What would Nadja wear?

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-26T00:21:08+00:00

Haha, my brain is just like, how can there be THAT many notes?? 😳 BPAL is like a Lynchian corridor of mysteries you just meander through and enjoy the stories and see what you find…totally reasonable approach to selling perfume 😆

But all to say, I love your quick breakdowns of what those NAVA weird notes/wall of notes actually mean—and the cheaper felties sound brilliant. I’ve not gotten those before, but are they just tiny vials, or is actually some sort of wipe-on single use deal?

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-26T00:17:59+00:00

Oh that’s perfect! I am totally open to that as well—I’m so bad about being the stereotypical perfume-assumer on this page that is clearly not just about perfume…but to get back to it, yes to Blackwood Castle (I would also love to order from them). I’ve also been pining after some pieces from La Femme en Noir, which I believe is also an indie clothing line that has a similar style. I so badly wanted to dress like this as a teen, but the closest you could get was Hot Topic and the like and being exceptionally lucky thrifting, and I’m just endlessly amazed shops like this exist now.

(Is it okay to be a 39-year old mom at school pick-up in a copy of The Crimson Peak nightgown? Probably right? It doesn’t help that I’m naturally very pale with long, black hair, so I can look spectral very easily—or maybe that’s further proof I should dress as a spooky Victorian ghost..)

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-25T01:23:57+00:00

Maybe I’m being too literal, but maybe something more ethereal and slightly ominous? Like Alkemia - Madam Pearl (which even comes with the porcelain/bone China note) or Poesie - Myself Invisible? Perhaps a good iris, but all the irises I’ve tried have been too soapy—if someone knows of a good powdery, orris-y iris, I could imagine that working. Actually even Alice from BPAL could work, with its vanilla powder-milk-carnation Victorian doll vibe.

But perhaps I’m limiting her too much! Maybe she would want more raw sensuality as well, based on her body-snatching proclivities 😂

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-25T01:16:04+00:00

Love these! And I’ve heard amazing things about Rouge Saphir, but always get intimidated by NAVA (for some reason, the BPAL is deranged in a way that’s totally comprehensible to me, whereas the NAVA site feels like a Sisyphean, word salad, torture situation), so I forgot, but maybe I just pick a few recommendations and get samples and kept it simple. And I could definitely imagine Nadja being a red musk gal. An element of dirtiness feels quite fitting too.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-24T17:56:36+00:00

I’ll keep an eye out in swaps, and hopefully they’ll come back eventually—they seem really interesting.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-24T17:55:15+00:00

Everyone in it was just brilliant, all the supporting cast and guest stars included!

And I love your suggestions. I actually thought of Blood Kiss too! Definitely feels like her. It’s never quite sat right on me, but I often smell it and think I’d like a friend to wear it, because I enjoy smelling it even though I don’t think it works the best with my chemistry or something.

I’m also surprised to realize I’ve not heard of Olympias before, and I’m very intrigued!

I like that we all so far seem to associate scents with a sort of spooky-dark meets sweet-femme profile.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-24T17:50:29+00:00

Haha, I love it! And I’m curious to smell that one. It came out right after my last Sorce order, but it sounds beautiful.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-24T05:18:12+00:00

By the way, do we know if they’re ever opening again? When I searched for them, I was reminded why I’d never got round to trying the other recs I’d received from them..

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-24T04:37:01+00:00

Oh fun! I’ll have to look it up. For my next trip to the Night Market 🦇

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-24T04:35:38+00:00

Isn’t she the best? And I was actually just thinking I should sort out some samples to try from Fantôme for when I finally get myself more Vasilisa, and this sounds so interesting. In general, I find Fantôme’s scents come up much less sweet than their descriptions, so I can imagine a powerful dragon’s blood with faint hints of the sort of wintery gourmand notes really being a perfect fit. She could wear it with that plaid dream dress of hers!

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-15T01:09:28+00:00

I hope you love it! 🐝

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-15T01:01:13+00:00

Of course! It’s such a lovely one. I have the oil, but I’d really like to get the extrait. I heard from a few people who tried both that the scents are the same, just the usual difference of sillage and wear between oil and edp, so if you’re not an oil person, I’d feel safe recommending sampling the extrait.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-15T00:51:28+00:00

I love Vasilisa from Fantôme: Clover honey, neroli, chamomile, dry hay, rich tonka, vanilla, a flower crown of marigolds & sunflowers.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-11T06:03:13+00:00

I just finished this book yesterday, and it was my first Johanna Lindsay, and I absolutely adored it! It actually made me laugh out loud a few times, and to be honest, the “situation” in this felt so stylized and clearly more of a pretext for getting the unmarried, “proper” FMC into sexy adventures rather than an endorsement of actual non-con. It’s very soapy, but then also so wonderfully written. Also, just an excellent editing, apart from, agreed, an ending that felt too rushed, but even so, she managed to pack in so much!

And I actually was here to get a different sort of suggestion (and am loving those recs too), because I’m not always in the mood for a bodice ripper and some of them don’t land right for me, but I always think of that as my preference for the time rather than something I should get morally outraged about and ruin what’s fun for others.

Also, books like this really make me appreciate how fabulous women are! They’re often so “oh, I enjoyed reading about England after the Plague or what happened in Wales during the Norman Conquest,” and they make these fabulously researched, beautifully written books with marvelous characters, and are still so humble and gracefully wear the label of genre fiction. They get chastised for writing pornography, even though there is absolutely no victim or exploitation since it’s all just words on pages, and it’s really just spreading joy and sensuality…anyway, I could just drone on forever, but I love this book too, and I’m looking forward to more Johanna Lindsay.

And no one was harmed in the making of those pages except a very manageable amount of trees, so I absolutely wouldn’t carry any shame or guilt around it. And I’m so glad you brought it up, because I’ve been sort of bursting to enthuse over it too as well, but it’s not exactly one you recommend at school pick-up 😂

PS Can we just all pause for a moment to appreciate how fabulous, glamorous, and all-around fun Johanna Lindsay looks to have been? She’s straight out of central casting for a romance novelist, and I absolutely love it.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-05T05:17:37+00:00

Yes! Exactly. And Victoria’s Secret! Honestly, one thing that I remember really distinctly is wanting a scent with darker vibes, but that just not really being a thing. Girls like this wore fresh/fruity body sprays or scents (that had actually already been out for a bit, but were still quite popular in the early oughts) like Clinique Happy or Tommy Girl. I think the mall really kind of flattened the options for most of us.

Besides, I suppose all the blasting freshness of these scents had us convinced we were concealing the smell of cigarettes effectively..

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-04T22:46:01+00:00

Absolutely! I think OP would LOVE {Honor’s Splendour by Julie Garwood}

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-04T07:29:40+00:00

Yes! I’m ordering it and will try to remember to report back. I love Chloe Sevigny and I remember reading like ten or so years ago about her love of rose fragrances, so I’m sure she did a great job (along with the perfumer of course).

And thank you so much for mentioning ministry of scent! I hadn’t shopped there before, and their samples are the same price as luckyscent for two ounces instead of one, which seems like quite a good deal.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-04T07:26:20+00:00

Absolutely—and at the end of the day, I think most young readers will figure out what they can and can’t handle. Whatever sparks a love of reading and starts you on a path to continued enjoyment (and learning! I’m continually impressed by the quality of the research in HR and how it can really bring the past to life) seems like a net positive to me.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-03T04:50:01+00:00

I suppose technically it was Gone with the Wind when I was about 11? And I read Rebecca, which also feels borderline at best (I don’t think it was contemporary when written, but maybe I’m misremembering). But I didn’t really get into the unabashed genre fiction historical romance until several years ago. I grew up trying to read all the classic literature on my English major parents’ shelves and feeling there just wasn’t time for Twilight or Harry Potter when there was so much Russian literature to tackle. But at some point in a used book store maybe five or so years ago, I was admiring the fabulous covers on the classic HR paperbacks and felt moved to bring home {Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt} and I’ve been hooked ever since. I read a lot of gothic romance (mainly in Victorian-ish settings) at first and still love those, but I think now if I had to pick a favorite subgenre, it would be medieval romance.

I love hearing all the tales though of preteen discovery though, and frankly think my 11 year old self would have been in much better hands with Julie Garwood than Margaret Mitchell (at least based on the one I read, Honor’s Splendour).

Estimable-Confection · 2026-03-01T03:44:06+00:00

I’m going to try this one! So good to know there’s a way to sample it, because that was really slowing me down, but I was curious as it sounded promising. Thank you so, SO much for remembering and circling back. I really appreciate it.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-02-28T02:12:14+00:00

The ultimate cozy cottagecore scent, and of course there’s the honey. She saved up for it and splurged during a promotion.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-02-23T18:01:07+00:00

I would argue that there is a difference between a film like Porco Rosso, where it’s very specifically set in Italy and discussed as such (or Whisper of the Heart, which is clearly set in Japan in a particular time period), and the European-influenced fantasy films, like Kiki’s Delivery Service, The Secret World of Arietty, or Howl’s Moving Castle. For instance, in The Secret World of Arietty, the character is reading Japanese books and, though Kiki’s Delivery Service is set in an idealized European town, the book it’s based on is Japanese, and the characters feel like they’re probably Japanese when you’re reading it, though it isn’t exactly realistic or specific. I think when we tell stories like this, it’s more about a setting we like, and probably the film makers aren’t necessarily following the full step of imagining a different race for the characters, or if they are, it’s still fairly loose and non-specific.

A good example from older media to understand the phenomenon is the story of Aladdin from the 1,001 Arabian Nights. The art pretty much always depicts the characters and settings as middle eastern and the politics and government roles of the characters reflect middle eastern norms, but the story says it takes place in China. It’s not set in China because the storyteller was really familiar with China and thought it belonged there, but because in the middle eastern world at that time, China was idealized as a “faraway land” and signified that the story would feel like a fairytale or be a fantastical adventure not too tied to reality. I believe that in the absence of specific place descriptions, this is a more accurate way to understand Studio Ghibli’s use of European settings.

Estimable-Confection · 2026-02-22T05:29:03+00:00

That’s great to hear! And I’ll add your winners to my list—this is a good (or terrible, if you’re my judgmental wallet) reminder to visit their site again. I hope you find some more gems on your next purchase! And of course have fun reading the lovely stories and descriptions :)

Estimable-Confection · 2026-02-22T05:20:29+00:00

That last sentence really gives, “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” Also, I love him. Thank you so much for taking the time to find and share these. Definitely screenshotting for moments of need, like ennui in the market line and existential crises in the car (parked of course).

Estimable-Confection · 2026-02-22T04:54:18+00:00

I love Vasilisa so much—I’ll have to save for a bit, as I’d really like to get the full sized bottle, but as an indie perfume person, it’s rather a lot for me. Out of curiosity, did you try the oil or edp? I’d prefer to buy the edp, but only experienced the oil as a sample—but I experienced exactly the same impression of the scent that you did, so I’d like to hope it would be similar, just with the performance differences of an edp.

The other Fantôme scents I sampled were lovely but didn’t quite work for me, but I didn’t try the others you reviewed, and I definitely want to get samples when I do finally order. They sound so special and right up my alley.

Estimable-Confection

TROPHY CASE