I’m looking for some new button-down shirts for my boyfriend. He likes bold colorful prints, and streetwear styles. Brands like OAS, Percival, Kith. Price range is under $200. What are some other good brands to check out?

I went last year and waited in line to get in before it started, but left to go check out other acts after a little bit. I think the line went down after the beginning but i cant remember…

Anyway, I feel like despacio has gotten so hyped since then it’s going to be massively more popular this year.

Just wondering if i should prepare for the possibility of literally waiting outside the tent for half the festival if i leave and try to come back

I’m not talking about an intentional pairing, or layering scents that are intended for layering.

I’m talking about, “hmm, I haven’t tried this sample of Serpentine in a while!”

*Spritz spritz**

“Oooh!! This kinda smells like Side effect! Now I need to compare them to see which I like better”

**sprays another part of my arm to sniff side by side**

15 minutes later… “wait, no… I changed my mind… Now I need something familiar and comforting.”

**douses myself in Burberry goddess**

One hour later… “…mehhh. I’m bored. This is not strong enough. I need to be IMMERSED. Delina esclusif should do the trick!”

**more spritzing*****

I do work from home, so for the most part when I do this I’m offending no one but myself. I can just never seem to make up my mind and I love all my perfumes so much I want to wear them all at the same time! 😅

I grew up going to the beach every day in the summer. Coconut ice cream bars, suntan oil (not sunblock–this was the 80s), and virgin pina coladas were the flavors of my childhood. Earlier this year, I decided that for this summer, I want a fragrance that evokes those childhood memories, so I set out on a quest for my perfect coconut. 

My criteria started out pretty general–I just wanted a coconut scent that felt “beachy.” But as I tried more, I realized the category is pretty diverse, so I got a little more nuanced and decided to organize the scents into 5 categories that I entirely made up based on ✨vibes✨

Without further ado, here are my (entirely subjective!) rankings, sorted by my vibe-categories. (Least favorite category first):

Category #5:🧴Solar - Sunscreen

These were some of the lowest ranked fragrances of the whole mission, simply because I often find the solar/suncreen accord salty or synthetic smelling. I know some people like this scent profile, it’s just not for me. 

• 🏆Best in category: Mugler Alien Goddess: It’s sweeter and creamier than the others in this category that I tried. The vanilla gives it a sweet depth, and the cashmere makes it cozy, but still a bit mineral-forward for me. 6.5/10
• Tom Ford Soleil Blanc: Liked this a lot on paper, but on my skin, it smells exactly like sunscreen. Coconut, tropical flowers, not too sweet. It’s not bad, but why would I spend $$ to smell like this when I can just wear Hawaiian tropic? 6/10
• Maison Margiela Replica Beach Walk: Straight up synthetic sunscreen. 3/10
• Initio Lift Me Up: The opening is a screechy, synthetic, and cloyingly sweet. I scrubbed it off before I got much further. 2/10

Category #4:🍦Gourmand

I didn’t go looking for gourmand fragrances for this mission, but as a gourmand aficionado, I already had these in my collection, so throwing them in the mix. For science.

• 🏆Best in category: Nest Madagascar Vanilla: Sweet and dreamy, this has been a long time favorite of mine. It starts out as a relatively linear vanilla coconut, but the woody base gives it a nice, cozy warmth. The perfume oil layers really well with many scents. 8/10
• Liquides Imaginaires Blanche Bete: I guess I can see why people call this a coconut scent, but it’s mostly creamy vanilla. Smells like an old fashioned diner milkshake. There’s something milky or powdery about it that I’m not that into. 4/10
• Theodoros Kalotinis Creme Brulee: Coconut cake. Tooth-achingly sugary, Bianco-Latte-like gourmand. I’m not opposed to smelling like dessert, but this–like many TK scents–has a cheap candle base that ruins it for me. 3/10

Category #3: 🌺 Tropical Floral

Although many of the scents in this category are beautiful in their own right, a lot of them didn’t quite scratch the coconut itch for me. That said, I still consider all of them “beach scents,” and a few of them I will definitely wear this summer. 

• 🏆Best in category: House of Bo La Mar  This makes me feel like an ocean goddess. Coconut is very subtle, but it gets its tropical vibes from the white florals (which I didn’t even think I liked!). It probably helps that I got compliments from my uber driver the first time I wore this–and that never happens! Not “THE” coconut, but a gorgeous scent, so it’s getting a 9/10
• Kayali Maui in a Bottle: I got a pretty prominent plumeria note in it, along with subtle banana and coconut. It goes through a briefly soapy phase that I don’t like but then OMG YUMMM the vanilla is sooo delish when you get through that!! It’s airy and creamy and light, I would almost have put this in the “gourmand” category if it weren’t for that opening plumeria. 8/10
• Nette Coco-Fleur: Very pretty and polite, but again mostly “fleur,” and less “coco.” I find it similar in profile to La Mar, but not as sophisticated. 7.5/10
• Jo Malone Beach Blossom: Soft, clean floral with a faint, soapy undertone. Coconut is vaguely perceptible. It does that typical Jo Malone vanishing act after an hour. 6/10
• Kilian Sunkissed Goddess: This one was straight up floral soap, zero coconut. 2/10

Category #2:🍍🍌 Fresh & Fruity

Of all the categories, this one was probably the most diverse, and I had a lot of fun sampling these! This list had the widest range when it comes to sophistication, sweetness, and complexity. I found a couple in this category that I truly love and will definitely add to the rotation!

• 🏆Best in category: Ellis Brooklyn Miami Nectar Tropical coconut with a woody vanilla base that somehow reminds me of salted butter. Pina colada in a scent! Perfect amount of sweetness. 8.5/10
• Good Chemistry Coco Blush: A cheapie I picked up early in my fragrance journey that I still love, though mostly for nostalgic purposes. It’s another pineapple coconut scent, heavier and muskier than Miami Nectar. Some may find it cloying, but I find it cozy and comforting. 7/10
• Bryedo Alto Astral: I had trouble categorizing this one… Creamy, almost buttery coconut with a hint of pineapple (3rd pina colada scent of this list!), so I’m counting it as “fruity.” This was love at first sniff for me, but it has a fatal flaw (that likely applies to me alone)…I have an over-sensitivity to ambroxan and found it way too salty and funky on the dry down. But don’t let my weird sensitivity deter you! It’s definitely unique and I highly recommend everyone on a similar journey should try. 6/10
• Creed Virgin Island Water: The opening is a burst of fresh lime and sweet coconut rum—literally a high-end Malibu margarita. I actually tried this on my bf first, so I have this masculine association of it, but I think it’s actually unisex. I did buy a decant for him because I loved it so much! 7.5/10
• Kayali Maldives in a Bottle Ylang Coco: Fresh and simple, sweet but not sugary, uncontroversial. Starfruit has always had a generic fruity taste to me, so it makes sense. Not a scent to overthink, and I do reach for it when I don’t feel like thinking, so… 6/10
• Miu Miu Fleur de Lait: I actually impulse-purchased a travel spray of this upon first smelling it at Sephora. It’s a creamy coconut mango smoothie, but unforch there’s something sharp in the drydown that I’m not a fan of, so I don’t reach for it much. 5/10
• Mind Games Queening: I loved this when I tried it in the store. I wrote down “a light and refreshing apple over an airy vanilla base.” Unfortunately something changed for me when I took home a decant and now I mostly smell synthetic bandaid 🙁 Oh well. 3/10

Category #1: 🥥 Creamy & Sweet

This category of coconut ended up being THE ONE. To me, these scents are the most accurate interpretation of that coconut I was looking for from those beachy summers of my childhood… If you’ve ever tasted a smoothie made with Coco Lopez, or those frozen coconut bars they sold out of the ice cream truck, then you know. These scents are sweet, but not cloying, beachy, but not salty. It’s ultimately what I started out my journey looking for, and feel satisfied with calling my top pick my “holy grail” coconut. 

• 🏆Best in category: Heretic, Dirty Coconut.  I find nothing dirty about it, though perhaps they are referring to the woody base, which I find gives it a warm and calming feel. My hands-down winner of the entire mission. 10/10.
• Sunday Forever, Eau de Babe: This one gets honorable mention for the category. It’s actually nearly identical to Dirty Coconut, though perhaps more fleeting. 9.5/10
• Sunday Forever, Coconuts. The most linear of all the coconuts I tried–which is not a bad thing! A bit sweeter and less complex than the others. 8/10

If you’ve read this far, let me know your thoughts in the comments! What are your favorite coconut scents?

I am speaking as a 45 year old woman who has been size 0 my entire life, been called a “skinny bitch,” told to “eat a stick of butter,” etc.

I understand the struggle of the XXS person in many ways, but in no way do I feel like this gives me the same perspective of a person who has spent their whole life being fat-shamed. Despite my struggle to find clothes that fit and make me look like a grown ass woman, I feel grateful and blessed to not have the struggles that overweight people have.

The straw man argument of “cAn yOu iMagiNe if someone said this about a fat person??” does not hold water with me, and I think it’s straight up disrespectful. We live in a society that VERY CLEARLY values being thin, and as thin people, we benefit from that. Full stop. A lot of the victimhood type posts I see here are giving the same energy as a men’s rights advocate sub.

I joined this sub because I wanted advice on clothing brands and sizing, but instead I see so much whining about body shaming. The plight of being skinny has its downsides, and I’m glad to have a space to commiserate, but we need to own and recognize our privilege.