America's New Gods

[joopjoop]

Now, as all of you will have had reason aplenty to discover for yourselves, there are new gods growing in America, clinging to growing knots of belief: gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic and of beeper and of neon. Proud gods, fat and foolish creatures, puffed up with their own newness and importance.

Scorched wires, silicone, tar, chlorine, wax, rubber, and exhaust.

Well, this is.... something.

The good news is that it smells exactly like its description, but that's the bad news too.

In short, It is a melange of industrial and off-gassing smells that is oddly pleasant one minute and utterly awful the next. I find it strangely compelling, but there is something in here - I think it is the silicone but really it could be anything - that is giving me a headache - and the man and child both physically recoiled when they sniffed my arm.

So for now a scrubber, but I feel compelled to hold on to the decant - I want to see what a little aging does. And besides, there is something very honest about this scent. These are the deep gods of capitalism and industrialization - the drivers of the economy - the powerful but unattractive forces that we try to gloss over with shiny glass and carefully manicured landscaping. The truth about our New American Gods isn't always pretty, and it is worth being reminded of that fact every now and then. Edited May 4, 2018 by joopjoop

[Little Bird]

This is the same sort of horrible that God's Own Country is (I guess the descriptions are kind of similar, as that one is 'circuit boards, cathode rays, exhaust, frankincense, myrrh, soil and blood'). Metal filings, garage full of dust, old oil and grime, just a putrid, dirty scent to my nose... where God's Own Country flips towards actual, rotting blood and dirty hospital smell, this one flips to more of a smoky, heavy smog that's probably the tar and exhaust. I actually like the smell of chlorine irl, but this is chemical and harsh and all over just bad... I can't wear this one and had to scrub it off after a half hour.

[StevenBoatman]

This smells almost citrusy to my nose. Maybe a bit of the chlorine, but mostly a sort of orange-citrus smell. Like if a computer tried to describe what citrus smells like. It's good, surprisingly. Weird as all get out, but good.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Doritos. And cola. And my Grandpa's work shop. There's something effervescent in there I was not expecting at all. I sort of like it! There's an odd savory note - I'm wondering if that's the "scorched" bit I am smelling, which is translating to Doritos to me. When I got back and look at the notes, I wonder if the "exhaust" isn't the part that I am getting so strongly that reminds me of both Grandpa's work shop, and his lingering scent at our cottage. He was always working on farm vehicles, and the large trucks he used for his landscaping business. This is a really neat scent. There's something strangely comforting about it. It's totally different than anything else I have experienced. I would actually really like it and consider wearing it, if it weren't for that weird Dorito (smoky-sweet corn chips would maybe be more accurate, there's no cheese going on here) type scent I get.

 

Dry: As it dries, the corn chip scent fades, as does that of a work shop, and it smells much more like plastic and wire mechanical components. I could easily see a fried computer that's been smashed open smelling like this. Interesting, but not something I would wear.

[zankoku_zen]

Rubber, grime, effervescent Fresca, and ozone. Yeah, I don't get this either. But HELLO SCENT WONDERLAND TRIP. This is sort of like the Disney version of It's a Small World, but instead of giving you a five minute tour of a diorama of around the world dolls singing loudly and cheerfully, it's more like a five minute tour of a gritty neighborhood in a city that you've been warned is too dangerous for a tourist like yourself to be wandering through. Low throw and low wear length.

[whisperstilled]

Holy hell, this is horrific. That's essentially what I figured from the description, but yep. Sickening sweetness over a nasty scorched bitterness. The only scent I can relate it to is Drink Me - not because it smells similar, but because it has that same kind of sickening mix of totally incongruous notes.

[Threemoons]

Okie dokie...wanted a challenge/something fresh today so I reached for one of my older boxes in search of items that I haven't opened yet. Came across America's New Gods and pulled it. Let me tell you folks, this is NOT a beginner BPAL scent and NOT what you buy someone as a BPAL intro. Like others have said, it's a difficult one. In the bottle: Almost overpowering fresh plastic--not vinyl, more like a freshly set-up temp office space--the simultaneous collision of freshly-unwrapped generic computer keyboards and mice, of new thin clients that still have their stickers on them and have been running all night and getting hot; new spools of wire and cabling, the somewhat gross smell of brand-new carpeting squares, the smell of new cheap office chairs, and the odd scent of piles of freshly-torn off plastic wrap and packing peanuts. I started to have second thoughts. I put it on anyway. On, wet, initially: Aldehydes blow up into an almost effervescent explosion of new-car smell--that smell of new, chemically-treated fabric x10, along with something like the silicon spray that you treat new suede shoes or sneakers with. I got dressed and hoped that nobody would kill me on the subway. During the course of my 2-train commute, the scent kept shifting as I moved around--I had layers on today (T-shirt, zip hoodie, leather jacket) and whenever I moved little poofs of chemical smells emanated from me. By the time I got the office and threw off my jacket and unzipped my hoodie, things had finally calmed down. For the rest of the day, I smelled like...new suede shoes. Really. As in when you mail order new suede shoes and they just smell like...new suede. Maybe the same shoes after you treat them with one coating of silicon shoe spray and let them dry overnight. So, on me anyway, it dries down to an OK New Suede Thing that is really unisex. However, it's also absolutely unpairable with anything else. I MAY experiment with it in a Clocket, but I'm afraid it will stay too strong without my skin chemistry. I wouldn't call it a miss, but it definitely needs to be used in small quantities and I'd get an imp first to see how your skin chemistry responds. PS the only thing I could see pairing this with would be Whip or Riding Crop to really get the Full Leather Thing going. And seriously folks, if you know anybody with a shoe fetish they will love this. I mean, I think of every single year of High School when I got my new black suede ankle booties for the school year and sprayed them....Sorry for the long review but this one really threw me for a loop.  Oh yeah, medium throw but LONG wear length on me.

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by Threemoons

[doomsday_disco]

At first, I get something slightly bitter and herbal, tar, and chlorine, and a plastic-y scent. The chlorine grows stronger as it sits on my skin and has a somewhat citrusy, effervescent, mineralic scent to it. I, uh, actually think it is pleasant so far? It gets somewhat sharp and chemically a few hours in, but then smooths over. Towards the end of the day, I start getting more of the rubber along with the chlorine, but the chlorine is the main player on me. It's almost citrus soda-like, but not as sweet or fizzy. And backed by some rubber. It has the same feel as some of the periodic table protos to it.

 

I guess I lucked out by this one not being horrific on me! I'm currently undecided on whether or not I'd wear it, but I do think it is pretty neat!

Edited September 25, 2021 by doomsday_disco