Scent Notes: This scent starts off with a bang of gasoline that dissipates quickly to a sparkly, light blend of lychees, orris, and coconut CO2. It’s a hand grenade full of sparkles in scent form, basically.

Rachel sifted through her closet and sighed dramatically. True, she was 16, so the dramatic sigh itself was not out of the ordinary, but stomping on the floor and throwing all her clothing and shoes out of the closet made enough noise that her mom came into her room. “Rachel! What is going on in here?” she asked, slightly taken aback at seeing her daughter’s entire closet dumped around the small bedroom. “ALL OF MY CLOTHES SUCK!” Rachel yelled, throwing herself onto the pile that was covering her bed. “They look terrible on me, they’re not trendy or cool, I cannot wear a single piece ever again. AND YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!” Her mom just looked at her daughter, then waded through the sea of clothes to join Rachel on the bed. “Oh, I’ve been there,” her mom said. “This is a very normal thing you’re going through.” “Ugh, you don’t understand. You have weirdly cool style for a mom. It doesn’t make sense and it’s actually kind of upsetting, if I’m honest,” Rachel said, turning her face in the direction of where her mom was sitting. “But I also do not want to dress like my mom, because, ew.” 

Rachel’s mom, thankfully, took none of this to heart, knowing very well how teenage girls could/should/usually do act. “I’m not THAT old, Rachel. But, I do think I know who can help you.” Rachel sat up, intrigued. “Do you remember my old friend Derek, from back when I attempted cosmetology school? They own a vintage clothing store now, and they’re a very fashionable person.” “Mom, they wear, like, rainbow caftans and acid-washed jeans with those weird hoof shoes. I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for.” Rachel rolled her eyes. “I’m well aware of that, honey, but they have a knack for helping people find their style. Give it a try, at least?” Rachel nodded. “Fine, it couldn’t hurt, I guess.” Her mom leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Great, I’ll text him now. In the meantime, clean up your room.” Her mom got up and narrowly avoided the sweater Rachel threw at her back as she closed the door behind her.

A few days later, Rachel’s mom dropped her and several bags of clothing off at Derek’s vintage/thrift store, Extraordinaire. Rachel walked in, hauling the bags, and was immediately greeted by a high-pitched squeal and a hug that engulfed her so quickly and ferociously that she dropped her bags and lost her breath. “Oh my god I’m so excited to see you, it’s been way too long, young lady!” “Hi Derek,” she managed to say with the little air left in her lungs. “Nice to see you, too.” “Your mom gave me your sizes, so I pulled a few things for you already in a changing room and we are going to have SO MUCH FUN!” Derek pulled out of the hug and clapped their hands excitedly. “I love giving people makeovers, it is my favorite thing in the world. I’m also friends with the ladies at the salon next door should we decide to do a full-scale fix-it-all situation, but we’ll get to that. First, show me all the clothes you brought that you hate!” They picked up the bags and headed toward the side of the shop that was lined with fitting rooms, and went through a secret door that led to Derek’s office. They’d barely made it through when Derek was dumping open the bags all over the ground. “Cuuuute! You have great taste!,” Derek said while throwing things into piles. “We can definitely sell almost all of this. But talk to me. Tell me about how your style has changed.” 

Something about Derek’s earnestness to help her, their sheer enthusiasm for clothing, Rachel, and apparently life itself, broke through her tough teenage facade and she found herself kneeling down and crying. “Oh sweet babykins! It’s okay! The teenage years are horrible. Tell me whatever you want, it all stays in this room.” Rachel poured out the stories from the last few months: her weight gain and how uncomfortable it made her to have this new, curvy body, and how her clothes no longer fit; how she didn’t have the money to buy designer and even when she saved up to buy clothes, she looked like “cheap trash” according to girls at school; how she had no idea how to look like the person she felt she was on the inside, and how scared she was of finding that person only to have them change again. 

When Rachel stopped and took a breath, Derek handed her a fancy coffee drink out of nowhere (really someone from the shop had secretly brought them while she was crying and feeling too ashamed to look up from the floor), but that, along with Derek’s understanding face, soothed her. She took a sip and looked them directly in the eye, and they seemed to telekinetically reassure her soul. She could see their own struggles as a nonbinary human in the age before that was even known in the broad culture as something possible to be. With his eyes, Derek communicated how the teenage years are terrible but fleeting, how she would change many times throughout her life (both physically and mentally), and how she deserved to dress in clothes that fit her and made her feel good, so she could project that confidence into the world at large. It’s hard for people to be rude to you if you don’t care what they say. Sure, some will still do it, but it won’t have as much of an impact on your life if you don’t let it. It’s all ethereal, so we might as well spend our lives enjoying ourselves and who we are, right? It felt like Derek’s presence was giving her a comforting cape to wear, one made out of aether that sparkled and kept her safe. Derek was wearing one, too, his eyes glimmering with the shining light. 

Impulsively, Rachel reached out and hugged Derek. When she pulled away, the aether had gone, but she felt warm, comforted, a new security holding her head up from within. “How did you do that?” she asked quietly. Derek’s eyes still sparkled. “Some of us come from long lines of people with special abilities. I happen to be one of them. But before we get into all of that, how about we find you an absurd amount of glitter to wear?” Rachel squealed and nodded, and the two went back into the store to have a proper fashion show.

Scent Notes: This scent starts off with a bang of gasoline that dissipates quickly to a sparkly, light blend of lychees, orris, and coconut CO2. It’s a hand grenade full of sparkles in scent form, basically.