Dear Dry Downers, Welcome to another installment of The Six, in which we each recommend three perfumes (roughly) around a theme. Today, we are thinking about Back To School scents. It has been a long time since either of us technically matriculated in a class, but going back to school is more of a state of mind rather than a state of enrollment. This is a period of change but also anticipation -- so many things are fresh in September and October: blank notebooks, sharp pencils, unpilled sweaters, unsmushed chapstick. Because this time is inherently transitional, it is also vulnerable. We like to think of fall as a cozy, comforting season, like a continuous cup of hot cloves, but it can be jarring and unsteady. This is the time when, as children, we weren’t yet sure who our friends were, who we could sit with at lunch, who was an ally and who was a potential tormentor. We weren’t yet sure how tough the class material would be, or how stressed we’d be trying to stretch towards it, or which teachers would be hard on us. In many ways, the big marketing push around autumnal snuggliness may be a band-aid and a forgetting device. You always carry a bit of nervousness in your ribs around fall, and Big Pumpkin Spice is trying to spackle over that. It’s natural to feel a bit open and raw right now; you’re heading back to school. Here are some scents to match the season.
The Dry Down Six: Back To School
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Dear Dry Downers, Welcome to another installment of The Six, in which we each recommend three perfumes (roughly) around a theme. Today, we are thinking about Back To School scents. It has been a long time since either of us technically matriculated in a class, but going back to school is more of a state of mind rather than a state of enrollment. This is a period of change but also anticipation -- so many things are fresh in September and October: blank notebooks, sharp pencils, unpilled sweaters, unsmushed chapstick. Because this time is inherently transitional, it is also vulnerable. We like to think of fall as a cozy, comforting season, like a continuous cup of hot cloves, but it can be jarring and unsteady. This is the time when, as children, we weren’t yet sure who our friends were, who we could sit with at lunch, who was an ally and who was a potential tormentor. We weren’t yet sure how tough the class material would be, or how stressed we’d be trying to stretch towards it, or which teachers would be hard on us. In many ways, the big marketing push around autumnal snuggliness may be a band-aid and a forgetting device. You always carry a bit of nervousness in your ribs around fall, and Big Pumpkin Spice is trying to spackle over that. It’s natural to feel a bit open and raw right now; you’re heading back to school. Here are some scents to match the season.
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