Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Saturday, February 25, 2023

The Importance of the Right Smells

The right smells and the wrong smells are critical.  Smells are just as important as visuals in making a place feel comfortable.

Some smells are just wrong.  And I will get a lot of pushback here, but perfumes and colognes are a no.  When getting my car emissions checked recently, it took several days for the cologne of the car mechanic doing the testing to go away, during which time,  I went through several wool sweaters that picked up his scent that had lingered in the car, even with leather seats.  Days of airing out.

There is an amalgam smell that I just shorthand as smelling like "away."  Time spent in airports, commercial airplanes, and other venues leaves garments similarly in need of immediate washing or airing out.

Anything artificially scented, especially when used to (try to) cover up another smell, is problematic.  Dry cleaning comes to mind.   For one reason, masking smells make it harder to monitor our environment.   If I am shopping for fresh produce, I want to be able to smell the produce,  not the person who walked by five minutes ago.  

Smells that are designed to fool us, like air fresheners, seldom do.   Scented candles and potpourri are designed for someone else.  The only thing worse than how hair product looks is how it smells. 

When shopping, unscented products are the only choice.  I will switch brands if the unscented version is not in stock.  

And nothing beats hot soapy water.  I love doing laundry.  

There are other smells that are glorious, of course:

  • Wood Smoke
  • Good Leather
  • Fresh Sheets
  • Tack Rooms
  • Pipe Tobacco (I know, I know)
  • Apple Pie
  • Wool
  • Salt Air
  • Low Tide (I know, I know)
  • Mulled Cider
  • Golden Retrievers  (pre-rolling)
  • Clean Cars
  • Beach Roses
  • Air from the North

While walking down the road, smelling someone's wood smoke is as enjoyed as much as another's perfumed laundry fabric softener is not.  

Every few years there are new studies on the toxicity of artificial scents.    These just confirm our instincts that smells should be treated as authentically as everything else.


60 comments:

  1. Excellent observations. Thank you. “Air from the North” often foretells snow. You can smell it in the air. It’s wonderful.

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  2. I understand the love of purity of environment and respect your love of the natural scents of your surroundings. Fall woodsmoke and the tangy/ mossy scent of leaves, yes, all of that and infinitely more.
    Scent memory is a powerful thing.
    My grandmother’s Halston hug. My mother’s Chloe scented dresser drawers.
    British Sterling and Canoe was my father.
    The scents of my loved ones brings them back if only for a moment.
    Scent intake is extraordinarily personal.
    For me to forgo scent erases my history.


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  3. Thank you for this! Synthetic fragrance gives me a crashing headache. We use unscented products whenever possible. And may I submit that freshly ground coffee is one of life's most glorious scents?

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  4. On the topic of bad smells, I went to Florence one August, I cannot explain in words the severity of the egregious smell that invaded my very nostrils - it was positively horrid, and ruined the trip. One of my very favourite smells is White Mustard, walking amongst them in the fields, a true reverie.

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    1. Americans always think Italy and France stink. It's a cliché, like speaking to "foreigners" in English a gradually louder voice when they don't understand you.

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  5. If you can find a copy read The Foul and the Fragrant. It’s a wonderful history of “Odor and the French Social Imagination.”

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  6. Of course, everyone knows; without smell we would have no taste.

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  7. I would support federal prison time for the manufacture of scented hand sanitizer. When I use hand sanitizer, it's usually because I'm about to eat. I don't care for having the scent--and therefore the flavor--of my food adulterated by someone else's idea of what smells nice.

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    1. You should be more precise however: scented with synthetics. I prepare for my family and friends hand sanitizer which one could drink as well and smells divine. Smells divine thanks to organic essential oils purchased in 2-3 distilleries in SoF, Italy and some even home distilled. No amazon which sells oils which have nothing in common with naturals and their properties.

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    2. I use apple cider vinegar then rinse in hot water.

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  8. Guerlain Eau de Cologne Imperiale is the perfect scent

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  9. I cannot give a blanket endorsement to pipe tobacco. I like Rattray's Black Mallory, reminiscent of fall days back when we burned leaves. I am not a fan of mulled cider, but the simple smell of fresh cider is awfully nice. I generally dislike strong scents like colognes, air fresheners, etc., but I make exceptions for 4711 and for Mrs. Meyer's geranium, verbena, and basil scented products. I love pretty much all kitchen smells. Some scents are transporting.

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  10. Note to self: put away the Penhaligon cologne if passing through coastal Connecticut.

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  11. Mildew, low tide, and XC ski wax snap my bean.

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  12. The family cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, which has since been sold, was paneled in the front room with juniper. The place had a most distinctive aroma (not "smell") when you first arrived. But after the doors and windows were opened, you stopped noticing it. I miss the cottage. I really felt at home there.

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    1. Juniper...how wonderful! Back in 2014, I treated my brother, who lives in California, and a niece to a delightful long weekend in Sedona. The gorgeous inn where we stayed had a lush courtyard with a blazing fire pit at dusk where we relaxed after hiking. There were scents of juniper, jasmine and Arizona cypress. I will never forget that feeling and the heavenly smell.

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  13. True, soap and hot water is a wonderful combo but as I mentioned above, essential oils are also great for giving a pleasant scent and home, kitchen/laundry. But it’s not only about scent, they have great properties too, aromatherapy has a great comeback. Beeswax candles, juniper berries oil, Earl Grey tea home made for my husband with organic Bergamotte oil (for consumption), geranium preferably at the entrance of the house (with a good purpose our Grandmothers were planting them in Europe at the windows and main entrance). All this and many more but only 100% natural, from the reliable source, it should work well for our senses but also psyche and physical health. Isabel

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  14. Apart from pipe smoke, the others conjure positive imagery for me. I don't mind some perfume, although since the 90s, most mass produced perfume smell cheap to me. As someone who has a more European perspective on perfume, I once owned about 30 bottles of perfume in my 40s and early 50s because I experimented with perfume flankers; I once considered doing a perfume reviewing blog! These days - particularly after Covid-19 did a number on my senses of smell and taste - I keep things much simpler and have gone back to my stalwart classic perfume choices of my younger days: Hermès' Amazone and Calèche, Diptyque Philosykos, and OP-F Santa Maria Novella's Mughetto (lily of the valley). One of my favourite natural scents is that of walking through a bluebell-carpeted woodland in the UK in the spring. I also love the salty sea air and sun-kissed skin and hair. Also, chimney smoke whilst walking through small Swiss villages, and baking bread early in the morning. Really good coffee brewing.

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    1. @twistytree unfortunately Hermes, Diptyque I am not even mentioning, are just synthetics. I still use 24 Faubourg but it changed in recent years and now, due to supply chain problems, difficult to find it anyway. I do my own blends, scented candles, mouthwash even and salty air is in the thermal water I use so I have it too. One of my fav home scent was one of the Cire Trudon candles till I found out, something like 10 years ago, that it’s not beeswax any more, it’s (back then) 52% beeswax and the rest cheap soy wax (or paraffin) because of the EU regulations, very misleading, labeling.
      So, again I started to do my own blends. But the best is the scent of forest, nature, Lily of The Valley in May, all the gorgeous treasures of nature.

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    2. Yes, I am aware they are synthetic - and Diptyque, I found out, was bought by Estée Lauder, (sniff sniff) - however there is only so much I can do (there is already more than enough today to make our lives so stressful and anxiety-ridden). I do not even use perfume as much as I used to, due to damage by Covid to my sense of smell. I used to also like Cire Trudon but I stopped using scented candles a few years ago. I only buy beeswax candles now. I try to do my bit for environmental sustainability, but I must admit I may have miles to go before I go completely bio with regards to makeup and perfume.

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    3. Bingo. Twisty Tree. The smell of baking bread, the taste of salt, and the love of a child. What else have you?

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    4. I wonder if Muffy meant pipe tobacco, not pipe smoke. Two very different smells. Yes on the first, no on the second.

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    5. Freshly ground coffee, freshly brewed coffee, but not coffee breath. Yuk.

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  15. I love the the smell of the sea on our regular trips to the coast

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  16. Well, I do love some scented candles, particularly the wonderful "Blenheim Bouquet" by Penhaligon, and the very pleasant "No. 30" (bergamot, lemon, ginger) by Candlefish of Charleston, SC. Also, IMHO, Stonewall Kitchen's "White Pine" liquid soap makes the simple act of washing your hands a delightful experience.

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  17. - Horses
    -Tack
    -Glycerin soap
    -Sawdust
    -Hay
    -The barn
    -hounds
    -boxwoods
    -Pines
    -Salt water
    -Cat flowers
    -The vege garden
    I guess I could go on and on.

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  18. My favorite uncle, now long deceased, smoked cherry pipe tobacco. I once smelled it while out in Amherst. I approached the gentleman, who I think thought I was about to reprimand him for smoking in public, and thanked him for bringing back such pleasant childhood memories for me. The scent is delicious.

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    1. I have four hounds living on my house, and at times, they become quite pungent. Love it though!

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  19. Dry cleaners use a chemical called perchloroethylene which is a neurotoxin and potential carcinogen. I don't know of any studies on whether it can be absorbed through the skin from contact with clothing, but direct exposure is dangerous. That's why I keep my dry cleaning to a minimum.

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    1. This is not common knowledge. Thank you.

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    2. Everything is being absorbed by the skin, with a very professional dry cleaning it should be rinsed out, however I would avoid dry (chemical) cleaning wherever possible. If done, leave it hanging outside for 2-3 h.

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  20. Scent can definitely transport you to another time and place. My childhood memories of Argentina are of leather, yerba maté tea and asado grills. Rose, lilac and lily of the valley remind me of mom - dad was Old Spice.

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  21. I remember visits to the Outer Hebridean Islands of Scotland as a child and the quaint and yet alluring smell of burning peat from the houses which appeared to be sprinkled everywhere .
    Sometimes also reminded of those times when enjoying a splendid peat infused Islay malt whisky .

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  22. Root beer, Pinehurst NC, rain and the pipe and cigars my grandfather smoked.

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  23. The rubber and petrol of a Talisker 10yr.

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  24. The smell of eucalyptus and fog driving Highway One in Northern California, redwoods, blackberry brambles, and beach in Mendocino, fresh tatami mats, the faint, cold, sweet smell of cherry blossoms in rain, sage and sun in Santa Barbara, the tar of Manhattan subways, my great-grandmother’s 4711.

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  25. Those wonderful, and so very special scents from our past. Thank you!

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  26. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Absolutely agree! I much prefer the natural smell of my wife compared to any perfume or product. It's elemental and one of the things (perfumes, etc.) I've always been grateful she didn't buy into.

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  27. Ivory soap, the burned rubber smell when exiting Metro North trains at Grand Central (burned into my memory since childhood and I still love it), cedar closets, and hot coffee early in the morning.

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  28. Honeysuckle on a cedar fence after rain, salt air, horses, freshly mowed hay, puppy breath.

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    1. Amen to fresh cut hay. it stops me in my tracks.

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  29. Midwest Express was an all business-class midwestern airline that baked chocolate chip cookies in-flight. Genius.

    Likes: bread or cookies baking in the oven; 'rainstorm air' (ozone mixed with rain); crop land that just got turned; a freshly-opened IPA or good bottle of pinot noir; pretty much any bread or pastries baking in the oven.

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  30. I could write a book about offensive smells. I agree on the synthetic smells of perfumes and colognes; I get nauseous and an instant headache if I pass by someone who is wearing a nasty perfume.
    Pleasing scents:
    --that smell of opening up the camp(lakehouse) in the spring. It's a smell that is hard to describe: faded wood smoke; a bit of mildew; old pine walls/floors, the fireplace etc.
    ---fresh herbs
    ---yep, low tide in New England, nee Baltimore(ugh).
    ---Bain de Soleil Gelee suntan; it might fall under 'synthetic smells' but it is one that sparks joy of hot summer days at the beach. Coppertone Oil from the 70s, too.
    ---The Maine woods after a heavy rain is pure joy.
    I could prattle on forever about smells...

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    1. After reading your comment I had to point out that experiences connected to scents skew our feelings connected to those scents. For example, opening a cabin probably would not make those who had not experienced the cabin on season might not find that scent as pleasing as those who summered there.

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  31. Plant creeping thyme between flagstones, it likes being trod upon and will release its aroma. Dring Yuletide we take an orange and stick it all over with cloves for a wonderful holiday scent. Other favorites are beeswax, saddle soap, Green Chartreuse, Bombay Sapphire, a clean healthy aquarium, and silk-tree blossoms.

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    1. YES to the orange with cloves! I remember doing this in elementary school and bringing home for my Parents. Another nostalgic one; (and I get a lot of questionable looks for this) 3M scotch tape. This one transports me back to Christmas morning as a child. It was the smell of every beautifully wrapped present.

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  32. To your bulleted list of delightful scents, I would add a crisp, cold late fall or winter's day and the (sometimes related) small of approaching snow. Of fresh snow out on the ski trails for that matter.

    Kind Regards,

    Heinz-Ulrich

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  33. The smell of gorse on a sunny day The smell of chrysanthemums takes me back over 60 years to my grandfather’s greenhouse where he used to grow them to enter into local flower shows The smell of Daphne which he had growing in his garden The smell of crushed grass inside a marquee at a country or flower show
    The smell of a salt laden westerly wind as you approach the beach

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  34. The inside of my '66 Mercedes Benz 250 SE Coupe. Better than new car smell.

    Will

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  35. Freshly cut grass; the fragrance after the rain

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  36. Some synthetic scents are “ok” if they transfer one to a particular beloved memory of time and place but in general I agree . Nothing beats the smell of fresh air and sunshine.

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  37. Over thirty years ago, I would buy a wonderful pipe tobacco for my grandfather at a small tobacco shop in the Overstreet mall in downtown Charlotte. He lived to be 96. I also love the sulfurous smell of pluff mud in the Carolina marshes that brings back memories of beach vacations with my family. Living in South Carolina, I love the scent of flowering tea olive during the winter months. That would make a delightful perfume!

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  38. What’s wrong with a golden post-roll?

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  39. I too love the smell of good tobacco. Walking into a humidor brings back fond memories of my late father.

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  40. Low tide, big time. And mildew. My grandfather was in the cosmetics biz and there were a lot of perfumed ladies at his get togethers, so I keep a sample of Chanel to remind me what his house smelled like.

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  41. I would disagree, slightly. There are in fact a few exceptions to the no perfume/cologne/scented products prohibition. For example:

    Canoe (for men and women)

    Bay Rum (for men)
    Pinaud Clubman cologne and hair tonic (the barber shop scent)
    Old Spice (used very sparingly)/Old Spice deodorant (for men)
    Right Guard deodorant (for men)

    Brylcreem (for men) (not a head full of it, more like a little dab; think George Plimpton pre-1970, Ben Bradlee, et al.; this is what every country club locker room in America, every elevator on Madison Ave., and every adult man's pillow from Greenwich to Grosse Pointe smelled like before 1972 or so)

    Chanel no. 19 (used very sparingly) (for women, for very dressy moments)
    Clinique Aromatics Elixir (used very sparingly) (for women, for very dressy moments)


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    1. PS Chanel No. 5 (used very sparingly) (for women over 50 only, for very dressy moments)

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