About the "Gender Expression" tab on products

About

I attempt to provide a gender expression designation for my perfumes. These are in the scent list and also in the metadata, so you can use them as searchable filters (when my site is up).

The designations I provide are completely subjective - they're based on my own relationship to gender, which is admittedly not super traditional, and I have pretty severe body dysphoria that's impacted how I experience my own gender. My own perceptions of how materials and notes in perfumes have been coded as feminine or masculine isn't super reliable for that reason. You may disagree with them based on your own associations and expressions, especially depending on the scents you were exposed to growing up.

If you review my perfumes publicly, I highly encourage you to write about how you perceive the gender in the fragrances - that is amazing information for others to have so they can make a more informed decision about which of my perfumes to try.

 

Why this matters

Because fragrance is deeply personal, and it is a powerful tool for transformation, affirmation, and expression.

I think of fragrance like a glamour - something magical that we try on to coax out specific qualities and alignments we hold at the intersections of our identity. It can also be emotionally disarming when we brush up against something we don't want to express.

It's important to me that I provide the resources people need to feel a sense of safety and ease when purchasing. Shopping online, you don't have the ability to try fragrances before committing to owning them, and a list of notes not a good indicator of whether a fragrance will feel comfortable or congruous with aspects of your identity.

My hope is that these gender designations - as imperfect as they may be - will feel helpful for people seeking gender-affirming scents or attempting to ascertain whether a scent would be safe for them to wear, due to social pressures in their environment or personal triggers. Of course, we can't always avoid these, but I do hope that it helps.

 

Definitions

Again, these are totally subjective (and also, I am working on filling out the examples, so pardon the construction), but these are the definitions I go by when choosing the designations on the site.

agender: These tend to be atmospheric or extremely specific to what they're conveying. However, they may still contain elements that some people perceive as gendered due to their scent family.

examples of agender fragrances:

• Crossroads of Lost & Lorn is atmospheric but may be perceived as masculine by some because it contains elements commonly found in fougeres or freshies, like juniper berry and mosses.
• Root Beer Float Puff isn't gendered because it is a photorealistic take on root beer, but some people may consider all sweet / vanilla gourmands to be femme-coded.

genderfluid: These fragrances could go either way based on personal expression or based on your associations with the materials.

Examples of genderfluid fragrances:

• Changeling and Black Witch Moth are considered a bit femme fatale by many, but they have notes that can be found in both hi-femme and hi-masc coded mainstream fragrances, so they may feel bigender or even gender neutral to some. (You may have gathered that this was intentional based on the name and you'd be correct.)
• Strangeling may feel gender-transcending to some due to a perceived lack of strong femme or masc coded elements and the strong paper/ink note. Some find the ethereal floral quality decidedly feminine, while some find the mossy aspects overwhelmingly masculine.

lo-femme: fragrances containing some aspects traditionally marketed towards women and may be uncomfortable for someone who wants to present as hi-masc.

lo-masc: These often have some aspects traditionally marketed towards men, so people very sensitive to masc notes may be uncomfortable. However, they may also have elements that may be uncomfortable for some cis-het men to smell like due to socialization, such as marshmallow, or they may have agendered elements like industrial notes or nature notes.

Examples of lo-masc fragrances:

• babygirl features multiple notes common to masc frags, like smoky vetiver and Virginian cedarwood. However, the peanut butter marshmallows and industrial notes soften the masculinity and give it an agendered edge that may make it more comfortable for enbies and femme-coded folks to wear.
• Mossmallow Puff is an atmospheric fleurmand loosely based around green notes and a coumarin marshmallow accord. Coumarin is in many masc scents traditionally, but again the sweetness of the marshmallow and the agendered edge of the nature elements may soften the masculinity enough to be comfortable for non-masc folks.

hi-masc: These have strong similarities to fragrances ubiquitously marketed towards men. They may be uncomfortable for someone seeking femme expressiveness. For example: fougeres, citrusy chypres, smoky leather accords, the presence of coarse woods / superambers / ouds, grasses, “freshie” type fragrances

hi-femme: These have strong similarities to fragrances ubiquitously marketed towards women. These often include cosmetic accords, hedonic florals, fruitchoulis, and vanillic/lactonic ambers.

Examples of hi-femme fragrances:

• Faerie Door
• Ghostflower Puff