Saturday, May 23, 2009

Sweet scents.

This post is totally stolen from Gwen. Actually I posted some of it as a comment to her post.

But I liked the idea so much I thought it was worth expanding on. Smell is such an important sense. I read somewhere that the smell receptors in the brain are located close to some bits that have something to do with memory, so smell is actually the most powerful sense in terms of evoking memories, which makes sense if you've ever experienced that thing where you smell a certain scent and it just absolutely transports you somewhere else. And I don't mean in that Mickey-Mouse-traveling-on-a-wisp-of-pie-steam way.

Here are some of my favorite smells:

• Crayola crayons - I could sit there and smell a pack of those babies all day

• Frying bacon, which has nearly caused me to faint while walking past a breakfast café

• Frying onions

• Frying mushrooms

• ... okay, pretty much anything frying

• Coffee (even though I hate the taste)

• Cigar smoke (I don't know, I just like it. Any other things you smoke smell horrible and awful)

• Bonfires, especially in the country, also wood-stove fires

• Eucalyptus leaves

• The beach. That sea air smell that stays on your skin.

• Babies heads (I heard that babies heads give off a natural tranquilizer... Breathe deep. I'm just sayin'.)

• YSL Baby Doll perfume in the pink gem-shaped bottle. It smells like lollies and flowers. It's kind of my signature... I wear that, or Chanel No. 5 if I'm being fancy.


Many of y'all gave your favorite smells list on Gwen's post, so I want to hear your stories about a smell totally evoking a different time & place. Oh yeah and keep it clean you guys!!!

18 comments:

Gwen said...

Yay! I love it! I need to think about my olfactory memories but I have to run and get ready for a bbq so I'll be back.

A teaser: the first thing that came to my mind was my grandpa's pipe. It instantly made me feel comfortable and loved.

Mr. Condescending said...

ive posted similar stuff like this too, I think its an excellent topic!!!

I think many people like freshly cut grass.

Aside from certain perfumes, I like

cedarwood

your loved one's hair after its washed

a freshly opened deck of playing cards

clean air

Soda and Candy said...

Gwen - Lovely : ) ... the smell of Imperial Leather soap reminds me of my granny.

Mr C - Oh yes, those are all good smells. I also like the air just before a big rain, when you can smell it coming.

SkylersDad said...

Open fire in the outdoors is a favorite, I wonder why I didn't think of that one right off the top?

Oh yeah, smoke in the eyes. The nice smells bastard cousin...

Mr. Condescending said...

yes that kind of air is great too!!

Also a few I forgot

Good Dryer Sheets

Clothesline dried laundry

New Car

Bakeries

Eric said...

I love the smell of Coppertone sun screen for some reason. I think because it reminds me of my girlfriend when I was 15 and the summer spent going to a waterpark all the time. There is a plant that when crushing the leaves, smells just like it, but I'm not sure what it's called.

BeckEye said...

I love the way it smells right after it rains. Well, not so much in NYC, but in a normal town it's quite nice.

My word ver is "godami." That's fantastic.

Soda and Candy said...

Skylers Dad - Heh, that's true. And when you stand too close to the bonfire and it starts roasting your pants.

Mr C - aww yeah, sunshiney laundry rocks.

Eric - I left out a few plant smells too, I really like lavender and rosemary. And oregano which for some reason is the definitive Italian smell for me.

BeckEye - You'd be hard pressed to find a nice smell in NYC I think. Maybe a hot, fresh soft pretzel?

Mr. Condescending said...

Eric, could it have also been a mixture of coppertone, aqua net, cigarette and bubble yum?

Sam_I_am said...

my dad's mom died when I was 9, so I don't really remember her all that well. I did though, instantly recognize the smell of her perfume on a cafeteria worker when I was in college.

Soda and Candy said...

Mr C - Hahaha. The smell of chlorine and Redskin lollies would bring back a big chunk of my teen years spent at the swimming pool.

Sam - Wow, that is powerful.

Eric said...

Mr. C, quite possibly, but she didn't chew bubble gum because her family lived in the trailer park and couldn't afford it except on the most special occasions...

words...words...words... said...

I have a terrible sense of smell (my old roommate used to say I shouldn't live alone because I'd never detect a gas leak). But When I was about ten years old, my family had a summer rental at the Jersey shore for three years. The candy store on the boardwalk also sold freshly roasted nuts. Whenever I'm anywhere that nuts are roasting, I'm immediately back at the shore.

Soda and Candy said...

Eric - hahaha

WWW - We used to get roasted salted macadamia nuts when I was little... they smelled soooo good.

Anonymous said...

I smoked a cigar only last night, and it did indeed smell fairly magnificent. My throat isn't thanking me today though.

Alex the Girl said...

You already listed a few of mine, by the way, add a roux to the frying onions...Mmmm.

I have lots of favorite smells, but the top one is the smell of a used book store. A small one that is totally enveloped with the smell of paper back books. Best smell.

Soda and Candy said...

Mr LS - I haven't really figured out how to smoke them properly, but they sure look good.

Alex - aww yeah, melted butter. And yes, I like that musty, promising smell of books too.

Cora said...

Windex reminds me of a pass job I had where the boss would get drunk and yell at us. She was allergic to Windex though, so one day we saw the boss staggering across the parking lot towards us and we all started spraying Windex EVERYWHERE while laughing like evil little children. The boss walked in, started yelling, then stopped midsentance looking horrified at the smell and ran out and didn't come back for the rest of the day.

Hee hee hee.

I have loved the smell of Windex ever since. LOVE IT! It's about the happiest scent in the world.

:-)