u/roamingclover

Hello all. My (cisf) wife (mtf) and I have always loved traveling, camping, etc. However, now that she has fully socially transitioned, I am thinking more about safety. Additionally, we also have our young child who would be traveling with us.

We are American but would love to do more international travel as a family. We have been to Mexico in the past pre-transition and loved it, and also dream of visiting Belize. I was not sure how "Trans-Friendly" the general culture is in these places. If anyone has experience with these countries, or can make recommendations of countries/places they've vacationed to safely, I would love to hear it!

To be clear, we can deal with a few odd looks, but we just don't want to be harassed or attacked.

Hello all. Just like the title states, I have been working with my doc to find good med balance for anxiety and cyclical depressive symptoms. We started with Lexapro, which caused intense fatigue. So we tried adding Wellbutrin, which definitely helped with my motivation and improved the fatigue, but I still found I was drinking tons of caffeine to get through the day. We tried going to a low dose of Lexapro, which improved fatigue, but I was starting to feel and increase in anxiety and irritability.

My doc is now suggesting if we can't find a good combo of the Lex/Wellbutrin, that venlafaxine is the next thing she would suggest trying. It sounds similar in the receptors it acts on. I was wondering if anyone might share their experience going from one to the other? Did you find their effects terribly different?

Thanks all!

Hello all. I am been reading all about the HugSleep fabric sleep pod. I am interested in it for my child, as he often has trouble getting to sleep without my arm around him.

However, the HugSleep pods are made mostly of polyester. I can't stand polyester personally - I feel like it doesn't breathe well, gets hot, and holds odors. Are there any similar products that come in more breathable materials, like modal or bamboo cotton or the like? I have been having trouble finding anything through Google search.

Thanks all!

Well, they got me. Commodity ads rained down in my algorithm so constantly, I caved and order their discovery set along with some additional samples for their recent sample sale. I received everything today and, y'all, what a let down.

Commodity has 3 versions of each of their scents: an "intimate" version, a version meant to be noticed by people near you, and a bold version that claims to fill a room. Just in my initial test sprays, it felt like all of the scents were really weak, even the bold scents... Also, many of the fragrances read to my nose like there were really no base notes holding it together. Once the top notes faded away, which took anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour on my skin, it was like I was left with nothing. Paper I couldn't even really smell when freshly sprayed. Even their supposedly fan favorite, Milk Orchid, felt like nothing about it stood out to me.

Have any of y'all fallen into similar buyer's remorse with viral marketing campaigns? It's such a let down.

So, I have been on Buproprion SR 150mg for nearly a year, so it's not new to me. However, I got off Lexapro a few weeks ago due to fatigue. My energy and motivation is great now, but I have noticed some negative shifts in my behavior. My emotions seem to jump into overdrive rapidly and I have been far less patient and far more reactive and irritable with my family. I have also been very obsessive about certain things, for instance I just want to work on my garden projects for hours and hours and feel frustrated when things "get in the way" of that, including generally socializing, spending time with family, or getting out of the house. I also recently developed an obsession with fragrances/perfumes, which I never cared about before in my life, but now I find myself constantly reading about them and bargain shopping for them, and I am definitely overspending. I have not been feeling as affectionate with my spouse and child, but I can't shake the thoughts of checking things off on my endless to-do list, like I need my whole life to be goal-oriented. I find myself really restless and bored at work. Also, I have zero interest in physical affection or sex, but I thought buproprion was supposed to increase sex drive.

I have a follow up appt with my doctor in a week. I originally got on this for general/social anxiety and dysthymia, but I feel like it's just making me crazy and weird.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? Did you just need to get off the drug?

Hello all. Just like the title says, I am hoping to find a bottle of ELDO Frustration for my sweetie. Partially used is OK, I am just hoping to include the stylish bottle versus a decant. Bonus points if you also have a sample of ELDO Above the Waves to sell with it

Thank you all!

Review: Heretic Rhubarb Thief Discovery Set

Welcome to Smelling Things with Clover! I am a 40-year-old mom who spent most of her life being a devout tomboy and never really learned about hair, make-up, and the works. But, after smelling a neroli essential oil in the hippie health food store, I became curious about fragrances. I have a new nose and have really no business reviewing this stuff, so here we go!

Heretic Parfum is a niche company based out of Los Angeles that leans hard into their dark and spooky gothic aesthetic. In fact, I learned about the company through short facebook videos in which goth babes tell me about how their top three Heretic scents transport them into haunted mansions overlooking the sea where their hair blows dramatically in the wind and stuff like that. Heretic also likes to emphasize their focus on naturally-derived fragrances. They still utilize synthetics, but they do put a percentage on each of their fragrances, such as “98% Natural,” and you can find their full ingredient lists on their website. The website also mentions, however, that natural scents are meant to be reapplied throughout the day, meaning they don’t have a lot of staying power.

Heretic seems to get a lot of eyerolls for how much they put into their marketing. As an example of this, this Rhubarb Thief discovery set came in a black box that included an illustrated storybook about how Monsieur Lapin stole the farmer’s rhubarb to capture its scent. My six-year-old loved it. Furthermore, the book had a QR code that takes you to a fully stop motion animated short film of Monsieur Lapin. From an artistic perspective, this is all very fun and impressive, but it doesn’t change how things smell. So, without further ado!

The Scents:

Rhubarb Thief:

The signature scent of the set, Rhubarb Thief is meant to highlight the peculiar tartness of rhubarb. I think it does so beautifully. There is a very strong sour note at the front of this fragrance, but it is intriguing rather than off-putting. Heretic lists grapefruit peel at the top and this comes through most clearly for me. Behind this sour is a green, vegetal scent that reminds me faintly of tomato vine. At the base is a fresh woody scent mixed with a little bit of damp soil. I like to think of it as the scent of old cedar wood used to make raised beds in the garden. As the sour fades back, this scent is overtly green, no sweetness to be found. I did find this scent unique and interesting, but staying power on me was lacking.

5/10

Fourteen Carrots:

Like the name says, this is meant to have heart notes of carrot. Y’all, I was really surprised by how much I fell in love with this one. It smells very homely, warm, and inviting. Like I just walked into a cottage in the woods from a bad rainstorm, and someone has a spiced carrot soup on the stove and has invited me to kick off my wet coat and make myself at home. It’s sweet, but not in a candy or fruity way, and is backed by a mild pepper or ginger scent. I can detect a hint of eucalyptus in there, but the sweet carrot and ambrettolide base really sing. Also, I found I could make this one last on lotioned skin for a good 7 hours before it started to fade off.

9/10

Jasmine Smoke:

Uggggghh. On the one hand, I have to give Heretic credit for creating an incredibly authentic burnt tobacco scent. On the other hand, I sure don’t want to smell like that. There is a floral aspect to this, but to me it smells very musty, like overpowering incense being burned in some dark, dingy head shop. I tried this scent a couple times, but even one spritz feels like too much. This feels like it was made more for Renaissance Faire performance artists playing fortunetellers rather than someone actually wanting to smell good. The smoke aspect is just too harsh for me and makes me wrinkle my nose. It smells like my grandpa’s house.

2/10

Beekeeper:

I did not expect to like this one and I didn’t. To be fair, I don’t like the smell of real-life honey much either. The concentration of a random amalgamation of flowers into something highly sweet feels almost sickening to me. If you like honey, however, this is a strikingly authentic, natural honey aroma. Right away it pounds my nostrils with honey and beeswax candles, plus a smoky undertone that I think comes from the myrrh. Not my bag.

3/10

Dirty Hinoki:

This has been in Heretic’s line up for a long time and seems to be in several of their discovery sets. I can see why, as it is a deliciously well-balanced woodsy scent that is non-controversial and isn’t distinctively “masculine” or “feminine.” There is a soft lemon citrus up front alongside fragrant Hinoki wood and fresh, evergreen notes. The scent makes me think of cloudy days in damp, gray forests with old fallen trees along the mossy ground. I greatly enjoy this one and think it’s a good, all around crowd pleaser fragrance for business or pleasure.

7/10

Final Verdict:

I will definitely be buying Fourteen Carrots! It’s so good!

Dirty Hinoki and Rhubarb Thief were both interesting and pleasant, but I think I will move on to exploring more woodsy and green scents as I look for that “wow” factor.

Overall, I do think even if they aren’t things I would wear, Heretic does offer many unusual scent notes in their line up and I would like to explore them a little further.

Thanks for reading all! What were your feelings on this set?

Hello all. So I was on Lexapro 10mg for nearly a year and we added on Wellbutrin XL 125mg 2 months into that due to fatigue and lack of motivation. Wellbutrin helped beautifully, but I did notice I was waking up frequently at night. My doc decided to try the same dose of Wellbutrin, but as 1 SR pill taken once in the morning and none at night. This seemed to help the sleep issues.

However, I was still drinking like 3-4 cups of coffee a day, and decided the Lexapro fatigue just needed to go.

Fast forward to now, after talking with my doc, I decided to try to wean off Lexapro entirely and just stay on the Wellbutrin SR. Did 5mg Lex for 2 weeks, then discontinued.

Now I have been fully off Lexapro for 2.5 weeks, and I am noticing I feel more jittery, in an uncomfortable/nervous way. I am also noticing my stomach feeling "off" in the mornings, like mildly nauseated. I am not sure if this is Lexapro withdrawal or this is just common for Wellbutrin on its own... Anyone with personal experience they can share on this? How long did it take for things to "settle down?"