Prolonged olfactory fatigue?

[mtlimodriver]

2 days ago I was doing longevity tests on my fragrances. Before bed I sprayed about 5 different frags on different parts of my arms to see what would be the strongest smelling when I woke up. Experiment didn't really work out all that well

Anyways, yesterday I go and apply some l'homme libre as usual (3 sprays) and I couldn't smell it at all. It was really strange, almost like I was spraying water on my arm. I figure it was just olfactory fatigue and it would fade in a few minutes.. nope.

So I took a shower this morning using unscented body wash and didn't apply any fragrance at all. When I got home I sprayed some l'homme libre and couldn't smell anything but a slight vodka like odor - which later faded until I got no perception of any fragrance.

This has never happened to me before. I highly doubt the fragrance went bad, there haven't been any extreme temp. fluctuations during storage or sunlight exposure in the past few days. Anyone ever experience anything like this? I can smell my other frags decently, however the top notes are not that sharp

EDIT --> been doing some searches, apparently iso e super could be a cause of this? possibly there could be a large amount in libre causing a global reduction in scent perception?

[hednic]

Have never experienced anything like that.

[docluv45]

Interesting, and I don't have a definitive answer for you. I would expect you to recover from this partial anosmia fairly soon but please keep us posted. Usually the kind of "olfactory fatigue" I notice resolves within minutes of not being exposed to a fragrance. I'm not aware of any particular fragrance molecules irreversibly binding and blocking smells for prolonged periods. I am suspicious of the idea that other aspects of a person's body chemistry may tamper with the olfactory sense at times, making it more or less sensitive. Perhaps something you ate or some hormonal fluctuation is affecting you unexpectedly. Hard to prove, I know.

Keep us posted.

[silentrich]

It's probably temporary anosmia. Zinc supplementation helps. You could also be developing a cold and the mucus buildup is making it impossible for you to smell. Like Docluv45 stated, it could be a lot of things, but probably nothing to worry about.

[Mtnbkr123]

Hey. I have a number of posts on here about similar issues. My olfactory challenges seem to come and go. I've just accepted it as a result of my nose having been broken numerous times (plus a deviated septum), aging and brutal skin. I still have trouble smelling the topnotes in almost everything. I can't smell La Nuit until about 15 minutes in. Most frags don't really come to life until 5 to 15 minutes in. I cannot smell Dior Homme at all. At any time. Nothing. May as well be water for 8 hours straight.

I can relate to what you are saying. I don't have an answer yet for you or me. But I continue to read and experiment with suggestions.

As an aside, I also wear two frags to bed each evening - one on the top of each hand. When I can smell them it's great fun waking up in the night.

[craniumbash]

Happens to me, the fragrance smells like one thing on the first day and then after a few days I get different notes, for example the first day I tried DHI I could not smell a thing, nothing!!! just some smell like that a beetle or some insects produces when agitated (I ended up applying 5 sprays and maybe 2 more afterwards) I was pissed that I wasted money on a spoiled frag, and then I went to sleep a couple of hours after my bad experience. Woke up in the morning and I was smelling something like ambrette (I recalled that scent cause of childhood experience with it). For a couple of days I kept smelling ambrette note and slowing kept getting gladder that it wasn't a complete waste of my money. Around the fifth day I started getting the true beauty of the fragrance, and wow I was hooked. Something similar happened with spicebomb, first day it was different to me and it kept changing for me, in the middle I thought it smelled like indian jasmin and then I happened to smell some tuberoses in a bouquet and now spice bomb seems to have tuberose notes in it as well according to my nose. I came to a conclusion to never impulse buy and that I should sleep on a frag several times before I put a verdict on it. Happens mostly with the top notes, don't seem to catch them.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey. I have a number of posts on here about similar issues. My olfactory challenges seem to come and go. I've just accepted it as a result of my nose having been broken numerous times (plus a deviated septum), aging and brutal skin. I still have trouble smelling the topnotes in almost everything. I can't smell La Nuit until about 15 minutes in. Most frags don't really come to life until 5 to 15 minutes in. I cannot smell Dior Homme at all. At any time. Nothing. May as well be water for 8 hours straight.

I can relate to what you are saying. I don't have an answer yet for you or me. But I continue to read and experiment with suggestions.

As an aside, I also wear two frags to bed each evening - one on the top of each hand. When I can smell them it's great fun waking up in the night.

I think my problem may be related too as I took a blow to the nose a while back which made my nose crooked though very insignificantly. And also that I have adenoids so that may affect too :3

[timmy-j]

Never made the correlation til now but when I was younger I broke my nose in a baseball incident. My sense of smell seems to be hit and miss or sometimes on and sometimes off. One day I will barely smell a fragrance and and other days I can smell it just fine.

[mtlimodriver]

thank you for the replies everyone. I took a break from all fragrances (including products contain fragrance such as washing detergent, body wash, and deodorant)

nose is back to normal again. don't really know what happened

- - - Updated - - -

thank you for the replies everyone. I took a break from all fragrances (including products contain fragrance such as washing detergent, body wash, and deodorant)

nose is back to normal again. don't really know what happened

[jbthorpe]

Good to hear that your sense of smell has returned. What a bizarre incident. I have never had anything like that happen. Obviously I get the occassional olfactory fatigue, but nothing like this.

[Bigsly]

This same thing happened to me with Jacomo Rouge. Now the drydown is way too strong for me with one spray. It may be part of the brain wiring process when you are new to sampling a lot of scents.

[the_badger]

The olfactory fatigue is real! I never thought it could happen to me but it did, with la YSL La Nuit de L'homme. 15 min into the spray and it was gone (for me) but my mother could smell it standing outside of the house. Getting closer to me, she was repulsed by how strong it was. Is it the cardamom? I read it somewhere but I forgot where.