Scent of a Warden
Custom scents for Wardens, Hawkes, Shepards and other Bioware heroes
I just wanted to drop a quick note to those of you who are still waiting for shower gel commissions and who have not been contacted via email. Unfortunately, due to a post office SNAFU, the shower gel bottles were returned to me owing to insufficient postage (it appears that my post office counter neglected to put them in the appropriate system until after the postage price increase). However, the bottles have not been lost and they will be in the post to you as soon as I can manage - by the end of the week, health issues permitting. I can only apologise for the inconvenience.
Also, owing to various health and technical issues, my internet access has been limited of late. Also, I suspect that a great many Asks are getting eaten lately and it concerns me from a business standpoint. As a result, I am making a few temporary changes to the Scent of a Warden ordering system. For the time being, any orders should be sent to me directly by email (thessalian_1 [at] hotmail [dot] com). This should take the middleman out of things and streamline the process, at least until I get a proper SOAW email set up.
Commissions are still open and orders are still being shipped, though there might be a slight delay in some of the more recent ones owing to my recent health problems. However, be assured that you will receive your perfumes (and shower gels) ASAP. Thank you for your patience!
Tali’zorah vas Normandy, spunky and energetic little quarian, was a fun challenge. The brief I came up with was ‘clean, sharp, exotic and electric with a wistful earthy note’, and the blend consists of bergamot, spearmint, mango, lime, ozone and a bit of benzoin.
In the bottle, the lime and the spearmint are the first notes, with enough ozone to give it a sort of electric-sharp smell. On skin, the citrus from the bergamot and the sweet-sharp of the mango kick up the sweetness of the spearmint, making it a clean, exotic and complex scent. The benzoin only starts earthing the scent a little on the dry-down, adding a headier sweetness and a somehow verdant note, somehow making the spearmint smell like fresh-picked spearmint leaves. It starts airy-electric and develops into a scent that, while still airy and sweet and electric-sharp, has roots. It’s ideal for an energetic quarian who enjoys her work and makes ‘keelah se’lai’ her mantra.
On the whole, this is a new Scent of a Warden favourite.
Ashley Williams’ brief reads “solid strength with a hint of sass” and comprises cedar, oakmoss, musk and nutmeg with a hint of apple.
In the bottle, it’s earthy, sweet and a little sharp - apple orchards in autumn. On skin, the sharp of the apple and the earthiness of the cedar picks up. It softens on the dry-down, with the earthy-spice of nutmeg and slight headiness of musk coming further into play. On the whole, it’s a well-grounded scent with its own balance, fresh and solid and a touch spicy all at once. It seems to suit Ashley, with her little hints of sweet and sharp shining through overall earthy strength.
Unfortunately, not only did UK postage increase as of May 2012, Inland Revenue also decided to apply a Value Added Tax of 20% to postage. This has unfortunately made shipping even more expensive than it used to be, and the 2 for $20 deal is no longer possible while still making enough profit to continue with Scent of a Warden. I kept the price increase to the barest minimum I could, however.
Current prices are listed on the FAQ, but for ease of reference: one bottle is now $13USD (£8 UK Sterling), and the two-bottle offer price is now two for $22 (£14 UK Sterling).
Those who have sent in a commission prior to this date will be charged at the original rate, however, as it seems unfair to change the price of a product mid-order.
Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
The brief for Anora was ‘classic, regal strength’ and the blend included amber, coriander and rose with notes of rosewood and steel.
In the bottle, it’s a sharpish scent with heady earthy notes balancing the floral of the rose. On skin it’s fairly similar - it reminds that it’s a rose-based perfume, but the grounding earthiness of the benzoin/rosewood blend and occasional sharpness from the steel notes keeps a careful balance. This rose reminds that it is more than just beautiful - it has roots and it has thorns. An ideal blend for the potential queen regent.
Anonymous asked: Are you currently open for commissions?
Yep! If you’re not on Tumblr, you can still order a scent; just drop me an Ask with the basics of your order (custom Warden/Hawke/Shepard, NPC [please name them so I know up-front whether I’ll be blending a new NPC or mixing an existing blend], combination thereof) and your email address, and I’ll be in touch confirming that I’ve received the request. I’ll follow that up with any blend description that requires approval.
Miranda was tricky with a brief reading ‘engineered perfection with a soft spot’ and involving a blend of rose, benzoin, sandalwood, leather and steel with threads of sweet spice.
In the bottle, the scent is heady, earthy - pretty but potent. On skin, it maintains that balance of earth notes and florals with a little hint of spice coming through to sweeten the blend in the dry-down. It turned out rather elegant and smooth with occasional hints of sweetness and spice; a good blend for the head of Project Lazarus. Modesty aside, I can actually imagine her wearing this scent herself.
Reblogged, sort of, for the right journal this time. Anonymous asked:
AnonymousHi, Anon! The Tali scent has only just been approved, which is why it hadn’t turned up on the NPC list until now. If you check the list now, it should turn up under Mass Effect NPCs. Thanks for your interest!
Anonymous asked: Would you ever consider doing a limited edition Bann Teagan scent? :)
Hi, Anon! I think it depends on what you mean by ‘limited edition’. I would certainly make a Bann Teagan blend if someone chose to order one (see my previous post on NPC blends), but ‘limited edition’ implies that there are only a few that will be made. Generally with the NPC blends, I make them for the first person that orders them and then add them to the list of available NPC blends, which means that thereafter, any interested party can order the blend in question.
So yes, I would make a Bann Teagan blend if someone ordered one, but I would reserve the right to reproduce it for anyone else who ordered one thereafter, so it wouldn’t really be ‘limited’. :)
Anonymous asked: you should do a scent for Cullen
As I received this as an anonymous Ask, I thought I should probably mention my policy on coming up with NPC blends, and my reasoning for it.
I will blend NPC scents, but the initial blend design is always by request. This is in part because there are so many NPCs across five games, one expansion pack and a great many bits of DLC. It would take forever to design scents for them all, and even if I did sit down to provide a blend design for every NPC, the work in the end might be for nothing, as no one might want that particular scent. By the same token, it’s impossible to do just the ‘major’ NPCs, mostly because one person’s ‘major’ NPC is another’s background character.
On the other hand, if just one person requests a particular NPC-themed blend, I’ll happily brew it and add it to the repertoire. Not only does this add to my list of NPC-themed scents without obliging me to go through every single NPC in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises all at once (which would be time-consuming on a massive and prohibitive scale), but it lets each NPC blend go through at least one approval stage before being added to the list. Furthermore, the person who first makes the request gets the pride of seeing how well the request that they personally approved has done. For example, the Garrus scent blend has been ordered at least a dozen times since its original order, and the Kaidan blend is catching up fast with eight orders so far. That’s a lot of perfume, and those who first ordered them are to be thanked for requesting them in the first place.
So while I appreciate that people might be interested to hear about my ideas for a specific scent blend before they even consider placing an order, I unfortunately lack the time and resources to develop blends, NPC or otherwise, unless they have been specifically requested for purchase. However, I thank the Anon for their interest and hope that if they (or anyone else) are interested in a Cullen scent, they feel able to request one at some point. I love receiving requests for NPCs - they present a fascinating challenge. I just can’t blend NPC scents on pure speculation.
