order and would rather have faster shipping with fewer frimps*

[lunabee34]

I ordered 12 imps and ended up getting 4 frimps. I was super pleased with that. :)

I'm glad you like the idea of writing prompts. I am having a lot of fun with them.

[umadoshi]

one of things I plan to do is write fic for each of the perfumes I try based on a character the perfume reminds me of.

That sounds really neat. I'm excited to see what you come up with!

[lunabee34]

Yay! Me too. :)

[musyc]

Thirding, fourthing, n-thing this. I'm considering it for myself. I need something to boot me back into daily writing and/or fan_flashworks and this idea could help loads.

[kore]

'back when the first Iron Man movie came out I amused myself imagining someone telling Tony Stark about BPAL and him promptly trying a variety of the scents with sexually suggestive names, especially names that he would see as letting him introduce the topic of his own sexuality into the conversation, like Casanova and Golden Priapus'

aahaha oh God that is beyond perfect

[sathari]

:D :D :D Thanks! (He just would. Because any excuse for him to introduce sex, and specifically the possibility of sex with him, into a conversation is obviously a good one in his mind.)