It's Friday, and it's Ursula LeGuin's birthday. Our community project for today: choose a work of speculative fiction or a character from such a work, and wear the fragrance that you think fits. Your chosen work can be written, audio or visual. Bonus points if you choose a work of LeGuin's or one of the shortlisted works for the inaugural Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction.
What fragrance did you pick? As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you’re not participating in the community project.
For the episode of The Good Place where the characters find out that the Good Place smells like whatever makes you happy (season 3 episode 10), I'm wearing Aftelier Candide.
Reminder: on 10/28, wear a fragrance with geranium leaf, if you have one.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2022, where I'll try (but obviously sometimes fail) to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really sure I’d be able to do this cp. But I clicked on the link and although I have not read most of those series listed, I have read The Hunger Games. My kids- especially my oldest- was really into that series when it came out. Stored in my box of fond memories is taking him to the premiere of the first movie. I had to look it up, and it was 10 years ago! That makes sense, he would have been in high school. That was back in my second shift days, and I buzzed him from work one night to take him to the midnight premiere at what was then Sundance Theater (rip). It was so fun, lots of people dressed in costume and the theater packed full of people anxious to see the movie.
My SotD is Profumum Roma Confetto, for the character Effie Trinket. I loved Elizabeth Banks, she really nailed that role.
Up to an unseasonable 72 and sunny today!🌞 I’ll take it!😎
Buzzed *home*🙄
I thought “buzzed him” meant you called him.
Excellent!! I read the first HG book just because my son loved it, and ended up reading the whole series.
Yay for 72!
I think I am getting 63 but I will take it too.🌞
Maybe you’ll get my 72 tomorrow!😎
You smell great!
Thanks!
Unseasonable and sunny weather twins, yay!
I am wearing Koala, from the Zoologist discovery set. This is a scent that needs many sprays, so I think I need a decant, but so far, I think it may be love. As it happens I was thinking about koalas while driving to work and remembered the norbears in the Liaden Universe series by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. So I actually sort of fit the CP.
Retrofitting is just as good as advance planning, IMO 🙂
I haven’t tried Koala, the eucalyptus scared me off. Is it prominent?
It’s there, but on my skin it isn’t super prominent. There are enough other notes to offset it. That being said, I do smell the eucalyptus, pine, and incense in it.
Thank you! I love incense and pine so I’ll put it on my sample list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Pudding
There’s a very famous ( down here) Australian children’s book called The Magic Pudding which is a “classic” and one of the main characters is a clever koala who really saves the day when pudding thieves come along.
I love koalas. They just seem so chill and laid back.
Off project– I’m sampling Serin from January Scent Project. It’s bitter with quite a bit of tagettes and a bit of a rubbery/band-aid tinge. While interesting, I’m definitely not putting it on the to-buy list
And I am not putting it on my to try list 😉
I bought a bottle. I don’t get any rubber from it at all. How funny!
Only for the first hour or so on me
Serin looks right up my alley. Must see if I can get a sample. I love Tagetes.
The Good Place is a great choice! That show was so enjoyable and so full of surprises.
I’m doing day 5 of His Dark Materials but instead of a character I’m going for an overall feel, so I’m in Mugler Aura EDT — there’s nothing dark about it, but it has a Muglerian strangeness, an otherworldly, slightly overlit and unreal feeling to it, which suits the reality-hopping that many of the characters have to go through on their various journeys.
That’s a perfect description of Aura.
Speaking of Mugler, no one was within 10 Ft of me and yet I smelled Angel in the cavernous lobby of my work building. At least I kept my mouth closed or I would be tasting Angel all day!
I think it’s some kind of a law of physics that Angel expands to fill all the available space. God forbid there should ever be an industrial spill of the stuff: it would shroud the planet in a matter of hours.
I don’t mind smelling Angel, but tasting it is no bueno!
https://www.gouletpens.com/products/diamine-inkvent-calendar-2022
I saw this and thought of you. It looks like it could be fun.
Well, I bought the last two Inkvent Calendars, so that’s FIFTY wee bottles of ink, in addition to all the other ink I already own, and I DO NOT NEED any more ink, it’s like fragrances, I have enough to last more than a lifetime, so I’m not going to hunt this down as I did for the last two.
*But* we are going to a pen show at the end of the month (yes, there is enough interest these days in fountain pens and ink and such that there are pen shows), and if I see that calendar, well, I’m not made of stone. They’ve added scented ink to the calendar this year! And so-called chameleon ink, which changes colour according to the angle of the light! I *mean*!
Continuing with my fall favorites today with Stash, I’ve been craving it since it was talked about the other day. I’m wearing the perfume, lotion and a spritz of the hair mist.
A beautiful sunny, warmer day here with the fall colors just about at their peak. Going to a good trail to try to walk today.
Since nothing comes to mind for this CP, I’ll join you in wearing Stash after I add a drop of the oil to my bath tub while taking a shower – it is the right weather for it!
I am wearing Bvlgari Black for Sarah Conner of the Terminator series. Vanilla for her earlier, softer self and leather and rubber for her toughness in the sequel.
Nicely done!
Great choice!
Love it!
You smell wonderful! Great choice!
Excellent picks!
I loved The Good Place — excellent choice! I’m in two scents this morning, one a test of something very new and one an old favorite, and I’m totally game if someone wants to help me reverse-engineer my way into CP coordination. On the left wrist: Wesker Histria, after someone here mentioned it the other day. It’s lovely and intriguing and a little bit forest-y, not quite at Galadriel levels but could maybe have been how Narnia smelled. And on the right wrist: Hermes Bel Ami. If the Sherlock Holmes stories can be thought of as speculative fiction then I’m taking points because this is how I imagine Sherlock smelled. In any event, happy Friday everyone!
PS – I have to add that the Histria bottle is totally Galadriel-worthy. 😆
I don’t think you can count Sherlock Holmes as speculative fiction unless you decide all fiction is speculative? It takes place entirely in the real world.
But I don’t see why you can’t have points for your Histria = Narnia.
Sadly, I have to retract the Narnia comparison. There’s something in Histria’s development that doesn’t agree with me — I think it’s the sage note. Despite the gorgeous bottle, I have to cross this one off the list … and go wash it off the wrist. (I just noticed that that makes a little rhyme.) I’ll put on some Dryad for more agreeable forest goodness. 🌲
There’s a Neil Gaiman short story called “A Study in Emerald” that he called “Lovecraft/ Holmes fan fiction”. Bel Ami could fit that – it’s certainly speculative!
Oh, I like that idea!
The heat,this week and life in general muffled my brain too much this week to participate in the cp.
But wait…
I’m in Rain’s Leaf,a pretty well done green fragrance.I can smell green sap,some foliage,something sweet and nectar-like.It’s lovely.
Did anyone see the series called “Amazon” in the late 90’s?This reminds me of that.
(A plane crashed in the Amazon,there are survivors that battle the elements,a cannibalistic tribe and each other for survival)Such a good series,I miss it,like the short-lived “Kings” that I enjoyed immensely.
XO’s
Lol…after Robin’s comment and going to wikipedia re speculative fiction I guess ZERO points!
In my mind Leaf is what the Amazon might smell like,then.✌🏻🌺
Somebody more awake than I ought to be able to fit you to something, but I am nodding off at 5:30…a little post-latte caffeine slump maybe.
I was bad this morning and ordered the MFK sample set from Luckyscent. Wearing Miss Dior Original today. It reminds of The Hobbit when the dwarves are in Mirkwood for some reason.
You smell fabulous and Miss Dior covers all fragrant sins 😇
Yes it does.
Totally off CP in SmellBent Smoked Ambergris. Very smoky here, worse than where I came from. So I guess being on a smoky island is a good setting for my SOTD.
Camped right on the beach! Only one couple there with their adorable adventure kitty, but they just left. No traffic. No noise, just peace and quiet. Most sensible people are probably at home breathing filtered air. Not me, no, I’ve got to be out here breathing what is probably the equivalent of a 5 pack a day habit. Hoping for an easterly wind sometime soon!
Happy FriYAY to all! ✌🏼
I hope you have a peaceful time camping and enjoying the ocean!
I may never leave! 😀
Hope you get the easterly . Glad you got your trip away
Thanks! No wind yet but a bit of drizzle today definitely helped!
Oh wow! Just very slightly north, and the smoke all blew off last night. Hope it goes soon!
I liked Smoked Ambergris — you smell good!
It’s better today because we’re getting some drizzle. Yesterday on my way up Anacortes was socked in with smoke and the island wasn’t much better. Things are looking better today, unless you’re wanting sunshine, then forget about it! Lol 😆
Sounds like you had a much better day today, too.
Yes, sleep always helps. I drove here straight from work yesterday and was so tired I felt I was driving unsafely and pulled into a Safeway for a half hour power nap. Went to bed early and feel brand new today! Except for my throat, it’s trashed from all the smoke.
Ugh. Time to stock up on Ricola?
Today I’m wearing Dzing! to complement two great books that include circuses – The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.
Hope everyone is having a great day.
Excellent match!I loved that Ray Bradbury novel, and I always think of it come Halloween. There was a pretty good movie adaptation of it with Jason Robards.
Oh, excellent! Bradbury was my inspiration today, too.
Well played! I love Ray Bradbury.
Excellent!
👍👍!
I’m wearing Muscs Koublai Khan because I’m reading a series (Anne Bishop The Others) where instead of Native Americans, the indigenous people of the land are shape-shifters. MKK always has a furry note to me.
Rain is supposed to start here around lunchtime! I hope the entire Pacific NW gets drenched, it’s so dry and smoky here.
MKK is lovely.
Chanel Coco EDT and a cup of apple cinnamon tea. I am taking a quick “tea & toast” break from getting house ready for baby shower on Sunday. My daughter is expecting our first grandchild, and some of her friends, family and I are hosting it. I am so excited about this baby 🙂
Congratulations! When is the baby due?
Thank you. December 21
Very exciting for you to become a grandmother.
Congratulations and I hope everything goes well this weekend and closer to Christmas.
Congratulations!
Excited for you!
Congratulations, this is most wonderful news! And have fun at the baby shower!
Congratulations, what a lovely new stage of life.
Congratulations, that’s wonderful!
That’s so exciting! Congratulations on soon having your first grandbaby. ❤️
I’m so excited for you! Wishing you many happy memories in the making. Treasure every moment, they grow up way too fast!
Congratulations!
Thanks !
I’m wearing Amouage Memoir Woman for Marisa Coulter, specifically in The Golden Compass when she may have actually had time to wear perfume. Memoir is rich and opulent and perfect for chilly weather, and I could see Mrs Coulter in this at the party she hosted in her apartment and under her heavy furs in the Arctic. And I’m happy to have an excuse to wear it because I tend to forget it for some reason. But it’s one of those rare perfumes that smells both opulent and cozy to me.
And our weather just this week (today really) turned to real fall. We went from 66 on Monday to 52 and rainy today. And huge celebration for our smoky hazardous air changing overnight to brisk, healthy air!
Hello scent twin and thanks for linking Lyric to today’s project:)
I chose it because it was the perfect perfume for today’s ”task” (a night out with my sister-in-law – it is evening here). My link to today’s theme was Cloud Cuckoo Land (Sultan Mehmet II, whose actions brought together Anna and Omeir, seemed to appreciate roses).
Oh no, super embarrassing just realised we are brand twins (I am in Lyric..)🙄
Honestly, Lyric would also work perfectly well for Mrs Coulter! Happy to have a brand twin, and you smell lovely. 😁
Thank you! Memoir is also very beautiful!
Joining you in a happy rain dance!
Yay for us and our region!
Great choice!
So happy to hear that the rain finally came!
Speculating that Moon Bloom would fit a character in a piece of speculative fiction…
Hard to believe it wouldn’t.
I don’t read much speculative fiction but loved the Fahrenheit 451 film when I saw it as a teenager. Looked for a smoky perfume, couldn’t face Sahara Noir, too much of a commitment but settled for DK Wenge.
I loved the book and keep thinking I should re-read it.
Fahrenheit 451 was a very unsettling book. I could only read part of it.
It upset me too.
I’m wearing Guerlain Idylle Love Blossom. I was trying to think of a fragrance representing something from A Wrinkle in Time. I settled on this because, to Meg, the planet Ixchel, where we meet Aunt Beast, smells of a faint, delicate springlike scent. As does Aunt Beast.
My first thought was something cozier, since Aunt Beast is the epitome of warm coziness and safety. But…I decided to go with how the book described her scent.
Excellent! Another book I keep meaning to revisit.
Happy Friday, everyone! For today’s CP, I’m back to HDM and wearing Unspoken Musk by Francesca Bianchi for Lyra. I just got a sample of this, and it’s a yin/yang musk of sweetness and dirtiness that I had been thinking of for her. The character is at that in-between age, no longer a child, yet not an adult either. Lyra has qualities of both, having some of the innocence of a child, yet also learning to think and strategize listening an adult. Plus, she was probably sweaty and dirty a lot of the time. 😁
“Like an” adult.
Love it!
http://www.publishersweekly.com/9780807613733
I am choosing The First Century After Beatrice by Lebanese-French author Amin Maalouf. It’s set in the near future ( nowish) and the protagonist is an entomologist, who has been more involved in insects ( beetles) than humans but is drawn into reckoning with a new drug that is being used worldwide to ensure only male babies are born. Domestic life without women collapses economies, and frustrates men and so female babies are taken from poorer countries to serve wealthier. The voice throughout is a little distant ( pondering, elegant) but made personal as the man’s daughter wants to give birth to a boy. So it’s about misuse of science plus gender, economics etc. I read it in the 90s and would match it with something from Lutens, Bapteme du Fer, maybe.
Oooh interesting!
2nd, sounds like something I should read.
Thanks for posting about the book. I’ve added it to my list.
Wearing LAP’s Mirabilis 60 today for Maarva in the new Andor show. Andor is far and away my favorite of the Star Wars shows (and that is a high bar given my whole-hearted love for Baby Yoda). I imagine Maarva and the Andor house smells cozy like a warm hug and milk, and just the right amount of dust and dirt to make you feel like it is ok to put your feet up. Mostly I just wanted to wear something for Fiona Shaw because she is always so good that she melts into her characters.
Tea today is a strong assam while I power through a bunch of work tasks for people who all seem to think *their* issue is the most important issue. 🙄
Ah, good luck with the people. People are a pain.
You are the first person I know of to mention the “Andor” series.
Are you watching it? I am predisposed to liking any Star Wars show, but honestly I think it is a good show, period — Star Wars or not. IMO, Jon Favreau did a good job creating a fun, occasionally fan service-y show with The Mandalorian, but Tony Gilroy has added a layer of nuance to characters on both the Empire’s side and Rebel’s side, that makes for a much more interesting story. My only complaint is that all of the characters are humans (save for maybe one droid) and that doesn’t feel realistic to the Stars Wars universe.
No streaming services here. It would cut into my perfume spending $$$$. 🤣
I am also trying to reduce my screen time while the weather is still nice and get outside for a bit. I *do* need to up my physical activity. Doctor’s rec and all that.
I don’t know if I did the cp correctly. I am wearing Mugler Aura and matching it to the green dancing lady in the original Star Trek. In case this doesn’t fit I am also doing a song match
https://youtu.be/wUAbZFQDrxo
I’m feeling better today with beautiful weather and heading to work. Happy Friday to everyone!
Happy Friday back atcha.
😊
Glad you are feeling better. I hope work plays nicely today.
Thanks. So far so good!
My boss closed down the fitting room tonight so that helps alot.
Happy Friday to you too, lillyjo! Glad you’re feeling perkier today. 😊
Well let’s not go to far with the perky… lol
And Go Astros!
Yes indeed, go ‘Stros! ⚾️
And who could forget her?!!
Well-played. 😉
I found a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(Star_Trek)
I hope you’re feeling better.
Thanks so much for putting in the link!
My pleasure. 😉
Perfect lillyjo! So glad you’re doing better today.
Thanks Robin! I’m glad I scored some points today!
Wow, I haven’t heard that song in forever! Hope work goes quick.
Not quick enough! I still hear the song on the classic rock station.
Much better day twins! And I *love* your pick for the CP!
Thanks!
Glad you’re doing better!
Thank you! Me too. I took a bunch of vitamins and slept slept slept!
I really like otherworld/alt reality literature, and some of the books that have stayed with me the longest have been scifi–but it feels like ages since I lost myself in one. Well, actually, I read that those Andy Weir novels a year or so ago–and liked them well-enough, but. Nah.. . . Wait. I did read, and thought it was brilliant, Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad. And, while I have not read Kindred, I did read Octavia Butler’s “Parable” books years ago–and so am very interested to see how the new tv show turns out.
Okay. Okay. I give up on linkages with speculative fiction (a new term for me). I’m in Antiheros and that is really all there is to it.
Kindred is really good! I haven’t read her other works so I’ll have to check them out.
I’m possibly CP adjacent in Like This. For Tilda Swinton. She’s been in several movies based on speculative fiction, but I always associate her with Orlando and I’m not sure if that book counts.
Also chose Like This because it’s such an autumnal scent to me, and today feels like a real nice fall day. Have a great weekend, everyone!
I would never have thought of it, but don’t see why Orlando wouldn’t count as speculative fiction.
It was cleaning day, plus we were scrambling to pack for our trip this weekend and have everything in the car by the time we had to vacate the house at 8:30, so I didn’t have a lot of time to think. So I’m in Temps d’une Fete, for the party at the beginning of Lord of the Rings.
The rain finally came and the smoke is gone! In even better news, it’s supposed to clear up in the Cascades by tomorrow night, so we may even get to use our telescope at the astronomy weekend.
You smell marvelous!
Hurray for clean air and no more smoke!
I’m in Diptyque Volutes for Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, though the match is better in name than scent. I have smokier scents, but this was a nice choice for work.
The other Bradbury posters made me think that Dame Monsoon would also be a good match for the short story “There will Come Soft Rains”.
I think that’s perfect.
I had considered that pairing!!!
Great minds!
“There Will Come Soft Rains” is an excellent story.
Isn’t it? It always makes me chuckle a little bit, though, because Bradbury was so into robots. Robots for everything!
Okay, it’s 85 degrees out there right now, but I’m stubborn. Started out the day in La Maison de la Vanille Vanille Noire du Mexique, added some 1902 Amande & Tonka and when those wore off I went for the big guns: Grand Soir.
I smell totally inappropriate for the weather but still fantastic! 😊
You smell good! I ❤️ the Vanille Noire du Mexique.
It is nice, and very reasonably priced! 🤔
I’m going to start mixing you up with CM8! Lol
Ahh, I could only dream of having her perfume cabinet! 😂
Gutsy perfume moves!
CP points! My fictional character is Gry, the female protagonist of LeGuin’s Gifts, who can call animals to her and understand their thoughts. SOTD to match is Papillon’s Bengale Rouge, by perfumer Liz Moores who can undoubtedly summon animals and commune with them.
Been 40+ years since I read Le Guin novels, but your comment reminds me of the New Yorker piece, She Unnames Them, which I read in college. https://lchc.ucsd.edu/mca/Mail/xmcamail.2013_01.dir/pdf4gQ1dofjT0.pdf
I keep meaning to pick up The Wizard of Earthsea again—I know I bought it for my kids so there must be a copy rattling around this house.
Cool, thanks for the link! I loved the Earthsea Trilogy when I was young.
Nice!
Like several of you, I was unfamiliar with the term ‘speculative fiction’ and after looking it up realized I was only slightly familiar with some of the titles and characters, but most of the included genres were ones I don’t read. But going back to my younger days I did enjoy some horror stories and films and decided to honor one of my favorite characters/actors and wish Bela Lugosi a slightly belated Happy Birthday, so I chose a cheap thrill, Body Fantasies ‘Vampire’ by Parfums de Coeur for today’s cp. Its deep red bottle contains an interesting melange of plum blossom and clementine as its opening notes, followed by a heart of wisteria, violets and chocolate, on a base of sandalwood, amber and musk. Long d/c, I’ve had my bottle a long time and only wear it during the Halloween season – it’s fun and campy, and perhaps Count Dracula would enjoy it in his lighter moments?
As a seasonal fragrance wearer, I enjoy rotating a few each month. In the spirit of the Halloween season, I’ve also been enjoying YSL Black Opium, J del Pozo Halloween, VS Night, Chopard Madness, BS Hidden Fantasy, LG Cast a Spell, RL Notorious, and AG Mandragore. I imagine there’s a place for all of these in the realm of ‘speculative fiction.’
After an incredibly cold almost-wintry week, today was an absolutely glorious day, with temps in the mid/70’s, sun and blue skies. The Tribune reported that due to a confluence of several factors, the Chicago area has the most beautiful fall color than anywhere else in the state. We took advantage of all of this and spent the entire afternoon at the Arboretum – definitely restorative for the soul! This weekend Im looking forward to helping out at our library’s semi-annual book sale (I already brought home 2 shopping bags full!)
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead!
Your posts are always uplifting! I’m trying to find beauty in the changing leaves but it just seems so odd to still be waiting for the glorious changeover at almost the end of October!
Oh, thanks for the kind words. I know what you mean about waiting for the glorious changeover til nearly the end of October. Although there’s a fair amount of reds and oranges and yellows here, there’s still quite a lot of green and trees that still haven’t changed. And yet earlier this week it was so cold, only in the 30’s and 40’s, not much sun, I felt like it was at least mid-November or that I had suddenly stepped onto another planet! I even put flannel sheets on the bed I was so cold. But today people were wearing shorts!
“Campy perfumes” would certainly be an interesting CP!
Yes! Great idea!
Much better day today. 😁
Still enjoying bright sunshine and moderate temps during the daylight hours. Not sure if there has been a hard freeze in my area or not, but there have been quite a few Frost Advisories this week. 🌞🌈🍂🍁🥶
SOTDs = SSS Incense Pure and SSS Fireside Intense. 2 sprays of the first one, and one of the second. They do play well together. I figure Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi robes might have smelled like this when he was on Tatooine watching over Luke Skywalker. And yes, I have read “Star Wars”. The movie was better.
Your layering sounds wonderful!
Worth trying, for sure. Thanks for the inspiration!
We haven’t had a hard freeze yet here.
Glad it’s a better day!
A lot of places in NJ did have a hard freeze this week. Kind of surprised that my area escaped…
SOTD = Tauer Les Annees 25
Futuristic bottle! I was also looking for something in Ursula Leguin’s oeuvre and she was so prolific I got tired of looking. That said, it sounds like I need to put her on my reading list.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj_kCYZLiYu/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
I may play hooky from the office Tuesday of next week. Our function is supposed to have a Town Hall and the venue is in my building, literally. Just like a Toys R’ Us kids don’t want to grow up, I really do not need to see peeps and my excuse will be I am trying to isolate so as not to avoid potential risk for catching COVID. Sounds like a plan?
I should have said “so as to avoid potential risk…”
Sounds like a good plan to me!
Yes, an excellent plan!
I don’t blame you one bit for wanting to skip what sounds like a tedious dog & pony show that has germy potential to boot! Definitely a plan!
I have some sci-fi credentials in an unusual way, having met Samuel Delaney, Harlan Ellison, plus Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm as an undergrad working at the Clarion Science Fiction Writing Workshop. But at the time I was rather scornful as a Russian major reading Dostoevsky—sorry to say.
My most positive memory of a piece of speculative fiction was by Octavia Butler, something from my Women’s Studies days. There were three sexes, male, female, and ooloi. They were bonded together when the alien marked them each with its unique scent.
I tried to think of something that would do for this but simply couldn’t. So instead I wore Goutal Sables. My bottle is at least 10 years old and close to empty. That initial hit of immortelle + cinnamon makes my eyes roll into the back of my head.
Very late reply as I was away for the weekend, but that is so cool! Even if you were scornful. And I had forgotten all about Octavia Butler.
I am wearing Orlando, a scent named for a novel about a person who changes gender over the years, in honor of Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness, about a planet where the intelligent species transition from one gender to another.