What Scent Means to Me...

My perfume pal Michelle Krell Kydd over at Glass Petal Smoke sent me an interesting link to a set of questions about taste and smell.

Here are my answers to these provocative questions, most answered off the top of my head (with the exception of a couple literary quotes, which took me forever to track down). If you have a blog, why not post your answers, with a link back to GPS? Or, if you like, leave your thoughts in the comments section if you feel like sharing. Have fun with these! I did...

Q: What does your sense of smell mean to you?

A: Although everything we apprehend is subjective, my sense of smell seems most peculiar and irreducible to me. Yes, what I like or rebel against may be culturally constructed, but my sense of smell (along with taste) seems most subjective and real. No one can talk me out of what I like…

 

Scent is the invisible veil over the world. There's something both ghostly and tangible about it. But Proust laid out its paradoxes  better than anyone:

 

"When from a long-distant past nothing subsists after people are dead, after things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection."

 

Sigh.

 

Q: What are some of your strongest scent memories?

A: The intense tropical scents of pikake and other Hawaiian flowers from souvenir perfumes my father gave me when I was three. A lemon-scented perfume I associate with a girl who kissed me in the 5^th grade. The smell of the Datura flower that reminds me of San Francisco and whose heady, narcotic scent seems strongest at night. (That's a Datura up there to your right.)

 

Q: What are some of your favorite smells (things in nature, cooking &/or your environment?)

A: The smell from the fur of cats I’m fond of who’ve been lying in the sun.The smell of burning leaves that seems to accompany New Orleans streetcars on the move. Fresh guava and grapefruit. The scent of someone’s shirt with whom I’m in love/lust.The smell of lipstick. The smell of Bonne Bell Dr. Pepper-flavored Lip Smackers. (The taste isn’t bad, either.) The smell of dirty hair (again, from someone I’m into!). Clean laundry. (See — not everything I like is dirty!)

 

Q: Do you have any favorite smells that are considered strange?

A: Body odor. Jack fruit. Flowers on the verge of going bad. Dirt. Some sweat. The inside of my purse. The smell of suede, leather, tobacco, civet, castoreum, Costus root. Etat Libre d'Orange's Secretions Magnifique and CB I Hate Perfume's Old Fur Coat.

 

Q: Describe one or more of your favorite cooking smells.

A: I love the scent of a cheese/potato gratin baking in the oven. Chocolate cake. Vanilla bean boiling in milk. Steak. Smoke from a barbeque.

 

Q: What smells do you most dislike?

A: I dislike extremely chemical-smelling perfumes (i.e. most of the ones you can buy at drugstores). Bad breath. That sour smell from feet that have been in shoes without socks. Hospital smells. The smell of baby aspirin (and the taste, ugh!) or Robitussin.

 

Q: What smell did you first dislike, but learned to love?

A: Civet. Patchouli. Body odor. 

 

Q: What mundane smells inspire you?

A: Coffee. Baking bread and pastries. Shampoo and soap. Eucalyptus trees. Mojitos — love the lime and mint combo. I also love the smell of Meyer lemons.

 

Q: What scent never fails to take you back in time and why?

A: Any perfume I associate with youth, with someone I love, and/or love affairs: Lauren, Poison, Musc Ravageur, Angel, Jean Naté, Charlie, Aveda Perfume Brilliant hair pomade, Love’s Baby Soft, Charlie, Magie Noire, Paloma Picasso, Rive Gauche (on the perfume side). Prell, Finesse, Herbal Essences (the old school stuff), Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific (on the shampoo side). Mr. Bubble bubble bath! Also, the scent of these lip glosses I used to practically eat (I’m not kidding). On the side of the bottles, there were scratch and sniff stickers with an image (an ice cream sundae, a strawberry) or whatever the gloss was supposed to smell/taste like. And last but not least: the bubblegum-scented eraser that used to be on Hello Kitty pencils. Yum.

 

Q: What scents do you associate with memories of loved ones?

A: Magie Noire, Femme, Aveda Perfume Brilliant hair pomade, CK One, men’s deodorant mixed with B.O.

 

Q: What fragrances remind you of growing up?

A: Love’s Baby Soft, Noxema, Herbal Essences, Mr. Bubble bubble bath, the smell of Cover Girl blush.

 

Q: What fragrances remind you of the places you visited on vacation?

A: Spices in Morocco. The smell of burning leaves when the New Orleans streetcar moves. Market smells (raw meat and fish, spices, food, etc.) in Vietnam.

 

Q: Describe a piece of sensory literature that is very magical for you.

A: It’s not often that women’s bodies are described in both explicit and yet still respectful terms. The following is pornographic, erotic, poetic, tender — and rhapsodically beautiful. From Jeannette Winterson’s Written on the Body:

 

“She smells of the sea. She smells of rockpools when I was a child. She keeps a starfish in there. I crouch down to taste the salt, to run my fingers around the rim. She opens and shuts like a sea anemone. She’s refilled each day with fresh tides of longing.”

                            ----------------------------------

Want to know what scent means to other perfume-lovers? I'll add links to folks who answered the same questions as they send 'em to me:

Scent Less Sensibilities

Scentsate

Scent You Say?

Redolent of Spices

Shimmu

 

Comments

[Glasspetalsmoke]

Each person's response to the Sensory Questionnaire is unique, which is what makes reading your answers to the questions so interesting. Had to chuckle when you mentioned Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific and flavored lip gloss; had similar experiences in the past. If you are feeling truly nostalgic about shampoo, The Vermont Country Store sells the Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific.
http://bit.ly/cKIOCE

[JoanElaine]

I have had that post on Ms. Krell Kydd's blog bookmarked for a couple of weeks now. I was so intrigued by the questions but still haven't taken the time to sit down and really think about them!

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes has a questionnaire on her website she gives to her custom fragrance clients. I did it just for kicks and it gave me some insight into what I love in a fragrance. However, the questions on GPS might help me articulate WHY I love fragrance.

I will post my answers too, and link back to GPS.

By the way, I love your blog. There are so many perfumes on here I adore (Private Collection, Silences, etc) and you have such an appreciation for them!

[Perfumaniac]

Hi JoanElaine. Glad you like the blog! It is nice to stop and ask yourself...why you're stopping to smell the roses. I look forward to your answers, too! Send me a link when it's up if you can...

[Tarleisio]

Your incredibly smart answers got me thinking - always a perilous undertaking! So inspired by your example, I proffered up my own answers to some questions that were harder than I thought! I've linked to both your blog and Michelle's! Thank you so much for the inspiration!

[Perfumaniac]

Thanks, Tarleisio! I added your link, and I'll add others, too. It was indeed a great questionnaire...

[Perfumaniac]

Hi, Michelle. Thanks again for the Sensory Questionnaire (and your link to Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific!). As you can see, your questions inspired lots of people to reflect on their love of all things olfactory.

[Tamara*J]

Your thoughtful answers gave me a wonderful imagining of you and a peek (sniff?) into your world and life. Thank you for that!
;)

[Perfumaniac]

Awww, thanks Tamara J! Hope it was a good sniff! (That sounds so wrong.) I encourage readers (and fellow bloggers) not only to answer these questions but also to share their answers with everyone. Scent is so personal, and I think we can learn a lot about one another through our mutual love of perfume. Thanks for being a loyal reader and commenter. :)

[Joan (Scentsate)]

Yesss, the shirt, the Dr. Pepper lip gloss, and the dirty hair especially. I didn't think anyone would admit to liking that besides me!

[Lisa BTB]

What great questions and answers. As I was reading I kept saying "I remember that!" LOL

[Vintage Lady]

Great post, Love the answers, the most real to me was when you describe "the smell of burning leaves that seems to accompany New Orleans streetcars on the move", I have been there and there is a connection of scents between this area and some areas in Haiti's countryside. I will write about this post mentioning it on my blog as I am going to write my own answers as well. And of course I will visit the links you provide. These are great questions. Thanks for sharing the link to the original post as well.

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Vintage Lady,

Glad you enjoyed this! I love that New Orleans smell and I'm glad you can corroborate it. I would love to link to your post and read about the scent of the Haitian countryside... Let me know when it's done...

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Lisa,

Glad you enjoyed the answers! It was really fun to think about past scents. One I didn't mention, but that someone somewhere else has (oh, I think Abigail from I Smell Therefore I Am and The Posh Peasant): those fruit-scented magic markers. Lordy, I loved those!

[Vintage Lady]

Hello Perfumaniac, I have created my entry about the questionnaire. It's in Spanish but if you are interested there is a translator on right pane. I really enjoyed doing it!. Thanks for your article.