synecdochic: torso of a man wearing jeans, hands bound with belt (Default)
synecdochic ([personal profile] synecdochic) wrote in [community profile] smellsgood2014-04-11 06:48 am

What does that character smell like?

Inspired by a few discussions we've had in comments here and there to open posts, and because [personal profile] rydra_wong said this morning "Also, there should totally be the perfume equivalent of fanmixes -- find the appropriate scent for all the main characters in a show ..."

So, if you've got a scent association with a particular character, or are trying to find a scent that sums up a character, let's make lists!
elfin: image: olivia, aqua background (fringe.olivia looking up)

[personal profile] elfin 2014-04-11 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I love this idea.

I've been trying to find a scent that makes me think of Olivia Dunham from Fringe (blue universe, not red) for a while. What I'd like is bourbon and gunpowder, but all the bourbon scents that I'm aware of are far to sweet. Det. Patrick Gleason from BPAL is on my list to try, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Ideas?
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
I suspect it will fall under too sweet but what about BPAL's juke joint? I just got a frimp today that I haven't tried, but the forums say that it smells just like a mint julep.
elfin: image:  olivia;  text: invincible (Default)

[personal profile] elfin 2014-04-12 12:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Hadn't thought of that one. I'll add it to my list of things to try.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-14 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
My daughter and I tested Juke Joint yesterday and it falls squarely into Does Not Work for Me. It's got 13 pages of reviews on the site which are almost exclusively positive except for me and Kiera on pg 6 who had the same reaction to the scent. LOL

You are welcome to it if you'd like. I will never wear it again.
elfin: image:  olivia;  text: invincible (Default)

[personal profile] elfin 2014-04-14 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
I'd love to try it, but the only imps I have to trade right now are Thorns and Has No Hanna. I've got and order of imps in, if you want to wait for something different.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-14 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
No trade is necessary. :) It's yours free and clear. But if you want to trade, either of those sounds great to me. I'm so new to this gig that I have no idea what I do and don't like at this stage. :)
ceebee_eebee: (Effie Trinket)

[personal profile] ceebee_eebee 2014-04-11 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, what got me into fragrance in the first place was trying to work out what Effie Trinket smells like. I finally decided it's Guerlain Insolence. :)

And sticking with the Hunger Games universe, it has been suggested by my darling friend Em that Johanna Mason wears Serge Lutens Miel de Bois.
lunabee34: (sg1: carter b/w by miss_atom)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I am convinced that Cordelia and all her minions wore Exclamation! in junior high. And it smelled utterly awful on Harmony but she wore it every day anyway because she didn't want to be different from the other Cordettes.

I asked Emma this question, and she told me she thinks Sam Carter smells like the outdoors, specifically pine trees. IDK what perfume smells like pine trees, but Emma is convinced that this is what Carter smells like.
lunabee34: (sg1: carter field gear b/w by casett)

Re: BPAL pine scents

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, sweet! I have an imp of Ranger waiting for me to try. I will have to ask Emma if it's what she envisioned for Sam. :)

Thanks.
ext_12512: Antique's Min Seon-Woo, gift-wrapped bad influence (Antique bad influence)

[identity profile] smillaraaq.livejournal.com 2014-04-12 01:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Not pine specifically, but two more BPAL possibilities that smelled very walk-in-the-woods on me:

http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/diabolus/loup-garou/

http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/excolo/ochosi/

If your skin doesn't amp the eucalyptus or shea excessively (mine doesn't), Loup Garou was very resiny-green-foresty on my skin, and Ochosi was even more outdoorsy with the wet-crushed-green herbal notes dancing around the resiny spruce.

Also, if you're open to non-BPAL suggestions, I haven't tried them myself but the wildcrafted Juniper Ridge scents have some very interesting possibilities: http://juniperridge.com/collections/backpacker-s-cologne
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
All of that sounds lovely. Thank you so much for the recs.

And I am completely open to non-BPAL suggestions. I'm starting with them because they're a relatively inexpensive way to try a lot of things at once; I don't think I'm at the point in my perfume exploration where I'm ready to spend much money on something that may or may not work. But I think as I spend time figuring out notes with BPAL and what I like and etc., I'll be ready to make some more risky purchases. :)
ext_12512: wolf-Amaterasu from Okami, with falling autumn maple leaves (Okami kaede)

[identity profile] smillaraaq.livejournal.com 2014-04-13 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[personal profile] undomielregina and I were just chatting about the Juniper Ridge stuff last night - she recently ordered their sampler pack and said the ones she's tried so far really did smell like being outdoors in the regions described.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-14 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
that's good to know! Thank you. :)
vass: Small turtle with green leaf in its mouth (Default)

[personal profile] vass 2014-04-12 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
BPAL's 'Black Forest' has pine, but I don't think it's Sam Carter. It's more fairy tale than she is. She'd have more fresh air, and fewer ominous berries and wolves closing in to eat you.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
*nods*

That's exactly what my daughter Emma said. Fresh air, outdoorsy. "She's not a girly girl, Mom. She smells like pine trees and outside." LOL
ceebee_eebee: (Sikozu)

[personal profile] ceebee_eebee 2014-04-12 04:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Not pine trees specifically, but I am obsessing over Wonderwood by Comme de Garcons. It's the woodiest perfume I've ever smelled. It's GORGEOUS.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, that sounds fantastic. I imagine I would like this a lot. Molton Brown used to make (still makes prob) a showery gel that was really peppery and kinda woody smelling. The description of Wonderwood sounds kinda like that except better. I love cedar. We always had a lot around the house because my daddy worked with wood and it smells so lovely.
cyprinella: broken neon sign that reads "lies & fish" (Default)

[personal profile] cyprinella 2014-04-12 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Kerosene's Black Vines smelled of anise and pine trees. Didn't work for me but might for others.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-13 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
That sounds divine to me. Thanks for the rec.

Clearly I want to smell the way my daughter imagines Sam Carter to smell if my reactions to all these recs are any indication. LOL
cyprinella: Rosemary sprigs (rosemary)

[personal profile] cyprinella 2014-04-13 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
If you want my sample, I will happily send it to you. I am not going to wear it.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-14 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
Oh that would be fabulous. I'm in the US; is that okay? If so, I will PM you my details.
cyprinella: broken neon sign that reads "lies & fish" (Default)

[personal profile] cyprinella 2014-04-14 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
that's perfect.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-14 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
Okay. :) PMing.
sathari: (BPAL)

[personal profile] sathari 2014-04-12 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
I talked about my current strong character-with-scent associations over here, to which I'll add that one of the things I love about [personal profile] irnan's Star Wars fics is that she talks about scent a lot, and about Anakin smelling like combat and engines, basically, which is amazing and perfect.

On the "hunting for a character's scent" side, BPAL totally owes this comm and specifically this post some kind of shout-out, because I ordered new BPAL for the first time in literally years today: decided I was actually going to try to find Balthier's or rather House Bunansa's signature scent. All I know is there's sandalwood in it, as there is for the signature scents of all of the Archadian noble houses; they literally wear their sandalwood chops for everyone to smell. (Will post reviews of the imps I bought once I get them, and possibly do another review post once everything's had time to sit in the vials for a bit.)
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
Oooh, I am testing Incantation right now. Is that one of the sandalwoods you bought?
sathari: (BPAL)

[personal profile] sathari 2014-04-12 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
Alas, it's not on my list--- for some reason I keep remembering that the scent of vetiver does not agree with me, although it's been a while since I played around with scents in a serious way.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
Good call then. It is deeply vetivery. LOL

:)
archersangel: general trek icon. (trek)

[personal profile] archersangel 2014-04-12 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
now i'm wondering what some star trek characters would smell like. my brain does not need this.

vulcans would smell like the desert or some sort of dusty or parchment scent.

klingons smell like rum (or other strong liquor), leather & metal

as for the captains:

kirk (the original version): more of the "manly" or "earthy" scents. musk, mushrooms & wood.

picard: wine-chardonnay (his family had a vineyard/winery), books-old/dusty & tea-black.

sisco: spices-african (his father owned a creole restaurant in new orleans) & maybe honeysuckle and jasmine or some other night-blooming flower.

janeway: coffee (her favorite drink), grass-green (she grew-up near a farm in indiana) & firewood

archer: [having a hard time with this one. my favorite. *points to user name*]
some sort of water scent (he played water polo), some sort of light musk, almond or maybe bread.

vass: Small turtle with green leaf in its mouth (Default)

[personal profile] vass 2014-04-12 04:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Picard would need to have a bergamot note along with the tea-black, to make it Earl Grey.

Janeway: also needs a dog note. And maybe linen, for her holodeck fantasies.

What notes would you pick for Bajorans and Cardassians?
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh, this is fun. I'm digging this Star Trek thread.

I think TOS Uhura smells like plums. And Reboot Uhura smells like apples--cold, wintery, crisp apples (this is totally because of talitha's Apple Candy Spock/Uhura/Kirk vid LOL).
archersangel: (insane)

[personal profile] archersangel 2014-04-12 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
i think bajorians would probably smell like incense, sandalwood (or other things burnt in religious ceremonies) & maybe smoke.

since cardassians prefer a darker, hotter, and more humid environment than humans, their smell might be moss, lotus & maybe wet dirt or wet leaves.
feldman: (trelawny)

[personal profile] feldman 2014-04-13 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Ohhh, nice call. I think there'd also be a slight bitter or sour note to the Bajoran scent, though. The rancid ghee note, or the bitter herbs note. Very faint, the occasional whiff, had to pin down, but persistently there.
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)

[personal profile] azurelunatic 2014-04-12 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
I need to do some smell tests for a perfume for my character Mithi. She seems like she ought to be warm, spicy, round notes, but she's actually more spiky.
ext_12512: Hinoe from Natsume Yuujinchou, elegant and smirky (Hinoe smirking)

[identity profile] smillaraaq.livejournal.com 2014-04-12 12:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I've been playing the character-scent game for years (and have accidentally sucked many a friend into BPAL by way of it), thanks to a friend who deliberately cultivated the use of such character-associated scents as a productivity-headspace tool for writing. I'm also one of those people who tends towards mildly synaesthetic responses to scent - mostly color, texture, temperature, sense of place, and some visuals - so it really wasn't much of a leap to go to character associations that fit the images/sensory impressions as well as the scents!

Here are three of my absolute favorites:

BPAL Perversion (http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/ars-amatoria/perversion/)
This is forever Saiyuki's "chivalrous pervert" Sha Gojyo to me. On my skin it comes on strong, raunchy and heavy and not remotely subtle, all smoky-boozy tobacco and leather. But as it dries and wears throughout the day, the raunchiness gradually softens as the warm powdery-vanilla sweetness of the tonka base grows more prominent. Despite the Lab's description I find this ultimately a very warm, comforting security blanket of a scent - it gives me feelings and images of being wrapped up in a leather jacket fresh off the back of a favorite person, still warm from their body heat, carrying the lingering scent of their favorite smokes and their favorite dive-bar hangout and their own skin as well as the scent of the leather itself, so that just wearing it feels almost like a disembodied embrace. And for Gojyo, who tries really hard to present himself as a macho devil-may-care tough-guy ladies'-man, but has a marshmallow-soft sweet heart hidden (not very well) under his crass persona, that's just the way it should be.

BPAL Fenris Wolf (http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/diabolus/fenris-wolf/)
I didn't have a character for this until years after I fell in love with it, but now I'll always associate it with the best aspects of Klaus von Wolfstadt from Hyakujitsu no Bara, and much like "Perversion" earlier this scent actually feels much less dark and sinister to me than it does in the lab's writeup. It shifts a little bit in drydown on me, with initial hints of fresh green resiny pine forests quickly settlng to warmer, dryer woods; together with the faintly sweet golden resinous warmth of amber and the animalic warmth of the musk, it gives me an overwhelming image of sunlight on warm fur. A big dog, if not perhaps a wolf, quietly watchful but peaceful and still, confdent enough in its own strength to be utterly at ease, basking in the simple pleasure of being bathed in warm sunlight on a clear cool day. I'm very much a dog person, and so like "Perversion" this is all the sort of thing that makes it feel very comforting and warm to me, like the scent equivalent of burying my fingers in the thick warm fur of a much-loved dog at my side, right where he belongs. And for Klaus, who's constantly associated with canine and lupine images, and who at his best is his master's loving and loyal guard dog, that just fits; that's what he is when he is happy and secure.

Shiseido Zen (http://www.shiseido.com/classic-zen-eau-de-cologne/0730852501201,en_US,pd.html&cgid=fragrance-zen&)
(Original 1964 "Classic" version, NOT any of the newer Zens! - http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.com/2010/01/frequent-questions-many-versions-of.html)
This is my scent for Hyakujitsu no Bara's Taki Reizen, and like "Fenris Wolf" this is one I've loved for a long time before having a character for it...a very long time, ever since I was a little girl sneaking lingering sniffs of it from the bottle that lived on my calabash auntie's bathroom counter! Many reviewers have classed this as a chypre and chypres and I usually aren't friends, but this has always been magical to me. On my skin it's primarily dry woody-incense, sandalwood and agarwood, clear and dry rather than heavy and smoky; on drydown there are eventual delicate hints of the ghost of a floral sweetness of rose and jasmine, only blooming fully with skin-warmth and time, and careful attention to discern them. It's a light and quiet scent to me, rather than a soft one - a little too austere initially in its understated elegance to be obviously alluring the way something more self-consciously sexy or sweet is, ikebana rather than an overstuffed bouquet; but that very quietness and simplicity makes it seductive in its own unconscious way. It doesn't shout to get your attention the way sillage-monster bombshell fragrances too, it just is its own self, lingering close to the skin; if you want to hear it clearly you have to be the one to come closer and listen carefully, but it's only in doing so that its full warmth and complexity and elusive sweetness can be understood. And that's very much Taki as I think Klaus sees him - austere quiet beauty that's unaware of itself, innocently seductive, enigmatic and compelling, forever drawing you back closer in search of that elusive secret sweetness.
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-04-12 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh man, I wish I was familiar with these fandoms because your character/scent descriptions are so fascinating!
ext_12512: Maiden Rose, Taki and Klaus in chibi kemonomimi Pawpads versions (kemonomimi Taki and Klaus)

[identity profile] smillaraaq.livejournal.com 2014-04-13 07:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Awww, thanks! Favorite characters and favorite perfumes are both things I can TL;DR about at the slightest excuse, doubly so in the rare cases like these where they collide.
momijizukamori: Green icon with white text - 'I do believe in phosphorylation! I do!' with a string of DNA basepairs on the bottom (Default)

[personal profile] momijizukamori 2014-04-12 04:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I end up picking ones that go with costumes because if you're going to look fabulous, you may as well smell good too, right? Of course, I thought I had a list for this somewhere and don't, so I'm running from memory

Rufus Shinra (FF7) - Whitechapel
Tseng (FF7) - Neo-Tokyo
Jyuushirou Ukitake (Bleach) - Thunder Moon
Shunsui Kyorauku (Bleach) - Kumiho or Kyoto (I can't remember)
Sailor Uranus (Sailor Moon) - Lightning
Alexis Hargreaves (Count Cain) - Hellfire
Gintoki Sakata (Gintama) - Beaver Moon '07 or Sugar Skull (either fit)
Jean Grey/Phoenix (X-Men) - Sunbird or Hesiod's Phoenix
Dark Phoenix (X-Men) - Ovid's Phoenix

...which of course leaves me with a bunch off current costumes unmatched still.
vass: Dykes To Watch Out For: Janis, pre-transition, singing Britney Spears (happysingingjanis)

[personal profile] vass 2014-04-12 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
DTWOF: OMG SO MUCH PATCHOULI AND SANDALWOOD FOR THIS FANDOM. And in the middle of them all, there's Mo with her self-righteous white musk.

Lois might actually be Bulgari Black. I can't get it to play nice with my body chemistry, and it has that dreaded 'perfume' note I can't handle. But from the way other people describe it, I think it's Lois. Cheerfully, enthusiastically, unthreateningly kinky.

Mo: as mentioned, something that evokes laundry powder in everyone who smells it. With an undercurrent of... vanilla? Vanillin, lignin, something like that? Book pages, but also a hint of corruptibility. In a unisex or masculine formulation.

Sydney: something very deliberately and consciously 'perfumey'. Boutique parfumerie, not an indie oil. The phrase she'd use herself is 'femme aggressiveness', but in a very consciously deconstructed way - femme with a giant dildo and a shelf of cultural studies journals. So much Iso-E-Super. So much.

Clarice: I'm thinking pears and cinnamon and cedarwood, warm and homey, but fenced in by something jarring and synthetic. "A butch in a skirt," Toni called her when she went for her interview at the environment firm. Someone who put on corporate drag and then the wind changed. But the synthetic thing should also capture her zeal, her willingness to sacrifice anything to fight for her cause. I'm not sure what note that'd be.

Toni: whatever that last note was for Clarice, this would be the natural, non-synth version of that, and sandalwood, and something floral, but I'm not sure what.

Sparrow: the source of most of the patchouli and sandalwood fumes. Also grapefruit and rosemary and a bit of pepper, and an oddly strong note of steel. This one is an indie oil-based perfume. No alcohol. You can't buy this blend, you have to barter for it from your friend who does tarot readings at the farmer's market.

Ginger: do I even have to say what the top note is? ...It's ginger. Plus a tiny hint of patchouli, a bit of cloves, a good dollop of leather and paper, and... would lavender work with ginger? I'm not sure. If not lavender, maybe rosemary? Something to cover "studious and intensely focused and also zealous, but with a strong streak of procrastination." Oh, orange! Definitely orange zest. Bright and sharp. And definitely a doggy note as well.

Stuart: basil and musk and cilantro and nutritional yeast (is that a thing you can put in perfumes? he would try anyway) and citrus.

Janis: right now, I regret to say, Britney Spears' 'Fantasy'. She'll grow out of it and end up with something still feminine but less EXPLOSION OF TEENAGE GIRL.
Edited 2014-04-12 16:46 (UTC)
sapote: The TARDIS sits near a tree in sunlight (Default)

[personal profile] sapote 2014-04-12 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know how I feel about this, but I think Dave Strider smells like the opening of Bulgari Black.
recessional: a photo image of feet in sparkly red shoes (film; broken mind)

[personal profile] recessional 2014-04-13 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
At least half of all scented things I own are associated with original fiction characters. Not just perfumes, but lotions and suchlike, too.

In terms of fannish stuff Winter Soldier ate my soul, so there's a tinge of metal and ozone to everything. :P
kore: (Default)

[personal profile] kore 2014-04-15 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I must admit than when writing I typically assign at least one BPAL scent to characters, because it's fun. But I hadn't thought of the fancasting idea here, which is awesome!