# Scent vs appearance



## artemis (Aug 29, 2017)

So, I like to make my soaps look like they go with their scent. Lilac with white or purple, beachy scents with beachy colors, etc. What about those scents that don't evoke a particular visual idea, despite the imaginative name? How do you plan your batch?


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## toxikon (Aug 29, 2017)

Do you have a particular scent in mind?


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## artemis (Aug 29, 2017)

Oh, more than one! They all have names from manufacturers that seem to have little to do with the scent. The newest is called "Books Abound," and is supposed to make you think of musty old bookstores filled with literary treasures. It doesn't. It smells like a nice, light, men's fragrance.


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## BrewerGeorge (Aug 29, 2017)

LOL,  I _just_ got off BB's site where I purchased the Gemstone collection of scents, then popped right over to Nurture to buy four micas to match.  

For those that aren't as intuitive, I tend to go masculine/feminine designs and colors if the scent is one or the other.  Darker colors - tans, grays, dark greens or blues - for masculine scents and pastel or gem tones for feminine.  Also warmer colors for warmer scents and cooler colors for cooler scents.


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## BattleGnome (Aug 29, 2017)

I'm ignoring/going with my gut for colorants lately. For the peacock swirl challenge I used a cinnamon sugar fragrance (or maybe it was cinnamon stick) with hot pink, purple, and silver (6 year old me would have been proud). 

If you are super unsure you could always have an uncolored base and drizzle mica on the top. If you end up hating it then wash it off. If you love it then you know for next time.


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## gloopygloop (Aug 29, 2017)

I tend to go with what that aroma evokes in me and then work from there.


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## shunt2011 (Aug 29, 2017)

If it doesn't have a certain color combo that jumps out at you with the fragrance, then I just do something I think would be fun.  Sometimes even if it does, I color it as I feel that day.  Like last time I made my Cracklin Birch, I did orange and blue tiger stripes.  I get tired of the blacks, greys, browns and sometimes blue.  Unfortunately, a lot of the time I have to work with the discoloration from the FO too.


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## Cellador (Aug 29, 2017)

I ask my family to smell it without telling them anything about the scent and ask them what color they "smell." lol


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## Rusti (Aug 29, 2017)

Cellador said:


> I ask my family to smell it without telling them anything about the scent and ask them what color they "smell." lol



LOL, careful about asking someone with genuine synesthesia there. The color might be totally off the wall.


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## dibbles (Aug 29, 2017)

I too try to use a color that goes with the fragrance. It would definitely be more freeing if I just did whatever color combo I wanted to use with whatever fragrance I wanted to use. But, I just can't. 

So, for those fragrances that don't evoke a particular color in my mind, I just look at that as a good time to play a bit. I have also managed to convince myself that neroli is a 'blue' scent. Baby steps.

My DIL and a friend came here about a week ago to learn to make soap. The friend chose her scent/colors first, one of which was purple. DIL wanted to make a lavender-lemon soap, but didn't want to use purple since her friend did. She chose yellow, dark blue and black in a white base. It turned out to be very pretty, and she loves it.


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## SunRiseArts (Aug 30, 2017)

artemis said:


> So, I like to make my soaps look like they go with their scent. Lilac with white or purple, beachy scents with beachy colors, etc. What about those scents that don't evoke a particular visual idea, despite the imaginative name? How do you plan your batch?


 

I do the same.  I also oil paint, and watercolor I tend to be a very visual person.


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## Susie (Aug 30, 2017)

gloopygloop said:


> I tend to go with what that aroma evokes in me and then work from there.



^^^^This!

My driving force is scent.  I ignore the name on the bottle and go with whatever the scent tells me it is.  For instance, I use WSP's Pear Glace.  It smells nothing like pear to me.  It smells like a honeysuckle laden summer breeze to me.  I make it summer colors.


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## artemis (Aug 30, 2017)

I don't think I'm truly synesthetic, but very often a feeling or taste will have a color for me. I'll try closing my eyes and smelling them to see what I come up with. Since we aren't back in school yet, maybe I'll make the kids smell it, too.


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## BattleGnome (Aug 30, 2017)

Susie said:


> For instance, I use WSP's Pear Glace.  It smells nothing like pear to me.  It smells like a honeysuckle laden summer breeze to me.  I make it summer colors.



That's a great descriptor! I have Pear Glacé but haven't used it yet, it came with a kit. After the fact I checked the listing, it's a Victoria's Secret dupe. I wanted something fruity


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## WyvernWench (Aug 30, 2017)

"Books Abound" = old leather = light rust brown


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## artemis (Aug 30, 2017)

WyvernWench said:


> "Books Abound" = old leather = light rust brown


I know, but it doesn't even smell like those things. That's the problem. If I sold, I would end up renaming this one, because it smells nothing like anything book related.


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## NsMar42111 (Aug 30, 2017)

My thought on "books abound" was a pale color with brown stripe-either a mica line or a thin layer on the top. Then you said it doesn't smell like books and I was crushed 

I struggle with this somewhat too. I felt a little better on the men's side of fragrances when several male friends I quizzed said "as long as it's not pink we'll use it". Couple added "or purple or red" to that.


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## artemis (Aug 30, 2017)

NsMar42111 said:


> My thought on "books abound" was a pale color with brown stripe-either a mica line or a thin layer on the top. Then you said it doesn't smell like books and I was crushed
> 
> I struggle with this somewhat too. I felt a little better on the men's side of fragrances when several male friends I quizzed said "as long as it's not pink we'll use it". Couple added "or purple or red" to that.


I knew when I bought it that it probably couldn't capture a book smell. But, how could I resist?!? And I thought about all sorts of ways I might be able to communicate a book. That white-on-white tiger stripe someone shared recently could look like pages.   

So, now I've decided I just need to change the name to make my brain forget the book idea.


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## NsMar42111 (Aug 30, 2017)

Old books smell like must and mold to me LOL. I tried a parchment/paper scent once and BLEH. Maybe you could mix up your own, a leathery/papery scent? And then go with the stripes, maybe with a dusting of gold mica on top?


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## BrewerGeorge (Aug 30, 2017)

White soap, 7 or 8 black pencil lines, pulled up from the center with a hangar.  Brown, red, or green top.


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## artemis (Aug 30, 2017)

BrewerGeorge said:


> White soap, 7 or 8 black pencil lines, pulled up from the center with a hangar.  Brown, red, or green top.


This is similar to what I was thinking, but maybe a tiger stripe of two shade of white before pulling up through the middle. I like the idea of pouring the "cover" last.


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## artemis (Aug 30, 2017)

NsMar42111 said:


> Old books smell like must and mold to me LOL.



No..... Old books smell like paper and leather and the Forbidden Forest and glue and ink and the unicorn's grove and hot tea and warm socks and Prospero's Cell.


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## artemis (Aug 31, 2017)

So, I was smelling the "books" FO again today and I think maybe I placed it! Smelling it brought back a memory of a particular bottle from my childhood. Does anyone remember English Leather cologne? I think that might be what this smells like! It was one of those things that my grandmother would buy my dad for Christmas.


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## dibbles (Aug 31, 2017)

artemis said:


> So, I was smelling the "books" FO again today and I think maybe I placed it! Smelling it brought back a memory of a particular bottle from my childhood. Does anyone remember English Leather cologne? I think that might be what this smells like! It was one of those things that my grandmother would buy my dad for Christmas.



I do remember English Leather! Colors - medium brown, deep red and gold! With a little black or some white.


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## earlene (Sep 1, 2017)

artemis said:


> Oh, more than one! They all have names from manufacturers that seem to have little to do with the scent. The newest is called "Books Abound," and is supposed to make you think of musty old bookstores filled with literary treasures. It doesn't. It smells like a nice, light, men's fragrance.



That's too bad.  I absolutely love the smell of old paper pages in books.  That description would not make me think of leather in the least, but I would certainly want it to smell like old paper pages.  One of my favorite things to smell.

And yes, I do remember English Leather.  As a teen it was one my favorites.  I think it came out at the time and I was just influenced by all the advertising.  For the life of me, I really don't remember what it smells like.


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## kath4553 (Sep 1, 2017)

I can obsess about colors for weeks before I decide. But when I'm really in a bind I search color palettes on pinterest and then I can choose or at least narrow down my choices.


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