Welcome to SNEEF!

So, now that we're official launched it's time for an intro post. Hi! Welcome to SNEEF. SNEEF is a blog dedicated to exploring the high seas wide world of alternative/indie perfumes.

Who Am I?

I'm Aubin. I love smelling good smelling things. Back in my early 20s I was in the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab scene (to a small extent). I hung out on the forums, posted reviews and... then hit grad school. Now I'm sitting here 10 years later where I've dove back into the hobby like a small child into a McDonalds play pit.

Over the past few months I discovered several things.

1.  I really like writing reviews. Really, really like writing them. 
2.  Apparently I like writing them enough that I've formed a back log that required a posting schedule.
3. I was treating making reddit posts like running a blog which clued me in to the fact that uh... perhaps I ought to start a blog.

SNEEF is not an abbreviation, nor does it stand for anything in particular beyond the sheer joy of sniffing a good scent. I just capitalize it because I like the aesthetic of it in all caps.

What Do I Want To Do With SNEEF?

I'm really excited to start this blog. It means I have space to do stuff that goes beyond just posting reviews and I want to take advantage of that. I also have discovered the power of a good backlog of posts. Doing consistent work that goes up on schedule is smoothed over considerably by having some stuff in the can.

As such my pants going forward with SNEEF are divided into the short, medium, and long term.

In The Short Term:

It's gonna be review city in these parts. I'm going to a three-reviews-a-week schedule for the next few weeks. They'll go up Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 

I figure now is a good time to talk about the logic behind the review queue. I want people to know what to expect in what we'll be delivering. The review queue is structured roughly with these things in mind:

• Press samples get reviewed quickly. These samples are graciously sent to me so that I can give them well... press and I want to return the favor by expediting them!
• New releases get expedited - only coming after press samples. These releases often only have a few reviews - if any. I know how frustrating it can be to be a consumer who's waffling on a perfume and who wants feedback to help make that decision. 
• LEs come after new releases. Generally I want to get reviews on them out with enough time that folks who are trying to make up their minds on these scents will have the data available to them before you get close to when the scents go down and FOMO sets in.
• Houses with significant price changes coming are treated as LEs.
• Even with all of this in mind I try to make sure my reviews vary! Generally I won't post consecutive reviews on a single house.
• GC scents come last in the queue - but even then I try to make sure I get to them within something resembling a timely manner. If I've been sitting on a scent for months I'll likely be looking to get that review out!

My reviews will always go up on the IMAM reddit the same day as they're posted here and will always be fully available on reddit. 

In The Medium Term:

I waffled a lot on if the proper grammar is mid-term or medium term. I'm still eyeballing it. Why does English lack a non-awkward phrase for 'things I plan to do in a few months but do have established plans for'?

Those established plans are that in a few months SNEEF is going to start adding articles! We'll drop back to two reviews a week and one post slot will be taken up by an article. We aren't launching into this right away because I want to build up that sweet, sweet backlog. A preview of a few of the evergreen topics we think will be relevant to our readership

• 5 Scents For The Newly Awakened Vampire
• 3 Perfume Alternatives To Turning Feral And Living Under A Tree In The Woods
• What To Wear When You're A Necromancer Who Wants To Disguise The Stench Of Your Craft While Still Letting Everyone Know You're A Necromancer
• 4 Scents To Wear While You Sit In The Middle Of A Circle Of Mushrooms Hoping Today Will Be The Day The Fair Folk Whisk You Away to Tir Na Nog.

Articles will only be posted on the SNEEF website in their entirety. Keep your eyes peeled for them!

In The Long Term:

These are things with no firm start date or active plans in the works. They're ideas for where I could take the site once things are established depending on how it all goes

• I'd like to start doing interviews with the owners of perfume houses! This one was almost included in the medium term section but it's a little further out than doing articles. This one will almost certainly happen (if I can rope anyone into it) but I wanna get that backlog established first. This will help me keep interview times flexable so everyone can fit them into their schedules.
• More "serious", timely articles. In addition to the very important topics above I also wanna touch on stuff that'll take a tad more research. Potential topics include stuff like 'Tariffs And The Small Scent Business', 'A Brief History of Absolutes', and 'What The Heck Is An Aroma Chemical?'. These kinds of articles will take more leg work and research - so they'll also need that wonderful backlog to be in full swing.
• With SNEEF one of the things I dream of eventually doing is starting a 'Zine for the alternative perfume community. This one is the goal the furthest out because I have 0 knowledge currently of what it would take to start a 'Zine or more than the vaguest thoughts on how I'd edit it.

I'm sure more long term goals will come to mind the longer I'm at this - but I wanted to let y'all know the direction I'm hoping to take SNEEF in. However the ride goes I'm looking forward to it!

And finally I must mention...

My Partner In Sneefing:

One of my key features is my love of animals in general and in particular my various pets. But, I want to highlight this gal here in particular. This is Stella. She is even more passionate about sniffing stuff than I am. She actually does canine scent-work: it's like the civilian, non-drug-involving version of drug sniffing for dogs. The scents she's been trained to find are sweet-birch EO, clove bud EO, and aniseed EO. 

I think it's important to include her reviews of these scents here which are: They are very good smells and when you sniff them and let people know where they are you get cookies. Many smells (deer urine, roadkill, garbage, other dogs' asses) are very good smells but no one gets excited about you sniffing those smells or gives you any cookies for telling them about it. 

I'll probably be posting updates on her adventures in sniffing things because I think it's cute, dammit.