This is going to be a long comment… 😀

All time favourite note is probably Jasmine, but not a nice fresh Jasmine, something a bit more indolic and sultry. Also I like Vanilla, but again not sweet, a proper vanilla pod scent with something mixed in to make it interesting (Mona di Orio has a beautiful Vanilla fragrance that also has boozy notes of Rum, Orange and Wood- she envisioned a trade ship carrying them as goods when creating it)

Also I love Labdanum, it helps to form the back bone of ‘Oriental’ perfumes. It lasts for ever and is deep and rich. Plus Mimosa, but so far only in Frederic Malles Une Fleur de Cassie- it is glorious with a underlying something. In a review someone said it was like a beautiful garden, full of flowers with a dead body buried in it! I think you can probably sense a theme that I don’t like pretty fragrance, I like something a bit dark and skanky…

I also love the smell of soil, CBIhatePerfume has a great one called Wild Hunt, it smells exactly like a resinous pine forest, complete with damp soil and mushrooms. He doesn’t create ‘normal’ perfumes, they’re more like entire sensory experiences that transport you elsewhere. Patchouli is another favourite, it’s grassy and slightly chocolatey too. Musks are another some can be gloriously filthy!

Favourite perfumes…? There are so many to choose from! I have probably around 100 different one by now, some are decants and large sample sizes (which makes it more affordable) others are full bottles purchased when the £ was stronger than the Euro, and before Brexit…

I have favourite perfume houses, including Frederic Malle (his perfumes are amazing and use quality ingredients and lots of natural oils), Serge Lutens (his fragrances tend to be dark and opulent- checkout his website for some French Gothic fun), Guerlain is a really old perfume house their La Art et La Matiere line is wonderful. Also Parfums d’Empire, Mona di Orio, Sonoma Scent Studio, Papillon Perumes… Chanel Exclusifs and some Dior

Me and the bf are intending to visit Paris soon, I can guarantee we will be our respects to Serge Lutens Boutique and Maison Guerlain!

edit…I forgot Rose, Ylang, Incense, Sandalwood, some Ouds…the list is endless

Also changed ‘les exclusifs’ to ‘La Art et La Matiere’

There are several active and very passionate communities online including Fragrantica and Basenotes…things can get incredibly nerdy when discussing perfume, believe it or not 😀

There’s also a fragrance community here on lemmy but I think it’s all but dead now…

As a perfume nerd I’d love to know what this smells like, and when it’ll be used to create a new niche fragrance

Created my account 3 years ago so I could still access one of the piracy subs in case they were banned from reddit, they used to have an alt community on lemmy.ml…

I came over properly during the reddit blackout, set up the communities I most wanted to see over here (that didn’t exist already), and have stayed ever since

I like the fact that the posts have (generally) sensible comments, without 1000 replies of inane drivel to sift through, overall it feels like a nice quiet corner of the internet where I can recognise usernames and have a brief chat, then be on my way

Totally agree…

I’ve been using mint for the last 4 years, and while I have had to use the command line for some obscure installs, it also works as an OS without needing to use it (i jumped in at the deep end and installed it in a pc I got from my brother and used it as my everyday OS)

I don’t understand why Mint isn’t the first suggestion for Linux ‘virgins’ switching over from Windows etc, it has everything you need pre installed plus the download manager for anything else

Linux has a flavour for everyone, and after a while when you’re confidence and skills grow there is the fun of using the command line and a bit of tinkering…or not, if you are happy with the ‘basics’

I don’t normally comment on news posts, but in this instance, FUCK CANCER

Fuck cancer for stealing my brother from me, and for taking half my bf’s lung

I seriously hopes this works for everyone out there living with this disease, and for their families, friends, the people who love them…

…and also for everyone who has died too soon and missed their chance for survival. Their donation of tissue samples and furthering the cancer research that ultimately wouldn’t help them, but will help the poor bastards that are diagnosed today and in the future…It is bitter sweet

Fuck cancer

I’ve seen lots of contemporary dance performances which have blown me away, one was called ‘The Silk Road’ and showed how dance, as well as material goods was passed on via the silk road.

It had traditional Indian dance and Spanish dance (the one where the men do the foot stomping, I’ve not been up for long and my brain is still in sleep mode). It was amazing. The dancing was beautiful and demonstrated how culture and ideas are transmitted, in this instance- the similarities of dance movements

Also saw a free performance of some students of Chethams School of Music (Manchester) perform the harp. I think there was 4, maybe 5 female students, and it was beautiful. I’ve never heard the harp performed just on its own and they used percussive rhythms made by drumming and tapping the instrument…

I have the flyers from both above performances, so I’ll edit my comment later on after I’ve found them

Also adding Estas Tonne…my boyfriend is a big fan and we traveled down to London for a week which included one of his gigs…it was held in a church and was just him and his guitars (and 2 incense sticks)

I had to look this up, I had no idea what mentats are.

I only wish that my autism presented like this, I’d love a super memory. I can remember that I’ve read something once long ago, but it’s vague, and also my maths is appalling…I do love that autism is a spectrum and that we’re all unique in our presentation

This is a really fascinating comment, I’m aware of sickle cell being a problem, but it’s surprising that there may be an advantage to having it. I’ve opened up the link in a new tab (one of the many) to read later

diversity makes communities stronger.

This is so important, not just from an autism perspective, I think I read once, long ago on the internet, that having a gay sibling would be a benefit for the non gay siblings offspring, in the same way that the grandmothers being around to help find extra food, provide care would mean a greater chance of survival

There has to be an evolutionary reason/explanation that gay people exist, and the fact that other animal and bird species will have same sex partnerships (and rear an abandoned egg to fledged juvenile in the case of the gay zoo penguins)

I also love the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ analogy, I think that the more people discover they are neurodiverse the better.

I only found out as an adult, and if I hadn’t seen the Chris Packham documentary and met another autistic woman I’d still be none the wiser (and struggling massively)

I’ve really enjoyed reading your comments, I’ll check out the link and post later on when I come back from work!

This is the mad thing, autism and ADHD must have an advantage otherwise it wouldn’t be showing up in people today, and also if humans have selectively bred herding dogs for hyper focus, being less socially inclined etc these are useful/desirable qualities (and hereditary too, fuck Andrew Wakefield for the MMR nonsense)

Whenever I go out into the countryside or even just a park, if there’s an interesting bug/beetle hidden in the grass I’ll find it. I can scan for visual differences very quickly (colour, texture, shiny surface, movement, a faint noise out of place) these things would have been useful from a hunter gatherer point of view…it’s just a massive shame that the modern world is not made for autistic/ADHD people

Sorry for any word salad, but this is a topic (special interest, no less) that really interests me, and thanks for the information!

Your studies are more important right now, and I’ll look forward to when you start to post again 👍

That was an amazing read! Thanks for writing and sharing it. Two things that struck me are

PTSD has been documented in canines who served in the military. [1] Additionally, it is believed that dogs are capable of suffering from autism

I’m on the spectrum so the fact that dogs can be autistic is really interesting, and it’s unsurprising about the PTSD, given the fact that they can have really bad anxiety and trauma if they experience their owner dying

You have a fascinating blog which I’m going to bookmark and explore, cheers for the share!

I quite often do this for art books, I find it easier on my eyes reading text on the pirate ebook version (I can make the font as big as I need), but use the hardcopy for eyeing up the pictures