Scent Twins and Evil Scent Twins used to be A Thing on the perfume forums. The idea was that your Scent Twin is a person whose taste in perfume is so similar to yours that you are virtually guaranteed to like any perfumes that he or she likes. Conversely, your Evil Scent Twin’s perfume preferences are the exact opposite of yours. ESTs can actually be terribly useful, because if your EST recommends a perfume, you know to stay the hell away from it.
I consider my Scent Twins (Triplets?) to be Gaia of The Non-Blonde and Birgit of Olfactoria’s Travels. Time after time, those two ladies go for the exact same bold oriental scents that I do. Gaia even shares my love of Serge Lutens Louve, and nobody likes Louve. My Evil Scent Twin has to be Mals of The Muse in Wooden Shoes. She loathes my most cherished perfumes, and I’ll never understand what she sees in all those girly florals. She’s just lucky her writing is so damn compelling!
It’s been way too long since I’ve heard anyone talking about Scent Twins and Evil Scent Twins, so let’s bring ’em on back! Who do you consider your Scent Twin or Evil Scent Twin? It can be a perfume blogger, a perfume blog commenter, or even a real-life fellow perfume lover. If you’re not sure who your ST/EST might be, then leave a comment telling us your perfume preferences and we’ll all try to figure out who to match you with!
SCENTS OF SELF 
What if you’re omniverous? Are you everybodies ST and EST?
In that case, you are a terribly promiscuous ST and EST! 😉
My closest person to a Scent Twin would be Robin of NST – she likes a lot of perfumes in the same “gentle to moderate” register as me. Evil Scent Twins? I am spoilt for choice, but Ines and Tarleisio would be high on the list (and wouldn’t mind my saying so, I hope!).
Oh, you and Robin are twinsies for sure, V!
I WISH I could find either type of twin; maybe someone here can help–I’m fairly certain I could save a pile of money if I could just follow someone on this path (or know to take a wholly separate path). My first love is L’Heure Bleue, and after that, I find myself turning to Guerlain’s Terracotta, Jil Sander #4, Coty’s L’Origin & L’Aimont, Cartier’s Baiser Vole, Mary Greenwell Plum, Banana Republic’s “W” and A. Goutal’s one that smells like pears (I can’t for the life of me remember its name right now), Lancome’s Climat, Magie, and Sikkim and Cuir de Lancome; Chanel 5 & 19, and Jolie Madame; and sometimes SJP’s Lovely, Chloe, and L’Air du Temps. Mind you, I have probably (literally) 100 bottles and vials on and in my dresser, but those are the consistent forerunners.
You have much in commonn with Meg/Olenska I think!
Hey, I love most of your list! But not all: I merely liked L’HB, Baiser Vole, Magie, L’Air du Temps, and don’t care for Lovely at all. Sikkim skeered me. But Plum, Jolie Madame, Cuir de lancome and No. 19 would make my favorites list as well, with No. 5, Climat, and those Cotys farther down.
Is the Goutal with pear Petite Cherie? That’s another one I love for summer night comfort.
Thank you, Mals–Yes, it is Petite Cherie. I couldn’t bring that name to mind for love nor money. I sometimes think that when my hormones left, they took my memory with them. (Note to hormones: Just name your price. I’ll pay up.) Mals, I have thought you and I were close in our likes, but then I bought that PdN of which you often speak so fondly, Le Temps d’Une Fête, and it completely missed the mark for me. It was a vial, however, and I do find spraying makes a big difference for me, anyway, in deciding if I like a scent.
ooh I love me my Petite Cherie! And I’m with you, I just don’t LtduF – at all!
I wish I had hormones to blame for my incredibly weak memory. Alas, it is merely familial. I do get a lot more pleasure out of re-watching movies than others seem to because of it, though! 🙂
Ooh, I love lots of those, Joanne! I have to agree with everyone who said Mals or Olenska were natural matches. But you have such wonderfully eclectic tastes that you really might need lots of scent twins!
I totally agree! You and Gaia are my ST’s! We match! 😀
And I have been gathering evidence over the years that Mals is my EST and you saying it out loud confirms it. She IS lucky we love her writing… 😉
Our scent twinnage is extra official now that 2 out of the 3 of us agree on it!!! 😀
What a coincidence, Mals is my EST too! I don’t go for the girly florals either, and she loathes the heavy spices, leathers and orientals that I love (she HATES Youth Dew, one of my all-time favorites). Count me in as another Louve-lover! That is, I loved it at first sniff, but it fell apart and disappeared after 15 minutes, like all Lutens fragrances do on my skin. Guess I just have that type of skin, maybe that’s why I need the heavy-hitters. So that makes you and Gaia my STs as well.
Smooches, darling, and waft your Youth Dew from very very far away from me…
Please don’t take it personally! An Evil Scent Twin is a very useful person to have, i.e. I have received from you two frags that you didn’t care for but that I love: Aimez-Moi and Mitsouko.
Oh, not taken personally! We can’t all like the same things, that’s boooooorinnnnng.
(I do actually like Aimez-Moi, I just wasn’t giving it the attention it deserved.)
I am honored and flattered to be your ST, Patty! Poor Mals is playing EST to an awful lot of ladies today…
Hmm I would have to say Katie Pukrick is my ST and Olenska (other than her love for aldehydic vintage) – as far as EST I don’t think there is a full-on EST..or is there and I’m too timid to out her/him! 😉
and it would be nice if I could spell Katie’s last name properly – sheesh!! Puckrik!
Yes, you & I have a definite scentful rapport (and yet, even I can’t explain how I became a vintage alde-ho, when much of my other taste runs to leathers & spice….)
There’s nothing wrong with being an EST!!! It means your tastes are different, not wrong! Olenska is my EST only in that she somehow always finds amazing vintage perfumes and I do not!! Ms. Puckrik is a worthy ST indeed/ homegirl looooves her incense scents!
But if I SHARE the vintage goodness with you, I can become your reverse triple-dipple ST! 😀
another “Louve” lover, here..
have no idea, yet, about EST or ST
I think that I might have underestimated the Louve love due to all its bad reviews on MakeupAlley! It’s so nice to see everyone on here taking up for it!
Looks like I have a LOT of ESTs!! (It’s okay. I identified Gaia a long time ago as one of them, and Tom at PST… and I love you peeps anyways.)
I haven’t yet found an actual ST, but Musette at the Posse comes pretty close. So does Donna/Flora at PST. I have a lot of common ground with Patty, from her list of faves up there, and with Angela at NST as well as Olenska.
I think it’s more that we just have all our Venn diagrams of taste, and among fellow enthusiasts they overlap. Or they don’t…
But I had to SQUEEEEEEE over that pic, Ari! I lurve me some vintagey Kirk (biceps!!). And bearded Spock, woo-hoo!
I mean “common ground with JOANNE.” Sorry. Brain fart.
You had me at Venn diagrams. *drools* I’m such a nerd, but do I love me some tables ‘n ‘graphs. 😀
AND WE LOVE YOU! Especially because you recognize eeeevil Spock!
Weirdly, Tom is one of my ESTs too! He recently called Bijou Romantique “something I wouldn’t wear in a million years” in a Perfume Posse post. Meanwhile, I can’t STOP wearing it!
My immediate ST sorority = BloodyFrida, JoanElaine, Suzanne, and my pal JC. Carol of WAFT also infallibly guides me towards the richness of scent I crave. I don’t know if I have an EST, other than the nameless stockists at Sephora, Macys & Target who flood the shelves with the sort of pre-adolescent fruity-candy bling-bling that shatters my soul… and possibly this one (very nice) elderly coworker who thinks Tova Borgnine Signature is the gold standard against which all other perfumes must be compared.
I wanna be part of a ST sorority… We can get letter bags and pledge pins and everything, you guys…
The handshake takes twenty minutes alone, and there is a segment of the pledging process where you have to do a Little Edie Bouvier impersonation in the inappropriate setting of your choice. But then you’re IN.
I like Louve!
I’ve thought about my scent twins a lot. When I first added her to my blog-reader, I thought Mals might be my scent twin, but I’ve come to the conclusion that while I share a lot of tastes with Mals, but I wouldn’t say we’re total scent twins – she loves some cold-hearted green fragrances that I haven’t learned to love yet (eg No.19), and I adore citrus as a category, and she doesn’t. I also share a lot of tastes with Angela on NST, Kathleen of No Disassemble Charlie, and Undina, but neither are perfect fits. I’ve also suspected I share some taste with Brian Pera. However, I think the closest “fit” with my taste that I’ve seen out there so far is AnneMarieC from BOTOblog… I don’t know if I’ve ever told her this, though!
As far as evil scent twins… maybe Birgit of Olfactoria? I about died when she said she had to scrub off Tableau de Parfums Miriam. HERESY!!!!! But I still read her!! ❤
That’s the mark of a truly great perfume blogger, I think- they make you perfectly willing to read about perfumes that you’d never in your life wear!!
I’m sure that Anne Marie would be positively touched to be considered your ST! Caaaaaan you feeeeel, the fumie looooove tonight…
Hmm, not exactly sure who my ST and ESTs are. There are perfume areas that overlap and others that don’t with almost every blogger I read.
I strongly dislike, hate even, fruity scents, big white florals (although I do love Dior Pure Poison, go figure), anything really sweat and sugary and especially aldehydes.
I love spice, wood, leather, chypres and a bit (although not too much) of animal.
Loves are vintage Diorella, No.19. Bois des Iles, Cuir de Russie, Rue Cambon, Odalisque, Temps d’Une Fete, vintage Mitsouko, Opium and Youth Dew. Looks like I’m all over the place.
When it comes to ST Birgit of Olfactorias travels comes closest to my own tastes I think, though not always. Some orientals that apparantly works wonderfully with Birgit’s magic skin turn way to sweet on me (Angelique Noire I’m looking at you!) and my skin loves some Mitsouko or Bandit…
Thomas of CPB and I have many favorites in common but those huge white florals (Fracas!) or Angel-never! 🙂
Funny, those BWFs are the only thing I seem to have in common with CPB.
Then you must be my EST :-). But I think you like Miriam? Which I adore!
I do!
Oh, but Mitsouko HATES MY GUTS.
For a while I hoped to find my ST or EST but everybody who I know/read love some perfumes I cannot stand and don’t find some of my loves to be anything special.
I LOVE Climat, No 19, Ubar, Petite Cherie, Ta’if (and more) whereas No 5, Shalimar, L’Heure Bleue, Mitsouko and Fracas do not work for me at all, no matter how hard I tried.
A couple of days ago I added My Perfume Portrait page to my blog secretly hoping that maybe now my ST or EST will find me. 🙂
Undina, I know that you have a vSO, but I have to say that this is romantic comedy gold! We’ll have Reese Witherspoon as the perfumista looking for love, who gets much more than a scent twin in the form of Chris Pine… 😉
Somebody needs to WRITE that story.
Hmmmmmm.
With so many writers in the house I wonder who this one should be? Hmmm… 😉
I seem to be close to Mals in some ways, Temps d’un Fete, and Vanille Tonka, love florals like Frangipani and Tiare by OJ, , Love love love SSS Velvet Rose, love Jour ensoleille, love me some Fracas, still have a bit of trouble with Carnal Flower and Mona di Orio’s Tubereuse however. Not for me Amouage Honour Woman, but LOVE Epic Woman, although her sister Lyric Woman, smells very awful on me. Lyric man is nice but I don’t crave it like I do Epic. I think I have a bit in common with Suzanne, love Coromandel and Un Lys, Amber Fetiche, but I love Encens Flamoyant, Filles en Aguilles, and SSS Incense Pure too. Love Chanel Beige and Gardenia, and swoon for Chergui. I’m with Ari on her latest Hermes, must have Amber Narguille but I also love love Jo Malone Dark Amber Ginger Lily. I like Diorissimo, love Tolu but Orris Noir no no no.
So, Looking at that it looks like, florals but not all, ambers, and some incense/woods. ST or EST.. I don’t know.
LTdF!!! Vanille Tonka!! (which NOBODY ever talks about these days, I notice)
Oh, and Dark Amber Ginger Lily smelled like wet ashes on me. It was completely different in the vial…
I only recently got into perfume, and am still slooooowly acquainting myself with the field, so I don’t even know what my own preferences really are yet! I do know that I *love* tuberose and Mitsouko and Eau Sauvage, though, and that I dislike orange flower, powder, aldehydes and L’Heure Bleue (hangs head in shame). Now I want to go search for my (E)ST rather than prepare for my presentation tomorrow, sigh…
I consider you a pretty good guage for things I will like (see: Coromendel, Prada, most gourmands), so by extension Gaia is a safe bet as well. I consider Robin to be an EST, which is funny because she is one of the perfume bloggers I enjoy the most. When she respects a perfume but delicately suggests it isn’t her thing I know to seek it out.
I really want to find my ST and EST, but no such luck. I love leather and soft florals, green things, powder and orientals. Tuberose is my nemesis as are heavy indolics. Agent provocetuer was a scrubber and a tiny Rubj sample vial was triple bagged and boxed in an unused closet until I’m brave enough to try again. I about died sniffing Carnal Flower in Barneys. Yet I love poir le soir and many clean musks. Angela from NST might be a candidate since I often like her choices.
Such a fun post. I’d love to be someone’s EST! Bwaa haa haa. I will douse you in Mimosaique and Chanel #5 and spray you with Dia and #19 and roll you in laudanum. There will be much rejoicing while you squirm. Note that I am too quick to get caught in your attempt to Fracas me. Bwaa haaa haaa.
I would now like a superhero fight with fragrances, please.
Oh, I want to find a ST sorority! I have a penpal from MUA who has VERY similar tastes to me. Let’s all make lists!
Here’s my loves:
* Chanel CdR and No 19 edt (especially vintage versions of both)
* PdN– especially WaD original, Eau d’Ete, Odalique, Juste un Reve, MDCI Coeur en Mai
* JCEs: Jardin sur le Nil, Rose Ikebana and YSL In Love Again
* OJ Ta’if, Tiare, Champaca, Woman (but not Orris Noir)
* Incenses like IUNX Eau Sento, Palisander, Jaisalmer
* Tea for Two (so comforting, though think of it as an ambiance frag)
* Everything iris
* Sometimes like fun easy stuff like SJP Lovely, Fire Island and Bronze Goddess
Not loves:
* Most tuberose (though I like it in blends that are marketed as gardenia)
* OJ Orris Noir
* Cumin and sweat notes. I like leather but not animal.
Want to love but don’t:
* 31 Rue Cambon
* No 5
* Attrape Coeur
* Amouage
You might be pretty close to an EST for me, with your Bois Farine and Bijou Romantique – neither of which I would ever, ever wear. It’s not that they repulse me, they just – Do Not Want.
mals is pretty close to my ST; I can’t think of anything she’s ever loved that I didn’t love too, and I bought a bottle of Plum unsniffed entirely because of her love for it – I knew I would love it too.
Gaia is probably an EST for me past a certain point – I love her taste, but at the far edges (DIORESSENCE????) I simply cannot go there with her.
If Robin on NST likes it I will too. STs are good pals to have. My EST and I trade samples with each other. She’s a good pal to have, too.