UPDATE

The Winner Is: /u/BostonPhotoTourist Congrats, Will! I don’t think too many egos will be bruised losing to your nose 

The Notes (in order by % of total):

• Neroli (FO) (Orange blossom accepted)

• Cedar (EO) (Texas, specifically)

• Rosewood (EO) – not one guess for Rosewood! (Benzoin was a solid guess, as they are both somewhat similar to my nose, but unfortunately they are not the same)

• Tonka Bean (FO)

• Blood Orange (EO) (Orange, sweet orange, and orange peel all accepted)

So, for me, this was an incredibly rewarding experience – and, I think, a very interesting look into the subjectivity of scents. /u/RuggerRigger’s fantastic comment shows exactly how wide of a spread we had with guesses after an hour.

When I designed the scent, I didn’t intentionally design it to be quite so puzzling. However, I did want to create something (with this contest in mind) that wasn’t immediately obvious. It was my hope that, with a prize attached, people would take the time to get to know the scent and engage with it (perhaps in spite of their initial impression). As I mentioned in an earlier comment, the idea for this came about while I was watching Iron Chef and realized that food critics never seem to have deal breakers (except in the case of allergies). Thus began my personal journey into working through some of my own personal scent aversions to get beyond my current/initial opinions. I’ve been trying things that I normally wouldn’t have tried in the past and have, thankfully, been pleasantly surprised at how malleable my opinions on scent can be. I hope that you also found this experience rewarding, if not Puzzling, and learned something along the way.

Thank you so much for participating!

Shave well :)

Rules:

• Guesses after 6PM EST will not be eligible to win.
• Each buyer gets one guess (top level comment only). There are 5 specific, distinct notes that make up the scent - each person gets 6 note guesses (again, in a single top level comment). If you edit your comment then you are disqualified, so watch your spelling, etc.
• This will be a first come, first served contest, meaning that the first person to correctly guess all 5 notes is the undisputed winner. This should prevent any sort of tie issues that may arise.
• In the event that nobody correctly guesses all 5 notes, the person with the most correct notes will be identified after the guessing period has ended.
• Should there be a tie for a number of notes less than 5, the winner will be the person who posted first. *As I cannot possibly foresee every possible issue that may arise, and in the interest of impartiality, if a dispute arises that is not covered by the above rules then /u/amanforallsaisons will serve as final arbitrator.

I'll be monitoring/refreshing through this period. I will edit this post if/when someone correctly guesses all notes - if this message is still here, the contest is still live

Should no winner have arisen by 6PM, I will edit this post with the correct notes and the winner.

Good luck, everyone, and thanks so much for participating - I've personally had a blast and hope you've all enjoyed yourselves, as well.