Back to Basics: smell bent vocabulary

Indie perfumers smell bent has introduced a new series of  six scents they call “vocabulary” which are designed to be worn alone or in layers:

Floral certainly isn’t going to be accused of false advertising.  I smell (I think) a touch of muguet, a hint of jasmine and a little heliotrope.  I’m glad they didn’t get too over-the-top here; it’s very pretty, and works well with a spritz of

Dry, which isn’t quite truthfully named.  It’s a spicy, balsamic incense that’s more dry in the sense of dry martini than dry desert.  No bad thing that.

Musky is (shockingly) my favorite, with its fruity immortelle base.  I loved it alone but especially liked it layered with

Green, which had notes ranging from sweet fresh-mown grass to bitter celery.  I love green in scents and this tickled my green fancy.

Woody is interesting.  It doesn’t get to “wood” in the conventional way by using cedar or something, but the odd combination of notes (root beer, amber and spices) actually remind me of the smell of freshly cut wood that I remember from the wood shop class I was forced to take in school.  Since that smell and a rather misshapen wastebasket were the only good memories I took from that class I might let this one sit on the shelf and stick with

Citrus, which is bright and aldehydic, taking the usual juice and peel of the fruit and introducing an interesting bit of the pith.  I could see this as the “type O” of the group: nice on its own but perhaps even better when used to add interesting layers to any of the other five.

As usual, these are $7 for a 4ML travel spray or $49 for a 50ML edt.  They have a package of all 6 in travel size for $33 with free shipping at the smell bent website.  I received my samples from the perfumer.  Artwork is from smell bent.

  • FragrantWitch says:

    These sound like fun and, as Ann says, could be great first-aid scents! I really like the sound of Dry and Citrus. Musk got ruined for me with the mention of immortelle- I magnify sweetness so that is a general no-go note for me. Floral sounds possible as an easy layer.
    Thanks, Tom!

  • Sabrina says:

    LOL I’m just commenting because the SB graphic you included annoys me. I get the humour in the sense that a lot of brands release five or so scents at once to get you to have to buy several for your different moods or to layer and create your own signature a la Jo Malone (which is a funny idea all on its own). But seriously, a completist in perfumery terms is more likely someone with all the bottles of Nahema including the tester version or with twenty different jasmine soliflores. The Smell Bent company is funny, but “completist” is such a loaded term!

    • Tom says:

      I think it’s meant more as a joke, but..

      • Sabrina says:

        Yeah, I get it. But when I saw it, I thought, “Come on now, Smell Bent.” Probably I’m sick of new releases in sets of five. Or maybe I’d prefer if above the drop-down menu for the sample set they included a definition of the word “indecisive.”

  • Joanna says:

    Ohhhhh Tom, you had me at wood shop class. It was a required class in jr.high. My teacher had to ask me to stop sniffing the saws.

    • Musette says:

      =))

      hey, Joanna, I need to chat with you re Mason City – can you contact me at my gmail. evilauntieanita

      thx

      xo >-)

    • Tom says:

      That was one of the things I wanted to do in woodshop too! That and leave..

      • Joanna says:

        Musette, emailed ya!

        Tom, *nod* I hear ya. That shop teacher ended up being pretty cool. Once he figured out I liked the smell of the wood being cut he spent one whole class period explaining to our class that one way to identify species of wood is by smell.

  • Musette says:

    Well……:-?

    You know, the more I think about this, the more I think it might be a very fun way to introduce someone to the idea of scent ‘vocabulary’. I could see getting this for my 15yr old goddaughter so she could experiment and begin to learn her own preferences (not saying it’s age-restrictive – she just comes immediately to mind)

    And the price is right for that type of experimentation! 😡

    xo >-)

  • Ann says:

    Oooh, Tom, what a cool idea. These sound great, some of them solo and others together. What fun you could have layering! Not to mention that several might be good “first-aid” scents, to rescue a scrubber and maybe even turn it into a sniffer. Thanks!