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

[thatyourefuse]

Oh, BOY, do I associate smells with fictional characters.

I think the best example of this may have been the time I applied Guerlain Nahema for the first time, sniffed my wrist about a half hour in, and almost physically jumped because I smelled like Mrs. Coulter.

That was really actually pretty great.

[sathari]

Oh, wow, that's cool! (And, okay, this is extremely flimsy knowledge on my part at best, but, Guerlain says Nahema, I immediately jump to BPAL's Nahemoth, which was named for a particular concept of "The Evil Woman".... I'll just leave that there for you, if it fits your read on the character.)

[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.

about point #2

[archersangel]

i never did until all this talk about black phoenix alchemy lab (BPAL) started (and i don't even wear perfume). my weird brain brought up the idea of scents inspired by famous roman emperors & the amelia peabody series by elizabeth peters;

http://archersangel.dreamwidth.org/145008.html

and then famous queens;

http://archersangel.dreamwidth.org/145179.html

Re: about point #2

[sathari]

...so I was already smiling hugely about the concept of this comment, and then I went and read both of your posts, and I was like, "Scent fandom now has the equivalent of AUs and OCs! BEST THING EVER!" (Seriously, I feel like you've brought about a significant moment in fannish history, here. \o/)

[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!

[owlectomy]

One of the main things I've been using scents for lately is to help me focus on my writing. (I've had some very bad writing years, got trapped in not being able to concentrate because of anxiety and loss of self-confidence, and the best way around that for me has been training myself to use small sensory cues as messages that it's writing time. Whatever works?)

There's a snake-king in my WIP, so I was really happy to discover a solid perfume called "Serpent," which not only smells really good but also evokes some of the moods/themes of the story. It's not the perfume any of my main characters would wear (I think Hallie wears Marc Jacobs Daisy, Thea showers with bergamot soap, and Isabel... hm, Juliette Has A Gun Midnight Oud is the perfume she'd want to smell like, but I doubt she has a bottle) but it's great as an evocation.

[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

Re: about point #2

[lunabee34]

We are almost done watching Rome on HBOGO, and I am besotted with your ideas for Roman Emperors.

I actually bought the BPAL perfume based on Marc Antony.

What do you think Octavian would smell like? How do we smellify earnestness? LOL

Re: about point #2

[archersangel]

:D good to know my weird brain is good for something.

[byzantienne]

I both strongly associate scent with persona -- specific fictional people sometimes, or hypothetical fictional people that come to mind just wearing/smelling the perfume -- and with colors, which is more traditionally synesthetic. Scents absolutely have color palettes to me; for example, Tauer's 'L'Air du Desert Marocain' is clay-red, pale sand, and shimmering blue-grey.

Re: about point #2

[archersangel]

octavian is kind of tricky, now that i think of it. from what i recall reading of him he was big on morals. supposedly he outlawed adultery & taxed those who weren't married. he even banished he daughter for having an affair (or possibly more then one). so i was thinking the more "pure" scents; milk, coconut meat, maybe mint or white musk.

[sathari]

Definitely "whatever works" when it comes to writing! And so awesome that you've been able to find scents for so many of your characters, not to mention a mood-and-theme-scent!

[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! :)

Re: about point #2

[sathari]

We're talking about synaesthesia; by definition there's going to be lots of atypicality here! (Which IMO is awesome, but then I did make the post, so. :) )

[synecdochic]

Perfume is sound for me! I hear blends, and half the time I don't like one, it's because it makes a chord that's too dissonant for me.

I try to keep this out of my scent reviews, but sometimes I just have to say that Mage is exceptionally high-pitched or Whip is screechy.

Also, I don't have lists of scents for characters, but I have been searching for the scent of Midgar for a while. (Cinnamon-and-ozone aquatic for the Mako reactors, steel and asphalt for the Plate, and the smell of neon in the background. Yes, neon has a smell.)

[vass]

Before I started getting into perfumes this year, I expected I'd get a sense of place/setting from them. Instead I've getting character/persona, and that was unexpected and cool.

Usually it's someone I haven't met before, but sometimes it's a fictional character (or a famous person) I'm already fannish about. Serge Lutens' 'Gris Claire' is Gregor Vorbarra from the Vorkosigan series. And Piguet's 'Bandit' is Rachel Maddow. (It isn't just her - it could be other people too - but it's definitely her.)

[feldman]

Looking over my notes there're a lot of color and texture words that are experiential, not poetic. There is definitely something plum purple and mineral green about BPAL's Apothecary (not plum fruit, just the color). I'm not used to actually thinking about scent, and then putting it into words, which is problematic in doing any kind of review--my notes function mainly to remind myself of the scent.

Which is a question I'd like to throw out there: how many here can recall scents when you're not smelling them? I can, but the spouse cannot--however, he's a hundred times better at identifying scents, as in, "there's a hint of rosemary in this". I find the ability to verbally identify scents magical.

[teaotter]

I'm better with kitchen spices, because I'm accustomed to tasting/smelling a dish and thinking "this needs something, what does it need?" and mentally going through the spice cabinet for what fills the hole.

But then again, that started with me actually going through the spice cabinet when I was learning to cook, so I think it's training?

[teaotter]

I get spaces and textures, but my synaesthesia has always been predominantly kinesthetic. So "small room with a warm stone floor and a leather couch" is a possible response to a perfume.

I don't get characters, though I've spent some time thinking about what characters might wear. But that's as much about what perfumes evoke in me the same kinds of kinesthetic experiences as the character, so I'm always a little shy about talking about it.

(moved to correct reply spot, sorry!)

[feldman]

Cooking definitely counts as training! Which explains how the cook in the house can suss recipes solely from taste.

[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!