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 :)