The One Thing I Realized From Drenching Myself in Fall Fragrance for 48 Hours

If I'm synonymous with one thing, it's fall.

I've already written countless posts about my obsession with this season, and how my mood instantly heightened when—in the case of 2018, for example—Sept. 22 arrived.

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Last year, I thought I was making a bold statement when I wore Native's Pumpkin Spice Latte deodorant. While the scented white stick certainly gave off fall vibes, I quickly learned the PSL branding was really more of a marketing ploy, and it wouldn't leave people referring to me as a walking Starbucks beverage.

This year, I decided to express my fall love loud and proud by taking things a giant step further: I doused myself in the scent of the season, from head to toe.

I kicked off my morning with a shower scrub, using Spongellé's limited edition Pumpkin Spice Body Wash-Infused Buffer. Let me just say that these new sponges are such a great idea. Up until this point, I'd been using my Kai Body Buffer.

The product, infused with the signature scent of the brand, was great through the summer, but now with fall in full force, it was time to transition over to Spongellé's latest! The autumnal product left me with a lingering pumpkin spice scent, perfect for layering. It's not at all overpowering on its own.

After I got out of the shower, I applied a thin layer of Coco Ensoleillé's Pumpkin Latte Masque. The powerful product is an all-natural concoction, made up of pumpkin, coffee bean, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg powder (among vitamins), so the scent is strong and the results were intense.

I knew my face would smell like a pumpkin, but boy was I in for a pleasant surprise when I could feel a tingle and even a bit of a sting (in a good way), letting me know the mask was doing its work. What remained after 15 minutes was soft skin and a calming aroma (don't let the mid-mask photo below scare you!).

Right before leaving the house for work, I really went to town with the scents. I slathered on Skin & Senses' Vanilla Bean Yuzu Love Yourself body lotion. While there are no distinct fall aromas in the organic, vegan, cruelty-free product, the combination of its ingredients produced a standard fall scent at its finest.

Lastly, I spritzed myself with Wild Spirit's Chill Eau De Parfum. By itself, the spray (which contains notes of golden apples and salted caramel, and is infused with cinnamon and red seaweed essential oils) is a subtle way to represent your love for the season, but combined with the other products I was already wearing, I was definitely making a bold statement with adoration for this time of year.

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Off to work I went, only to be greeted by coworkers, casually noting the aroma. They didn't know I was purposely wearing an array of fall scents, but they complimented me on my concoction, telling me the scent wasn't obtrusive or overpowering. They said it smelled fitting for the time of year.

I had plans after work, and thought about rinsing off and spritzing on my usual evening go-to, but I wanted to keep my  "experiment" going to see if my friends (who know how obsessed I am with fall) would think I was over-the-top for choosing to smell like a walking Yankee Candle.

Well, to my dismay, one of the friends was fighting off a cold, so he couldn't even smell me; and the other one hopped into the car and said "something smells really nice and fresh!" but like, I couldn't tell if he was referring to my glorious aroma—or to my other friend's aftershave. Guess I'll never know! Either way, I decided, what the heck? Why not wear my scented assortment through the next 24 hours as well?

As two full days went by, I realized more and more that it wasn't about who noticed the aroma or who commented on it—it was much more about timing. Scent is our most powerful sense, and any given whiff of a perfume, lotion or candle in my possession has the ability to take me right back to what I was wearing and who I was with when my nose first connected with the aroma. It's crazy how our minds work, huh?

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So with that in mind, I decided to make my little scented experiment more of a "moment." While notes of spiced vanilla and pumpkin slathered over my body isn't going to spark a memory in me next week, if I continue wearing it throughout the season while experiencing special times with meaningful people, I'll forever have that to come back to as a complete moment.

 

 

Fall or otherwise, if you love a good fragrance, check out THIS list of the best scented lotions we've ever smelled!