the smell of fear: sweat, vomit, funerals, and other perfumed hauntings
because halloween isn't the only day of the year you're allowed to smell scary
People wear perfume for lots of different reasons: to comfort, to impress, to seduce. I wear perfume to make strangers on public transit afraid. When I walk on the red line towards 95th and see that characteristic look in their eyes, the confusion, thinking some sort of odor is emanating from the rugged and imposing man sitting beside me, I am truly at peace. To this extent I feel uniquely qualified to recommend a number of my favorite truly scary perfumes to wear, for those either looking to impress severity upon others, or to command respect in unkindly situations. I have personally found that while comforting perfumes are an important tool in my emotional arsenal, drawing my mind inward and focusing my attention on the interiority of how scent is experienced, the ways in which fragrance can arrest and provoke the senses serve to orient myself outward: helping me move, disguise, and represent myself in new ways.
Starting out relatively tame, Mistpouffer by Swedish savants Stora Skug…