Maria > Recent Status Updates

I’ve read graphic novels, but this might be my first actual manga.

“Dementia-cursed”

Perfect description

Like Good Material, the main character is going through a painful, messy time in his life after his breakup with Jen, yet won’t go to therapy about it. And both had a mother who died when they were young?

(Lately the novels I’m reading seem to have some element that relates to the previous one.)

"The patchouli," I say. "your scent. What is it?"
"Oh." Penelope laughs. "I make it myself. I use this aged patchouli oil I found at an Italian pharmacy near Portofino. And I mix it with a little vetiver and rose. And jojoba oil as a carrier."

"I'm wearing the moon milk, have been wearing it since that romantic bender in Penelope's bungalow. For a few months, I associated it with her ... But eventually, it started to smell like me. A Swedish girl. Spicy and moody but secretly sweet. I spitz it every morning, the tiniest amount, and the scent keeps me company throughout the day. I even bought a whole bottle ..."

"She hugs me and I smell patchouli the briefly jolts me back in time. While observing over her absence, I ordered samples of nearly every patchouli-forward scent I could find on the internet. But nothing smelled like her."

"She's wearing a bodycon dress and a cloying floral perfume ..."

"I sip some what and thing about what perfume I would wear [to a Lesbian LitCrawl reading]. Probably something off-putting and a little scary, although I haven't strayed from the moon milk in a while."

likely: Rogue Evergreens
"I greet him with a bottle of fancy body wash and cologne from an Oregon company that uses sustainable harvested plants to make craft fragrances, and he seems surprised, but touched."

"Opening my front for, I'm first hit with a scent. Orchids and metal. I look down to avoid the sun and see pink cowboy boots. Looking up, I see dar hair, eager eyes."

"[P]atchouli is a scent with 'a lot of misconceptions.' While now associate with wacky sacks and jam bands, early European traders valued patchouli as highly as gold, and Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen was buried with forty liters of patchouli oil. I ordered a few patchouli-based perfume samples, pulling a 180 on my beliefs per usual."

"The patchouli smell that once repulsed me now fils me with a warm, serene feeling."

"... I eventually become certain that 'moon milk' is a poetic euphemism for female cum."

Moonmilk by Stora Skuggan
"For almost an hour, I spritz various sections of my arms, sniffing, moving into different rooms, sniffing, moving outside, sniffing, seeing how they smell after one minutes, after fifteen minutes, after thirty. I eventually land on a Swedish perfume described not as a fragrance but rather as 'moon milk.' It's supposed to smell like creamy black tea and soft woods and smooth leather ..."

perhaps: Narcissistic White by Miraculum or Jasmine White Leather by Bohoboco
"I spritz my forearm and neck with aPolish perfume that smells of sparkling citrus and gauzy white florals. Light, fresh, flirty, fun."

"... I went on the r/fragrance subreddit and asked if anyone had recommendations, writing something along the lines of: *elusive fragrance for an aspiring it girl?* I got samples of most of the recs, unless they were made by mainstream luxury brands, or if the person recommending seemed insane or had an anime avatar. I like this one, even if it's a Le Labo knockoff. At least it's actually French ..."

Papyrus Moleculaire by Maison Crivelli
"I spritz myself with a niche French perfume that's supposed to smell like tattooed women smoking cigarillos. Fragrantica--essentially Rotten Tomatoes for perfume--identifies its primary notes as woody, aromatic, and fresh spicy, and reviews say it's a knockoff of Santal 33, the cherished scent of Kat Gold and most people who claim to be gluten intolerant."

"... I click around on the fragrance subreddits and make a Google Doc organizing all the perfume samples I've tried, which house and notes and accords I lobe -- amber, musk black tea -- and despise -- tuberose, powder, gourmands (why people want to smell like food is beyond me). I fantasize about starting my own perfume line, a thought that excites me in the way the way the thought of writing a novel once did ..."

"I take the test strip and sniff, and it smells so chic, the world's rarest rose. ... I say I wan to smell 'enigmatic.' ... [W]e all agree that we want to smell like elusive fucking. The twink and the silver fox retrieve a bunch of perfumes in ornate bottles, each more inventive than the next. We all try each scent and ... I get free samples of a niches American and a spicy rose."

perhaps: Croissant Cafe by Versatile or Capuccino & Cornetto by Jousset Parfums or Pain au Chocolat by Odette Parfum Co.
"She hands me a test strip. "It smells like a buttery croissant from the streets of Paris." I take it in my hand, sniff, and she's right, I could eat the paper." I'm not sure I want to smell like a croissant," I say. "Me neither," she says. "But isn't it amazing?""

Scent Bar Hollywood
"To kill the hours, I drive to the niche perfume store that sparked my obsession. It's on Beverly Boulevard in Fairfax... The vibes are impeccable. Philip Glass is playing and both employees are hot... Everyone in the store is chatting, animated, high, and handing each other little tester strips to snip, like we're in the bathroom of the Chateau Marmont and someone has exceptionally pure cocaine."

"Spritzing my wrists with a silky musk, I'm confident that Ive will not show."

"But then a familiar smell hits me, one that's foreign to my apartment, a perfume I know but don't own. ... I'm about to run when I identify the smell: tangy metallic orchids."

"In the dressing room [of Victoria's Secret], I take a whiff and realize this store is Ivy's scent, the one I smelled in the car: blooming orchids and metal. The metal scent, I've realized from my time spent in fringed Reddit forums, is likely aldehydes -- an organic compound popularized by its use in Chanel No. 5 in 1921 and that smells champagne-like, sparkly, fizzy, metallic."

"I smell dirt and also Kat's perfume, which I'm certain is Santal 33, the scene too nouveau bourgeoisie."

"I"m wearing my softest white T-shirt, Issey Miyake knockoff plissé pants, Sambas, a dab of mascara, and my most niche perfume."

"I spend twenty minutes trying to figure out what perfume to wear for the next Zoom workshop and decide on one that at first smells sexy -- a smoky leather -- but ultimately makes me nauseous during the meeting. Perfume -- like people, alcohol, my coping mechanisms -- frequently turns on me."

Radio Bombay - DS&Durga
"I smell my forearm. I've abandoned Iso E Super, which has started to smell chemically and sour. This afternoon I tested many sections of my arms and smiled for hours like a damn bloodhound, eventually landing on a woodsy peachy scent created by a married couple in Brooklyn. ... Sniffing now, I'm confident I picked the right one. It smells spicy and creamy, as one should smell on a date."

"The scent hits me again, patchouli and glue, but it doesn't bother me so much this time. Instead, I get excited about the glue smell, acidic and intoxicating."