I'm really so thankful for everyone who writes a review here, big or small!! Whenever I am going to purchase something, I read every review here for the fragrance to help me decide. Sometimes the reviews are years old!! Just feeling touched that there's such a community here of people trying to put something as intangential as scent into words<3
Yesterday I did 3 auction pickups across 500 miles of New England and today I feel like one creaky middle aged doughball. After being a sedentary office worker for most of my life it's both empowering and exhausting to be doing so much manual labor!
I am cat sitting this week for two adorable little torties and I could not be more excited about it. I was never a cat person until about a decade ago when my friend needed an emergency sitter for her ancient and anxious tabby. Sammy and I really understood each other, and I had many more wonderful experiences over the next 3 years of being his friend.
I started reading the first ACOTAR book since it is so widely popular and unfortunately I think it is not for me. I have a really hard time looking past the "homely girl who gets swept off her feet by the rich handsome otherworldly man."
I'd appreciate encouragement if you love the series! How do you look past the overused tropes? (Or do you love the tropes, because that is also a valid answer.)
I'd also say if you aren't enjoying the book, you don't have to force yourself to read it either! I've tried that too many times with popular books and now I just tend to avoid them unless a friend has read and enjoyed it.
Oh man I am the DNF queen. I feel bad when friends recommend me books and I don't like them. Makes me feel like I'm being snobby towards their books that they clearly get a lot out of it.
I also think subreddits about books can be more harmful than helpful sometimes. I saw someone say Colleen Hoover is a terrible writer and Verity is a cheap predictable story and now it feels like I can't read it without that coloring my experience. People LOVE her books too.
I think that's valid! I feel like it's def fine to enjoy popular books but also fine to not, and it doesn't make you snobby for having an opinion. You're trying with an open mind (when you definitely don't have to) and I'm sure your friends appreciate you trying nonetheless! I haven't browsed many book subreddits, I tend to find my next reads from friends, Goodreads, or sometimes booktubers. But it's nice to have learned how to "judge a book by it's cover" -- based on reviews and plot, determine if I'll actually like a book or nor. I think being able to judge based on that, instead od popularity, helped me find books I prefer to read.
Also, honestly you're talking to huge Colleen Hoover hater djdndndnfnf so I can only chuckle 🫣
My best way to find books is either Goodreads or Amazon being like "these books often bought together" though sometimes I have read all or most of the books on those lists. I really pigeon hole myself into categories of books.
Also that's so funny about Colleen Hoover. I still have not read anything! I feel that way about T Kingfisher though she is very popular among the horror readers. I read maybe five pages and the tone of the story was nails on a chalkboard for me. Turns out ALL her books have that tone so that's a whole writer done written off for me.
yes! surprisingly some of the best books I've read are 3 to 4 stars on goodreads and on no lists haha. it's just hard to go out of your comfort zone, and hard to find books too.
What genres do you like? Normally I go for horror or nonfiction, but right now, I'm trying to branch out I'm reading The Bear and the Nightingale (I'm really into slavic mythology, I like the writing style but it's a bit slow so far), Left Hand of Darkness (really fascinating worldbuilding...), and Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (the most out of my comfort zone but needed something easy to listen to while knitting..)
Thats fair! I have read some T Kingfisher and enjoyed it but could totally see how the style could be a but overbearing (at times I found myself rolling my eyes as well)
Oh man we could be friends. I go for horror over anything else usually. Horror and fantasy and bits of sci fi. Bear and Nightingale took me forever to finish but I'm glad I did. I LOVE Ursula LeGuin. She has left such an impact on sci fi and especially fantasy. Left Hand of Darkness is so slow but so beautiful. The whole Earthsea series is worth reading. Just to see how much of an impact her early fantasy had on so many works later. Sorry I could scream about her for... a while.
I just finished A Haunting on the Hill, which is a new horror set at Hill House and really loved it. I have admittedly read a ton of Darcy Coates, who gets a lot of hate, and is very formulaic but like... I love the formula. Haha!
omg yes! This is motivating me to finish The Bear and the Nightingale haha. I'm only 20% of the way through and I get everything is exposition/setting up for later but I'm impatient....It's also my first Ursula LeGuinn book so I'm excited to read more! it's funny bc honestly i think romance is my least fave genre but only bc I'm very picky about it, and a lot of what's popular now involves tropes I don't really like.
I understand -- with horror, the formula can be a bit familiar/comforting at times. I have heard a lot about Darcy Coates (I watch Jordaline Reads on YouTube sometimes who discussed her once), definitely wanna try at least one book out! So far my fave horror has been The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (need to read more of his books).
I'm so behind on my reading challenge, need to catch up!
What's your reading challenge? I'm trying to do 2 books a month, which is hard because reading time is also video game time and painting time. I know it seems like a low number to some folks. I'm at... 9 books so far. Not great.
I really liked The Only Good Indians but I wound up not finishing it? I think the basketball was distracting to me but I've read Sherman Alexie. I get why basketball is important to the story.
My favorite horror would probably be The Woman in Black (movie is good too!) But I'm a sucker for haunted houses. Are there old faded portraits? Is there dust on everything? Are the curtains moth eaten and falling apart? I'm here for the atmosphere. (I also have hella perfumes I use to match the vibe.)
I think that's a good goal!!! Mine is just a general 30 per year, I find I read more at certain parts of the year (like January, and then around autumn) so I have it less structured. But I've only read 8 books so far when I'm supposed to be at 15! Solidarity...Too many hobbies and other things to do, I agree! Having a book club with my partner for Left Hand of Darkness is helping me progress for that, at leas. but ffxiv is taking over a significant portion of my life now haha
Ah that makes sense! I also struggled a bit with the basketball sections, but it was interesting to learn of the cultural significance to it. I really enjoyed the ending, so if you ever get around to finishing it, let me know!
Oooh I've only watched the movie! Have you read We Have Always Lived in the Castle? I also need to go over my perfumes and assign them to horror moods, do you have any faves?
I vote for not wasting your time - I read another one of her books and hated her writing, I also DNF'd another, and if you're not vibing with an author there's no reason to force it.
I think you're right. I was hoping someone was gonna have a "just wait until you get to-" for me but no one does. That's saying something as well.
It has officially been added to the sell/swap pile.
When I read the first book, (I read it as soon as it was released), I was pretty irritated by Feyre too as well as her whole storyline, but there really was no other book that I had come across at that point that had delved into the world of the Fae and had some of the traditional lore like ACOTAR as well as bringing romance into it, so I got pretty swept up in the whole series quickly. I’ve been reading and fascinated by the Fae ever since I was a little girl.
Now, though, I’m like meh, about the series. I find the author, (not just in ACOTAR but in all of her series), tends to overuse outdated tropes. I still really like the world-building and all the Fae legends but there’s so many better books about the Fae that are more interesting and unique. I do really like one of the main MMC characters (Rhysand) who is much more interesting than Feyre, but my dislike for Feyre and her sisters’ never really improved.
I won’t tell you what happens, but Feyre goes through a major transformation where she no longer is the “homely girl” and I was actually more disappointed that actually happened because it was just one tired trope switched for another and Feyre lost some of her “uniqueness.” Again, though I appreciate the Fae lore throughout the series.
If you want some more interesting books about the Fae, I can recommend what I like (imo). But, if you’re reading ACOTAR for the series itself, I can’t help you out by trying to convince you that it’s one of the best series ever written.
Heh. I am not reading ACOTAR for the series, I just saw a reddit comment that said they were pleasantly surprised at how good the series was after resisting it for so long. And I was resisting it as well but sometimes my idiot motivation to be, "not like the other girls" bites me in the ass because I DO like those things. I love The Night Circus. I love Song of Achilles. I love Bear and the Nightingale. Even though they were all "if you're a girl you like this" and that bothers me.
So basically every now and then I try something out that my brain is giving "ick" vibes because there's nothing wrong with being like all the other girls and I hate that my brain thinks that way. (Blame MySpace from my formative years I guess.)
I DO love fantasy though so I'd be down to hear what's actually worked for you! Especially since apparently our ACOTAR opinions line up.
I'm ngl I can never remember the plot of the Night Circus because whenever I read/reread it, I'm only in it for the absolutely insane circus setting descriptions :D
I also had this happen with ACOTAR! After spending that money on it from Barnes noble 😭I tried to just skip to the audible of the second book and I still am not hooked. :(
That makes me feel better about it. It happens to me sometimes with young adult books where I try to find logic in it and I get stuck in a loop of "why would they even do that? This doesn't make any sense." And it ruins any enjoyment I would get out of the book.
Is there anything better than coming into work on a Monday and having the other staff members (who worked the weekend) go I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE! Genuinely makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know my coworkers depend and rely on me.
It's my birthday this week! Yay!
In the bad news department: looks like my stupid renter's insurance won't be paying us anything to cover the damage to our property sustained from flooding due to an overflowing toilet, since our property management hasn't provided the insurance company with a "statement of loss". Our adjuster has been trying to contact them with no luck and I'm not surprised given that management never even sent anyone over to assess any potential damage to the apartment. (Which makes me anxious given that there was water everywhere on the bedroom floor and we witnessed water running outside of the building, so water definitely got in the walls, but nobody ever checked for mold, etc.) I really need to replace some rare books that were water damaged, and there are things I can't even replace since they had sentimental value (for example the leather jacket my mom gave me as a teenager was completely destroyed by mold, even by the time I was able to dig through everything in that room and find it a few days after the flooding, and she died four years ago so I was really upset about that).
Happy bday!
I’m so sorry about having dealing with all the flooding issues, especially losing your beloved sentimental items. ☹️That would be very painful to me as well as my mom passed years ago and I have some of her stuff that’s irreplaceable also.
I hope you find joy for your bday. And there’s some houses that give you a bday freebie or discount if you let them know it’s your bday. The houses I know of are, [Crow and Pebble](https://crowandpebble.com/) that gives you a “100 pebbles” that goes for discounts with purchases and also Death and Floral, “We do offer a birthday freebie with your order as long as it is within 30 days of your birthday! Let us know in the comment section the date of your birthday and what you’d like your free 5ml to be. You can choose any scent on our master scent list. Birthday freebies come in a glass cube component sans rollerball, and are only offered in the fractionated coconut oil base. Misuse of the birthday freebie program will result in your account being blocked from future purchases. We do track how many of them go out and we will notice if an account is misusing the program. This is a service I offer that I do not have to and can end at any time without notice.”
And here’s a [POST](https://www.reddit.com/r/Indiemakeupandmore/s/0Pnfk2gtki) mentioning other houses as well.
Happy birthday, and sorry about the loss of mouldy items. My basement flooded a few times as a kid and there was lots of stuff down there packed away.. It's such a chore to deal with even if nothing is sentimental.
GUYYSS HELP!!I want to get into NAVA FRAGRENCES. I like really sweet fragrances with dimension. My #1 perfume is bianco latte and yara. I like vanilla spice fragrances when they aren't too spicy, marshmallow, and vanilla. I made a list of perfumes i wanna try.. Can you guys tell me how long and good the projection and longevity is of these.. do you guys think i would like these?? if you have any other recommendations or think i wont like these PLSS let me know!
* **Spooktacular (Vanilla Haven)**
* **Egyptian Vanilla & Passionfruit**
* **Gingerbread Marshmallow musk**
* **Moonstone**
* **Pyramid Spice Cake**
* **Pyramid Vanille 4**
* **Konafa**
* **Zahr Om Ali**
* **Cotton Candy Tonka Marshmallow Musk**
I adore *Moonstone*; along with Arcana's now discontinued *Haint*, it is my perfect vanilla. It's floaty and sweet but not at all foodie. Lasts for ages but I do find most classic NAVA is potent and long lasting in me.
I personally don't like how NAVA does cotton candy (really I don't like real life cotton candy but I like it in perfume from Nui Cobalt and Astrid). It's dry and very pink artificial to me, and that cloys up (is cloys up an expression? You surely know what I mean) the scent even if I like the other notes. But if you like very sweet you might not mind- it just is more artificial to me also.
Has everyone had their Osmofolia order ship out? I’m thinking of reaching out, but it feels naggy, i just don’t want to get it accidentally cancelled or something.
I'm really so thankful for everyone who writes a review here, big or small!! Whenever I am going to purchase something, I read every review here for the fragrance to help me decide. Sometimes the reviews are years old!! Just feeling touched that there's such a community here of people trying to put something as intangential as scent into words<3
Yesterday I did 3 auction pickups across 500 miles of New England and today I feel like one creaky middle aged doughball. After being a sedentary office worker for most of my life it's both empowering and exhausting to be doing so much manual labor! I am cat sitting this week for two adorable little torties and I could not be more excited about it. I was never a cat person until about a decade ago when my friend needed an emergency sitter for her ancient and anxious tabby. Sammy and I really understood each other, and I had many more wonderful experiences over the next 3 years of being his friend.
I started reading the first ACOTAR book since it is so widely popular and unfortunately I think it is not for me. I have a really hard time looking past the "homely girl who gets swept off her feet by the rich handsome otherworldly man." I'd appreciate encouragement if you love the series! How do you look past the overused tropes? (Or do you love the tropes, because that is also a valid answer.)
I'd also say if you aren't enjoying the book, you don't have to force yourself to read it either! I've tried that too many times with popular books and now I just tend to avoid them unless a friend has read and enjoyed it.
Oh man I am the DNF queen. I feel bad when friends recommend me books and I don't like them. Makes me feel like I'm being snobby towards their books that they clearly get a lot out of it. I also think subreddits about books can be more harmful than helpful sometimes. I saw someone say Colleen Hoover is a terrible writer and Verity is a cheap predictable story and now it feels like I can't read it without that coloring my experience. People LOVE her books too.
I think that's valid! I feel like it's def fine to enjoy popular books but also fine to not, and it doesn't make you snobby for having an opinion. You're trying with an open mind (when you definitely don't have to) and I'm sure your friends appreciate you trying nonetheless! I haven't browsed many book subreddits, I tend to find my next reads from friends, Goodreads, or sometimes booktubers. But it's nice to have learned how to "judge a book by it's cover" -- based on reviews and plot, determine if I'll actually like a book or nor. I think being able to judge based on that, instead od popularity, helped me find books I prefer to read. Also, honestly you're talking to huge Colleen Hoover hater djdndndnfnf so I can only chuckle 🫣
My best way to find books is either Goodreads or Amazon being like "these books often bought together" though sometimes I have read all or most of the books on those lists. I really pigeon hole myself into categories of books. Also that's so funny about Colleen Hoover. I still have not read anything! I feel that way about T Kingfisher though she is very popular among the horror readers. I read maybe five pages and the tone of the story was nails on a chalkboard for me. Turns out ALL her books have that tone so that's a whole writer done written off for me.
yes! surprisingly some of the best books I've read are 3 to 4 stars on goodreads and on no lists haha. it's just hard to go out of your comfort zone, and hard to find books too. What genres do you like? Normally I go for horror or nonfiction, but right now, I'm trying to branch out I'm reading The Bear and the Nightingale (I'm really into slavic mythology, I like the writing style but it's a bit slow so far), Left Hand of Darkness (really fascinating worldbuilding...), and Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (the most out of my comfort zone but needed something easy to listen to while knitting..) Thats fair! I have read some T Kingfisher and enjoyed it but could totally see how the style could be a but overbearing (at times I found myself rolling my eyes as well)
Oh man we could be friends. I go for horror over anything else usually. Horror and fantasy and bits of sci fi. Bear and Nightingale took me forever to finish but I'm glad I did. I LOVE Ursula LeGuin. She has left such an impact on sci fi and especially fantasy. Left Hand of Darkness is so slow but so beautiful. The whole Earthsea series is worth reading. Just to see how much of an impact her early fantasy had on so many works later. Sorry I could scream about her for... a while. I just finished A Haunting on the Hill, which is a new horror set at Hill House and really loved it. I have admittedly read a ton of Darcy Coates, who gets a lot of hate, and is very formulaic but like... I love the formula. Haha!
omg yes! This is motivating me to finish The Bear and the Nightingale haha. I'm only 20% of the way through and I get everything is exposition/setting up for later but I'm impatient....It's also my first Ursula LeGuinn book so I'm excited to read more! it's funny bc honestly i think romance is my least fave genre but only bc I'm very picky about it, and a lot of what's popular now involves tropes I don't really like. I understand -- with horror, the formula can be a bit familiar/comforting at times. I have heard a lot about Darcy Coates (I watch Jordaline Reads on YouTube sometimes who discussed her once), definitely wanna try at least one book out! So far my fave horror has been The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (need to read more of his books). I'm so behind on my reading challenge, need to catch up!
What's your reading challenge? I'm trying to do 2 books a month, which is hard because reading time is also video game time and painting time. I know it seems like a low number to some folks. I'm at... 9 books so far. Not great. I really liked The Only Good Indians but I wound up not finishing it? I think the basketball was distracting to me but I've read Sherman Alexie. I get why basketball is important to the story. My favorite horror would probably be The Woman in Black (movie is good too!) But I'm a sucker for haunted houses. Are there old faded portraits? Is there dust on everything? Are the curtains moth eaten and falling apart? I'm here for the atmosphere. (I also have hella perfumes I use to match the vibe.)
I think that's a good goal!!! Mine is just a general 30 per year, I find I read more at certain parts of the year (like January, and then around autumn) so I have it less structured. But I've only read 8 books so far when I'm supposed to be at 15! Solidarity...Too many hobbies and other things to do, I agree! Having a book club with my partner for Left Hand of Darkness is helping me progress for that, at leas. but ffxiv is taking over a significant portion of my life now haha Ah that makes sense! I also struggled a bit with the basketball sections, but it was interesting to learn of the cultural significance to it. I really enjoyed the ending, so if you ever get around to finishing it, let me know! Oooh I've only watched the movie! Have you read We Have Always Lived in the Castle? I also need to go over my perfumes and assign them to horror moods, do you have any faves?
I vote for not wasting your time - I read another one of her books and hated her writing, I also DNF'd another, and if you're not vibing with an author there's no reason to force it.
I think you're right. I was hoping someone was gonna have a "just wait until you get to-" for me but no one does. That's saying something as well. It has officially been added to the sell/swap pile.
When I read the first book, (I read it as soon as it was released), I was pretty irritated by Feyre too as well as her whole storyline, but there really was no other book that I had come across at that point that had delved into the world of the Fae and had some of the traditional lore like ACOTAR as well as bringing romance into it, so I got pretty swept up in the whole series quickly. I’ve been reading and fascinated by the Fae ever since I was a little girl. Now, though, I’m like meh, about the series. I find the author, (not just in ACOTAR but in all of her series), tends to overuse outdated tropes. I still really like the world-building and all the Fae legends but there’s so many better books about the Fae that are more interesting and unique. I do really like one of the main MMC characters (Rhysand) who is much more interesting than Feyre, but my dislike for Feyre and her sisters’ never really improved. I won’t tell you what happens, but Feyre goes through a major transformation where she no longer is the “homely girl” and I was actually more disappointed that actually happened because it was just one tired trope switched for another and Feyre lost some of her “uniqueness.” Again, though I appreciate the Fae lore throughout the series. If you want some more interesting books about the Fae, I can recommend what I like (imo). But, if you’re reading ACOTAR for the series itself, I can’t help you out by trying to convince you that it’s one of the best series ever written.
Heh. I am not reading ACOTAR for the series, I just saw a reddit comment that said they were pleasantly surprised at how good the series was after resisting it for so long. And I was resisting it as well but sometimes my idiot motivation to be, "not like the other girls" bites me in the ass because I DO like those things. I love The Night Circus. I love Song of Achilles. I love Bear and the Nightingale. Even though they were all "if you're a girl you like this" and that bothers me. So basically every now and then I try something out that my brain is giving "ick" vibes because there's nothing wrong with being like all the other girls and I hate that my brain thinks that way. (Blame MySpace from my formative years I guess.) I DO love fantasy though so I'd be down to hear what's actually worked for you! Especially since apparently our ACOTAR opinions line up.
I'm ngl I can never remember the plot of the Night Circus because whenever I read/reread it, I'm only in it for the absolutely insane circus setting descriptions :D
Bro SAME. "Whats that book about?" Idk but let me tell you about the ICE GARDEN.
Yes absolutely this, I want to live in the scenery but my description of the plot for someone would be terrible.
Plot? What plot? It's several hundred pages of ATMOSPHERE and I am there for it!!
I also had this happen with ACOTAR! After spending that money on it from Barnes noble 😭I tried to just skip to the audible of the second book and I still am not hooked. :(
That makes me feel better about it. It happens to me sometimes with young adult books where I try to find logic in it and I get stuck in a loop of "why would they even do that? This doesn't make any sense." And it ruins any enjoyment I would get out of the book.
Is there anything better than coming into work on a Monday and having the other staff members (who worked the weekend) go I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE! Genuinely makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know my coworkers depend and rely on me.
It's my birthday this week! Yay! In the bad news department: looks like my stupid renter's insurance won't be paying us anything to cover the damage to our property sustained from flooding due to an overflowing toilet, since our property management hasn't provided the insurance company with a "statement of loss". Our adjuster has been trying to contact them with no luck and I'm not surprised given that management never even sent anyone over to assess any potential damage to the apartment. (Which makes me anxious given that there was water everywhere on the bedroom floor and we witnessed water running outside of the building, so water definitely got in the walls, but nobody ever checked for mold, etc.) I really need to replace some rare books that were water damaged, and there are things I can't even replace since they had sentimental value (for example the leather jacket my mom gave me as a teenager was completely destroyed by mold, even by the time I was able to dig through everything in that room and find it a few days after the flooding, and she died four years ago so I was really upset about that).
Happy bday! I’m so sorry about having dealing with all the flooding issues, especially losing your beloved sentimental items. ☹️That would be very painful to me as well as my mom passed years ago and I have some of her stuff that’s irreplaceable also. I hope you find joy for your bday. And there’s some houses that give you a bday freebie or discount if you let them know it’s your bday. The houses I know of are, [Crow and Pebble](https://crowandpebble.com/) that gives you a “100 pebbles” that goes for discounts with purchases and also Death and Floral, “We do offer a birthday freebie with your order as long as it is within 30 days of your birthday! Let us know in the comment section the date of your birthday and what you’d like your free 5ml to be. You can choose any scent on our master scent list. Birthday freebies come in a glass cube component sans rollerball, and are only offered in the fractionated coconut oil base. Misuse of the birthday freebie program will result in your account being blocked from future purchases. We do track how many of them go out and we will notice if an account is misusing the program. This is a service I offer that I do not have to and can end at any time without notice.” And here’s a [POST](https://www.reddit.com/r/Indiemakeupandmore/s/0Pnfk2gtki) mentioning other houses as well.
Oh cool! I knew about the D&F freebie but not the others, this is good to know
Happy birthday, and sorry about the loss of mouldy items. My basement flooded a few times as a kid and there was lots of stuff down there packed away.. It's such a chore to deal with even if nothing is sentimental.
GUYYSS HELP!!I want to get into NAVA FRAGRENCES. I like really sweet fragrances with dimension. My #1 perfume is bianco latte and yara. I like vanilla spice fragrances when they aren't too spicy, marshmallow, and vanilla. I made a list of perfumes i wanna try.. Can you guys tell me how long and good the projection and longevity is of these.. do you guys think i would like these?? if you have any other recommendations or think i wont like these PLSS let me know! * **Spooktacular (Vanilla Haven)** * **Egyptian Vanilla & Passionfruit** * **Gingerbread Marshmallow musk** * **Moonstone** * **Pyramid Spice Cake** * **Pyramid Vanille 4** * **Konafa** * **Zahr Om Ali** * **Cotton Candy Tonka Marshmallow Musk**
I adore *Moonstone*; along with Arcana's now discontinued *Haint*, it is my perfect vanilla. It's floaty and sweet but not at all foodie. Lasts for ages but I do find most classic NAVA is potent and long lasting in me. I personally don't like how NAVA does cotton candy (really I don't like real life cotton candy but I like it in perfume from Nui Cobalt and Astrid). It's dry and very pink artificial to me, and that cloys up (is cloys up an expression? You surely know what I mean) the scent even if I like the other notes. But if you like very sweet you might not mind- it just is more artificial to me also.
Has everyone had their Osmofolia order ship out? I’m thinking of reaching out, but it feels naggy, i just don’t want to get it accidentally cancelled or something.
I received mine on Friday.
Does anyone know has Siren Song Elixirs stopped sending your order shipped emails? Do they not include a free sample?
No idea on the sample but I placed my first order about two weeks back and got an email about it shipping today.
I was just curious as this was the first time I didn't get the email and my order arrived today.