In Your Opinion: 314 posts

Phloxes smell like hay and cloves. These flowers are so commonplace that I don’t think I ever bothered to smell them before. They merged into the summer cityscape of dusty chestnut trees, yellowing grass and tiny marigolds that dot the lawns around here. Occasionally, I spotted them at the florists, but since I knew that they don’t keep their freshness well, I rarely bought them. Not smelling phloxes was a mistake, because if I were to have lowered my face into the mass of soft petals sooner, I would have added another beautiful fragrance to my scent palette.

This little discovery encouraged me to smell things I often take for granted–walnut leaves, chestnut shells, potato peels. When boiling chickpeas for a salad, I noticed that they smell meaty and nutty at once. Moss covered clay pots on the patio had a vetiver like odor. I also tried Jovan Musk from my box of “perfumes to try later” and liked its creamy drydown.

Scent Diary is a place where we can share fragrances we encounter, good and bad, perfumes we wear and the scents around us. It’s a way to sharpen our sense of smell, but also just to enjoy the fragrance hobby in a different way. 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.

Wishing a great Labor Day weekend to my American readers!

Photography by Bois de Jasmin, phloxes

Bois de Jasmin will return on Monday. Today we have our “Recommend Me a Perfume” thread. You can use this space to ask any questions about perfume, including fragrance recommendations. If you’ve asked for a recommendation before, please let us know how your search went and what you’ve discovered.

How does it work:

1. Please post your requests or questions as comments here. You can also use this space to ask any fragrance related questions. To receive recommendations that are better tailored to your tastes, you can include details on what you like and don’t like, your signature perfumes, and your budget. And please let us know what you end up sampling.

2. Then please check the thread to see if there are other requests you can answer. Your responses are really valuable for navigating the big and sometimes confusing world of perfume, so let’s help each other!

To make this thread easier to read, when you reply to someone, please click on the blue “reply” link under their comment.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin, Sicily

When people smell civet, natural or synthetic, for the first time, the natural response is to cringe, because this animalic material smells raunchy, dirty and sweet. My husband recoiled from me in horror when I once returned from the lab having spent the day working mostly with animalic notes. These days, on the other hand, nothing fazes me now (except, perhaps, for the material called Pineapple Compound that turns air entering my lungs into fruity, sticky cotton candy.) Scents, like tastes, can be acquired.

These days I even like some odd scents that ordinarily wouldn’t be considered pleasant, like mildew, mild skunk odor, hot metal, musty basements or wet paper. And I love civet in all forms.

Scent Diary is a place where we can share fragrances we encounter, good and bad, perfumes we wear and the scents around us. It’s a way to sharpen our sense of smell, but also just to enjoy the fragrance hobby in a different way. 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.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin; my grandmother is getting ready to prepare varenyky, dumplings stuffed with a variety of offal. It’s an acquired taste, but I absolutely adore this dish and its gamey, musky flavor, and I request it every time I visit.

The Paris Review ran an interesting article called A Travel Tip, in which the columnist Sadie Stein recommends marking each vacation with a new scent. I thought that the idea was charming.

“So I recommended wearing a new perfume when one goes on a trip. I’m not advocating for the purchase of an expensive bottle every time you go to a cousin’s wedding. But for me, the act of dignifying a journey with its own scent can be enough to elevate a humble getaway to vacation status. It’s nice to find something that has a connection to wherever you are, but the actual perfume is secondary. The point is to create a sense memory for the experience that has, for you, no precedent. I’ve worn the same perfume since my twenty-third birthday, when I treated myself to my first bottle of [Frédéric Malle] En Passant, but from the moment I get in the cab to the airport, I like to wear something different, unfamiliar.” To read the rest, please click here.

What perfumes are you going to make for your summer vacation? And if you took a break already, what was your most worn perfume?

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

What does silk smell like? Or linen warmed by the hot iron? Or colorful bundles of wool thread slightly damp from the rain? I never thought much about it all until I visited Reshetylivka, a small town in central Ukraine renowned for its embroidery college. I met people responsible for running the school, local masters and their students and even learned a few embroidery stitches traditional to the region. And I discovered that silk thread heated by warmth of the fingers smells like almond shells, that hot-ironed linen has a metallic and salty odor, unexpectedly wonderful, and that wet wool reminds me of Viola, my mom’s feline daughter.

Scent Diary is a place where we can share fragrances we encounter, good and bad, perfumes we wear and the scents around us. It’s a way to sharpen our sense of smell, but also just to enjoy the fragrance hobby in a different way. 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.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin, a men’s shirt. An example of traditional Reshetylivka embroidery, a blend of intricate drawn thread and cut out details. It’s all handmade, including the tassels.