What are your favorite smells?

[DrSmellThis]

I needs to know! I needs to know! I'm considering making some new perfumes, and like to stay in touch with people on this. Mine are... Wait. Y'all first. ;) Please, and thanks in advance.

[Rbt]

Pheros.... Duh!

Otherwise I like whatever is in Chikara scented, Hugo Boss, LP's Merlin's Blend, Eden:Adam, Ares, and Excalibur. Avon had one called Weekend (I think) that I suspect mayy be similar to the Issey Miaki Weekend that gegogi liked (I really don't recall the actual name...). I'm not much of a fragrance wearer so my experience is limitied.


I even find I kinda like Old Spice...

These are also scents I would like on ME rather than on women. If you are thinking of doing women's perfume then I'm gonna have to think about it some.

[Bruce]

Doc! Did I hear you correctly? Cool.

Does coffee count? When I saw the subject line, I thought you meant stuff like that, in general. Weird because I rarely drink coffee, don't even keep it in the house, but I love the smell; weird huh? Will sip on a nice latte if the mood is right though. After that, I guess I like spicy stuff, nutmeg, ginger. Don't really want to tip my hand about the cologne favorites. Working on a new one myself. Maybe it's because I'm fasting, but I keep thinking of food smells. :)

Good to see you again, Doc. Let me know if you are ever in Eugene.

[darkstar1]

I needs to know! I needs to know! I'm considering making some new perfumes, and like to stay in touch with people on this. Mine are... Wait. Y'all first. ;) Please, and thanks in advance.

Recently I've been using gucci guilty and armani acqua di gio. The former one is more spicy therefore I use it from fall to spring, whereas the latter one is a very fresh fragrance that is ideal for spring and summer.

[belgareth]

Really? Cool! I am running low on the last stuff you made and would be very interested in the new batch.

Some odd things. Spicy...like the inside of my spice cupboard. Real musk, and it is really different from the fakes. The inside of a tobacco store, even though I have not smoked in years. The inside of a woodshop unless they are using paints and varnishes. Like Bruce said - Coffee! Thesmell of the forest in the early morning. Fresh mowed grass. Grilling meat from several blocks away.

[Pele]

When it comes to perfumes, I prefer the natural stuff..... vetiver, rosewood, clove, cardamom, and the fancy expensive stuff like tuberose, champaka, & rose maroc. Mmmmmmmmm!!!!

[DrSmellThis]

Wow, quite a variety. Hi Bruce, Bel, rbt, darkstar, and Pele! If ever in Eugene, I certainly will call, Bruce. I may well call anyway. Especially suprising is the number of heady, earthy, masculine scents you all like. Coffee, huh? Coffee oil is used by coffee producers to flavor beans, but I've never used it in a perfume. Sounds interesting. I read online jasmine sambac is supposed to be a hot new trend in the near future, but I don't know how they know that. One school of thought in perfumery is that there are no real trends, but that a great perfumer will make a scent that sells, even if the idea is old. Currently, I have in mind a series of perfumes that will mark a departure from my previous approach, in hopefully correcting some of its flaws. It's going to be more focused and clear, and something reproduceable. I am putting restrictions and guidelines on myself this time. It's not going to be an 18 month naked romp through 150 random aphrodisiac ingredients, even though that turned out well, complaints from the neighbors notwithstanding. That process was not too sustainable. But I am not abandoning my forte, which is a mostly dogged natural approach that calls on all the traditions. There might be a judiciously placed "laboratory chemical" or several, as warranted. I have been working pretty hard on it, and of course have zero to show so far, not that it's time for that yet. Creative stuff is like that. You can make love to your wife for a year and nothing. Then all of a sudden, triplets. It's but a glint in the eye through glasses at this point, though. Bel, I can almost guarantee at least one of the scents I'll end up making will appeal to that very general direction you alluded to. That's not much to offer yet, but some of those ideas intrigue me and it would be a pleasure to send one your way. Old Spice!? At one time I started a more natural, and therefore high end, version of sort of an Old Spice approach. Never finished it, but had some nice early experiences. I respect the heck out of that product, as cheesy as some people think it is. What I can say so far is that the main ingredient or theme in Old Spice (can anyone guess what that is?) is one I will be exploring, at least for part of a perfume. One of the main ingredients if you're going to do it right, an expensive natural substance, would have a batch consistency issue, which is the kind of thing you have to think about. But it might be somewhat resolvable if we are willing to accept that variation. I'm also going to have a fresh fragrance in there somewhere, at some point in the series. Just so you all know, the trade off is that you have to absolutely accept that it won't last near as long on your skin. The only reason there are citrus and lavender perfumes today is because of chemicals and chemical fixatives. Otherwise all you can have is sort of refreshing splashes that don't last. I am still avoiding most of that stuff. You can certainly use lots of techniques that help, from the ground up. Dont get me wrong. I'd be using various natural fixatives every step of the way, and special fixatives for fresh or citrus scents, for that matter. But... You'd just have to be prepared to reapply. The idea of a natural, top note heavy, refreshing perfume that lasts all day is fiction, except as a modern laboratory chemical advance. For those of you who mentioned spices, I am planning to have something specifically for you too. I have a lovely fragrant spice on me as I type, as part of that experiment. It is currently undecided what perfume to start with. By the way, the forum software cancels all paragraphs when I post for some reason, so I apologize about the terrible readability. Perhaps there is a glitch with my browser or browser security.

[Pele]

Is it Ginger? In old spice? Synthetic of course .....

And I would think something as delicious and classic as jasmine sambac would never go "out" , but I've never cared what was trendy. I like what I like! I forgot about key lime....... and lemongrass which has a more tenacious scent and according to my boyfriend, blends intoxicatingly with the nature scent of "down south" ; )
The scent of lemongrass gives him instant Pavlovian wood ..... teehee! Think copulins + lemongrass .... oooohhhhh!!!

I can't wait to hear/smell your creations!

[DrSmellThis]

Not ginger... :) Lemongrass is defintely an ingredient I've been contemplating a special role for, within the ideas already discussed above. If you didn't have a boyfriend and liked all the wrong kinda guys, I'd be contemplating two roles for it. ;)

[Pele]

It must be cinnamon, orange, or vanilla?Your lemongrass plans...... a secret? It's fascinating that we're on the same page with that!And what in the world would ever give you the idea that I like the "wrong kinda guys?" My taste in men is often surprising to folks.... and you- alchemist, scentologist, flirtypants..... triple threat guy! ; )

[DrSmellThis]

"Show me, Cinnamon, orange or vanilla!" <BZZZT!>[/OLD GAME SHOW REFERENCE] Lemongrass is pretty versatile, and can be used for various things other than smelling like lemongrass, as you and your lucky boyfriend have discovered. It's a unique scent in its properties. I'm going to conduct an experiment of my own, inspired by your wiles - a related idea regarding another scent or two to combine with lemongrass. I'm sure you have great taste in men, and are a woman of fine fibre; with a silk lemongrass cocoon, to make a butterfly want to be a caterpillar again. Even the wrong kind of butterfly. A rancid butterfly. Thanks to Bruce for mispelling scientology when he changed the moniker. Did you recognize the alchemical symbols?

[Pele]

Sulphur, Mercury, .....Gold?, Iron (or Mars)...? Do I get a cigar???

[DrSmellThis]

Sulphur, mercury, salt, and antimony are those four. Usually alchemists talk about earth, air, fire, and water as the four elements, though. Should I give you a cigar? What, did you just have a baby? ;) OK, I think getting two correct without googling deserves a cigar. Seriously, I think you're the first to even connect those symbols with alchemy. I recommend a Punch Royal Coronation! Maybe I'll do a perfume with tobacco. The inside of a tobacco shop does smell lovely.

[Rbt]

One thing to consider is what one likes on themselves vs what they like to smell on others. I presume you are aiming to come up with a scent the wearer likes first and foremost.

Oddly enough although scents like coffee catch my nose I find it gets "uncomfortable." I have some scents with a tobacco element to them and again, although I find the scent interesting, I'm not sure I want to wear it myself.

Dr. ST, you are also experiencing something I had a problem with when the forum switched over to this newer format. I too was losing all my formatting, paragraphs, and spaces between sentences. I also could not access the emoticons. The problem seems to have gone away for me, but I have no idea why. I did get a couple of updates to my Firefox browser in between so maybe there was a "fix" in there. You didn't say which browser you are using ATM (or version). I seem to be okay when I use my other computers which have IE8 (XP pro and a Vista system - I removed IE9 when they tried to stick me with it cuz I hate it), and IE9 (W7 - my one concession to IE9) on them.

:type: <- emoticons working now.


(Edit: the system I am using right now, and XP pro laptop, has both IE8 and Firefox 10.0.2 on it. I use Firefox about 90% of the time.)

[DrSmellThis]

Pheros had some tobacco, though just a trace. That the kind of thing you use to enhance other smells, rather than to really notice on its own. I guess some people might like a strong tobacco note, but probably not too many. It's often used in women's perfumes, strangely enough, as by itself it's not too feminine. Starting to get lots of ideas. Thanks everyone! When I figure out the problem with the forum software, I'll let you guys know. In the meantime, none of my posts will be readable. Maybe I'll start making individual posts for each paragraph. 8/

[chas]

I've always liked the smell of Faberge's Addiction 'Spice Fire' which has a warm spicy aroma. Maybe cocoa ?
Some people like comforting smells - vanilla, mellow spices, cocoa ..
Strangely chocolate smells good in a chocolate bar but not in perfumes. Coffee smells best when it is in a coffee shop with decades of coffees being prepared - almost has a savoury smell.
Perhaps DST you could a small selection of perfumes - e.g. one spicy, one cool, etc.
The best perfumes make the opposite sex want to get closer.

[CristinaTulis]

Hey everyone,

Many many thanks to sharing your information, I am highly appreciated, I could not agree more. The smell of freshly cut grass and the smell of hay stored in a barn are senses that release stress and somehow allow you to focus on the simpler things in life. Maybe it brings us back to the simpler days of our childhood.

Nice to meet you
CristinaTulis

[idesign]

Hey Doc, glad to hear that you're back in the Lab and we might get something new! Your ideas sound great.

For scents I've always liked smells that remind me of the past. I guess its the comfort factor. I spent a fair amount of time in tobacco barns as a kid and that's a heavenly scent, a horse barn is nice too, and of course coffee. For spices I really like pepper. In China the spice shops are full of a variety of hot peppers that send a sharp but warm scent into the air. Just plain old black pepper smells nice freshly ground. I had a fragrance once that was peppery but don't remember the name. If I recall didn't Pheros have a dose of pepper? I seem to remember a faint sharpness somewhere around the top-to-middle. Old Spice is a bit peppery, but isn't the main scent floral? Carnation?

Jasmine and Gardenia are favorite floral scents, though Gardenia can get a bit heavy and sweet after too much.

Too many commercial scents to name but I've always loved the James Bond aura of the original Chanel Cologne for Men. Classic.

[Rbt]

I'm wondering if you should not also ask about fragrances we DON'T find appealing.

I for one never liked 451.

[belgareth]

Doc, with the results I got from you last batch (I still have some) I'll be willing to try anything you come up with.

[belgareth]

Hey RBT! Good idea.

The inside of a bar would be a bad one. Rotted fruit would be another.

[DrSmellThis]

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Idesign has nailed the theme of Old Spice, which is carnation. Very astute of you!

Interesting that a carnation scent is considered spicy, no? Also interesting about Old Spice is that it's classified as an "Oriental" (is that even politically correct to say that?). Also, I think you have to go to India to get the original Shulton Old Spice these days, or at least via the interwebs. P&G changed the formula.

Have to agree the inside of a bar isn't the greatest. But it would not be entirely unheard of to find a rotted fruit note in a French perfume. Like anything else, it's all concentration and context. As you all know, a lot of nasty scents can be quite nice in perfumes, in a context. Sometimes, the worse it is, the better it is. Real world example: Idesign's horse barn!

Chocolate scents are common, and fall under the heading of gourmand (food-like) scents, like coconut. They are common, but a bit controversial.

Yes, Pheros had an excessively complex spice note, and pepper was a part of it. Pepper is nice in that it occupys a certain range where it can stay out of certain things' way. It's different than other spices. Cardamom is unique that way too. Man I can talk about natural perfuming all day; it's so fun and interesting; so am honestly very thankful you gals and guys entertain such thoughts.

Not sure if I can do as well as I did before (not so much in terms of skill, but in terms of access to ingredients to play with freely), but I at least want to have something practical or useful for folks, so that it doesn't have to be brilliant to be OK. Funding will be more difficult this time (Who has lots of personal savings these days? Or maybe I should just speak for myself.), so that lots of care will have to go into planning and efficiency, etc. That's ultimately good for you, right? It would be different If I worked for a cosmetics company or something where you'd have a funded lab and could just show up to work -- but then you'd have to forget about trying to keep it more natural, which would drain some of the passion out of it. I just can't pretend to be all that excited about "perfume chemistry" perfuming, while a lot of those folks really believe in it, and have simply accepted those changes 100%. Man, being an idealist sucks.). At some point, I'll introduce the grand idea, when a bit more steam has gathered. I've been under the weather lately, but still have been working on R&D pretty steadily, and continuing the education in it, which feels good.

[DrSmellThis]

P.S. Hey paragraphs are working again!

[chas]

I always wondered what the smell of Old Spice was - carnation. I bought some a couple of years ago & it smelt different as I remembered it from years ago. More watered down & less rich. I had to apply a lot more than I used to. I was disappointed ...

Carnation apparently is included in female attractant oils like Satyr Oil The receipe for which is in on the web.

Chocolate smells better with a spicy note added. Faberge's Addiction 'Spice Fire' had a warm chocolately spicy smell which got a +ve female comment when applied to the neck.

[DrSmellThis]

Carnation apparently is included in female attractant oils like Satyr Oil The receipe for which is in on the web. Chocolate smells better with a spicy note added. Faberge's Addiction 'Spice Fire' had a warm chocolately spicy smell which got a +ve female comment when applied to the neck.Smelled a chocolate scent yesterday that was basically vanilla with a caramel note. Not impressed. Carnation is indeed a nice attractant for men to wear to attract women, which is definitely one reason I like it. It does indeed also have a history in occult scentmaking, as you indicate. I know one Satyr oil (Crowley recipe, I think) that is jasmine based, though, so I think it's open to the perfumer's interpretation.

[Rbt]

I know I love the taste of chocolate (dark, not milk) of the European type. Most Asian chocolate recipies are not very good as far as I'm concerned. "German" is my preffered. And a small amount goes a long way.


However, I must say I'm not sure a chocolate scent would be something I'd like to have as a fragrance on either myself or someone else... I think I'd feel the same about any "food scented" product. And sorry Homer, I don't think I'd want a doughnut-scented fragrance.

[idesign]

Smelled a chocolate scent yesterday that was basically vanilla with a caramel note. Not impressed. Carnation is indeed a nice attractant for men to wear to attract women, which is definitely one reason I like it. It does indeed also have a history in occult scentmaking, as you indicate. I know one Satyr oil (Crowley recipe, I think) that is jasmine based, though, so I think it's open to the perfumer's interpretation.

Agree about Carnation Doc, I wonder if that's the reason behind its popularity as a corsage. It has a way of smelling slightly dirty underneath the peppery flower scent. Its attractant appeal could signal a desirable but slightly dangerous aura, as if the loveliness of the flower only lasts until deeper and naughtier urges take control. Old spice was a resounding hit for a reason.

I'm fascinated by the Middle Eastern love of Rose. In the West its decidedly feminine, but blended with woody and even soapy scents it becomes an intoxicating masculine mix. Oud certainly plays a role, and just that one ingredient can lead a perfume in many directions depending on the origin.

The term Oriental is not at all perjorative. I live in the Orient and the term is used often as a self description. In fact, educated and self aware women pride themselves on their Oriental traditions and sensibilities. However, there is a more nationalistic pride, its more common to hear someone to say they're Chinese or Thai or Malaysian.

I can only imagine the range of challenges you have to deal with in creating a new scent.

[DrSmellThis]

Thoughtful and stimulating responses from everyone. Thanks. I have been hard at work (though it's not an overnight thing for a variety of reasons) and am planning on incorporating many or most of the suggestions in this thread. So if you have any other faves or opinions please post them. I'm not ready to "unveil the grand concept" yet, but there are a number of things in the works, and things are taking shape. I pretty much have all the basic ideas. Should be interesting. I agree with everything idesign said about carnation. I think it's sort of underappreciated these days, due perhaps in part to an "old fashioned" rep.

[Rbt]

I remember from my much younger days that my grandfather and I think my father both used an aftershave that smelled of camphor (due no doubt to the aftereffects of blade shaving). Talk about really "retro." Not sure I'm ready to return to those days though...

[DrSmellThis]

I actually love those kind of smells. There were a few menthol crystals in "Pheros". To me it's a comforting, clean, warm, safe feeling. Camphor was talked about in the Old Testament as a perfume. In perfuming one of its advantages is that it's a generic top note, without many qualities of its own, relatively speaking. It stays out of the way of everything, so that you can use it with everything. If you want it to go, it goes. Know you sort of have to have some kind of top note, but have absolutely no good ideas? Try menthol, or camphor. To a perfumer, if you will, it's just a note, an effect in a particular olfactory range, like myrrh. You can flavor it however you want.

[Rbt]

Speaking of myrrh... I recall many years ago being introduced to "church incense" that was composed of bits of frankincense and myrrh (and maybe other things), and "burned" using a special charcoal "disk." Really nice. Could get pretty intense though... May have to go looking for it again.

[DrSmellThis]

Yeah, that stuff is really lovely, approaching the level of an experience. Believe I got multiple kinds from an Orthodox Christian church source, and it was quite nice. The Catholics probably get the best, straight from Somalia. You are correct about its strength. If your bedroom is smaller than a church, you're in trouble. Easily the best experience I had of being an altar boy, other than stealing wine, eavesdropping on the confessional, and doing drugs with the priests (just kidding about most of that) was getting to incense the church. That probably was a formative experience. It wouldn't suprise me to learn the incense was spiked with civet, because smelling civet reminds me of the old priest who ran the parish. All these decades later, to remember he smelled of civet. Why? I doubt he woke up and smeared some on. Didn't seem like that kind of priest.

[chas]

When designing a fragrance is there a conflict between what we like to smell on ourselves & what others would like to smell on us ... ?
But we all feel better if we wear a fragrance which we like the smell of on us.

I like a gentle warm musky smell - clean warm skin ?

A fresh smell (what notes are employed here ?) in hot weather is refreshing, & yet a warm spicy smell (which notes ?) is attractive in cold weather so the outside temperature is is relevant here.

Different scents for different seasons ?

[DrSmellThis]

When designing a fragrance is there a conflict between what we like to smell on ourselves & what others would like to smell on us ... ? But we all feel better if we wear a fragrance which we like the smell of on us. I like a gentle warm musky smell - clean warm skin ? A fresh smell (what notes are employed here ?) in hot weather is refreshing, & yet a warm spicy smell (which notes ?) is attractive in cold weather so the outside temperature is is relevant here. Different scents for different seasons ?Interestingly, there's a theory that smells you like will tend to be the ones that smell good on you. So if there's a smell you can't get enough of, go for it I guess. Fresh smells are typically citrus in the top note, almost always. Lavender as a top note is fresh, but a tad bit heavier. Menthol and mints are fresh. Eucalyptus and camphor are fresh. Spices are top notes, but are more popular in the winter. I like them all year round, honestly. Linalool (which smells like the top note of rosewood) is a fresh smell and is quite often used. And some of the artificial musks ("white" musks) are fresh smelling. Geranium. Ylang ylang is kind of fresh. Herbal notes like rosemary or clary can enhance freshness. Pine is fresh. Artificial melon smells (pretty much the only kind of melon smell there is in perfume) are fresh. Sandalwood as a base note can enhance freshness, as it's not that heavy smelling. Ambrette seed as a base note probably supports freshness. Neroli is often thought to smell soapy, which makes it a fresh smell too. Real musk, properly used, can be fresh if diluted enough because of its "transparency" when compared to something more "dense" like vetiver or patchouili. There you go -- everything you never needed to know about freshness in perfume. If you took all the stuff I just named and threw it in a bottle in reasonable proportions, you'd have a fresh smelling cologne. I wasn't a big fan of citrus, but now that I understand how citrus works I rather like it. The citrus smell doesn't really matter, because it's gone in a half hour anyway. You better have something else that smells good underneath it.

[vidda]

I'm in Singapore, all year round summer. I like Davidoff Cool Water, Armani Acqua Di Gio, Issey Miyaki for day wear as they give me lasting fresh smell in hot humid Singapore. At night I prefer Gucci Rush and Fahrenheit.

[thomaslavoie]

Perfume: Nautica Voyage

[fantasylove]

I like any perfume that would make women attracted to me. And for different seasons I like different smells. For example, in summber, I like "lemon" smells, but in winter, I like "chocolate" smells. http://imagetogather.com/images/yea.gif

[Rbt]

I like any perfume that would make women attracted to me. And for different seasons I like different smells. For example, in summber, I like "lemon" smells, but in winter, I like "chocolate" smells. http://imagetogather.com/images/yea.gif

I notice I tend to use different scents in different seasons as well. "Lighter" ones in warm weather, "rich" ones in cold weather.

[DrSmellThis]

Yeah, you have to account for weather. I can wear spicy scents and earthy scents in the summer, though, just less of them. But I wear more citrus in the summer. Interesting we have someone repping for chocolate. Gourmands sometimes get no respect.