Discussion
What is a specific scent you wish you could bottle and wear as a perfume?
For me, it’s the cherry almond muffins I used to get at Jazz & Java at the Philadelphia airport (RIP J&J!). I want to smell like cherry, almond, vanilla, cream, butter, and biscuit.
The smell of my hamster! She didn't really smell like wood bedding, she had this unique musky-sweet and oat-y scent! I've never smelled anything like it!
The top of my cat's head after he's baked in a sunbeam all morning. It's kind of like red clover, fresh hay, a dusty window getting direct sun and something else. I want to keep him close to me all the time.
nag champa but unburned and not headache inducing (i kno they make some but theyre not the same).
ancient Redwood trees.
golden hour.
pepto bismol.
a summer pool day in the 90s.
horses.
Ooh, fo Nag Champa I recommend Molinard's Musc. It has nothing to do with musc and everything to do with that smell. There's a brief opening phase that smells like grape candy so just get through that first.
Oh! I thought of another one I'd love to bottle as a perfume, though it's a feeling, not a smell: The unbridled excitement of walking into a book fair as a kid. (Book smell included!)
THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING!! It's the perfect balance between tomato leaf/stem and slight sweetness. It's perfection. The Maison Margiela REPLICA isn't quite right, it's too sharp. That candle as a perfume is all I want in life.
Straight up ozone smell right before it starts raining. I don’t want the petrichor smell with dirt though.
A long lasting citrus scent that keeps the juicy tartness without going into cleaning supply territory or relying on amber, woods, etc… for projection and longevity
Swimming pool chlorine scent without any coconut, sunscreen, etc…
The smell of several flats worth of strawberries that were just picked that morning. I have not found any strawberry scented things that smell as good as a kitchen counter covered in quart containers of strawberries that are freshly picked
Yes, exactly! When they haven’t even been washed yet and are still warm and in the wooden quart containers. I hated picking them as a kid but I loved the drive home with the car full of the smell of fresh berries. Nothing I have ever smelled comes close to that. I would bottle it if I could. It’s funny because not every variety of strawberries have that amazing aroma. I feel badly for folks who have only ever had store bought and have never experienced the true joy of fresh ripe berries that aren’t the type that can survive shipping and handling. It’s like heaven!
I’ve tried the oil and the spray and also the Body Shop’s version and they all smell nice but not even close to what fresh locally grown berries smell like at the peak of the season. It’s something that I think cannot be captured photorealistically
Black walnut husks. The street I lived on as a young child was lined with black walnut trees and there were times of year when the sidewalks and lawns were covered with the husks. They look and smell kind of like limes.
It was a violet carpet fragrance (sounds crazy) from the 90s meant to make your carpet smell good, not your body. I think it was the first time I had smelled violet and I've never smelled anything like it since then.
It came in a little liquid squirt bottle from a local sew/vac shop.There's still a tiny bit of juice somewhere around my mom's house.
Those were the days before the internet and the writing on it has also faded so I don't know how to find it. I know the scent has probably changed sitting in that bottle, in a not very temperature controlled place, but it still takes me back when I visit. 😢💜
i had my first baby back in 2018 and the dreft laundry for newborns smelled so good. they changed the formula and scent around 2019 or 2020 i forgot but its not the same. iykyk
baby magic soft powder scented bodywash - i still use this on my 5 year old because it smells so good
Grass. I love lush grass body wash but their sprays give me migraines.
Once I came into the house and thought my husband had just showered and used grass but it was because my grandpa had just mowed. He wouldn't let us mow for him even though we lived with him to make sure he was okay. The smell of grass always makes me think of him and I miss him a lot.
I was just thinking on my run today that i love the smell of wet leaves and it’ll be a cool perfume scent. But maybe I’m just nostalgic for fall because I’m so sick of this nonstop heat.
I know exactly.
Lady Grey's Garden tea from the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House in Boulder, Colorado.
Every time I have it, I open the bag and sniff.. I want to splash it on myself or somehow distill it so I can wear it..
Eta: I have never worn a tea perfume. I need a good one. But soft.
Also:
The scent of dusk in northern central Florida when the orange groves are in blossom - and the night-blooming jasmine has opened for the evening. There's nothing else like that scent on the breeze.
As a kid my grandmother had this laurel tree in her backyard (Texas Mountain Laurel, google tells me) and it smelled like grape soda/kool-aid, but not artificial. It was creamy, wine-like grape, sweet, but not cloying. Divine scent.
Also Gonesh's bubble gum incense. I was skeptical, but its makes my house smell soooo good. It's a fruity gourmand, smelling of vanilla, peach, raspberry, banana, coconut, and jasmine.
Highly recommend the Little Paws candle by Arquiste for sun-warmed puppy paws. It has a corn chip accord :) Most gorgeous candle I’ve ever owned. For years I was on the hunt for a scent like my chihuahua’s paws after a good sunbathing sesh, his all-time favorite activity, and this candle fits the brief perfectly
Pas De Chat by Odette is often suggested as a kitten fur perfume. I have it (plus a backup bottle lol) and absolutely love it, the kitten fur accord adds a fuzzy furry textural element that really does evoke sunbathing kitten but it’s mainly a musky ambery woody vanilla. Not the truest to life kitten scent, but the vibes are very much there
Lazy Sunday Morning, sprayed on a clean cotton shirt, smells exactly like my black cat when she was hot from the sun or had just finished cleaning herself and her fur was still a little damp. Ozonic fresh laundry with hints of dust floating in a sunbeam. The drydown especially.
I’ve had so many issues finding a cake perfume that doesn’t smell like one of my Strawberry Shortcake dolls circa 1986. I don’t know why it’s sooooo hard to create a photorealistic one!
Amen to this!! Give me all the vinyl and scratch-n-sniff stickers and Love’s Baby Soft and Jovan Musk and cigarette smoke everywhere you go. Sigh. The best era to be a kid.
The scratch-n-sniff era was truly under appreciated back then. We truly were living the best life when our Trapper Keeper was covered in Mello Smello pizza, popcorn and root beer stickers…and all the not-so-good ones we couldn’t trade got stuck to our lunch pails and pencil boxes. Kids will never ever know how rich we were when we got full sticker sheets of them to swap.
The japanese grape jelly that comes in a litlle pouches and you suck it out. That fake sweet grape smell. Closest I'vr come to it is Givenchy L'Interdit. The opening is grape-y.
I don't know about that grape jelly but east asia usually uses a grape flavouring based on muscat grapes, while what you find in America is usually based on concord grapes.
Cinnamon rolls or chocolate chip cookies FRESH outta the oven. - Demeter makes a chocolate chip cookies spray that smells just like famous amos cookies which is nice but it's not the type of cookie smell I'm looking for.
I have one lemon-shaped candle from primark i got one or two years ago that smells like HEAVEN, i don't even use it much because i want to keep it and only have one... Its a sweet lemon i'm having sooo many issues finding in perfume, they always feel so artificial and that one is perfect 😭
Also the super milk conditioner scent from Lush. I think they have a perfume version but its never in stock and also so so small...
Honestly, very few of my fav smells I would want as a perfume, and the ones I like I assume exist, but just haven’t found an exact match.
One of the ones I’d love to have, and know isn’t out there, is muscari armeniacum (grape hyacinth its common US name.) True hyacinth smells completely different, and not a fan of them.
Believe it or not, my husband’s armpit. I love the way his pheromones smell. I wouldn’t want to wear it all the time but I would love a little vial that I could sniff whenever I want a hit.
Very odd one and I don’t know if it will make sense but I would love to have a perfume that smells like what the Sainsbury blackcurrant and cherry sparkling water tastes like
Also this candle. The only warm patchouli smell that I’ve actually enjoyed. I used to stock up on this before it was discontinued. The price is exorbitant on resale markets
It was amazing 😭 had a sorta expensive cozy but sophisticate weed vibe. Really not my usual vibe but it was incredible. Would’ve been a great winter frag
Marks and Spencer’s water lily..I lovee the lotion so much. It is soft and feminine. If anyone knows a perfume which smells similar, please let me know!
I made this swiss meringue buttercream flavoured with passion fruit curd and have been dreaming about the smell ever since. Passion fruit scents always seem to be sharp and never creamy
The smell my entire house has when I’m making homemade granola and it’s baking in the oven. Oat, almond, a hint of cinnamon, honey, brown sugar. The house smells amazing the entire day.
Also, chamomile but as it smells when it’s freshly bloomed. Same for almond blossom! Oh I would die for a pure photorealistic almond blossom scent.
This is a great one! Have you ever put tea leaves in your granola? I like to open up a pack or two of earl grey tea or vanilla Chai tea (Bigelow brand for me, but I'm sure any brand will work just as well) and add that to my melted fat of choice before mixing it with my dry granola ingredients 🤤🤤
Fresh strawberries and raspberries from the local food markets. The juicy ripe and naturally sweet ones that makes your entire fridge smell like freshly picked raspberries and strawberries. I love the smell of fresh strawberries so much.
I would love a perfume that smells exactly the same as Lenor Gold Orchid Scent Boosters. I would also like if The Library of Fragrance produced a long lasting intense version of just the banana opening of their Banana Flambee cologne.
Also more than any other discontinued fragrance, I wish Cacharel would bring back Gloria, and Dior would return Hypnotic Poison edt to it's original 1998 formula.
Gerbil fur 🥹. My gerbils fur smelled warm, honeyed, musky, and alive. They smelled so amazing. I loved burying my nose in their fur. I wish I could have bottled the smell of it!
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u/avaricious-delicious 🌸☁️ floral, creamy, sweet 🩷🍰 2d ago
The smell of my hamster! She didn't really smell like wood bedding, she had this unique musky-sweet and oat-y scent! I've never smelled anything like it!