Some days, I feel like I am a fancy goblin.

I like moss and have hated every bedroom I’ve claimed until I covered this last one in fake flowers. A good day is a day where I got to touch dirt.

But not every day can be a good dirt day. And as such, I have had to improvise. Herein enter: Demeter.

Demeter Fragrance is a small perfumerie that was started in 1998 in New York City. They offer about 300 fragrances, but my favorites are their botanicals and ‘earthy’ smells. I think Demeter is particularly great because they’re at a good price-point/longevity intersection– an excellent intro perfumer for smelling like a fancy goblin!

Here are my favorites:

1. Wet Garden body oil
2. Dirt
3. Mushroom
4. Grass
5. Beetroot

My first instinct with Demeter was to go for their watery smells– Petrichor, Rain, Thunderstorm, etc.. And I must say, I found them disappointingly musk-y. They smelled too much like every cologne sold in a blue bottle, and not enough like rain.

Wet Garden is just a fantastic scent, on its own, layered with a more traditional floral, or with something a bit more goblin-y. I find it goes so well with how I like to smell that I prefer it as a body oil, and I’ll often use it right out of the shower. I find that it lasts relatively well (4 – 18 hours), with the greener notes persisting longer than the ‘soil’ ones.

Dirt is fantastic, though a bit short-lived (1-2 hours). It smells like moist soil and has a strong minerality with a mild musk base.

Mushroom is funky and fungal, and somehow projects a sense of ’roundness’. It has a mild musk base and I find mixes very well with other fragrances. It smells a lot like opening a package of baby bella mushrooms from the grocery store. The musk notes linger longest, I find the sense of ’roundness’ lasts a good 6 hours or so.

Grass has a wonderful green sharpness to it and reminds me very much of fresh-cut grass. It has subtle lemon notes, and is so fresh and bright, I can almost hear the cicadas. It has some aquatic and musk notes. To my nose, they’re just on the edge of overpowering the green, botanical notes, but not quite.

Seasonality

While I find that I enjoy these year-round, they really shine in the winter, when I don’t get to smell plants very often.

Honorable Mentions

I have two other fragrances from Demeter that I really love, but seem just a little bit too fancy for goblin-tier love: Paperback and Fresh Hay.

Paperback is warm, musky, and a little spicy, and evokes memories of opening old trade paperback books at my grandfather’s house and inhaling deeply. I also mention it in this post, as I like to use this fragrance for body wash.

Fresh Hay reminds me of sun on tall prairie grasses, mildly floral and honey-like. It mixes very well with others, and stands on its own. It doesn’t have strong ‘perfumey’ or musky smells to it, and something about it just feels like a very natural fit. I find it softens and can ‘fill out’ other fragrances well.