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What smells do you have an obsession with that aren't perfumes?

post #1 of 82
10/13/11 at 2:08am
Thread Starter 
I just wondered this, because when I was young, I would keep getting a licoricey oily smell occasionally that I would just get a tantalizing whiff of, and then it would be gone and I would hanker to smell it again. It was nice and horrid all at the same time. I didn't discover what it was for years, because it was so transient, by the time I mentioned it, it was gone.

Finally someone smelled it with me and told me it was probably ejected airolane fuel. It isn't exactly a nice smell, but it must have been the low concentration of it that was almost pleasant. Only just burnt matches is another almost nice smell. Very hot skin under scorching sun is another obviously nice one, and babies necks etc.

I have been sent a cigarello as part of a recent perfume brief, and also answered a post for an ingredient that smelled like fuel, (and I had it) so I don't think it is just me.

What oddly nice smells are evocative for you?
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post #2 of 82
10/13/11 at 2:20am
Books. Old, new, doesn't matter.
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post #3 of 82
10/13/11 at 4:07am
Petrol.
Cacio, shush! LOOOOL
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post #4 of 82
10/13/11 at 6:17am
The usual suspects - coffee brewing, fresh bread baking. When I was a child I adored the smell of our local butcher's shop. New leather shoes are also a favourite smell. When I was young my mother would tell me to sniff shoes before purchase to ensure they were genuine leather (this in the days before extensive labelling). The smell of wooden floor polish immediately takes me back 35 years to my primary school - not that I particularly want to be there! Glue?!
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post #5 of 82
10/13/11 at 6:32am
Freshly tanned leather
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post #6 of 82
10/13/11 at 6:37am
Onions and/or garlic frying.
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post #7 of 82
10/13/11 at 6:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gandhajala View Post

Books. Old, new, doesn't matter.

I second that and also frying bacon (but not the stale smell left after it's been fried).

Chocolate shop is another one - not just chocolate but the whole complex of the shop - that one inspired me to make a fragrance from it, but I'm not convinced there would be much market for a bacon cologne!
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post #8 of 82
10/13/11 at 6:57am
The smell of a good tea shop, the air after a lightning storm, a steam iron, the fountain ink for my Mont Blanc pen...
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post #9 of 82
10/13/11 at 6:59am
Oh, fountain pen ink! Now there's a thing I'd forgotten I liked . . .
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post #10 of 82
10/13/11 at 7:01am
This is sort of cheating because it involves perfume, but I adore the smell of the foyer in a fine restaurant; the mingling of delicious sweet and savory foods, coffee, fresh flowers, perfume and cigarettes as you enter makes me deliriously happy. You don't get much of the cigarette contribution anymore, and I actually miss it in this particular context.

The scent of new ballet slippers takes me to an utterly delightful place, as does the smell of new beach toys. Oil paints and ink have special associations, also glitter, Crayola crayons and paste (I've always had a particular fondness for art class!)

Sun-warmed kitty fur, and it seems to be most concentrated right behind their ears. This is one of the best smells in the world.
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post #11 of 82
10/13/11 at 7:17am
Thread Starter 
I know one i'd forgotten, and this shows my age. It was the brand new plastic smell when you first opened a packet containing the plastic pants for terry nappies. Brand new dolls sometimes have that unless they've got to it with plastic vanilla scent. It actually has that fuel nuance to it.

Play dough is another, but only the proper one, not the copies.
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post #12 of 82
10/13/11 at 12:44pm
Dogs.

Specifically, our dogs.

I love the smell of their furry coats and skin. It's a warm animalic, earthy smell. I love to burrow my nose into their fur as I kiss them. (The smell of puppies and human infants is also pure heaven.)

I also like the salty smell of the pads of their feet.

I also like the smell of our bird's feathers.
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post #13 of 82
10/13/11 at 2:02pm
I'll second Gandhajala's call for the smell of any kind of books and then gasoline, steam iron, frash cut wood, ancient woods, straw carpets, liturgic frankincense, tar, pvc....and my cats smell!
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post #14 of 82
10/13/11 at 3:49pm
Cotton bedlinen when it has been dried outside on a washing line.
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post #15 of 82
10/13/11 at 3:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Bartlett View Post

I'm not convinced there would be much market for a bacon cologne!

Well there is for roast beef. Mr Brosius would disagree with you I think.
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post #16 of 82
10/13/11 at 6:39pm
Long-haired cat tummies, but especially kitten tummies, particularly still pearlescent and curly, as in infancy. My pillow. My son's head. Baby ducks and geese. My boyfriend's beard, ears and shoulders.
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post #17 of 82
10/13/11 at 8:05pm
I'm nodding my head in agreement with most everything that has been mentioned already. I also love the smell of Windex, if it happens to waft by quickly and fleetingly; the scent of a freshly used and then fully rinsed toothbrush; the partially dried residue of wine in a wine glass; and a recently used teabag, especially bergamot scented. . . .
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post #18 of 82
10/13/11 at 8:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hillaire View Post

Long-haired cat tummies, but especially kitten tummies, particularly still pearlescent and curly, as in infancy.

+1. Also some medicines like baby aspirin, and cough medicine, and of course all my favorite makeup smells, pressed powder and lipstick, and hair products and handbags...candle wax, rain, bitter cold air and snow...Of course, in NYC, the constant smell of marijuana wafting about...
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post #19 of 82
10/13/11 at 8:54pm
The metro in Paris. Cheese. Wine cellars. Roman churches, gothic cathedrals, the smell of large, old building stones in general. Grilled chestnuts. Bonfire. Home made cider.

And the unforgettable galettes saucisses from my childhood that are still made at food stalls on the outdoor fresh produce markets in Brittany.

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post #20 of 82
10/14/11 at 1:32am
Coffee, wine and....fresh paint! :-O
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post #21 of 82
10/14/11 at 1:51am
There are lots of smells that I like but I wouldn't know about obsession.

one that I recalled now is the smell of boiling laundry over an open fire. lots of notes there.
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post #22 of 82
10/14/11 at 2:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mumsy View Post

Well there is for roast beef. Mr Brosius would disagree with you I think.

Yes I'm sure he would, and I'm sure he could sell some too, but then I don't quite have his reputation to help me pull it off. And in any case, much as I love it, I don't want to smell of frying bacon. The chocolate shop was a very personal challenge but the result has rather wider appeal I think.
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post #23 of 82
10/14/11 at 3:22am
There is a smell that tells me that Autumn is coming. It is not obvious in the city but it was there every year in the village where I grew up. I love it. The air smells cold and as if there is more oxygen in it somehow. You can smell the earth more but most of all you can smell that people have put their fires on. You can smell the coal and wood. I used to say that I could smell the Autumn. It is that smell. The houses were nice and cosy, the lamps were on early, the Autumn food was lovely, and Halloween and Bonfire night were coming. I still get the Autumn air and the feeling that it is coming. It just happens one morning. But I will never get the whole smell now because fossil fuels are so restricted and gas central heating just doesn't do it!

I heard a radio show recently about "Extinct Sounds", like the "kerching" of a cash register, the rewinding of a tape recorder and lots more. Maybe when we are finished with this lovely thread we could think about extinct smells?!
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post #24 of 82
10/14/11 at 4:08am
The only one I'd say "obsessed" with is the smell of a water fountain raining slightly chlorinated water in the downstairs of the building I work at. I huff it, LOL. It smells like relaxation, like a vacation, like summer and clean-ness and happiness.

I really like the way fresh yogurt smells; there are lots of food smells I like very much. Sourdough starter smells interesting and it's a good smell. Curry spices, ripe cantaloupe, ripe peaches smell amazing. But I wouldn't say obsessed.

I have a daughter who loves the Windex smell, LeeSee.
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post #25 of 82
10/14/11 at 4:54am
Not obsessions, but likes:

• fresh bread from my oven or bread machine.
• the smell of my cat after he has been rolling around in fresh, minty catnip
• a ripe peach
• the fresh apple-like smell of a live chamomile plant
• dried leaves in autumn
• a bit of smoke in the air from our neighbors' fireplaces
• freshly laid asphalt
• (of course) our roses, lilies of the valley, daylilies and dianthus
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post #26 of 82
10/14/11 at 5:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 30 Roses View Post

Not obsessions, but likes:

• fresh bread from my oven or bread machine.
• the smell of my cat after he has been rolling around in fresh, minty catnip
• a ripe peach
• the fresh apple-like smell of a live chamomile plant
• dried leaves in autumn
• a bit of smoke in the air from our neighbors' fireplaces
• freshly laid asphalt
• (of course) our roses, lilies of the valley, daylilies and dianthus

+1 on all of those - the woodsmoke from a fireplace is especially lovely - I often go outside when we have our open fire burning just to catch that scent.

On the flower front, the lovely scent of Stargazer or Casablanca lilies is another favourite that I'm still trying to capture successfully in a fragrance.
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post #27 of 82
10/14/11 at 5:42am
Thread Starter 
Not obsessions but loves:-

I adore the smell just before it is going to rain. When it isn't near enough to know that it is going to and after it has been nice weather. The air gets a little heavier and a hint of a darker wet soil smell permeates the clean, freshness of the air.

The smell of a forest floor, that damp slightly mildew peat smell.

I used to adore the smell of my dearly beloved grandmothers bourgois powder compact. I bought some myself because of this, and when applying it once on an aircraft, a young man next to me felt compelled to ask what the lovely smell was as it reminded him of his granny. (Although strictly that is perfume and I still adore it).

Damp earth after the rain when it has been dry for a long time.

Newly mown lawn clippings.

Dandelion milk from the stalks and the rubbery smell left on your hands after picking them.

I forgot one.... copydex

and another.... printers ink straight off the press
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post #28 of 82
10/14/11 at 7:46am
The purple ink from the ditto machine, burning leaves, school bus diesel, the smell of plant roots right as you remove the plastic pot to place them in the ground, the fritos smell of my dogs fur in the sun, a second hand bookstore, the tobaccoist shop, sun-warmed human skin, Mr Clean, campfire smoke, sautee-ing mushrooms with butter and garlic, freshly sharpened pencil... Wow! Memories
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post #29 of 82
10/14/11 at 2:03pm
The smell of Thai and Vietnamese food cooking is pure heaven.
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post #30 of 82
10/14/11 at 3:38pm
Cigarettes.
As an ex smoker, I am utterly obsessed with the scent of it on people and love it. Especially when its mixed with cologne.
*eyes roll back*
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post #31 of 82
10/14/11 at 4:31pm
Thread Starter 
(Funny that....I've just been given a cigarello as part of a brief....).

Big fat cigars and brand new, just opened packets of rolling tobacco.

Gauloises on the beach, all mixed up with the smell of ambre solaire and hot skin too.
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post #32 of 82
10/14/11 at 6:15pm
Murphy's Oil Soap. It gives me a lot of good memories about my childhood.
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post #33 of 82
10/14/11 at 8:55pm
Old books, old leather sofas. Remind me of lazy afternoons at Grandpa's place as a boy.

And of course, freshly painted rooms!
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post #34 of 82
10/15/11 at 8:28am
I LOVE the smell of raw shea butter-- just rubbed it into my dry hands. Fantastic stuff.
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post #35 of 82
10/16/11 at 10:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 30 Roses View Post

I LOVE the smell of raw shea butter-- just rubbed it into my dry hands. Fantastic stuff.

+1 and cocoa butter too - I can never resist rubbing it into my hands whenever I'm using it.
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post #36 of 82
10/16/11 at 2:39pm
The smell of chocolate and alcohol (like when you are eating a candy filled with liqueur) ...yumm
Also the smell in my house on christmas morning ...when my grandmother was preparing delicious things for the christmas eve dinner :x
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post #37 of 82
10/16/11 at 3:56pm
Wines... that's what got me into this in the first place.

Chocolate, old books, fresh potting soil, evergreen forests, and that smell right before (or after) it rains.
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post #38 of 82
10/16/11 at 4:51pm
sweet pea
the chilly freon infused smell of florist's carnations right out of the fridge
tea
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post #39 of 82
10/16/11 at 6:37pm
Oh, I love so many of the smells already mentioned - gasoline, ( delicious smell ... ) carnations, oriental lilies, the bergamot in tea bags - wonderful. The smell of cats' fur, and my big old dog... the smell of school with the books, the waxed floors, erasers, pencils, and of course with a whiff of orange peelings, apples, bananas. Old time drugstore smell, I really love it and it's a hard one to find these days. The slightly spicy, medicinal smell mixed with magazines, newspapers, soaps, etc. Makes me wish everything wasn't so bloody well packaged these days, all the good stuff in the drugstores are encased in so much plastic there's scarcely anything left to smell!
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post #40 of 82
10/16/11 at 9:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Bartlett View Post

+1 and cocoa butter too - I can never resist rubbing it into my hands whenever I'm using it.

Ah, yes, pure cocoa butter. I also like the smell of Palmer's cocoa butter stick, which has that vanilla note. My daughter loves it too.
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post #41 of 82
10/17/11 at 12:23am
Soap, quality wine and cognac, chocolate, coffee, essential oils - especially citrus fruits, pine, fir and other fresher notes, clean laundry (and even the detergent behind it), expensive tobacco, warm bread and many more other (to a certain extent)
non-perfumy simply create a homely, protective, soothing mood almost anytime they surround me
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post #42 of 82
10/17/11 at 10:22pm
Pinyon pine burning in November in Santa Fe.
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post #43 of 82
5/5/12 at 9:41am
My three cats each have a unique smell which I love to bury my nose into.
The smell of a sun-heated woman after she's been out of the salt water for about 30 minutes.
The smell of shell cordovan shoes.
The funky smell of high quality strawberries sitting on the counter.
Shoe polish and shoe cream.
Olive oil.
The sour, vinegary smell of a freshly cut oak tree.
The smell of exhaust from a lawnmower or chainsaw - this is more of the contextual memories these smells are associated with.
The smell of a high quality fish market.

There's so many more that I could list!
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post #44 of 82
5/5/12 at 5:41pm
I loved the smell of Grape flavour Hubba bubba bubble gum , and remember the star wars trading cards from 1977/78 that came with a stick of gum in the pack that made the cards smell of gum ? Oh to smell that exact smell would take me back and make me smile
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post #45 of 82
5/5/12 at 9:21pm
Fish and chips wrapped in newspaper. Nothing else like it!
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post #46 of 82
5/5/12 at 10:50pm
Our recording engineer sometimes brews up a herbal Chinese medicine to help with his congestion that has a very earthy, root, leaf and branch quality that is just amazing.

The closest I have come to this would be somewhere in the Derby / Tribute / Epic Woman axis but none have the amazing tonic fragrance of this herbal brew - it's both enervating and very reassuring and calming.

The poor guy can't stand the stuff.

Actually one very clued-up SA once described Epic Man as smelling like Chinese medicine and I agree. Makes sense given the Silk Road inspiration, northern Chinese cuisine has some great herbs in the mix that you don't find this far south.
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post #47 of 82
5/5/12 at 11:02pm
I love the smell of blooming rapeseed; that combination of sweet floral notes with the typical sharp spicy smell of all representatives of the mustard family.
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post #48 of 82
5/5/12 at 11:12pm
Brand new foam rubber, the very tip of a fresh lit cigarette, plywood, water on hot asphalt....
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post #49 of 82
5/6/12 at 12:30am
Unlit cigarettes, and the smell of the inside of my guitar case. I believe the guitar is cedar faced.
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post #50 of 82
5/6/12 at 8:55am
Soaps, coffee, shampoos, white-pedagogical-rubber (don't know how you call that, lol), pencil, crayons...
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post #51 of 82
5/6/12 at 12:06pm
FRESH BASIL....truly edible perfume!
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post #52 of 82
5/6/12 at 12:31pm
I do not obsess with other smells.
I do however, love to smell everything taking the notes quietly and pondering about the ingredients and its notes and the experience they provide.
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post #53 of 82
5/7/12 at 5:36pm
Likes: moldy basements, hot dry attics, damp soil, wet sidewalks, the northeast in summer, oil paintings, boyfriends scalp,baseball gloves, newly tarred roads ...
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post #54 of 82
5/7/12 at 5:58pm
As a child I used to sniff Jubilee, a cleanser for kitchen appliances. I didn't get high or anything like that, just mesmerized by the unusual scent.
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post #55 of 82
5/7/12 at 6:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hedonist222 View Post

Onions and/or garlic frying.

+1. Also: new books and clothes; new leather shoes; rain arriving; a garden after being watery; babies; gasoline...
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post #56 of 82
5/7/12 at 6:25pm
New book smells, fresh cut grass , the smell of play doh .
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post #57 of 82
5/7/12 at 11:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mimi Gardenia View Post

New book smells, fresh cut grass , the smell of play doh .

this! And Also the smell of BRAND NEW MOVIES! (DVD's)
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post #58 of 82
5/9/12 at 7:44am
Glue
New car
Old furniture
Newspaper
Petrichor
Oxide
Kerosene
New plastic toys
Blown out candle
Brussels sprouts
Overheated engines and circuits
Oven cleaner
Baby´s breath adn baby´s sweat
Old people´s houses
Mothballs
Dry cleaner´s
Industrial loundry
Air conditioning after the hot season
Garlic
Butter
Olive oil
Fresh cement
Styrofoam
Burnt animal fat
Muddy water
Crushed green stink bug

and many more I can´t remember!

cheers

Pablo
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post #59 of 82
5/9/12 at 8:49am
Hash!!
nutella
earth after the rain
LSD
new book
sun and sand.
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post #60 of 82
5/9/12 at 8:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Halo View Post

Glue

the new comme des garçons.
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