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Sense of smell changes over time?

post #1 of 15
2/1/13 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 
In past years when I smelled Burberry London, it smelled like someone dropped cigaettes in a puddle of water. I did not smell anything that people talked about.

I sprayed it today and I smelled so much more. I could pick up on the cinnamon, leather, and sweetness that I never smelled before. It no longer smells like wet cigarette tobacco.

The same experience happened with Fahrenheit. I tested it multiple times because it's in many top 10 lists. It always smelled like gasoline to me.

I sprayed Fahrenheit yesterday, and it smelled like there was a lot more going on than just gasoline. I could pick up on other scents. It smelled much better to me.

What's going on? Does the sense of smell improve over time? Most human ability declines with age. Does the sense of smell improve?
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post #2 of 15
2/1/13 at 9:56pm
I don't know the exact science/medical (or whatever) reasons behind it, but I have noticed the same thing. Some of my favorite fragrances no longer appeal to me whereas some frags that I absolutely hated before have become my new favorites. I think some of it has to do with my smell senses maturing, but I have also noticed that different frags literally smell very different on my skin from day to day. I don't know if it has to do with different foods/spices that I have eaten that day/week or if there is some other reason, but some of my frags smell great on me one day then two weeks later they reek. I'm sure Luca Turin has something on his website or in a book somewhere that explains it.
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post #3 of 15
2/2/13 at 12:02am
My sense of smell in general has definitely has declined over the years.
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post #4 of 15
2/2/13 at 12:11am
Your brain is getting "wired up" to pick out the notes. It just takes time and experience. There was a scientific study of perfumers and perfumery students that supports this. These days, I find that it's mostly about sensitivity, in general or towards certain notes, though once in a long while I'll encounter something that seems unique. My taste has also changed over time, so that now I can appreciate many more than was the case a few years ago. Also, you will likely find that some scents seem to be too "synthetic" as you sample more. However, there are some long-time BN members who still say they are terrible at detecting notes, so it would be interesting to study them!
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post #5 of 15
2/2/13 at 12:30am
What you eat has an effect on your skin (as skin perspires) and releases different hormones based on diet, condition, climate and stuff. That can have an effect on the scent, I discovered that drinking warm/hot milk increased the projection, on the scent I wear, greatly for about 5 minutes or more (try with milk coffee).

Another thing that affects is the amount of exposure we get to certain scents, for example people working in leather tanneries get used to the stench of leather over time and it kind of becomes milder to them, while someone who isn't used to the smell would feel like stepping in shit the moment he/she enters a tannery.

So if we smell different notes over and over we wont perceive them in the same sense as someone who smells the notes for the first time. I hope it was helpful :3
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post #6 of 15
2/3/13 at 10:11pm
Could be a change in your "taste." I used to hate Code. It still smells the same to me, but for whatever reason I really like it now.
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post #7 of 15
2/3/13 at 10:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbthorpe View Post

I don't know the exact science/medical (or whatever) reasons behind it, but I have noticed the same thing. Some of my favorite fragrances no longer appeal to me whereas some frags that I absolutely hated before have become my new favorites. I think some of it has to do with my smell senses maturing, but I have also noticed that different frags literally smell very different on my skin from day to day. I don't know if it has to do with different foods/spices that I have eaten that day/week or if there is some other reason, but some of my frags smell great on me one day then two weeks later they reek. I'm sure Luca Turin has something on his website or in a book somewhere that explains it.

Maybe it's time for me to give Kouros another try. I'll LOL if I like it.

I wonder how much more depth of smell other people have compared to me.
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post #8 of 15
2/3/13 at 11:49pm
A few thoughts:

#1: As experience with perfume grows, appreciation grows. Think about your first beer. Or your first Guinness. When I was 21, my then-girlfriend's father handed me a Guinness and I thought it tasted like death. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to drink such a thing, but I drank it out of respect for (or maybe fear of?) her father. A decade later, I adored dark beer. The darker the better! MMmmmmm... Old Rasputin is a good one!

#2: Our tastes change through the seasons as our environment changes, and it can be easy to sample something at the wrong time. Sticking with the beer theme... who drinks Guinness on a scorching hot summer day? Most people don't, but an IPA really hits the spot. I bought Zirh Ikon in the middle of summer and I hated it. I almost traded it away, but when winter came along, I found that I really enjoyed it. Ikon needs colder weather.

#3: Age plays a role too. Most five year olds would rather have pancakes for dinner than a steak. I'll take a ribeye any way! Even for breakfast, steak and eggs makes me happy. It's true of scents as well. It's no coincidence that fragrances targeting typical people in their teens and 20s tend to be hyper sweet, loud and comparatively simple.
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post #9 of 15
2/4/13 at 12:00am
Sadly, our senses decline over the years.
Our experience and training are always improving, however. At least until terminal drop-off...
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post #10 of 15
2/4/13 at 12:02am
I used to love New Haarlem thought it smelled exactly like pancakes and syrup. Then I got ahold of A Taste of Heaven which is a lavender bomb. Came to find out I really hated lavender. So once I put New Haarlem back on I could instantly smell the lavender in it that I could never smell before. I soon sold the bottle because I couldn't stand it anymore.
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post #11 of 15
2/4/13 at 4:06am
Yes, as we grow older, our sense of smell declines. This diminished ability to smell, known in scientific circles as either hyposmia (lessened sense of smell) or anosmia (complete loss of sense of smell), affects nearly half the population between the ages of 65 and 80 years. Not much to look forward to in the golden years
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post #12 of 15
2/4/13 at 4:23am
I don't know nor can scientifically evaluate how my sense of smell has improved or worsened over the years, but I can tell that I have indeed developed a greater sensitivity/acuity for certain notes (not just specific notes, also groups/sequences of notes, like e.g. top or middle notes), but then again, there are times and situations, when my sense of smell becomes quite unperceptive, unresponsive even to projection/sillage bombs.

I guess, in many ways (again, from a strictly personal, subjective and non-scientific viewpoint), I might develop a sort of "selective acuity": nearly bordering on olfactory fatigue for too overpowering, too unpleasant or simply too (at least, for my nose) uninteresting and/or underdeveloped, while heightening my perception on certain other notes, more stimulating, more complex, but also (at the same time) less obtrusive as well as less unremarkable to my nose.
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post #13 of 15
2/4/13 at 5:31am
Yeah my nose has also changed. Not only that I think I fucked it up somewhat permanently, can't judge perception of projection anymore for the most part (only a few extreme cases)
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post #14 of 15
2/4/13 at 5:45am
Our sense of smell and taste changes as we age and discover new experiences of frags, foods, etc.
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post #15 of 15
2/4/13 at 6:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigsly View Post

Your brain is getting "wired up" to pick out the notes. It just takes time and experience. There was a scientific study of perfumers and perfumery students that supports this. These days, I find that it's mostly about sensitivity, in general or towards certain notes, though once in a long while I'll encounter something that seems unique. My taste has also changed over time, so that now I can appreciate many more than was the case a few years ago. Also, you will likely find that some scents seem to be too "synthetic" as you sample more. However, there are some long-time BN members who still say they are terrible at detecting notes, so it would be interesting to study them!

This. Good post Bigsly.

When I was a teenager, fragrances were a mess to me. It was funny to notice that I didn't understand what I was smelling at all - to the point that I had problems in forming any sort of opinion. Just like if I listened to some atonal art music today, I just wouldn't get it.

Now, when I smell a fragrance, I can somehow store it in my memory and remember how it smells. It is something like remembering the face of a person you know. There are some fragrances I have only smelled once in 2005 or so, I can still recognize them. I found this out when last year my brother wore some of the samples he bought back then. I didn't have problems recognizing them.

But I don't think I'm great at picking out individual notes, it's a different skill. I haven't studied that with extracts or some soliflores that represent the note well.
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