Rocannon

CXIII 113

They put vanilla in my Penitence. In the bottle it smells like incense and candy, which is kind of awesome, and at first it reminded me of Mead Moon, but now it's edging closer and closer to turning into the same plasticky badness as every other vanilla scent I've tried. The resiny goodness of Penitence is all that is holding it away from the brink... It's wearable, but oh, why does vanilla hate me so?

I had yet another bad reaction to a scent (read: a rash), and I'm getting frustrated with my own inability to spot the problem ingredient. At first I thought it was cinnamon, but that doesn't explain all the other oils. Here are all the scents I've reacted to:

The Dodo

Queen of Sheba

Bezoar

Silk Road

Urd

Bensiabel

Inferno

Saw-Scaled Viper

Libertarian

Hermia

The Phantom Calliope

Does anyone have any idea what I ought to be avoiding? I thought I knew what to look for, but then Bensiabel blindsided me.

I'd love to know what's in this, because it burns my skin a little. It reminds me a lot of Te Po -- fizzy, boozy, and spicy, but with less of an edge. It gave me a visible rash, so I washed it off before it had a chance to dry.

Has anyone posted a picture of Huesos de Santo yet? Here's the one I took. It's not the best quality, but you get the idea, I think.

p.s. if the link is broken, please let me know...

It smells like dirt!

I don't know why this is such a surprise.

In the bottle it smells like (raw, unwashed) mushrooms, and on my skin it smells like the garden section of a hardware store. It fades out on my skin faster than I want it to, so I'm sitting here happily snorfing my wrists. I love smells like this -- unusual, surprising, how'd-they-get-THAT-in-a-bottle? smells.

My skin eats most scents, so this one's strength was a delightful surprise for me. It's flowery, fruity, and warm -- and a bit strange, but I was expecting that. I really enjoy the fruit in it; it's not melony at all. Most fruit smells fade out very quickly for me, but not this one. It's not the most extraordinary scent I've gotten from the lab, but it is one of the ones I kind of want to roll around in. Overall, very nice. Definitely on my list of bottles to buy.

How does one pronounce some of the Japanese Scents? Kitsune-tsuki? Tananomae?

 

Help please.

Ooh, I know this one! Kitsune-Tsuki should sound like kits-nay (you do pronounce the u, but only a little little bit) tsoo-key (or maybe tskey; I don't know whether or not that u is voiced). The "ts" noise is like the "ts" in "its."

Tananomae is just tah nah no mah eh, with the last eh sounding like the noise Canadians make. All the a's sound the same. The ae cluster is two separate sounds -- ah eh.

Japanese does not put accents on any syllables at all, which is hard for us English speakers! To approximate that, it's best to put the accent on the first syllable.

I hope this helps!

Al-Azif is the weirdest I've tried so far. Others marked as "weird" in my database: Undertow, Voodoo Lily, and Nyarlathotep. I hope that helps.

L'Heure Verte is really hard to transliterate because it's got that gargly French "r" in it. Roughly, "loor vairt". However, both the "r" sounds are the guttural "r" like you never find in English, almost like an "h" or very soft "k" in the back of your throat. Sorry I can't be more useful here.

That sound sometimes crops up in Hebrew, assuming I have any idea what you're talking about. My biggest beef with French is never knowing which letters they've decided to pronounce.

Do you think I could get away with regular English rrrs? Or would that sound worse?

I love L'Heure Verte, but I can't tell anyone, because I can't pronounce it! Help?

Here's what I'm thinking of trying first:

Dana O'Shee

Sudha Segara

Jezebel

O

Athens

Delphi

You've all been very helpful. Thank you so much.

Hello! I'm trying to find something that smells like beeswax. I've been looking at O in particular, but I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions. Other scents I like are amber, vanilla, and rose. I've also always wanted to try jasmine. Scents I don't like are patchouli and sandalwood.

Thanks, everyone!