Apocalyptic Scents?

[keltiejean]

So this might seem odd, but I'm wondering what scents you would think seem kinda apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic? I'm open to different interpretations of that, too! I'm knee-deep in an apocalyptic/dystopian fiction phase and want some scents to match!

[SophieCedar]

Uhh hmm. Well here's what I can think of:

 

Nuclear Winter: Annihilation. The ice, desolation and barrenness of nuclear devastation shot through by a beam of radioactive mints.

 

Wings of Azrael: Azrael is the Angel of Death, marked as the last being to die in the Apocalypse. Though a harbinger of doom, his duties are an act of mercy: he curtails human life before world-weariness and despair destroys our spirits. Warm myrrh swirled with a bittersweet blend of violet, Lily of the Valley, juniper, cypess and cajeput.

 

Ragnarok series:

 

The Battle of Vigridr:The blood of the gods cascading onto earth and into sea: salt and sinew, venom and flame, and bone shards scattered across the gore-soaked soil of Óskópnir.

 

The Fimbul Winter: The scent of utter desolation: three long white winters ushering in the end of the world. Endless rolling landscapes of snow and ice, bereft of bud, flower, or seed.

 

The Final Darkness: The sun turns black, earth sinks in the sea: black amber and shimmering moonflower blackened by opoponax, khus attar, smoked oudh, and myrrh and all swallowed by the fathomless depths of a lightless ocean.

[lady_pandora]

I've never sniffed it, but Nuclear Winter is one idea! It's up right now in the Yules.

 

If you think the world ends in fire, not in ice, I recommend Djinn (smells like burnt wood to me), or if you can get it, another one that has that association for me is When Thy Will Stung the World Into Strife, though that one's an old LE. It also smells kind of burnt to me, though not in a bad way, and it makes me think of empires falling (the poem that goes with it is about ancient Rome).

[keltiejean]

Good god, I'm having so much fun with these suggestions already. You guys are awesome.

[annemathematics]

Greasy gear scents from the steamworks line, Gore shock, Mr prenderghast for that shut-in eccentric smell, edge of doom, there's water here, crimson peak, plague scents

[LizziesLuck]

Hmmm, maybe The Shivering Boy: A winter storm roaring through empty stone halls, bearing echoes of despair, desolation, and death on its winds. The scent of frozen, dormant vineyards, bitter sleet, and piercing ozone, hurled through labdanum, benzoin, and olibanum.

 

That's all I can come up with that hasn't been mentioned already.

[lady_pandora]

Oh, Talvikuu for another icy one, but that's another old LE.

 

Event Horizon for your black hole needs; it's got some notes in common with the aforementioned Final Darkness.

[nathanielhebert]

Depending on the type of dystopian future you're wading through, here's some of my recommendations on the subject.

Smokestack from the Steamworks line might fit the bill: Creosote, coal, and industrial waste.
Scarecrow: The scent of a hot wind blowing through desolate, scorched, barren fields.

Black Annis is a bit of a downer: She drapes their skins on her guardian oak to dry. Her skirt is fashioned from the skins of her prey, and her bed is a high-piled bed of their bones. Black Annis' perfume is a mixture of damp cave lichen and oak leaf with a hint of vetiver, civet and anise.

King Haggard is sort of as though a forest has been cleared and processed into piles of lumber: Dry cedar, bitter balsam, and ashes.

Agnes Nutter for a charred ruined landscape that's fallen to medieval practises: Gunpowder, charred wood, smoke, and rusty nails.

The Hell-Gate Of Ireland an old weenie with the promise of "tormenting the living by blighting crops, killing livestock, stealing away brides-to-be, and replacing infants with changelings.": Smoldering brimstone, bitter labdanum, clove, black musk, and copper-colored feathers.
Tattie Boggle for that creepy steampunk effigy that peers at you from the edge an abandoned farm: Hay, gunpowder, patchouli, a sliver of bark, autumn herbs, and sun-baked wood.

[sprout]

The Come and See series suggest the Apocalypse to me, literally:

Scales of Deprivation

Bow and Crown of Conquest

Great Sword of War

Death on a Pale Horse

 

Representative of the stages of the apocalypse, according to John, the Revelator.

 

And each one is a winner! Bow and Crown is my personal favorite.

[SimplySyra]

Some of the Good Omens scents come to mind.

 

Particularly Famine (Sleek black tea, tobacco leaf, frankincense, lilac, and white musk.) and War (Red ginger, black spices, patchouli, honeysuckle, and three blood-soaked red musks.)

 

Also, from an LE standpoint, perhaps anything from the Plagues of Egypt?

[lady_pandora]

The Come and See series suggest the Apocalypse to me, literally:

Scales of Deprivation

Bow and Crown of Conquest

Great Sword of War

Death on a Pale Horse

 

Representative of the stages of the apocalypse, according to John, the Revelator.

 

And each one is a winner! Bow and Crown is my personal favorite.

 

Oh yeah, d'oh! How did I not think of the four horsemen?

[stellamaris]

I know they are BTP, but how about the Pumpkins of the Apocalypse hair glosses?

 

Bow and Crown of Conquest is just awesome IMO,