#note: leather

[cleolinda]

Sandalwood without sandalwood: Santal 33 (Le Labo, 2011)

(lelabofragrances.com)

As I've said before, most times I go into one of these writeups trying to answer a question. What is musk, what is amber, why is licorice Like That? So my question for Santal 33 was, why is this thing one of the most popular fragrances of the twenty-first century?

I have worn it 5-6 times, and I honestly have no idea.

I'm not even trying to be salty about this; I am genuinely, neutrally perplexed. Right now, even as I'm typing this, something's occurred to me, though. See, what I was going to say was, "This is supposed to be a sandalwood fragrance. It's a failure. It smells like leather and cucumbers. I barely get any sandalwood at all." And then I remembered what happened with me and the current eau de toilette of Samsara: is Le Labo also using a synthetic sandalwood, a "big molecule" like Javanol, which I can't smell?

As you might recall, there are certain synthetic notes that some people are just anosmic to. Kind of the way cilantro just tastes like soap to some people; it's personal, and it's weird. I'm fine with cilantro, but the current Samsara EdT—one of the biggest (as in physically biggest projection that will knock you down) sandalwood fragrances ever—smelled subtle on me. Or rather, it smelled subtle on me to me. I don't have any data on what I smelled like to other people who can actually perceive Javanol etc. All I really got was what must have been a smaller amount of natural Australian sandalwood oil at the bottom. And that's what I think I'm smelling—even less of it—in the drydown of Santal 33. The rest of the time: leather. And salad.

Which blew my mind, because the first time I heard of this fragrance was an opinion piece that I can't find now, to the effect of "Everybody in New York smells like sandalwood now and I'm sick of it. Thanks, Santal 33." I can't find that link, but I sure can find these:

That Perfume You Smell Everywhere Is Santal 33 (2015)

Le Labo Santal 33: The Scent That Went From Ruggedly Cool to Utterly Basic (2019)

I Don’t Care If Le Labo Santal 33 Is the [Pumpkin Spice Latte] of Fragrance

Someone has to say it – stop wearing Santal 33 (2021)

“everyone in New York smells like Santal 33” (2023)

Le Labo co-founder Fabrice Penot: "We are lucky at Le Labo to have a few 'cults' in our collection. But Santal 33 is another level of success; it has had a stupid amount of success. As a perfumer, you always secretly hope, but you never expect, such an impact."

Why is everybody wearing it??

(I love "a stupid amount of success." He gets it.)

I mean, I live in Elbow, Alabama (please show me this magical world where everyone smells like sandalwood), and I never fucking leave the house, so I wouldn't know that "everyone" does. I think I also have to accept that I will never, through no fault of Le Labo's, understand the allure for myself if I can't even smell the sandalwood. To orient us, though, a nifty summary from the "Utterly Basic" article:

Though it's now difficult to recall a time when SoHo wasn't filled with errant whiffs of the instantly recognizable aroma, Santal has only been around since 2011. Le Labo was inspired by both its preexisting, similar-smelling candle, Santal 26, and the rugged Marlboro Man ads from the latter half of the 20th century. In a press release, the perfumery described Santal 33 utilizing the romanticism of the early American west: "An open fire… The soft drift of smoke… Where sensuality rises after the light has gone," decidedly masculine descriptors for a unisex scent that would come to represent the smell of the social and fashion elite.

Indeed, here's the Le Labo site description:

Imagine sitting in solitude on the rugged, wide plains of the American West, firelight on your face, indigo-blue night skies above. There is nothing around save for the soft, desert wind. You. Are. Free. From this defining vision was born SANTAL 33: a perfume that touches the vast and wild universality of this dream... that intoxicates... It combines a mix of cardamom and notes of iris and violet, which crackle in the formula. Added to this smoking wood alloy (Australian sandalwood, cedarwood) are some spicy, leathery, musky notes, giving this perfume its signature and addictive comforting scent.

The thing is, Santal 33 is also notorious for smelling like dill pickles on people. I actually did get a whiff of dill—the dry herb, not from a pickle jar—when I first wore it on my wrist. But when I wore Santal 33 on the back of my hand—a "method" I discussed here—suddenly a plain, watery cucumber came out. Consistently, in fact, the next four times I wore it, and it really changes the mood of the fragrance, particularly if you can't smell the sandalwood. (Like I said, I can smell a little in the base notes as time goes on, maybe a small quantity of natural oil. It leans more cedar than anything.)

Curiously, the official Le Labo description doesn't mention papyrus, which is a fairly key note in every unofficial listing I've seen (parfumo.com, for example). I wondered at first if the "cucumber" note I was getting came from the papyrus, but that’s said to smell "aromatic or woody, a little dry, earthy and spicy." Which fits the Santal 33 brief perfectly, and might be the herbal "dill" note.

And some people do claim that it's the papyrus, but a poster on r/fragrance said, "Violet and sandalwood together can produce a note that comes off as dill-like." So I google further into this, and I find that "violet leaf" is often Givaudan's aromachemical Undecavertol, which has a "green-floral, fresh, fruity" character, and that could account for the plain cucumber I was getting.

At that point I remembered that Nest's South Pacific Sandalwood has violet leaf, sandalwood, and vetiver, and I happen to have a tiny "discovery" bottle. Guess what? Cucumber. So I'm going to say that [violet leaf + sandalwood] is a strong hypothesis, with or without papyrus.

Does vetiver contribute to the Pickle Effect? It’s not listed in Santal 33, but this fragrance is, after all, named after the number of components that perfumer Frank Voelkl used, and clearly, Le Labo is not revealing all of them. Vetiver, like papyrus, usually has a smoky, earthy quality; other varieties, like an essential oil I have, and the vetiver I think must be in Kuumba Made's Egyptian Musk, smell somewhat watery to me. Like, not marine "aquatic," but "watery-vegetal." If Santal 33 happened to contain vetiver, that could also contribute to the cucumber scent, I don' t know. I feel like the cucumber and/or pickle aspect isn't intentional, unless cowboys really love a good Claussen; it was probably the smoky, earthy, musky facets of vetiver (if I'm right) that were meant to come forward.

Why is Santal 33 so popular, though? Again: I don't even dislike it, but I have no idea. It's a strange one, and if can't smell the note it's named after, there's clearly some revelation being withheld from me here. In fact, Santal 33 really makes me question my concept of "masculine" and "feminine" in fragrance, because, while we all know that Gender Is Fake Except For the Parts You Enjoy anyway, this perfume in particular renders those terms useless. In fairness to me, Fabrice Penot says, "We never thought about who was going to wear it in terms of gender at Le Labo. We are more thinking of the souls — perfumery has to be sexual to me — it has to create an attraction, an addiction."

Now, I only have half a post drafted about what "sexual" terms in fragrance ("sexy," "flirty," "carnal") are supposed to mean if you (I) would like write more inclusively about perfume, so we're going to have to table "perfumery has to be sexual," not to mention the rhetorical jump from "souls" to "sexual," for a moment. This is a whole Thing that deserves airtime of its own.

But even considering that. Santal 33 is extremely mild and neutral and cool on me. It is not the least bit what I, an allosexual, no really I'm sure, would consider "sexual." I know what Fabrice Penot is trying to say, probably, and my nose isn't getting it. Maybe I need to smell it on someone else! Maybe I need to smell the sandalwood!!! Perfume Shrine says it's meant to smell like Sam Elliott in a bottle? Yeah, no, on me, Santal 33 is this cool, tender, vegetal leather that reminds me of the deeply worn-in glove I played softball with as a teenage girl. No spice, no smoke, very little wood, no "crackling" florals.

I've actually been looking for the scent of that glove for a long time, and here it is. I truly have the (unhelpful) urge to say that this is a "feminine" leather. It is not the least bit rugged on me (one supposes that the sandalwood might have made a difference). But then you have to ask, what makes a fragrance "masculine" or "feminine" in the first place? I have two hypotheses that I'm researching, but they're basically 1) "hormonal skin chemistry, which both changes and is changeable" and 2) "antiquated bullshit," since we don't do gender essentialism in this house. Maybe Santal 33 is perfectly "rugged" in its tenderness and I just need to be thinking more Quincey Morris—or Annie Oakley, for that matter—than the Marlboro Man.

The "cool tender leather" smell did keep me coming back to Santal 33, though—I wore it five or six times, until finally the vial broke. Would I get a replacement and add it to my "gonna keep wearing" box? I'm not sure. Both Le Labo's co-founder and many, many user reviews I saw talk about the fragrance being "addictive," and maybe that's it. I felt pretty neutral about it, even disappointed, when I was wearing it... and then kept trying it again.

Is it the very strangeness that makes it popular? Is it the contrast between "soft, watery, vegetal" and the "rugged, masculine" vibe that Le Labo actually advertises? Does Santal 33 change to suit each wearer, and my particular chemistry wanted to smell like softball glove salad? Again, since I can't smell the "santal," I may not ever be able to figure out why New York smells like Le Labo. Maybe the more interesting question is, what's it going to smell like next?

Perfume discussion masterpost

#perfume #perfume discussion #long post #perfume: le labo #note: violet #note: papyrus #note: sandalwood #note: leather #note: javanol #note: undecavertol #the genders

[chocolate-sunbeam]

Third Harvest: Blood, Nui Cobalt

Dragon's blood, black tea, honey, scarlet musk, soft suede, crushed cloves, garnet cherry and merlot

Tasty in bottle. Very red, juicy. First skin amp is musky, still with that cherry edge, clove honey wending it's way into my sinuses like a gold snake, a surprisingly wonderful, robust suede. Tea an overall blender, winding around everything else. A cool murkiness from the merlot. This one is real nice. Something I could call an affinity with my skin. Hope the musk calms and the cherry clove honey comes forward

The cherry throws a bit! The clove in my throat nice

Comforting incense that definitely belongs in the red rose parlour. Works with the food I'm eating <3 really good

Shockingly good leather scent too

The drydown is MWAH. Tasty, cool, rosy, like roses floating in cold clove water. Gorgeous

Compare to HOG come hither

#the red rose parlour #note: dragon's blood #note: tea #note: honey #note: musk #note: suede #note: leather #note: clove #note: cherry #note: merlot #nui cobalt

[jestroer]

I heard Etho imply that he is wearing tight black leather pants one time and then this appeared on my screen

clip under the cut

#ive been rewatching team canada. as per usual #i noted the ep and time in my to-draw list just for this #ethoslab #hermitcraft #court jester's art #can you tell ive never drawn leather. ill need to practice for sure

[kirnet]

bang bang!

#he owned the margins of all of my math notes in high school it feels kind of good to draw him now with my current skills #bucky barnes #marvel #mcu #minadraws #i rendered the attire metal arm and leather glove and and hated it. i added a bunch of textures and comic fonts and hated it. so #were back to the of lines and flats lol #happy 10th catws you were crazy for all that

[jamietwat]

The team not communicating about their Halloween costumes AT ALL and all thinking they have a HILARIOUS one of a kind idea to dress up as Roy so all the players start filing in one at a time waiting to see the annoyed look on Roy’s face only to find out that everybody else had the same idea and Roy has to spend the entire night putting up with every single one of them trying to copy his voice and mannerisms and complaining that he sounds and acts nothing like that (which okay is true of Dani’s impression of him but a lot of them are pretty good at it)

Jamie’s impression of him annoys Roy the most and he argues against it the most, but Keeley is absolutely losing her shit laughing and refusing to pretend it isn’t accurate

Is Jamie absolutely exaggerating Roy’s age? Yes. Is he trying to exaggerate Roy’s grouchiness and accidentally landing on almost direct quotes out of him that just make Keeley laugh harder? Absolutely. And he’s been watching Roy’s mannerisms and locking them into his memory to use to make fun of him for years before he ever decided to dress up as him so his performance is the most ridiculously over the top and yet also the most accurate at the same time

#I’m also picturing them all showing up arms crossed in all black and a leather jacket and not even a variety of Roys #This has been sitting in my drafts for days for when I have brainpower to word things better and add onto but I’m not bothering #and just posting now without rereading from days ago instead aghdbdbandbs #On a separate note #Also consider Roy dressing as Ted because ‘it’s the scariest costume I could think of’ #Ted Lasso #Roy Kent #Jamie Tartt #Keeley Jones #Dani Rojas #Roy x Keeley x Jamie #Mine

[its-your-mind]

Everyone who has immediately assumed that Gerry’s hair is no longer dyed and he doesn’t have any piercings or tatts and wears pastel instead of black is SO VALID and I comPLETELY understand the desire to lean into the visible change but also you need to understand that the most goth/punk-looking people I know are also some of the happiest people I know bc they have allowed themselves to lean fully into who they want to be and they are relatively safe and stable enough to afford to do that.

also he is actively involved in his local artist scene there is no way he does not have at Least five piercings and two tattoos.

OMG MAYBE HE KNOWS (or knows someone who knows) INK5OUL

anyway in my head he still owns an obnoxious leather trenchcoat (he thrifted it), he STILL primarily wears punk rock band tshirts and black skinny jeans (but theyre like. artfully paint splattered. he did it on purpose.), his hair is STILL very poorly dyed black (but maybe he’s had some fun and added some colorful streaks) (the roots growing in are just cuz he can’t be fucked to bother with them until he has the Urge to fuck with his hair again), he’s still full of metal (but he’s gotten most of them done at a professional parlor), and he Does still have tattoos (eyes or not will be determined by whether or not we learn more about him) (jonny and alex plsplsplspls tell us more about him pls give me more gerry)

#tmagp #the magnus protocol #magp 08 #tmagp spoilers #gerry kaey #bonus note: I have thrifted both a long black leather coat AND skinny jeans that I bought specifically to cover in artful paint splatters #I get many complements on both

[valvarads]

TOKUSATSU VALENTINE’S: day 5 ➵ my valentine 🌸(ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ)🌸

#kamen rider ex-aid #kamen rider ex aid #kujo kiriya #tokuvalentines #tokuedit #userdramas #ex-aid #m.gif #*kiriya #*exaid #dedicating this prompt to the silly lil bike who's been nyooming around my brain throughout the entirety of january #do y'all know how hard it is to find scenes where his smile is genuine #god please take away all of his pain and give it to kuroto #i have a whole character study drafted in my brain but i'm terrible at writing so #it's probably staying there forever #side note: i'm so glad they upgraded his leather jacket #the collar of his jacket in the earlier eps is kinda...ugly

[finn95o]

(Jaw dropped when I saw the collab)

I had to, I had to draw it

Completely irrelevant but noooow I got 2 kitties

Too adorable to not show

#art #f1 #formula 1 #fanart #formula one #op81 #oscar piastri #mclaren #mclaren x reiss #collab #side note #kittens #because #anyway #McLaren should give us more Oscar in leather thank you

[bobmckenzie]

❝ With the six of us crammed into David's truck, quiet voices musing about Joe's recent journey to the other side, Cait—unacquainted with the late nights of med school, or the even later nights that came with being part of Nelson's deranged experiments—nodded off against my shoulder. It was only a second, maybe two. Our bodies jolted, shifted when David drove over a fracture in the pothole laden street... and she awoke without knowing that for a brief moment, my body had been a respite from her exhaustion. Pressed against her in the confined space, peculiarly aware of my own heartbeat and the lingering sensation of her warmth, I felt... I felt somehow like I had just woken up, too. ❞

#THE VISION is that he's just gotten back to his dorm and is recording all of that into his little tape recorder :3c #i love how flowery he gets sometimes when using it so I TRIED to emulate that lol #in regards to the dialogue: my s/i is Rachel's friend/a film student they brought on to better document the experiments #bc Joe isn't very good at filming lbh his camerawork was ALL OVER THE PLACE #Nelson isn't crazy about her involvement especially at this point bc he hasn't seen how much better her camera/camerawork is yet lol #on a different note: HOW TF do you render leather 😭😭😭 #selfship art #self ship art #selfship #caitiearts #randalltag #🩺 flatliners

[doctorcrusher]

this is not even a post admonishing people not to wear fur/leather but I think the complete inability to comprehend a moral view of the world that would lead someone to refuse to wear the skin of an animal that was killed and flayed on ethical grounds is like. an astonishing failure of theory of mind.

#I own some secondhand leather items but I understand why some people refuse to do even that #making this unrebloggable because my notes get clogged every time a vegan post breaks containment. sorry

[chocolate-sunbeam]

Awaken the Witch, Nui Cobalt

Leather bound Grimoires on mahogany shelves, hot tea with vanilla and honey, sandalwood incense and black patchouli, cardamom and coriander

In bottle it's soft and murky, with a creeping sweetness and slight chill

Applied, the sweetness puffs out slightly, honey vanilla tempered austerely by rich brown mahogany and that leather. The cardamom wisps airily, almost cheerfully above it all. Black tea is forefront, but it's well blended.

What's really interesting about it is how rich and assertive the notes are, but the scent itself is almost elusive. It has throw, but somehow it smells like the room itself is emitting the scent, like I'm surrounded by the ghost of a library only I can see. If anything the throw is stronger than the huff, which is very odd and kinda kickass.

It's almost as if it blends into my own skin scent, which is something I expect of ambers and light musks, Not the notes presented here. It's brilliantly evocative of hidden power, lurking in the studious mind of a witch. Right now they're just reading with a cuppa, but the air hums with potential, the knowledge hidden between pages and the wisdom yet to be realized. It's dope

#note: leather #note: mahogany #note: tea #note: black tea #note: vanilla #note: honey #note: sandalwood #note: patchouli #note: coriander #note: cardamom #nui cobalt

[freckleslikestars]

What about you girls? Sex dreams? I sleep soundly.

Or that time Aeryn wore John's underwear

FARSCAPE | 1.12 Rhapsody in Blue

#no bra john's calvins big leather toe-tecters is such a fucking look sorry this irreversibly changed my brain chemistry #the whole thing screams gay sorry i don't make the rules #also like sorry john there's no way you're mad right now. we know you faking it. if a pretty girl stole my boxers i'd be on my knees #proposing marriage and...well you can fill the gaps with whatever else you think I might be doing on my knees #serious note though there is not nearly enough fic about aeryn wearing john's underwear #aeryn sun #john crichton #john x aeryn #farscape #farscape gifs #my gifs #rhapsody in blue #farscape season 1 #farscape edits #how many times can i say sorry in the tags you ask? many. please know I mean none of them I'm completely unapologetic about this

[iknowwhereyousleepatnight]

dnkinktober day 27: leather/latex

#death note #mello #mihael keehl #my art #dnkinktober #gun #damn this is my first time drawing mello #i love him btw i really need to draw him more #gives me an excuse to draw leather which is a material i am very normal about #this was just a sketch but i liked it and also i don't feel like lining shit today #also if the gun looks weird at all that's bc i did not get a ref bc anytime i look for gun references i get dragged in by the details #like what time period is this what area where would he have bought it would it blah blah blah #and then it'll take me like 3 hours to decide on a gun and by then it's sooo late so yeah u get whatever gun i wanted to give him #i'm doing another piece for today bc like i said i'm v normal about leather #and it will be w misa!!!!! bc i love her sm #enjoy!!

[demi-pixellated]

//OC road work ahead

#Chronicles of Cassendenia #Jaden Roan #Valence Roan #Zean Selyt #Kassier #Solanier #OC #coc ref #MSPaint Draw #new design pass for the b plot cast #big changes here being the outfits for the Roan twins #main note: nixed corsets for falhier in gen (not zean tho he's allowed) #the knight's garb has more function than last time but i hope i've kept the showiness somewhere in there #colour might help with that. later tho #padded up Jaden with some leather guards and giving her a buckler bc she was far too under armored for the only frontliner of the party #and i reworked valence's prosthetic again - still on the fence about how much mobility it has if any #but i think i got a better direction in mind for it now #zean n kassi are virtually unchanged from thesis film iterations (which i'll probably definitely one day someday share ) just a bit updated #which means the size i animated him at while shifted is now truth: very big fox

[starlitcen]

⋆ mello stimboard | rosaries, fire, leather gloves, and guns

📿 📿 📿 | 📿 📿 📿 | 📿 📿 📿

#mello #mihael keehl #death note #( 🌟 ;; obsessed w this pic of him btw ) #mello stimboard #death note stimboard #death note edit #dn edit #dn #stimboard #rosary stim #religious stim #fire stim #leather stim #glove stim #gun stim #gun cw #fire cw #mod 🌙

[fandomfluffandfuck]

SUDDENLY I AM IN GREAT NEED TO SHOUT YES DADDY?! AT MY F*CKING SCREEN SEBASTIAN YOU 🤬🤬🤬🥵

Okay okay okay-

I completely agree. This?

THIS Sebastian?

Complete Daddy.

(Do I feel like he'd still probably melt under Chris like a good, distinguished baby though? Yes. But. Alone he is a DILF. A fucking DADDY.)

This Sebastian looks like he would sigh and shut his eyes for a little too long for it to just be a regular blink when you act up... that is, if you can think enough to act up when he goes strutting around, looking like that-

Hair smoothed back, bearded, covered in that slick suit, and sporting not just a watch but a watch, a ring, and a bracelet... 😮‍💨

It makes your brain turn off.

Maybe then you could argue that that's why you act up. You didn't think it through. Even if, you know, it doesn't take much thought to be good. To thoughtlessly obey.

Although, it's so much more delicious this way. When you do what you're not supposed to and he turns, looking at you with his eyes darkening, warning. He'll wait until he can steal you away, in private, to slip his hand under your chin, tilt your face up, and whisper, "you're giving me more gray hairs, I swear to god."

The gravel in his voice sends a shiver down your spine.

But, apparently you aren't distracted enough to not talk back. Your heart races in your chest. "You look good with them. The gray. It's making you look-" your brain finally catches up to your mouth. You stop.

Sebastian raises his eyebrows, daring you to keep going.

His fingers tighten on your chin.

"Making me look like what, darling?"

You swallow. Your mouth is still dry though. You can't look away from his eyes, blue and grey and commanding.

"Is it making me look too old for you? Stressin' me out, giving me gray hairs." He whispers, half teasing, half serious.

You whimper before you can reel in the noise and you shake your head embarrassingly fast like you're trying to shake the noise away.

"What's it making me look like?" He reiterates as he lets go of your chin. But... he doesn't quit touching you.

Touching you intentionally.

His hands straighten the necklace you're wearing. Cream pearls. They match the bracelet on Sebastian’s wrist.

His fingertips barely skim your skin. Brushing past it in favor of your jewelry. You ache for more of a touch. Your heart pounds so hard in your chest that you feel like he must be able to see it, beating against your ribs and pulsing in your neck as your blood heats.

You cannot hold it behind your teeth anymore--it jumps out when he pulls softly on the string of pearls, "Daddy-"

He chuckles softly, pulling away from you. Sizing you up and down with his eyes. There's an attractive, cocky grin on his lips. "I thought so," he says before turning on his heel and walking back out to the carpet. The flashing cameras. Public.

It's all you can do to grab for him. His wrist.

His wrist with the matching bracelet.

Fuck.

Sebastian entangles your fingers. Holding your hand. Tugging you out onto the carpet once again no matter if your knees suddenly feel weak or if your face is hot. He's pulling you along. You're going. You have to. Daddy is making you and you want to go. To obey.

#note: I'm pretty sure that bracelet is actually braided leather or something that isn’t pearls but... it does kinda look like that #so i just went with it haha #sebastian stan #asks #fandomfluffandfuck #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan x you #sebastian stan x gender neutral reader #gender neutral reader #x reader