Since I’m inevitably going to be worried about flu germs (again) this fall and winter, I might as well carry some anti-bacterial hand gel with me; and if I’m going to carry a product everywhere I go, it might as well make me smile when I pull it out of my purse. This is why I scooped up a few Halloween-themed Anti-Bacterial “Pocket-Bacs” (as they are known) at Bath & Body Works when they first appeared in stores.

I’ve tried four of the Halloween-season scents available as Pocket-Bacs, and all of them were fun, if not exactly the kinds of scents I would choose for other body products or actual fragrances. Bat Bite, with its bat-image label, was an irresistible selection for the former Goth in me. Its scent is “apple" — more specifically, an intensely synthetic green-apple scent that reminds me somewhat disconcertingly of green-apple schnapps and “appletini” cocktails. This is also the strongest of the scents I tried, and it lingers for a while, so you (and everyone around you) had better enjoy it if you’re using it.

Vampire Blood is sure to appeal to young Twilight fans as well as, shall we say, more “mature” readers like myself who cut their teeth (pun intended) on Anne Rice novels...

Indie line Smell Bent has launched A Bent Halloween, a limited edition collection of 4 fragrances:

Violet Tendencies ~ "earthy violet leaf roughed up with worn leather..."]]>

Indie line Smell Bent has launched A Bent Halloween, a limited edition collection of 4 fragrances:

Violet Tendencies ~ “earthy violet leaf roughed up with worn leather…”

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For the last two years, I have practiced one annual perfume ritual: the wearing of Fendi’s Asja around Halloween. The caramelized fruit note of this discontinued fragrance reminds me of the pineapple fritters and cinnamon donuts my mother made for us when I was a teenager during the late fall. Unfortunately, my little lacquered rice-bowl mini of Asja was the only casualty of our last move. The stone tile floor of the house we left probably gave off an occasional whiff of fresh fritters for weeks. Halloween is over, but with our economies in tatters and the whole American political machine lit and shuddering like a carnival funhouse, many of us still have a case of the creeps. Who would blame us if we faced all this down with a comfort scent like Asja and, yes, maybe some of those midway mini-donuts, if we could find some? But I am here to lead you on a braver, smellier course: wear scary scents.

Of course, I must emphasize the subjective nature of fear. For example, I am terrified of balloons. (You never know when those darn things are going to pop! My heart almost stops just thinking of it happening.) The perfumes that scare me may be your treasured favourites, while your blood curdles at the thought of me cheerfully washing around in a tide of, say, Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Pamplelune...