Midnight Requiem

Mara do you ever make salt-based scrubs? Whenever I use any brand of sugar scrub, a bunch of ants always show up to try to get in on the party. 😂

Ughhhh I'm bummed because this doesn't seem to work with my skin chemistry. I think it's the currant because that note seems to go wonky on me.

Bought this one blind during the sale, and I think I'm going to need to get this in a spray. Grapefruit, peach, and teakwood are some of my favorite notes, so it was a no brainer. The grapefruit is really bright for me at first before settling down while the peach comes out. The hibiscus, bamboo, tea, and teakwood create this "clean" base but not in the aquatic sense, but in a fruity, bright spring-y way if that makes sense. Really love this one, and I love Open Windows, so it's a win-win.

Can I get an Itty Set as well?

Are there any more of the Aphrodesia solids from Valentine's? Also have PE's been reopened?

I can smell the raspberry in the bottle, but it fades quickly on my skin to basically BBM + a tinge of almond.

Wowowowowow. Got Scandalous in the sale - hope this is the right review thread for V3. The comparison I would make between Scandalous and LP Red is Scandalous is like a dry wine while LP Red is sweeter. Scandalous starts off to me with a burst of sweetness from the treacle (I think), but it's quickly balanced out by the amber and cinnamon. It's SO GOOD. I don't get as much of the sweet apricot in Scandalous as in LP Red. It's like the "older sister" to LP Red if that makes any sense at all. I haven't tried layering with OCCO Red yet but will soon. I think I'm going to grab another bottle. Swoooooon.

Welcome!!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1885393/ "DETECTION OF HUMAN PHEROMONES Based upon animal studies, the vomeronasal organ would be hypothesized to be the site of pheromone detection in humans. However, although the vomeronasal organ is found in humans it is thought to be non-functional as the vomeronasal receptor and signal transduction genes are pseudogenes in man, and the accessory olfactory neuronal connections degenerate during human foetal development. However, this need not mean that there is no method of pheromone detection in humans. Recent work suggests there may have been too much emphasis placed upon the accessory olfactory system as the means of pheromone detection and response. There is evidence from other mammals that pheromone responses occur without the vomeronasal organ, and that the main olfactory systems may in fact play a complementary role in pheromone detection. Transcripts of the V1RL1 vomeronasal receptor are found in human olfactory mucosa, and this may reflect the fact that in humans (and some other mammals) the accessory olfactory system has been absorbed into the main olfactory system. The main olfactory system certainly has the capacity—the surface area of human olfactory epithelium is 22 cm3 and it expresses over 1000 putative odourant receptors (1% of all expressed genes), which through combinatorial activation is capable of detecting around 10 000 odorants."

Studies say some pheromones can be detected by the olfactory system, so the same way we detect smells.

Honey can be weird on me too, but sometimes it works out really well. There's probably a lot of different kinds of honey, so don't give up rose! I can't do SLF either, but Stacy's Lady Luck and Honeyed LP work really well on me, so I think "bright" honey is okay for me.

Yes, essentially. What animals use to detect pheromones is an organ called the Vomeronasal Organ that's essentially analogous to how our nose works, but for pheromones instead of scents. We know this organ is absent in great apes and old world monkeys, so some scientists think that could mean pheromones don't have a huge rule in regulating primate behavior ("pheromone" in this sense refers to a chemical signal that is produced in an animal that affects the behavior/physiology of other animals in the same species, whether it's attracting males, evaluating reproductive status of mates, aggression/fighting, defining terroritories, or accelerating or delaying puberty in some cases). In addition, when you look at the signal transduction cascade (basically the interactions of proteins and ions that are involved in transmitting the signal on a molecular level from the time you encounter a pheromone to the time you detect it/react to it) for pheromone detection in the Vomeronasal Organ, there's a gene called the TRPC2 gene which codes for a receptor that lets in calcium to transmit the signal. However, another support for the disappearance of the pheromone-sensing system in humans is that this TRPC2 gene is a pseudogene in humans, so it doesn't work. BUT there has been studies that show there are some pheromones that are detected by the olfactory epithelium in humans - so the same system we use to detect smells - one of these pheromones is androstenone which was initially identified from pigs. It's a derivative of testosterone and is also found in human sweat and urine. What's interesting is if you were to make people smell androstenone, you'd get a huge range of responses. Some people describe it as "sweaty and urinous," some people as "floral and sweet," and some people are anosmic to it, which means they can't smell it at all. Scientists went in and identified a specific receptor gene in the olfactory system that is really good at responding to androstenone and found that slight differences on that gene contribute to differences in the way people perceive androstenone. We'll call the two most common differences RT and WM. People with the RT type code had a stronger response/were better able to perceive androstenone and described it as "foul-smelling" while people with the WM variation had a severely impaired reaction and described it as more floral/sweet/pleasant smelling. So just because of our small genetic differences, you completely change how people perceive/react to the same molecule. I would guess that this is what also causes all the different ways people react to other pheromones - for example, we've talked on the forums about how some men are fantastic EST responders while some respond better to more dominant pheromones on women. Could be that the ones who don't respond to EST don't have the genetic blueprint to create the molecular machinery that is needed to allow them to detect EST. In terms of androstenone affecting behavior, when women were asked to smell male sweat, they reported higher mood, higher sexual arousal, and also had higher amounts of cortisol in their saliva, which is a hormone used to measure levels of stress. Also, Tinkerbelle - I just remembered a study on men and pheromones! The basics of that study was that they had men sniff female tears. Men who sniffed female tears were more likely to rate female faces as less attractive and also tested for less testosterone. So basically the conclusion of that study was female tears had a chemosignal that caused reduced sexual attraction and lower levels of testosterone in men. EDIT: Apologies for the novel - I know there's some scientific terms in here, but I can try to explain more or answer questions if anyone is interested.

I haven't read any studies yet for pheromones on men though I can see if I can scope some out. I studied neuroscience in university and we did talk about pheromones in one of our upper major courses if you're interested in more generally knowing the hows/whys/mechanism.

Those who have this in spray - did you do 100% alcohol, 90/10, 60/40?

Follow up to previous post... I had worn OW the next day, and just like the day before, we ended up talking the whole day regardless of if someone was presenting or not! He asked me for a ride back to his hotel at the end of the day to wait for his flight out. When I was about to drop him off, he asked if I wanted to "hang out" more, so we ended up getting drinks and food at the hotel bar for 2 hours just talking about life. When I waffled between a handshake or a hug when it was time to go, he noticed and asked if I wanted a hug (the answer was an enthusiastic yes), and he told me to text him next month in Florida at the event we would both be at and that he would come find me. So 5 months later... That guy and I are actually pretty good friends now. Recently I asked him why he only talked to me those few days, and he said, "Midnight Requiem, I get red flags sometimes around people that are warning signs to me that I shouldn't trust them. I feel that way about most people I meet. I don't trust people easily, and if I don't trust you, I won't talk to you. But I didn't feel any of those red flags with you." God bless Open Windows!!