Antaeus - the familiar smell that haunted me for 13 years

Sometime just before or just after my 18th birthday in 1997, I received my first half decent work pay from a part time job I had whilst in college. Most of the money went towards my first car, but I kept some aside to buy a new frag to add to a collection that, at that time, comprised of Boss Bottled, Faberge Brut, Aramis and Dior Eau Sauvage. At that time we didn't have any decent boutiques or ultra high-end department stores in the area, so it was always down to the local Boots - a UK Walgreens, I guess. Among many I tried that day, Chanel Antaeus was the one that stood out most and one that I shall remember smelling for the first time to this day. But for the wrong reasons.

Before I continue, I'll quickly interject - my experience and knowledge of Chanel is limited to literally two frags - vintage No. 5 (okay, but didn't see what the fuss was all about) and Antaeus, which I don't like. But this is not a thread that attacks Chanel as a house - whilst I'm quite happy to liberally throw general abuse and negative comments around for Guerlain and Trumper (the two houses that I've smelt most offerings available for the last 15 or so years - when I started shaving - as well as many long dead vintage frags) as houses, I cannot do the same for Chanel. Anyway, back at the farm...

When I sprayed that Antaeus I absolutely loved the immediate opening of fresh flowers, and still do. But that love quickly diminishes to "yurgh" and, when I first got to that part of the dry down in 1997, I couldn't help but think it REALLY reminded me of an unpleasant smell from my childhood. Damned if I could think what it was, though. It's now 13 years later and, every time I've smelt it since, I've had that same frustrating recall without being able to place what I'm smelling. This afternoon I had the answer. For work today I had to visit a sewage treatment works and, following a meeting, had a tour of the site. We got to the end where the treated effluent leaves the works and goes into a stream which then heads out to sea nearby, the salt in which basically quickly and effortlessly kills off the treatment chemicals left in the (admittedly by then high quality) effluent water. And that's the smell of Antaeus - post sewage treatment effluent water. The childhood memory I recalled was from a small stream over the road from where we used to live and into that stream poured treated effluent from a plastics factory (presumably they used similar chemicals to treat the water they were sending away) and on warm days when the wind was in the right direction and the flow of the stream was at quite a sedate pace, that smell was unmistakable. If I close my eyes I can smell it now - a weird sweet, almost rotting aroma that didn't smell like anything else.

And, just to be absolutely sure, I stopped in a Boots on the way home and, sure enough, that is indeed the smell. I still don't like it, but at least it's a mystery solved after such a long time.

Oh and, if you're wondering, the frag that I decided to buy with my pay? Hugo, to partner up with my Boss. Awwww.

In hindsight it was nowhere near as bad as it sounds now in terms of smell - it wasn't very often that you could smell it, and the weather had to be just so. These days, of course, a plastics factory probably wouldn't be able to eject water into a stream - it would have to be taken as a return to the sewer instead, or maybe even collected and removed in vats if it contained run-off from glues and such - and the factory was shut down 6 or 7 years ago due to various health & safety issues, but back then it was what everyone had been used to for years, much like people today who live in areas where traditional muck spreading is a common practice, the difference being that the man-made synthetic smell of plastics factory effluent was nowhere near as bad as animal shit!

And, I have just reminded myself whilst on the 'Bay, it also is reminiscent of Molton Brown Neroli hand and body lotion after it's turned. But post-treatment effluent is closer.

Up to this afternoon, I never had it happen to me with a frag before. It was a very weird feeling, to be sure. Though, your memories of your granddad's swimming pool is probably a much more pleasant one than living near a plastics factory!

But that's the thing - it wasn't sewage. It was what it was after it was sewage. It's a very unique and distinct smell.

Now isn't that strange - for me the opening is the most pleasant and acceptable part of the whole fragrance.

So, presumably, you started paying frequent visits to the guy to scrape off epidermis and collect vials of sweat?

Imagine having the same natural fug as a frag...

(Without wanting to hijack my own thread) Or, indeed, generic supermarket dandelion & burdock and Germolene!