Paulette

In psychology, there is a thought experiment where the patient is asked not to think of a pink elephant. Those who try quickly realize that they cannot get rid of the pink elephant in their thoughts.
The thoughts become tense, and the more one tries, the bigger the elephant becomes.
Complete letting go of the efforts is then the only solution.

A special case is pink elephants in scent memory, as I have found; in my experience, one cannot get rid of them at all.
I first encountered one after reading Apicius's comment on Iris & White Musk. Since then, I rarely shake off the carrot association with iris. I immediately sold my bottle of Jo Malone; the scent impression was beyond saving.

With most biodynamic scents, my association is a tea shop from the 80s. There, in addition to tea, there were writing utensils, beautifully decorated stationery, elegant diaries, and probably also fragrance oils. I believe the scent connection exists through sandalwood and patchouli; otherwise, I cannot explain why this tea shop appears before my inner eye with almost every biodynamic scent I have tested.

This was also the case when testing the wonderful little package from Fluxit.
Vanilla & the Sea smells to me like vanilla plus a time travel to that tea shop.
In the statements, I read about sea, amber, and tropical fruits. The scent seems to have left a more differentiated impression on other perfume enthusiasts.

As much as I would like to enjoy biodynamic scents, and there is much to recommend them, I do not want to smell like a tea shop.
Therefore, it seems that there will be nothing more between biodynamic scents and me, at least not in this scent life.

Until now, I never thought that a perfume could have anything to do with politics. This morning, while testing the latest Aqua Allegorias Rosa Rossa, it became clear to me. In the Aqua Allegoria series, it seems to me, there is a significant reform traffic jam, just like in politics.
I have always been a fan of Aqua Allegoria. But after Flora Rosa, Rosa Pop, Rosa Fizz, and Rosa Rossa, I must say: Okaaaay Monsieur Water, I think I have a pretty good idea of what you envision with a rose-berry combination…
I believe it is time to wake up. To set out for new shores. It is time for a revolution, as the Spaniard says.
So I light a torch, raise my fist in the air, and call out to you: Lavande Velours! Anisia Bella! Herba Fresca! Winter Delice! Those were Aqua Allegorias with character that clearly divided the camp into friend and foe! That was creativity boldly realized! That was free imagination, instead of mainstream drifting along!
Dare to do it again, dear Monsieur Water!
And if the fear of declining sales paralyzes your creativity, take it from Emiliano Zapata:
“Better to die standing than to live on your knees!”

One of my great passions here in the forum is the search for the most authentic Nivea scent.
In one of the many Nivea threads, a (perhaps somewhat exasperated) Parfumo once wrote:
"if you want to smell like Nivea, why not just apply it?" A compelling logic that struck deep into my clean bear heart, as this topic is not so easily exhausted (e.g., longer lasting fragrance, I myself missed the EdT from Nivea, etc.).
In the case of the Demeter fragrance "Mushroom," this statement came back to my mind:
If you want to smell like mushrooms, you should buy a bag of them and take a deep sniff, because it doesn't get more natural than that :)
"Mushroom" smells (also) like mushrooms, but above all like synthetic. The target audience for this fragrance would therefore be synthetic-loving mushroom enthusiasts who do not want to miss out on a perfume made from both components.
I would say: they don't exist. This brings me to another point that has occupied me while testing the Demeter travel package: how does this company survive? Maybe someone has an idea?

Anyone who has a Swedish stove knows this: in the height of summer, during prolonged heat, a penetrating dry-smoky smell emanates from the stove. I assume this has something to do with the strong sunlight hitting the chimney, which warms up and radiates into the house, but that’s just a guess.
This is exactly the smoky scent that "Bonfire" has for me. Alongside it, there is a sweetness that I cannot associate with fire, smoke, or soot. However, I have also never burned a maple leaf and smelled it.
In my mind's eye, a different image emerges: a campfire, over which marshmallows are roasted on sticks, just like they do in the USA. Perhaps that’s where the sweetness of the fragrance comes from?

Anyone who owns a Swedish stove and doesn't always store their wood long enough before burning it (like I do, for example) definitely knows what smoke smells like, as the scent is much more pronounced in a small living room than in the open air :). Therefore, I had a clear idea of which direction the scent note "smoke" should take for me if it were captured in a bottle: "Fireplace" does not smell like smoke at all to me, nor like fire..... I know this scent, but I can't quite place it...
Then I read in Don JuanDeCats' comment: Cloves! Yes, that's exactly it!! "Fireplace" simply smells like cloves to me. "Bonfire" by Demeter is, in my opinion, more recommendable if one wants to smell something fire-like, as it actually has a smoky scent (see comment there).
However, it concerns me that "Fireplace" smelled of fire or smoke for Seerose 2013 (I assume that all comments since Seerose refer to the Demeter traveling package) but did not anymore in the subsequent comments in 2015: could it be that the bottle was already too old and the scent was no longer identical?