binary smells

[metaphortunate]

The other day the temp I didn't like came to my desk to ask me a question. But first she stopped, sniffed the air, and asked, "Is that your perfume or someone else's?"

"I don't know," I said. It could have been me, or the person next to me, or the woman who had just walked by. "What does it smell like?"

"Huh? It smells like perfume," she said.

We stared at each other. "Then I don't know," I said.

I understand that lots of perfumes are complex and I personally cannot chirp "It smells like a spiced floriental with an amber drydown" off the top of my head. Nonetheless, perfume strong enough to notice does provide more than one bit of information!

Incidentally, I was wearing Lush's Breath of God. Tautologically, it does in fact smell like perfume, since it is a perfume and it smells like itself. However, if you sniff someone wearing it (and it is not a sillage monster) you are less likely to describe it as "perfumey" and more as "did you have a cantaloupe soaked in barbecue sauce, Vicks Vaporub, and Ivory soap for lunch?" It is deeply weird and I love it.

Comments

[recessional]

(from network: . . . actually all mainstream perfumes just smell like perfume to me. Really and truly. It's a very specific harsh, chemical smell, and I can only very, VERY rarely smell anything in it I can describe to anyone else, and that's only if it very clearly something like "artificial vanilla". I know Lush's perfumes are included in this, because I tried them hoping that they wouldn't be.)

[andrewducker]

I feel much the same way.

And the same with beer. Where I am intellectually aware that they all have different flavours, but they all have this overwhelming "I AM BEER" flavour that so completely overwhelms every other flavour that I can't discern anything more subtle.

[veejane]

Ha, same here. I can actually smell more in beer than I can taste; a whiff of beer may have several pleasant notes, but the flavor is just BEER. (And I hate that flavor.)

I'm not quite the same way with perfume, but in general I would describe perfume as flowers (&c.) and That Sharp Smell. Which I don't think is Iso E Super, as I get the same reaction out of Axe Body Spray (former boss, no flowers, just "What is that horrible smell??"), and I doubt Axe Body Spray is going that extra chemical mile. But it's fair to say that most perfumes and scented products smell to me like diluted Axe Body Spray plus flowers, or plus chocolate, or whatever. (For some reason scented soaps do the opposite, and smell like hot iron + flowers, or chocolate, or whatever.)

[metaphortunate]

I wonder if it's Iso E Super. Have you tried any all-natural perfumes?

[recessional]

Yup. BPAL works great for me, Arcana okay, essential oils are fine - I mean some smell bad to me in that I don't like them, and some are like omg too much, but none have the burny-stabby chemical note.

I am intrigued that you suggest a possible cause! What is iso E super for?

[metaphortunate]

A brief introduction!

I personally do not have a good enough sense of smell to pick it out; but I know that some perfume people describe it as harsh, chemical and overwhelming, which sounds like what you're talking about.

[recessional]

That is super interesting.

I was delighted to find that the all-naturals worked: I've always found the idea of perfume fascinating, but yeah it's sort of like those super-tasters who actually want very bland food because strong tastes or particular tastes just overwhelm everything. I inherited my mom's sense of smell, though thank god not quite as bad - she can smell cat pee in the basement from the door at the other side of the house, kind of smell: I have to run my stuff by her first if I'm going to wear it, including Aveda body lotions.

[roadrunnertwice]

Ha, it kind of all smells like "perfume" to me, too? I inherited an overly ~~delicate~~ sense of smell from my mom, and most perfumes overwhelm me to the point where I can't make out anything in particular (and give me a headache to boot).

Which is why I enjoy reading peoples' perfume posts on DW! It's mostly poison to me in real life, but I can enjoy it vicariously.

[metaphortunate]

It's kind of cool that you can't smell perfume because your sense of smell is too good?? If you could see through everything, you'd be blind!

[khedron]

There was a puzzle in Myst that Jen was stuck on, because perfect pitch led her astray. She had a hard time getting past past "this is an A, and that's an A, so this must be the match" to hearing other qualities of the sound (buzzing or something) that stood out to others much more strongly.

[lovepeaceohana]

Patchouli's the one I've identified that smells "like perfume" to me - and it also gives me hives, so I tend to avoid it whenever possible :p I wonder if that's what it was?

[rydra_wong]

See, I get the "all perfume just smells perfume-y to me" thing, because I know enough people (like recessional) who experience it that way.

But then -- why ask? And how do you expect the person to answer?

(Unless it's just a passive-aggressive way of trying to imply your perfume is too strong.)

A friend of mine also loves "Breath of God" but cannot wear it without finding herself yearning for a ham sandwich, because there's a note in there that reminds her of ham.

[thistleingrey]

Yes, this--though as I type I wonder whether she'd hoped to be edified somehow.

[rydra_wong]

Ooh, good point. Also possible.

[metaphortunate]

I had a strong suspicion it was the passive-aggressive one.

And yes, ham!