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mysticficti0n · 1 year ago

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hey can you do a short one for Tom- Tom n Y/n are about a month or in to their relationship and having one of their first sleep overs and when she falls asleep Tom can't help but look at her wondering how it go so lucky and he whispers he loves her, kisses her cheek and falls asleep

its a little stupid but- it sounds cute to me

Thank you 💕

sorry I just looked and this has been in my rq for a while- this is adorable, I'll make it as short as I can as I'm a bitch for huge pieces, enjoy

Lucky to have you-

Y/n walked up to the door of the Kaulitz house holding a sports bag full of clothes, make-up wipes, and the dvd of some random film Tom liked when they went shopping that after that trip she went back and brought it, she knocked on the door and within seconds it flew open with the smile of her boyfriend filling her eyes "hey Y/n!" she grinned back stepping in as he wrapped her in a hug, resting his head on hers. nobody else was home, his parents were away on a weekend trip and he'd made Bill stay over at Gustav's so they'd have nobody disturbing their first night together in his house "you look really nice babe" the girl blushed at his words looking down at her jeans and realised the jumper she'd shoved on was his

"oh I didn't even realise- sorry erm do you want this back?" she asked a small panic running through her but Tom only laughed and pulled her hands away from the hem of the jumper

"it looks better on you- keep it" she smiled squeezing his hand. it was already getting late- at least 9:30 when she finally got there after having a rushed shower, shaving ever inch of her body, bushing her teeth 100 times and spraying a whole bottle of perfume on her, the girl went to grab the bag off the floor she was swatted back by Tom who lifted it effortlessly and told the girl to follow him

She'd never actually been up stairs in his house let alone into his room, Y/n only ever herd it describe on the phone when she couldn't sleep and asked Tom just to talk so she could drift off, she walked in to see white walls plastered in different posters, a few of his band and some movie ones too and a picture of the two on his bedside table "god I look awful in that" the girl laughed grabbing the frame

"shut up- that was after our first date you looked beautiful- you still do" the boy complemented wrapping his arms around the girls stomach perching his head on her shoulder, rolling her eyes she turned to her boyfriend seeing a dopey smile spread across his face warming her heart

"I bought you something" she grinned walking to the bed where her bag had been put, she rummaged through before pulling out the dvd 'the orphan' and Toms face lit up

"when did you get this!" she laughed passing him the box "thank you!" he pulled the girl back into another hug, he wanted to press a kiss to her lips but he was worried it was still to early yet, they'd both decided to take it slow, the most that ever happened was cuddling "I got you something too- wait here" Y/n watched as Tom went quickly down the stairs and soon reappeared holding a bag and something behind his back

"ooh- whats this" she opened the pink bag to reveal chocolates and sweets, a bottle of her favourite fruit juice and a little package, she pulled the paper from it revealing a strip of polaroids they took in the bowling ally- their second date "oh Tom" she welled, before she could fully thank him he whipped out a Bunch of (your favourite flowers) from behind him "Oh my GOD!" she yelled looking at the petals, as she admired them but Tom couldn't stop from admiring her, the way her eyes lit up at the smallest thing and the smile she was once so nervous about showing "they are beautiful- thank you"

she pressed a small kiss to the boys cheek sending butterflies to his stomach and heart, a red tint coloured his cheeks but she was thankfully to distracted by his gifts to notice, he'd never been so smitten for a girl his whole life

The night carried on blissfully, the two got ready for bed, and sat under the covers Tom's arm around her and her head resting on his shoulder as they watched the movie, at parts that were it was scarier than others the girl coward to her boyfriend, hiding her eyes and laughing nervously into his shoulder asking when it was over, the two shared her chocolate and sweets, smiling as she missed her mouth and a skittle went flying across the room. The film ended and Tom went to turn off the tv but looked down to see Y/n fast asleep in his arm

Her hair laid perfectly around her head and eyelashes soft on her cheeks, small breaths left her lips that Tom so wanted. The boy ended up waiting for the tv to turn off itself before getting comfy next to Y/n, he shuffled down in the bed keeping his left arm as still as possible not to wake the girl who lay there in a world he'd never see. Though the room was dark he could make out her every feature, the way her nose was so perfect for her face and how her chest moved up and down with every breath, god he could watch her every day and never get bored

the moment he set eyes on her while he was walking past her on a day shopping with his brother he knew he had to speak to her, running to ask for her number and only a week after that they were sat on their first date sharing life stories and giggling like kids. that was 2 months ago but its always so fresh in his mind and he always reminded himself how he was the luckiest guy in the world. Toms eyes went back to Y/n's face and his heart melted more

"you don't understand how much you mean to me Y/n" he whispered, letting the hand under her play with the strands of hair that touched his fingers "I know this whole relationship is new but I never want to lose you- I've never been happier with someone and you are just perfect- everything about you is gorgeous" he toyed with his words knowing she'd never know he'd said this- Tom was bad with expressing his feelings, he did try but sometimes It doesn't come out right, thats how a lot of his past relationships ended, bad communication The girl stirred lightly, scrunching her face up and turning, her head getting comfy in the crook of his arm facing him, Tom didn't think he could be much more in love with a human "I would say this when you're awake but you know me I'm a idiot and I don't know how to say things without stuttering my words especially with you- I get so nervous around you, not because I'm scared but I want everything to be the best it can be you know- like you, and I just want to treat you like a princess and the day I can kiss you and show you physically how much i... I just- Y/n I love you, so much and-" he went to carry on but he saw the girls face change, a small smile across her lips and eyes seemed to be struggling to be shut "fu- you're awake aren't you?" her eyes flickered open and she immediately caught the gaze of her now red faced boyfriend who'd being spilling his heart for the last five minuets

"no-" she smiled up at him, no matter the situation her smile was infectious and he couldn't help but smile back at her, the girl sat up, Tom's arm now comfortably around her waist

"how much did you hear?" Tom asked cowardly, trying to avoid her look

"erm.. from you saying you'd say it to me if I was awake" he mentally slapped himself knowing he shouldn't have said it all, he tucked his lip into his teeth and sat silently "hey.. hey- whats wrong?" Y/n asked turning to him as he sulked

"i... I don't know" he shrugged "I should be able to say this all to you- without doing it when you're asleep, well- oh I don't know... but I meant It all, just annoyed at how I did it" a little laugh fell from his lips as he looked to Y/n, her eyes soft and understanding

"Tom you don't need to be annoyed- it was cute, and you really meant everything?" he nodded his head to the girl who only grinned more, her hand reached for his, thumb soothing his skin "I love you too" her voice was just more than a whisper but Tom felt like she'd screamed It to him, his head went blank only her words spinning in his mind "Tom?... are you okay?" her hand cupped his jaw brining him back into reality

"I want to kiss you really badly right now" the boy spoke without a thought, Y/n he looked up into his deep brown eyes and realised she felt the same way. Tom moved his face closer closing the distance, gently placing his lips on hers. He felt a rush of emotion wash over him as they shared their first kiss with each other. Y/n smiled to herself, feeling happy in the moment secretly she wanted since their second date. They kissed for what seemed like an eternity, enjoying the newness of it all. Tom wrapped his arms around her and held her close, not wanting the moment to end, she'd moved from being sat next to him to straddling his legs, hands holding his face. Eventually though, it had to come to an end and they slowly pulled away from each other. They looked into each other's eyes and both knew that there was something special. between them and that their lives would never be the same again. "I love you Y/n" he breathed

"I love you too Tom" the couple cuddled back into the sheets, holding each other tighter than before and Tom couldn't help but press kissed to her forehead until he drifted to sleep holding the one thing he loved most- his Y/n

#tom kaulitz #tom kaulitz x reader #00s #kaulitz twins #tokio hotel #tom kaulitz imagines #germany #Tom Kaulitz fluff #bill kaulitz #georg listing #gustav schäfer #ylang ylang #tom kaulitz fanfic #tom kaulitz icons #tom kaulitz x y/n #tokio hotel x reader #tom kaulitz x you

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cleolinda · 2 years ago

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Samsara (Guerlain, 1989 EdP & 2023 EdT)

A sandalwood overdose embellished by ylang-ylang and jasmine. Samsara is the first woody women's fragrance in perfumery. It is constructed over a beautifully crafted sandalwood, used for the first time in these quantities in perfumery. (Guerlain.com)

From Eau de Tati, the back story:

Jean-Paul Guerlain created Samsara in 1985 for Decia de Powell, the woman he loved and who wore the fragrance for four years before it was launched. Jean-Paul took the opportunity to create the perfume for her, as she could not find a perfume that appealed to her. She liked jasmine and sandalwood, in particular, and these were the raw materials on which Samsara was based.

It seems that Gérard Anthony co-created the fragrance, but Guerlain has always loved a good legend. Whether the Sanskrit word "saṃsāra" ("the concept of rebirth and 'cyclicality of all life, matter, existence'") suits the fragrance as a name is a lengthy discussion I'll leave to others.

On the face of it, Samsara is another Guerlain journey into orientalism (stop that!); it's a classic example of loud 1980s fragrance (outdated); it's a benchmark in the Western perfume industry's use of sandalwood (notable). I wanted to write up this one purely because I already had it on hand: when I say "1989," I mean, my mom gave me an eau de parfum sample in 1989. I would have been about ten years old, and I loved collecting little sample vials that gave me too many headaches to actually use—just to keep in my little treasure boxes full of costume jewelry and tumbled rocks and skeleton keys. Apparently I was a magpie, or maybe a dragon. There's only about five molecules left, but as it turns out, that is more than enough.

I also ordered a fresh decant of the current formulation from the Perfumed Court—all they had was the eau de toilette, not the EdP, so this is not a one-to-one comparison. Instead, we have, on one hand, the most aged a Samsara can get, saved since its debut year, and on the other, the lightest, freshest iteration possible. It's lovely, that new EdT. But it's not what I expected at all. A couple of years ago I managed to uncork the 1989 Samsara, and all I got was this incredible note of mingled sandalwood and jasmine—just the richest, smoothest, deepest thing you've ever smelled. But the new one, from my notes: "BUBBLEGUM??"

Powdery fresh floral, rose? Like a living flower that happens to be powdery, not a cosmetic. Very very fresh and outdoorsy, like a garden. The vague idea of sandalwood underneath. Something a bit sweeter coming out, maybe vanilla jasmine. Very light, very easy to wear. Airy, breezy. Sheer.

And then, ten minutes in, bubblegum came out. Motherfucking bubblegum. I had to look up what the old-fashioned Bazooka Joe-type flavor is, because it's not that—there's no tiny twang of clove or wintergreen hiding behind the fruits and vanilla. This is straight-up Juicy Fruit gum. Which involves banana, pineapple, and maybe peach, for a flavor "resembling jackfruit." Now, apparently jackfruit contains "banana oil," aka isoamyl acetate, so I went and googled it on a hunch: yes, it’s in ylang ylang too. Combine that with Samsara's actual peach note (although it smells fresher than the lactone in Mitsouko) and vanilla—

Basenotes.com: Green notes, peach, ylang ylang, bergamot, lemon, iris and orris, violet, jasmine, rose, narcissus, sandalwood, tonka, amber, musk, and vanilla.

—and you've got a powdery-nectar sandalwood bubblegum. It's so good. Two birthdays ago, I got myself a wide-ranging set of essential oils, just so I could see what things smell like individually; the night after I tried Samsara, I started messing around with them, and it's 10,000% the ylang that's bringing the strange fruity note. I rarely if ever see anyone mention the ylang-ylang in Samsara—they always talk about how strong the jasmine is, but I SWEAR TO YOU that this is what it does on me. In fact, twenty minutes in, Bubble Ylang was mostly what I was smelling.

At the same time, the fresh EdT was really, really powdery—you see iris there in not one but two levels of the note pyramid, and orris is just iris root. The classic Guerlains use the ionones of iris and violet a lot; they're in the house accord, the Guerlinade, which I may also try to get a sample of. But the powder is so much stronger in Samsara than I expected. I was promised a sandalwood overdose, and I'm sitting here with Juicy Fruit floating over a bed of irises—like the row of cool dark purple ones we had lining our driveway when I was a kid—at the half-hour mark. According to my notes, I didn't really get ~sandalwood until an hour-twenty, and even that was still blurring into the ylang-ylang. (Apparently these two notes are really compatible; it's the only thing same combination I liked in Chanel No. 5.) That said, it's lovely and sweet and easygoing if you APPLY SPARINGLY. Of the three Guerlains I've tried, this one was by far the easiest to wear.

Which is wild, because supposedly, Samsara is A Sandalwood Bomb, a true big-hair fume of the '80s that will choke you out of a room. And yet, I didn't even get the sandalwood clearly until more than an hour in. There's two reasons for this, I discovered:

One is that I microdose perfume. I always point this out because I want you to understand that if you apply more fragrance than I do, you are not going to get the tame results I do. If you spray Tyrannosaurus Rex all over yourself, there is nothing god or mortal can do for you. I used two swipes of the Samsara sample wand on my left wrist—and it did project a good bit, but it was comfortable. If I'd done the same on my right wrist to balance it out, I would have considered myself good to go for a perfume-appropriate occasion. Maybe if you didn't deploy FIVE SPRAYS you wouldn’t be choking on it, idk idk.

The other reason is that the current formulation of Samsara uses Australian sandalwood—whereas the original used a much richer Indian variety. I was surprised to discover that Samsara has always been formulated as a meeting of natural and synthetic sandalwoods, though. But the current version has a newer synthetic: Javanol. And the thing about Javanol is that some people can't smell it. And I may be one of them. Because there is no reason "an overdose of sandalwood" should smell this modest to me, in the same perfume that is shouting white floral, unless I physically cannot perceive its loudest component. But I'm smelling some sandalwood; that must be the natural oil.

For more on Javanol, I turn to a fragrance I haven't actually tried yet: Escentric Molecules' Molecule 04. Javanol is, in fact, that molecule. The product website explains, it's a synthetic that

retains the radiance and endurance of natural sandalwood, but is sheer and transparent like no sandalwood in nature. “What I love about Javanol is its almost psychedelic freshness,” says [creator] Geza Schoen. “It smells as if liquid metallic grapefruit peel were poured over a bed of velvety cream-coloured roses.” Javanol is like Iso E Super, the molecule in Escentric Molecules 01, in some ways. Like Iso E Super, it comes and goes. The person wearing it loses the ability to smell it after a short while, only to re-connect with it later.

Well, "it comes and goes" may be why I'm not smelling as much sandalwood in Samsara as advertised, I guess—maybe I’m not totally anosmic to Javanol? The company that makes it, Givaudan, says that the aromachemical has

a rich, natural, creamy sandalwood note like beta santanol combined with some rosy nuances. It can also be used at very low dosage (below 0.1%) to bring richness and creaminess to all types of accords. With its exceptional low threshold, Javanol™ is approximately 8 times more effective in wash tests than the most powerful sandalwood product. [...] In the quest for the perfect Indian Sandalwood, Javanol™ is probably the most versatile note with its power, radiance, woodiness and rosiness, blending perfectly with flowers.

Javanol blends so perfectly with ylang and jasmine, in fact, that I can hardly distinguish it through most of Samsara's lifespan on my skin (I appreciate a good olfactory chimera, so that's fine). I can also see why you'd reformulate Samsara, already famous for its Godzilla-sized projection, with the biggest, loudest synthetic sandalwood on the market. But the thing is, the Beast of Givaudan wasn't created until 1996. Javanol may be what Guerlain has paired with Australian sandalwood nowadays, but my original sample was made with [probably a mix of synthetics including] Givaudan's Sandalore and the good stuff—20% (!) Mysore sandalwood.

Mysore Sandalwood Oil is a trademarked perfume oil extracted from the Santalum album variety of sandalwood tree (also known as a "royal tree") in the Mysore district of Karnataka, India. The tree species is said to be one of the best varieties in the world. (Wikipedia, the most concise explainer)

It's also the most expensive. But while I'm sure reformulations are a cost-cutting measure, sandalwood sustainability has also become a huge issue; I'm happy with synthetics if it helps the cause. The Australian sandalwood used in the current Samsara seems to be a popular and less-threatened natural option; it's also in two other fragrances I'm trying at the moment, Le Labo's Santal 33 and Tom Ford's Santal Blush. But it's like the difference between tulle and velvet. You can still use it beautifully, but there is a smoothness and a weight that's missing. People say that Mysore sandalwood is "creamy," even sweet, and it is, but not in a dairy or dessert way; it's legitimately this kind of olfactory texture that's so good. By contrast, the scent of Australian sandalwood feels a little harsh in the top of my nose, full of wood grain and pencil shavings, but also lighter. And yet it blends just as well with the notes of the new Samsara, just in different ways.

As for the old—Mysore and Sandalore® were what greeted me when I uncapped my vintage, 34-year-old sample:

oh my god. ohhhhh my gooooood.

That big sweet fruity ylang-ylang immediately bounced right out—how had I only smelled jasmine in the vial before? I'll stop here and tell you a little bit about ylang-ylang, which is not the note I was expecting to go on about, but here we are:

When you hear about "white florals," they're generally talking about jasmine, gardenia, tuberose (you'll remember this one from HYPNOTIC POISON), lily, lily of the valley—and ylang ylang, even though the latter is a showy yellow flower. I truly don't know how to describe the White Floral if you're not familiar with it, especially since I've never perceived any funky "animalic" indole notes. It's just good to me, very rich, very perfumy, and apparently it does, in an aromatherapy context, have a slightly sedative effect; this may be why people talk about "narcotic" white florals. Ylang-ylang takes the woozy richness of jasmine and, uniquely, adds that fruity, slightly spicy, banana-esque note; I'd love to look for the differences between white florals as I try out more fragrances. With Samsara(s), the jasmine doesn't seem distinct to me, serving instead to support the ylang-ylang, and maybe this is why I only smelled jasmine in the vial: it's my skin chemistry, once again, that's playing favorites.

You know what else my skin apparently loves? Expensive vintage sandalwood. The original Samsara skipped straight to the 1:20 mark and—speaking of narcotics—hit me like a tranquilizer dart. I just curled up on my bed and held my wrist to my nose for about an hour. I was like a cat on the 'nip. My God. I had some hand-me-down incense sticks from the '70s when I was a teenager, and I have been chasing that sandalwood high for three decades. This is it. The blanket of iris, the bergamot blast other reviewers talk about (I only got it the third time I wore the EdT), the supporting cast of notes—barely there. Just the gold.

For about two hours, it was amazing. Then, gradually, Samsara grew more and more overpowering, like a rogue science project slowly ballooning out of control. I ended up wiping it off with a little jojoba oil—not washing it off (DON'T WASTE IT!!), but reducing the amount I had on. There's only about two drops, thick as maple syrup, left in that vial, and that's fine.

Meanwhile, every time I wear the current eau de toilette, it disappears after about three hours.

I wish I'd been able to get a current EdP sample to compare the two formulations directly. But you know what? I still enjoy the iris-forward, sandalwood-backward Samsara. It's easy to wear and it doesn't overstay its welcome, which is a good thing for someone with fragrance sensitivities (me). As much as I love the smooth golden Mysore aspect, I'd rather have the option to reapply than be trapped with the Sandalwood That Ate 1989.

Perfume discussion masterpost

#perfume #perfume discussion #perfume: guerlain #the beast of givaudan #note: sandalwood #note: ylang ylang #note: iris #note: white florals #note: javanol #long post

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