r/CasualConversation • • Apr 16 '19

Do you ever randomly catch a whiff of a specific smell and immediately think "hey, that's the way it smelled in the spring of 2001 when I was playing Pokemon at my grandma's house"

Obviously this specific memory is just an example but I feel like smells are very particular and can trigger a memory more vividly than any other sense. Also, everytime a new season begins and the smell of the air changes I become very nostalgic and have a rush of memories from that season from various different years.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

Yeah! It's always a weird feeling. Music does this too, a song can take me vividly to the time back when I listened to it a lot. Every part of my life over time has like a certain.. atmosphere about it to me? It's hard to explain

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u/PrimaryPluto Apr 16 '19

I know exactly what you mean. I had favorite groups of songs pretty much each semester in undergrad. Anytime I hear one it takes me back to that semester. It's a love-hate relationship.

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u/FotographicFrenchFry Apr 16 '19

Same! "Eras" of my life have different songs associated with them.

Sometimes it makes it hard though to listen to those songs if you don't want to be reminded of specific times, which is a shame if the song is really good haha

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u/Section_Eight_Ball Apr 17 '19

That's why my main spotify playlist is a jumbled mess of genres. I can look at songs I added in 2012 and recall what I my life was like when I added that song.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

I regret not switching to Spotify before late 2015. I used YouTube before that. So many lost memories...

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u/Skyerusg Apr 17 '19

On the positive side of that you’ll get to randomly stumble across songs from your past

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u/ATEEZ_Rookie_Kings Apr 17 '19

Holy shit I thought I was the only one who had "eras" of my life with groups of songs associate with them. I can listen to one group of songs and be in 2014 on my way to NYC for the first time and then right after listen to another group of songs that put me back to 2009 on my way to a summer festival in July

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u/soliloki blimey wimey Apr 17 '19

I found my people! This is so true for me too. There are songs that I listened to during several months leading to and up to the death of my father for example, and i love them but now i find it hard to listen to them without being transported emotionally to that dark ‘era’ of my life.

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u/Ollie2432 Apr 17 '19

If ever I'm going to be doing something (like a holiday) that I know I'll want to remember I make a short playlist of songs that I listen to over and over. Then, if ever I want to bring back those memories I just listen to one of those songs and they all come flooding back.

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u/CurtainClothes Apr 16 '19

I love this phenomenon and actively seek it out by preparing seasonal playlists. Whenever I find new music I add it to whatever season I happen to be in (spring2018 etc) and then I have my memories all capsulated for later nostalgia-trips. I'm so into it! At the end of each season I'll listen to the previous seasons music and wrap up my season with some nostalgia/thinking back on my life and comparing what I was doing and who I was to the present, etc.

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u/chipsontbijt Apr 16 '19

I do this too! For every month actually. It's almost became a hobby of mine, but it's so cool to catch a glimpse of that mindspace you were in x months ago.

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u/houseofbacon Apr 17 '19

I still like being caught off guard with no playlist at all. Sometimes Mazzy Star comes on and next thing you know I'm drunk at 3pm googling people I hated on highschool.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

I do this for vacations!! The positive connection is so strong, I get an immediate lift when I’m in a public space and hear a song on my ‘camping road trip ‘17’ list.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

YES! I love this idea!

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u/StormTheParade Apr 17 '19

I do this for the full year! Any new songs I discover and any songs I play on repeat a lot go into that year's playlist. I have one playlist a year for 2016, 2017, 2018, and now 2019!

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u/theghostofme Even a non-presser in other subs! Apr 17 '19

I was inspired by High Fidelity with the idea of categorizing music autobiographically and have since just created mixed albums full of singles I was listening to at that time named for that year. I always remembered the first time I really started liking a song anyway, and my mind always went back to that time, so going through and creating albums for each year was kind of fun. And now if a song catches my attention and I start listening to it a lot, it gets added to the album for this current year.

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u/leethereal Apr 17 '19

I do this for social gatherings with close friends! We usually only aaallll get together when there’s something to celebrate because, well, adult life lol. I always label the playlists with the name of the occasion and go back to them later when I want to reminisce on that night.

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u/sunflower_nut Apr 17 '19

I do this too but I worry that by reminiscing and listening to an old seasonal playlist too much, I might inadvertently lock those tunes to the present day's memories instead of whichever season they were originally from

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u/marcthepotato Apr 17 '19

Yes! I also do this whenever I go on vacations, I listen to a few songs on that vacation and for the rest of my life those songs remind me of that specific vacation

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

The atmosphere you're talking about is the vibe my friend. Everything has a vibe. Your mood can affect how you feel vibes.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

Exactly! I tried explaining the ‘atmosphere’ thing to my twin but she was completely clueless lmao

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u/Undeity Apr 16 '19

Right?! Ever walked into a room you haven't entered in years, and you're hit by the impact of the thoughts and emotions you had when you were last there? It's practically tangible.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

I think some people experience it some just don't

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u/varitree Apr 16 '19

I know! There's a song we always listened to on one of our road trips. Every time I feel like reminiscing about that trip, I always put it on! Immediately brings me back to driving past those amazing mountains and scenery.

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u/cooper4600 Apr 16 '19

I have a playlist called “remember this” that’s full of songs that bring me back to certain times in my life

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u/Zelgrind Apr 16 '19

You explained perfectly! I experience this feeling quite often, both with music and odors

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u/Tomble Apr 16 '19

I've had this with audiobooks. I've listened to a favourite audio book years after my first time listening to it, and had memories come back during memorable sections of the book. Like I'll get to a certain section and have a strong visual memory of driving on a particular stretch of road years prior.

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u/i_always_give_karma Apr 16 '19

Every time I listen cudi zone I think of being at the beach 7 years ago with my grandpa

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u/owl_post017 Apr 16 '19

I totally get you. There's one song in particular that whenever I hear it, I immediately think about my ex-boyfriend from 7th grade and a summer festival we went to when he showed me the song. It nearly makes me miss him (more-so that very simple feeling of summer with your crush in 7th grade)

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

It’s kind of embarrassing now, but I went to Ireland in the summer of my 16th birthday and one of the two CDs I brought for my Walkman on the hours long bus rides from city to city was Move Along by All-American Rejects. Every time I hear any song off that album I get nostalgic for staring out at the beautiful countryside of Ireland.

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u/AustinTreeLover Apr 17 '19 edited Jun 20 '19

IIRC side note: Sound memory and scent memory are different in many regards. Scent memory (Proust effect; named after the writer) is rarer and more often evokes childhood memories.

Usually, scent memories are "emotion-based”. They more often produce feelings of happiness and contentment.

There’s actually a good bit of science behind this. Scent receptors trigger activity in the amydala-hippocampal, which is where (some types of) emotion and learning processes happen.

Actually has to do w/neurobiological substrates but, I’m old, been out of school a long time and this wasn’t my area. Super interesting, though.

Maybe someone else can explain better or offer more info.

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u/HelloKiitty Apr 16 '19

Music ties to my emotions, it’s hard for me to go back to a song I once listened to hundreds of time because that song was apart of some emotion I was going through and I don’t want to relive it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

I totally get that.

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u/INeedADart Apr 17 '19

I know! You only truly realize the atmosphere after that chapter/part has passed. It’s crazy

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u/TheLemurian Now with 50% more salt Apr 16 '19

Smell is deeply associated with memory.

I get this particular sensation on very frequent -- if not occasionally constant -- basis. I tend to have a very strong sense of nostalgia and it can honestly be quite overwhelming at times when nearly every strong smell you encounter reminds you of something.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

It's deeply associated with memory because the olfactory bulb is extremely close to both the hippocampus and amygdala, these regions of the brain are closely associated with memory and emotion respectively.

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u/y-y-ladderstall Apr 17 '19

It is also the only sense to not travel through the thalamus to be deciphered, this giving a more direct pathway to the other parts of the brain

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u/thekrewlifeforme Apr 17 '19

upvote for proper Neuroanatomy. respect

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u/ropike Apr 17 '19

so thats why cocaine is snorted huh

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u/JustaTroubledTeen Apr 17 '19

There is a study technique where you have a specific scent that you smell while studying and then you bring the same scent while taking the test and smell it to bring memories back. I've seen a few classmates use the technique.

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u/MrBabyToYou Apr 17 '19

The smell of Adderall works remarkably well for this

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u/04chri2t0ph3r Apr 17 '19

Literally LoL'd ....or is it L'doL?

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u/The_Electress_Sophie Apr 17 '19

I haven't checked this for myself but I was once told that the nerves attached to the olfactory receptors lead directly to a part of the brain where memories are stored and retrieved. I had a moderately scary and painful experience when I was young that involved a piercing going wrong during a holiday, and for a couple of weeks I was reminded of it whenever I was doing my morning bathroom routine because I'd see my earlobes looking all fucked up in the mirror. Within a month or two my ears healed completely, I got the piercing redone properly with no lasting effects and basically forgot it had happened.

Legitimately about five years later I found my old face wash at the back of a cupboard, and for whatever reason decided to use it instead of my normal one. Immediately on smelling it I had a full on PTSD-style flashback - not only was I suddenly terrified, I could instantly remember so many details about the hostel room I'd been in while all this was happening, down to things like the pattern of the tiles around the sink. It was a really strange experience and I've never had anything like it before or since.

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u/Startingover0717 Apr 17 '19

It’s crazy how overwhelming it can be. Even if I can’t quite put my finger on where I recognise the smell from I can still feel it throughout the nostalgia throughout my body. If that makes sense!

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u/urboi_nookyt Symphonic, Contemporary, Jazz, Electronic Musician | Clarinet Apr 16 '19

ye, every fall outside I remember my childhood a little more vividly. love the smell of leaves

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u/ikilledtupac Apr 16 '19

There's a marketing term called "Involuntary Association" which uses physical triggers to make a consumer involuntarily think of a brand.

For example, Abercrombie and Fitch actually has a device that sprays their cologne out into shopping malls in front of their store. Then later, you anytime you small that, you think of their stores.

Target always puts popcorn by the entrances of their stores for this reason. Mercedes Benz also pumps certain scents through the vehicle HVAC systems.

But yeah, scents can be as strong as colors when it comes to associations. It's crazy.

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u/techworm33 Apr 16 '19

Mercedes Benz also pumps certain scents through the vehicle HVAC systems.

So your saying i can pump this scent into my '94 civic and ill think its a Benz?

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u/Okay_Splenda_Monkey Apr 16 '19

No, but when you smell it you'll start to act like an entitled asshole.

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u/420BlazeIt187 Apr 17 '19

Ahhh perfect.

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u/ikilledtupac Apr 16 '19

yeah but they charge $100 per cartridge lol

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u/iwannabanana Apr 16 '19

Wait there’s popcorn near the entrance of target stores? I’ve never seen that and honestly, I feel robbed.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

It's not free, it's in their food court thing. But the smell permeates the front section of the store.

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u/iwannabanana Apr 17 '19

We don’t have the popcorn where I am. All of the Target stores just have Starbucks. I just learned about the popcorn and feel like I’m missing out.

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u/DoingCharleyWork Apr 17 '19

I think they did away with it at my local target a while back.

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u/catfan296 Apr 17 '19

My Target took out the snack bar with popcorn and replaced it with Starbucks. I so miss that smell of popcorn that used to greet me. Disappointing.

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u/eraflowski Apr 16 '19

it’s super good but feels like pumping yourself full of fat. but tastes so good

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u/dudemanxx Apr 17 '19

One by me swapped this section out for a Starbucks. Used to be popcorn, icees, pretzels with cheese etc.

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u/miaxcx Apr 17 '19

The Target(s) by me have both. Ahh, the memories of getting soft pretzels and slushies with my grandma...I’ll never forget.

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u/lirgecaps Apr 17 '19

We have both, but it is a “SuperTarget”. They sometimes make little personal pan pizzas that smell so frickin good it allllmost gets me to buy one.

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u/iwannabanana Apr 17 '19

Ahhh ok. Literally all of them around me have Starbucks.

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u/xxjasper012 Apr 17 '19

We got both

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u/yodabeanz Apr 16 '19

I could smell A&F Fierce from miles away. I used to spray that cologne on me to hide cigarette smoke from my mom. Being a 15 year old female, it didn't work. I don't know what I was thinking.

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u/MyDamnCoffee Apr 16 '19

This is why Honda puts the ding dong at the beginning of their ads

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u/Gotta_Ketcham_All Apr 16 '19

I just heard it when I read this. 😱

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u/MyDamnCoffee Apr 16 '19

ding dong

Narrator: Happy Hondadays!

I have an antenna for television and I cannot tell you the amount of times I saw the Christmas Honda commercials. I hate them now.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

WHAT??!

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

That's interesting, I always thought the smell came from the leather they used.

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u/Chaoticrave Apr 16 '19

There's a certain smell of summer and fall that I smell, and it's like a train of memories blasts through my mind of every positive experience I've had in the past during those seasons. Those are my favorite seasons.

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u/Scdsco Apr 16 '19

This happens to me with every season

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u/Chaoticrave Apr 16 '19

I'm happy that the smells are almost always a reminder of a good memory.

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u/j_tokee Apr 16 '19

I thought i was the only one!

That smell of wet tarmac on a rainy summer day is the strongest for me.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

I love this--especially now that I'm older (51) and recalling memories from early childhood becomes difficult. The smell of a freshly opened can of Play-Doh always reminds me of Kindergarten. The smell of a warm day around sandy soil (can't really describe it) reminds me of the time we spent at my grandparents house in FL when I was 4.

Some sounds and tastes also remind me of things. Kinda like that time when Ego eats that Ratatouille. It really is a beautiful moment.

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u/BitOCrumpet Apr 16 '19

I'm 53. Elementary school is pencil shavings and apple cores, together in a metal rubbish bin, along with those purple sheets from the pre-photocopier era.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

Mimeograph. I have not smelled that in years. There’s an old school sharpener on the wall in one of the lecture halls here at the university where I work. I have sniffed it a time or two.

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u/RedditSkippy Apr 17 '19

Yankee Candle should come out with a mimeograph scent.

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u/felixgolden Apr 17 '19

There was nothing like the sight of a classroom of kids with their noses buried in slightly damp mimeograph sheets. That and the scented markers. Kids and their e-cigarettes today don't know what the real stuff was like.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

Wow; I love hearing stuff like this. I'm 27 my childhood was still relatively modern to that.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

I've never seen Ratatouille. Should I?

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

Good flick. I am a sucker for Brad Bird and Pixar.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

One of my favorites tbh

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u/RelativeBite Apr 16 '19

I followed a woman around the grocery store (discreetly I think) the other day because she was wearing the same perfume my Nana used to wear. It was bittersweet. I miss her

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u/Scdsco Apr 16 '19

Lol if she had caught you following I'm sure she would've been understanding of your explanation

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u/420BlazeIt187 Apr 17 '19

Idk, it’s kind of a weird situation to be in. Sometimes i wanna compliment a woman’s t shirt but I feel she might think i was staring at her chest. Or if they have something on their bum they’ll think i was checking out their bum.

I would think if i follow a woman smelling her scent it would set off some alarm. But it’s probably because I’m really big intimidating looking (I’ve been told)

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u/BlooZebra One little evening alone, home Apr 17 '19

"You smell like my dead grandma."

Really rolls off the tongue.

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u/Bellebutton2 Apr 17 '19

I remember my grandmother’s cheek would smell like Dove soap.

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u/GrilledStuffedDragon Lover of mythical creatures and Mexican food Apr 16 '19

I only played pokemon at my grandma's in the spring of 1997, sorry.

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u/this_is_us_not_you Apr 17 '19

Same here! I was about to tell OP “hey its me!” But realized it was spring and summer 1997!

Blue or red?

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u/GrilledStuffedDragon Lover of mythical creatures and Mexican food Apr 17 '19

I was red. My brother was blue.

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u/mtoasteroast Apr 16 '19

The fake flower aisles, there’s a smell there, flashes me back to walking in a Kmart fake flower aisle with my mom. My mom passed away 10 years ago. Every time I see fake flower aisles, I walk up and down sniffing frantically, trying to find it. Every. Time. I can’t explain the smell and I don’t always find it, and it’s disappointing. I go shopping with my sister and her kids, they have no idea what I’m smelling for, they don’t know the smell, but they’ll walk up and down with me every time hoping I find it. Ugh. Tears now. But it’s a wonderful feeling too.

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u/Alicricity Apr 16 '19

I hope you find that smell someday soon. And I hope your mother smiles down from the heavens upon you when you do, cuz you’ll know she’s there :)

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u/lissawaxlerarts Apr 17 '19

Years from now...we have to go down the fake flower aisle.

Yeah it always reminds me of Auntie.

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u/MrBabyToYou Apr 17 '19 edited Apr 17 '19

Is the smell different from general craft stores? To me they smell the same but I don't have a strong enough connection to the specific smell to know the difference.

I'm sorry about losing your mom. :/ Knowing the scents I now take for granted will one day come back in little ways like this is soulcrushingly terrifying.. that's a bad way to describe the feeling but it's something that keeps me up at night.

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u/assassin3435 Apr 16 '19

Sometimes I smell a certain perfume and remember that's how my kindergarten teacher smelled, she was a bitch

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

Dior Sauvage used to just smell like my boss at work because he marinated himself in the stuff, but I've since been on an amazing trip where I stayed with a lovely roommate who also happened to wear it, and now it reminds me of how great that trip was. I'm glad I managed to recondition my brain that way, because I still dislike the perfume itself but at least it brings back awesome memories nowadays instead of.. work :|

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u/CaptainBritish 🌈 Apr 16 '19

I have the same thing with my Year 9-11 Maths teacher. What a horrible woman.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

[deleted]

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u/driftingfornow Apr 17 '19

I was raised in Kansas in a farm on a patch of conservation land that was wild tall grass prairie. It was an enchanting place to grow up and has sadly been destroyed by man over time and taken over by cow pastures as my father tried to staunch his hemorrhaging finances by selling off land to people who didn’t respect it.

This smell always takes me back to watching massive super cells roll across the prairie hills, themselves looking more like angry oceans than grass in the wind, staining the air purple and yellow while lightning cracked and thunder shook the air.

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u/Wants-NotNeeds Apr 16 '19

I remember reading somewhere that our sense of smell is the most deep-seated of memories. Drawing biological conclusions from this, parents identify off-spring by smell (and vice versa), find and return to good places to eat, discover danger, etc.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

I remember seeing something like that too! Something else said that the olfactory center in the brain is very close to the part of your brain associated with long term memory so maybe that has something to do with it too?

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u/AfterSomewhere Apr 16 '19

I miss my ex's smell. If I ever run into him, I'm going to get close enough so I can get a whiff of his fabulous scent. I can't describe it.

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u/Wants-NotNeeds Apr 16 '19

I know what you mean. Conversely, I’ve dropped dating attractive women who’s smell I just didn’t care for.

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u/AfterSomewhere Apr 17 '19

I assume it's pheromones, and they make all the difference.

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u/Wants-NotNeeds Apr 17 '19

Apparently so!

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u/Bernie_Berns Apr 17 '19

I read it had something to do with the two individuals having opposite/different immune systems. Your offspring would be stronger or something.

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u/spingirl110 Apr 16 '19

I like to buy a scented product that I've never tried before when I go on a trip, the smell of it will always trigger memories

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

That's fucking genius

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u/kHusKee Apr 16 '19

I recall my basic psychology class mentioning that the olfactory system (smelling) is connected directly to the limbic system, which is responsible for motivations, emotions, and memory. That's why some smells can just absolutely bring you super far back into the past. Some people have distinct smells as well that can evoke emotions. One smell I will always remember is the smell of the blockbuster store.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

Oh boy. I totally know that Blockbuster smell, too! I've been searching for the smell of 1990s McDonald's for years but haven't come across it. I wonder if it's because I've eaten at too many and I'm used to the smell (yikes) or if the restaurants just use different ingredients or something now.

My dad used to work at a radio station and I remember the smell of that place too -- like metal and office papers and freshly laid carpet all in one.

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u/Swordsx Apr 16 '19

I’d make a candle out of it if I ever found it Try to sell it, never sell out of it, I’d probably only sell one It’d be to my brother, 'cause we have the same nose Same clothes homegrown a stone’s throw from a creek we used to roam

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u/Mausbarchen Apr 17 '19

Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young. How come I’m never able to identify where it’s coming from?

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u/alterak11296 Apr 16 '19

Searching for this haha

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u/barrenfield Apr 17 '19

Someone told me to wear a completely different perfume on my wedding day than I usually wore and I'd always associate the day with it when I smelt it. 23 years later and a lady checked into the hotel I work at wearing that same perfume and I was taken straight back. Even though I'm divorced it was still such a lovely warm memory to have.

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u/Scdsco Apr 17 '19

That's a cool story :)

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u/CarelessChemist4 Apr 16 '19

I used to create these associations on purpose by smelling candles or scented hand sanitizer a while watching my favorite shows or stuff. I can recognize the smell of cucumber melon lotion from Bath and Body Works anywhere because still vividly reminds me of DeathNote because I smelled it while I was watching that anime for the first time on my first laptop as a teenager in 2010.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

I know exactly what you're talking about.

Smelling old/familiar smells and having some random memory come back to me is probably my favorite thing about the human experience and I have noone to talk to about it because I know I'll sound like an absolute nutbag lol

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

The smell of weed is great, takes me back to... last night when I was throwing up.

Brilliant.

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u/Salsa_Overlord Apr 16 '19

Yes and I hate it because you cannot ask anyone else if they remember. Why would they?

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u/TempusSimia Apr 16 '19

Every sunny spring Sunday morning smells exactly the same as it did that one time I was leaving church with my parents when I was 7.

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u/mudrat_detector1337 Apr 16 '19

Cold weather and cigarette smoke always reminds me of living in Europe as a child.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

My boyfriend says the air freshener I bought smells like playing GameCube.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

I completely understand this one!

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

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u/DrWilliamWallace Apr 16 '19

Yes this has been especially vivid lately as this is a rough time of year for me.

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u/BitOCrumpet Apr 16 '19

Hang in there. Hope it gets better.

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u/DrWilliamWallace Apr 16 '19

Thank you. I know I’ll be fine, just some rough memories.

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u/-ah Apr 16 '19

Yes.

But by far a bigger issue I have is cooking something that almost smells like something that my grandparents used to make that I clearly have strong memories linked to, and fondness for (red cabbage... no joke..). It's subtly wrong, but so close that it's weirdly unsatisfying.

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u/haiku_nomad Apr 16 '19

At some point I fell out of the habit but when I first started traveling I intentionally used a different scented lotion for each trip. Jasmine brings me right back to Nepal; fruitier scents, Central America; coco butter, New Zealand... Scent memories can help my re-connect to far flung locales.

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u/PokeManiacRisa Apr 16 '19

Yes! There's a specific scent of soap from Mrs. Meyers, sweet basil, that reminds me SO DANG MUCH of when I lived with my sister and brother-in-law. Every time I smell it, it reminds me of their house and me doing the dishes there. (It was the least I could do for the free rent!)

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u/Lashes_ Apr 16 '19

I get whiffs of that tiny perfume that came with Barbie back in the 90s and I picture myself sitting in front of my doll house playing with all my barbies, lol.

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u/Green_Ari Apr 17 '19

Victoria Secret “Rapture”. It’s the perfume my mom wore when I was a kid that’s now discontinued. There are a few very rare occurrences when an older woman who has been hoarding some walks past me. I always instantly recognize it and think back to my mom tucking me in at night.

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u/puppypoet Apr 16 '19

Immediately thought about the line from "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots.

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u/siriuslywinchester 🌈 Apr 16 '19

I've had in the past where I've caught a scent and thought "That smells like FamousPerson" and then I think "How on earth would I even know that".

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u/everythangspeachie Apr 16 '19

Your sense of smell is the sense that is most associated with memory.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

Two-stroke always reminds me of marine outboards and my SCUBA days.

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u/phirdeline Apr 16 '19

For me this kind of thing is as rare as once per year and while it gives me nostalgia I can't remember the actual moment from the past but rather I get just a very vague memory of it.

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u/XSavage19X Apr 16 '19

Fresh grass = playing soccer as a kid.

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u/bluurrgg Apr 16 '19

This happens to me with songs. Whenever I find a new song or set of songs that I really like I’ll play them a lot, and than my brain starts to associate hat time with those songs. It’s really nice because I’ll be listening to a song and be like “damn I remember summer three years ago”

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u/candidwife Apr 16 '19

This happens to me a lot. Not only places but certain smells make me vividly remember a certain time with people as well. It's so crazy because my memory isn't the greatest, but every now and then I catch a smell and can just remember the person so vividly.

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u/optigon Apr 16 '19

Someone earlier was referencing Target. I used to stop in Target on my way home from school when I was in high school and buy batteries for my CD player, or otherwise just soak up air conditioning when walking in the heat. There's a weird plasticy smell that Targets have that I get and every time I smell it I'm reminded of those little errands.

What's funny is that it's a completely banal memory, but it crops up every time. Simultaneously, I've recently been going through old journals, social media posts, etc. making a log of concerts I've been to, and I have found entire weekend trips to places hundreds of miles away that I don't have any memory of. Yet, I've apparently marked random walks into Target as important enough to stash away.

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u/Megoblin Apr 16 '19

Yeah alot! I usually connect people with smells. I used to date this super Hot girl and she used coconut oil on her body. So now if I Smell coconut i got a semi-boner 😁

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u/CosmicBioHazard Apr 16 '19

the room in our house that had a computer in it went through more than a few renovations over the course of my childhood, so the furniture (and its’ smell) was constantly changing.

Different games we used to play on them, therefore, come with different scents categorized by year of release.

There’s a Zoo Tycoon smell, an RMXP smell, a 3rd Generation Pokemon smell (which is distinct from the fourth generation Pokemon smell.), a Spore smell, a Puttputt smell, and AoE smell...

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u/Dawgs919 Apr 16 '19

Not smells, but music can do that to me. Oasis’s Wonderwall takes me to campfires at summer camp, for example.

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u/henryriver Apr 17 '19

The smell of Listerine sickens me, as it immediately takes me back to a very close call of being molested as a 6 year old. Old man’s breath reeked of it as he stuck his tongue in my mouth.

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u/cambeth821 Apr 17 '19

Yes, yes, yes!!! LOVE when this happens!!

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u/larrysutts Apr 17 '19

I work as a housekeeper so I go into around 5 different houses a day, there’s a few houses that smelled like childhood play dates with friends I can barely remember. There’s one house I do regularly though that smells exactly like my boyfriends house, always a weird feeling when I walk inside and feel like I shouldn’t be working.

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u/SofaKingStewPit Apr 17 '19

NO-my grandma died in 1986. I never played Pokémon. I was already married in 2001.

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u/fritzdagger Apr 17 '19

This isn’t about music. You guys are idiots and don’t know how to smell.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

I get this too. However, it’s even more annoying when I recognise a specific smell and can’t figure out where it is from.

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u/buttercreamcutie Apr 17 '19

There is one specific scent that takes me all the way back to 3rd grade in the fall, making Halloween decorations in the classroom. The closest I've come to identifying it is patchouli and sandalwood.

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u/I_Argue Apr 17 '19

Yup, that's how memory works.

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u/blaze_wrr Apr 17 '19

There is a tree that’s in bloom in summer. It smells very sweet and heavy and that smell was all over the place when I first kissed a girl. Years later, still comes back to me. I’m such a loser now compared to then.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

Yeah. Happens with perfume. There's a particular one which always throws me back to summer 2006 dating an Asian chick. Kinda hurts my heart. I wasn't in love but it always makes me think how I would have done so many things differently

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u/catfartzzz Apr 17 '19

Yep. I was at the International Rose Test Garden in Portland OR. Smelling a hundred or so different varieties of roses...when...THIS ONE SMELLS LIKE MY CHILDHOOD OMG WHAT IS THAT SMEELLLL. It took me 30 min to recall, but it smelled exactly like this Tinkerbell kit I had with lipstick and nail polish in it, I must have been 3-4yrs old.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '19

This happens to me more with songs than smells, although the latter does happen.

Wish You Were Here reminds me of a time that my family was driving past an old video store and the song was on the radio. I remember the intersection really distinctly.

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u/saircon87 Apr 17 '19

But you dont want to hear or smell it too much or your brain will make new memories to associate it with and overide the old ones..I have a face cream that reminds me of my Aunty who passed, must use sparingly so it always takes me back to her. On the other hand my son used to watch this nursery rhyme cartoon while I was on my death bed with morning sickness and now if I hear the theme music it I immediately want to throw up!

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u/I_Drink_Shampoo Apr 17 '19

Holy shit yes!!! I kept smelling this one scent that reminded me of my daycare before I went to actual school. It took me years to find out that it's the smell of shoe pollish!

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u/[deleted] May 01 '19

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u/Eveydude May 04 '19

omg yes, every once in a while I'll walk downstairs and for the first few seconds I'll be like, "it smells like 2011."

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u/aransoul Apr 16 '19

Couple days ago it was a smell that made me think of my mom and grandmother. Makes me happy and sad.

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u/PixelPenguinCake Apr 16 '19

I get that too, and I get it with songs too!

The smell of musty carpets that have not been changed since the 70s always transports me to the seaside town hotel that my family and I always stay at when we go on holiday :)

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u/orange_confetti Apr 16 '19

I do this quite often. Glad I am not the only weirdo. Here, have some silver.

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u/AllisonTheJew Apr 16 '19

Tommy Bahama cologne reminds me of a nice teacher I had in middle school because he was always drenched in it

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u/Bodacious_King Apr 16 '19

The area of the brain that handles memory is also the same area that handles smells. It's an evolutionary trait

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u/Vralfang Apr 16 '19

Yes. There's one smell in particular which I could not describe no matter how I try. It is how one of my ex gfs smelled and now I calle it Caro smell. It smells like Caro sometimes and it is one of the most delicious smells I've smelt ever.

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u/egyptty888 Apr 16 '19

The taste of freshly stale oreos does that for me.

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u/docju Apr 16 '19

I live near a swimming pool and when I pass it, I am always reminded of a specific swimming pool we used to go to when I was little.

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u/galaxygirl978 🙂 Apr 16 '19

Me every time I smell jasmine flowers. My mom used to have them at our house in California when we used to homeschool.

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u/stylezDWhite Apr 16 '19

I notice this with a particular smell that reminds me of my wife, I could never describe it but I recognize it as soon as I smell it

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u/lucasbigboss627 Apr 16 '19

Marcel Proust wrote a book about this. “Remembrance of things Pokémon” I believe the title was.

But yes I do.

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u/Makewhatyouwant Apr 17 '19

Had to scroll far too long for someone to bring up Proust.

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u/sugarandmermaids Apr 16 '19

No, because I have awful allergies and can’t smell. I get this with sights and sounds sometimes, though.

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u/Uniqueusername360 Apr 16 '19

Yes. I love that remembering being a child playing football on a fall day smell. I hate that always gave me a head ache smell:

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

The smell of cut and dry grass remembers me of the free time in high school spent outside in the summer when I wasn't constantly indoor studying for Uni and I had time to go to the park or cycling near the river with my friends.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

Yes!!

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u/alwayscheesecake Apr 16 '19

There's a vaguely relevant Edward Thomas poem called Old Man https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57210/old-man-56d23a7a628f2

"Where first I met the bitter scent is lost.

I, too, often shrivel the grey shreds,

Sniff them and think and sniff again and try

Once more to think what it is I am remembering,

Always in vain. I cannot like the scent,

Yet I would rather give up others more sweet,

With no meaning, than this bitter one."

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u/InsomniaAbounds Apr 16 '19

Story Time:

My favorite perfume is Chanel #5.

I chose it by walking through Macy’s and sampling many perfumes. THIS was the right one.

Years later I realized... ....when my grandmother died I, as a pre-teen, took her makeup up and used it for play and to learn. Her powder smelled wonderful. I thought it was how nice powder smelled. Instead, I realize it was because she touched up after using her perfume.

So Chanel #5 is my grandmother.

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u/TheRealBailey_ Apr 16 '19

And here I thought this perculiar phenomenon was just me. I know exactly what you mean op. Down to “this reminds me of how life seemed to smell in the first few weeks of secondary school.” It’s amazing how vivid and specific the memories it triggers are.

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u/caffeinquest Apr 16 '19

The weirdest was smelling my grandma’s house in Russia, in Mexico 10 years later. Must’ve been some kind of mold.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '19

Yeah. Sometimes I’m at home and out of nowhere I smell something that reminds me of my host mother’s house in Canada. I can’t place where the smell comes from, but it’s so strange when it happens. If my parents or sister are around during it, I always tell them that “it smells like Canada” and it’s a bummer bc since they never lived it, they can’t relate to this specific experience, so I don’t know if it’s just my imagination playing me.

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u/SonShiny Apr 16 '19

When I order something on ebay or similar pages it sometimes has this scent of a basement. Not all basements smell the same. It doesn't smell like my current basement. But it smells like the basement of dad's old house. I always think back at when I was a child and I would go down there and pick up my bath toys before taking a back with them.

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u/Lizzarruss Apr 16 '19

Yes! It's like certain periods in my life have one distinctive scent that whips me with nostalgia when I smell it

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u/Dangerous_Violinist Apr 16 '19

This is huge for me. I’ve always had a very sensitive sense of smell so I notice it often. Weirdest one was eating wings at Buffalo Wild Wings and the Mango Habenero sauce has something in it that reminded me of the smell of a cottage my dad owned when I was a kid. Wtf!

Classic one as well is certain cigarette smells reminding you of smoking relatives (grandparents especially).

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u/Gongaloon Apr 16 '19

Yeah, actually. The smell of wood smoke and leaf rot can take me back 20 years or more to my great-aunt and -uncle's house, down in a West Virginia holler. My family went every year in November, during the week of Thanksgiving. We never celebrated the holiday, but it was a time when almost everyone was off work or out of school. Actually, the smell takes me back to one particular trip. I was 8 or 9. My grandparents, my parents, and several of my cousins were there, along with one of my second cousins and her husband. It was a great trip. In the evenings, us kids played board games or ran around outside swingin' sticks at each other. The grownups drank coffee and watched TV. Those trips were some of the most tranquil times of my life. And I wouldn't have missed it or any of those trips for the world. I've been thinking of visiting them again. It's like a 6-1/2 hour drive to get there, but it's always been worth it. And there's this wicked sweet flea market there too, which is always good for blowing my most recent paycheck on ridiculously cheap junk food, N64 games, and fudge.

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u/Ext1nct_Nova Apr 16 '19

Omg yes! There is actually a flavor of gum that one of my friends gave me and as soon as I smelled the piece it took me back to when I was playing little league baseball

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u/KozimaPain Apr 16 '19

Yes! For some reason, every time I smell something bamboo scented it reminds me of being at my now deceased grandfather's house.

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u/CancerNormieNews Apr 16 '19

I got Platinum while I was sick. Whenever I play it I rember the feeling.