it’s time… it’s time to talk about the perfume of it all. this is the post where i talk about perfumes that inspired parfum nostalgique, the scents that were with me along the way.

the bottles i used in the game were not designed by me. i stole them. that’s right, i picked up an innocent bottle of perfume from my vanity and i fucking TRACED THEM! just like i traced a FUCK ton of other shit in this game! and I’m PROUD of it. work smarter, not harder!

let’s start with the iconic belladonna perfume bottle.

i am such a huge fan of this bottle. it’s such a classic “perfume bottle on your vanity” shape. and it is based off of one of my favorite perfumes, shiseido rosarium.

I got this fragrance in college when i was really getting into fragrances for the first time. i’ve always been a fan of rose scents, because my name is rose and i turn into a plant when you are not looking at me. when i see a rose bush i see my brothers and sisters. i can and will make roses my entire personality. rosarium is also only one letter away from my name. i can’t believe that while shiseido was totally definitely naming a perfume after me, they fucked up the spelling. what the fuck, shiseido!!

it smells like roses. roses are the only note. but oh my god is it a good rose. a few sprays of this and it’s inescapable, and that’s just how i like it. the perfume inside belladonna, though, is a mix of pinrose pinrose and guerlain shalimar. roses, cloves and leather, amber, wood, and citrus, as the blonde man says.

roses, cloves, and leather = pinrose, what most who know me know as my signature fragrance. it was also the fragrance that got me into fragrance.

amber, wood, and citrus = guerlain shalimar, a scent that’s been passed down in my family for generations. my grandma wore it, my mom wears it, and now I wear it.

speaking of miss shalimar, she’s in this thing as well!

look at that iconic bottle shape! ooh la la! that’s it! that’s the parfum nostalgique!! if you ever see this at the store, smell it. it’s iconic. fuck chanel number 5, this is way better, and it wasn’t made by a nazi sympathizer. not that guerlain is the most morally upstanding company on earth, but THAT’S NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT!

this is what i consider to be the val smell. val smells like this. val smells like this because he is my family, and my family smells like this. my relationship to val is one of healing. this is a character who has assisted me in self-preservation. shalimar was a perfume that i always loved, but associated with my grandmother a bit too much for my liking. the only grandparent i have who is still alive is my grandmother on my mother’s side, who has disowned me. it’s very hard to grow up and watch someone who treated you like gold as a child resent your existence as an adult. because of my grandmother’s uh, straight-up evilness, my mother has trouble wearing shalimar, and gave me an entire bottle of it because she couldn’t stand to wear it herself. i decided then that i was never going to let that smell be ruined for me like it was for my mother.

so i gave it to val. that’s his smell now.

I’m gonna spray it on so I can give you the vibes. feel free to look things up on fragrantica as well. … …

oh, i could cry. how do you even wear this thing out of the house? to me, this is for wearing to bed after a horrible day. and by that i mean a really horrible day. you know a day is bad when i put on shalimar and take one of my dolls to bed. that’s how you know i’m desperately clinging to something.

I shall conclude this devlog by listing every character and what IRL perfume I think they would make their signature scent.

skipping Val, because I’ve talked enough about shalimar today…

dash totally wears lolita lempicka, because she really likes black licorice. she can munch on that shit until her mouth looks like she’s been chewing charcoal.

lu wears hanae mori magical moon. i think he got it in a moment of “saw it at the store and it was the only thing he could see himself wearing, so he bought it, and now he can’t fucking find it anywhere.” such is the woes of hanae mori fans.

saturday wears mitsouko, and this is discussed in act 1! because her taste is IMPECCABLE! and also that of an old lady.

luci wears versace eros because that’s such a fucking bro scent. i remember my college roomate’s boyfriend left an empty bottle of it in her room once and it’s burned into my mind.

donna wears alien because yeah of course she does. it’s simple, but there’s really nothing like it. a cult favorite but also kinda basic. but only bad bitches wear it.

kenny wears hanae mori HM which is so goated, i am always wearing it. this scent isn’t for men or for women, this is a scent specifically for A Secret Third Thing. timeless. timeless. timeless. underrated.

toulouse wears bal a versailles which is like… think of a perfume that smells like a girl who is going to the club to take someone home. now, think of the 18th century version of that. 18th century slut juice. fuck yeah? fuck yeah.

betty saw elizabeth arden green tea bamboo at a tj maxx and was like “that looks like ten dollars and infinite women.” and she was right.

tiff wears britney spears fantasy because it looks awesome on her vanity, and it makes her smell like cookies. that’s all she needs. but also, britney is her girl.

aaaand finally, oberon is totally wearing anna sui live your dream which smells like if berries became goth and a little bit smoky. he wants you to think of his blood like it’s juice.

anyway. that’s it.

YOU!!!!

tell me. what is your favorite perfume, what is a perfume that makes you feel nostalgic, or what do you think a character from YOUR game would wear? you should tell me because i love talking about it.

buh bye!