Crushed young linden leaves — milky, tart, reminiscent of overripe lemons
Moist soil — pencil shavings, moss, steeped black tea, lingering spice, mineral dust
Bluebells — rose petals and lily of the valley soaked in almond milk, green, sweet, indolic
Lichen — Japanese ink, vintage face powder, cinnamon
Rowan flowers — pungent-spicy, powdery, dried mushrooms, almond candy
Lily of the valley — difficult not to think of Diorissimo, which is the best case of a nature reference in perfume
Nettles — grapefruit, green grape, crushed grass
A spring forest walk. Brussels. “Rice seedlings grow,” according to the Japanese traditional calendar.
Scent Diary is a place to write your observations about the scents around you–and about scents in your environment. Whether you write down 1 recollection or 10 matters less than simply reminding yourself to smell. You can add as many comments as you wish. You can comment today or over the course of the week; this thread will always be open. Of course, do share what perfume you’re wearing or what particularly good scented products you’ve discovered.
While looking through my articles, I found this article that I wrote a few years ago but that still remains popular and often-read: A to Z Tips for Enjoyable, Affordable and Rewarding Perfume Hobby. If you have any tips to add, I’d love to hear them.
Photography by Bois de Jasmin
16 Comments
Alityke: The smell of bluebell woods is unique. En mass that slightly rank freshness is unique. Where I live the wild garlic leaves come up around the same & for me they are intrinsically linked.
I’m not mad about bluebell perfumes but I do love a hyacinth note. Less sweet that bluebell & doesn’t have the underlying garlic to it April 29, 2024 at 7:59am
Victoria: Rank freshness is such a great way to describe this effect.
I like hyacinth notes in perfumery. That green floral combination is irresistible. April 29, 2024 at 1:27pm
Lorna: On my walk, I came across a log of sunning turtles. They smelled Earthy, a bit fishy, and of decaying pond greens.
Today I am wearing side by side Oscar de la Renta and L’heure Bleue. Oscar is the brighter more floral sister, but their DNA is so similar- even in their development over time. April 29, 2024 at 9:52am
Victoria: They’re definitely siblings! April 29, 2024 at 1:26pm
Klaas: Hawthorn is exploding here in Amsterdam! It has that very happy but quite peculiar smell of delicate flowers and……something rotten, almost urine-like. It is a smell that I associate very much with my childhood and playing outside; with long, sunny and careless afternoons.
So I love the sight and the smell of hawthorn, but while searching online I found out that hawthorn is said to smell like the plague in medieval times and the flowers have been associated with death ever since! Go figure!! One of its aromatic compounds is triethylamine, which is one of the first chemicals released by decaying bodies…..even today, people claim it smells like gangrene.
Diptyque ‘Aubepine’ candle, anyone??? April 29, 2024 at 11:01am
Victoria: Some people find that scent downright frightening, so I can understand why. Did you have a chance to read Nose Dive? McGee has a fascinating chapter on that smell alone. April 29, 2024 at 1:26pm
Klaas: No, I haven’t! I’ll look into it, thank you for the suggestion! May 9, 2024 at 9:43am
Klaas: It exists in paperback now! Very tempting 😉 May 9, 2024 at 9:49am
Samantha Anastasiou: I live in the desert southwest, and this morning’s walk the subtleties of the fragrances were lovely, yet finding the descriptive language to describe them in is challenging. How do you cultivate this vocabulary of scent? April 29, 2024 at 1:11pm
Victoria: You practice describing them using different techniques. This is something that I was taught during my perfumery studies and something that I teach in my perfume classes. But the most important part is really focusing on scents and looking for words to match them. April 29, 2024 at 1:25pm
Samantha Anastasiou: Thank you. I’m pressing them in a book as a diary of my walks and found that writing it is helping. April 29, 2024 at 1:44pm
Aurora: Wallflower: spicy and sweet, unfortunately there are only a few of them in the garden I pass by. April 29, 2024 at 1:37pm
Mari: At this time of year in south Texas, the star jasmine is in bloom everywhere. I love its scent, and I cherish this time of year when I can spend time with this plant in bloom. The roses are also in bloom, and I appreciate smelling the differences between the varieties.
Not seasonal, but I love the scent of matcha and I pay attention to its scent every time I brew my own or order a matcha latte at a coffee shop. April 29, 2024 at 8:26pm
Jamal: Last weekend I was in Berlin and while out for dinner with a perfumer, he had ordered a cocktail paired with his starter, followed by wine with his main dish. The cocktail had bitters strongly featuring thyme, based on the taste, and was very herbal and fruity, a bit like tagete oil without the rancid quality. Then I saturated my nose with the wine and upon returning to the cocktail, it was aggressively spicy and woody, more so than the previous facets I had noticed. It was a good reminder to always exploit opportunities to smell comparatively. April 29, 2024 at 10:25pm
Ewan: The last couple of weeks have been lilacs, which have burst into flower all over the city. The flat aroma of recently brewed Assam, a deep, rich taste after a couple of minutes in the pot. Boiled eggs, toast and butter balance the taste of tea, in that ritual of rituals: breakfast.
Frankincense, Ylang-ylang and Neroli create a warm, floral-fruity brightness with a woody swirl as it touches the skin. April 30, 2024 at 1:25am
Judith R: A few years ago, I was in the bluebell area of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in early May when they were in bloom. To me, the smell was very much reminiscent of Jo Malone’s wild bluebell scent. I loved the experience, but I’m not sure that I want to smell of “rank freshness.” For spring, I prefer to wear En Passant, with its lilac notes. April 30, 2024 at 4:10pm