JENN McKINLAY: Okay, this might seem like a weird question but what are your favorite scents?
I ask because I was making my monthly trek to the “smelly store” as the Hub calls it (more commonly known as Bath and Body Works) and they had a whole new lineup of candles and whatnot. Joy!
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| Clearly, I have a slight problem with candle accumulation. |
Now I know some people are scent sensitive and others think that burning candles is toxic and I get that, I do, but I have a husband, two dogs, and five cats. Y’all, I need to smell something besides man and critter in my house!
Hub generally tags along on this errand and unsurprisingly steers me away from the vanilla cinnamon cupcake candle scents to the more gender neutral eucalyptus and spearmint, which we both like. He's also the bergamot, leather, and distilled gin guy, none of which really work for me.
If I had to pick my favorite scents, I’m going with fresh laundry, coconut, and limoncello as my mainstays with crisp apple and balsam fir as seasonal faves.
How about you, Reds? What scents bring you joy in life or in candles?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, I love this topic! I’m very scent sensitive, and Jonathan always howls with laughter when I say… Have you been eating Doritos? And he says I’ve had ONE! How do you know?
And if something smells like red onions it makes me really unhappy.
But happy smells, oh, what a wonderful topic. For candles, I love cinnamon, and coconut.
And oh, vanilla.
For fragrance like shower gel, my faves are lemon, and coconut. And sometimes freesia , but it’s not always the same fragrance, which is confusing.
There used to be a body spray called Gloomaway, which was a gorgeous kind of sugary Lemmon, which I absolutely loved. But they don’t make it anymore.
I use fewer candles than I used to, because someone told me they can make your ceiling sooty.
But by my bed I have a vanilla candle that is fragrance enough without lighting it.
LUCY BURDETTE: Hank, Gloomaway??? What were they thinking?? No wonder they don’t make it anymore.
My go to is lavender. EO makes a good line of lavender products, as does my favorite Alaskan company. When we burn candles, it’s almost always balsam fir.
But I’m also very partial to the smell of good food cooking and baking! Chocolate cake in the oven? Count me in! Roast chicken, same. Spaghetti bolognese–yes!
JENN: A spaghetti bolognese candle for those of us who don't cook? Maybe you're onto something, Lucy!
HALLIE EPHRON: Jean Nate? Does anyone remember that? I’m sure I have some… somewhere. Seems like it’s citrus-y. That and fresh baked bread (but in the oven… not in a candle).
And I used to love the smell of GAIN laundry detergent. Not so much now. I no longer want my clean laundry to smell unless it’s from hanging on the line outside.
RHYS BOWEN: I like fresh citrus scents. I grew up with 4711 cologne and still like that although I rarely use it. Actually I hardly ever use scents as I’m allergic to some. But give me baking bread, campfire smoke, the scent of a pine forest and I’m happy.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: What a fun topic, Jenn! I’m super scent sensitive, so I don’t like a lot of candles, but there are some that I love. I bought a ridiculously expensive candle in Round Top this year because the smell was so divine. It’s called Tomato Season and it’s a combination of tomato leaves, cucumber, sage, and basil. That may sound weird but trust me! (And Trader Joe’s $4.99 Tomato Leaf candle is not even from the same universe…) (Tomato Season is made by a company called LAFCO if anyone is interested.) I also love a candle called Sea Pines by Mersea, which I burn every year around Christmas. And while I’m not usually crazy about vanilla-y/cookie type of scents, I have a candle called Pumpkin Bourbon that I’ve been nursing through the last few autumns.
But my favorite scent of the moment is a bar of lavender soap made by my friend at the farmer’s market. Olive oil, goat’s milk, and lavender essential oil. I can’t wait to get in the bath every night. I’m convinced lavender reduces my stress levels.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Jenn, I’m laughing, because I call all the goodies from Bath and Bodyworks “smelly stuff.” Tell your hubs it’s not just him.
I love lemon scent, dating back to the first “grown up” splash I got for Christmas the year I turned 13. I would uncap it just to take a whiff. So I adore candles with sharp citrus scents, as well as florals like rose and gardenia.
The Maine Millennial, who got really into scented candles during the pandemic, also turned me on to them. Every Christmas I get a couple of the Bath and Body Works balsam candles - I swear, y’all, they really do smell like being in a pine forest - and I burn them to the bottom. She and my other kids have also been gifting me personalized Yankee Candles for special occasions. Here’s a delicious lilac scent (my favorite flowers!) from last Mother’s Day.
How about you, Readers? What are your go-to scents?
I have to agree with Hallie and Rhys on the baking bread scent . . . and agreeing with Julia on lilac for the candles . . . .
ReplyDeleteFrom Celia: such a deliciously smelly enjoyable dip into fun. Yes Hallie,I met Jean Nate when I arrived in the STATES I Victor had bought it for me andI progressed through all the ,lemony scents to end up with Badebas always in the bath and shower not to mention gifting it a lot. For example Jenn it works on teen boys too.
DeleteBut going back the first scent I was ever given was Chanel #5 what a treat. I was 16. So have always loved French perfumes to wear though I don't use other than for special occasions now. Then I'll wear Hermes and feel very spoiled.
But in general I love lavender which I buy from a vineyard in Napa, where they make an amazing body butter. I'm not a great candle sniffer and can't stand B B &B, or Yankee Candle stores. They do give me allergies.
Celia, I wore Chanel #5 for a brief while as a young woman, too. I gave it us as just too expensive, and I honestly can't remember the scent now, but I do remember feeling oh so sophisticated when I wore it!
DeleteI can't use any scents on my hypersensitive skin, and I've always choked when I walk by a candle store. But someone gave me a mildly grapefruity candle that is delightful, and I've always loved gardenia.
ReplyDeleteReal scents are a different story. My lilacs are blooming and I take in a big inhale when I walk past. Bread baking? Divine. The smell of ripe local strawberries, a steak on the grill, tomatoes roasting in the oven, a pine forest, and the salt air at the beach (where I will be at the end of the day today starting my Cape solo writing retreat!), all make me happy.
Edith, if I dared even the tiniest sniff of those lilacs that give you such pleasure, I’d be passed out on your walk! Infinite variety of being human. Enjoy. Elisabeth
DeleteAs a winetaster, I'm very sensitive to smell.
ReplyDeleteDid you know you can burn a scentless candle to get rid of household smells like cooking?
You don't have to trade one smell for another.
Of course for specific occasions lavender is great for relaxing, pine is wonderful for evoking holiday atmosphere, and so on.
I don’t burn candles. It was just a safety thing I adopted when I had young children and now I am sort of afraid I will light one and forget all about it.
ReplyDeleteScents I like are lemon, lavender, brand new box of crayons, new car, cinnamon, and I believe the candles my mom always had were bayberry.
I think I am allergic to Eucalyptus because it makes me sneeze and gives me an instant headache when I walk in a place that has it.
Brenda, yes “brand new crayons”… one of the world’s best smells! Elisabeth
DeleteJenn, I love the smell of lemon, of vanilla, of pine. I love the scent of real fruit and flowers, but not artificially produced.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of scented candles in a bathroom cabinet but it has been years since I have even looked at them. I am among the "candles are toxic" crowd, so we rarely burn any scented candles. I am very smell sensitive and artificial scents can give me headaches. I use unscented laundry detergent, cleansers and soap as much as possible. If I am going to smell like something, I will choose it, not some random scent of laundry detergent. But I do wear perfume occasionally, very lightly applied.
Inside my house, I cook and bake frequently, so most good smells in here are real. We no longer have a pet, no need to cover the smell of wet dog.
I'm not hypersensitive to any particular scent but the places that sell potpourri should be classified as toxic waste dumps. I'm not a big fan of candles and the like except to give as gifts to the various women in my life that I might have to give a gift to at one point or another. I've yet to run across one who hates scented candles so it makes at least part of gift-giving easy for me.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I hate walking into Bath and Body Works, Yankee Candle, the grocery store bleach aisle or any other option that attempts to poison me with their toxic smell-o-rama.
There are various scents I like I'm sure, but I can't think of any off the top of my head that stands out above the rest.
Hahaha, Jay - count me as a hater of scented candles! Good thing I'm not on your list. ;^)
DeleteJay, I agree. When I used to walk into stores like Bath & Body Works I'd get a headache. Lots of scents have harmful chemicals and very little of the actual "scent" they claim (like lavender or lemon, etc). People don't realize how unsafe burning scented candles really are.
DeleteThere's one of those scent/soap stores on the main drag in Venice. You can smell the stuff from out on the street. I don't dare go in. I used to be extremely sensitive to scent, getting migraines from being around people wearing scent. I guess it's not so bad anymore. I friend got me into essential oils a number of years ago, for therapeutic purposes. Unfortunately my husband can't stand to smell anything, so they mostly go unused now except for in my office sometimes, not with a diffuser, but on a ceramic plate. For some reason I love the smell of rosemary EO, and I was fond of clementine. But generally, as others have said, things baking in the oven, vanilla, lemon rind, cinnamon rolls. In terms of "garden smells," I love roses and lilacs, hyacinths from a distance. I also love the smell of newly lain mulch, for some reason. Oh, I have a "thing" about pine trees, so I love walking in a pine forest.
ReplyDeleteLike Jenn, I am into leather -- and not in the way some of the more perverted of you might think. And also lemons and lilacs (I'm on Team Jenn here). Because I am comfortable in my masculinity, I used scented candles. Currently wafting through my work area is a delightful peach and rose scent. Some scents do not work for me, though. I love the smell of pine, but I turns out I am allergic to pine-scented candles, and eucalyptus is just too strong for me. I stick basically with fruit and floral scents, or a combination thereof. I long for the day when they come out with a candle that smells like the back of my late wife's neck when she has just come out of the shower.
ReplyDeleteOkay, cannot top that Mothers' Day candle, Julia! Very scent-sensitive here, plus a bunch of rambunctious cats in the household, so no candle burning. But I'm with Rhys, love the smell of bread baking (or really, anything delicious in the oven/stovetop), campfire smoke, pines in warm sunshine, and lemon. I shop the TJMaxx aisle for fancy European lemon bath and hand soaps. Decades ago, a small vendor made wonderful herbal-scented tea candles (especially the rosemary one!), but those were only available for a short period of time. I've never found anything close to them.
ReplyDeleteMy Mother’s Day roses (red, I bought them for myself and thanked my son. He commented that I was such a good mother to take care of us all – especially me), they as usual have no scent. Beautiful but scentless as are most commercial roses now. They do have thorns.
ReplyDeleteScents that I don’t like – cinnamon and vanilla in candles. In food – maybe… The trouble is there is good stuff and icky, and the icky vanilla (read artificial) which seems to be used a lot in commercial food and especially dog snacks. It drives the dog crazy. That means he goes nuts, eyes spin and he will bite you. Obviously, something is not good in it.
Does anyone remember the soft scents of the late 60’s? There was a Love’s Lemon Fresh (my favourite) and another light floral one also made by Love. I would spritz the lemon one all the time – it was very non-cloying and fresh. It made me feel good. A far cry from the Patch that was used by so many.
Does anyone know if real perfume goes bad? In the clean-up was found several bottles of Joy, Chanel, and some other perfumes worn as signature scents by older relatives. I am thinking they need the dump tour?
Oh, and I really dislike the small of no-scent laundry soap. Most of them stink especially when the clothing is worn and the human body starts to warm up. As for favourite smell – ahhh, a good barn or manure smell – nirvana.
As for our house – 10 cats, 3 litter boxes, a dog and a husband – I use the open door policy and let the wind blow through. For cleaning – a bit of Dettol in the water – freshens up everything. Soap too of course. Also, sweet peas all summer.
Bath & Body has discontinued all of my favorite scented candles…Merlot, White Tea and Ginger. At this moment, I’m still burning Peeps and mahogany vanilla, but the supply is running low. Now the scent of my home is dusty construction (fortunately the equipment used is electric, so no l’eau de fuel). I started burning scented candles when scented body creams aggravated my eczema. Happy Monday! Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteI was always somewhat scent sensitive, but it has intensified with age. So I no longer enjoy going into a candle shop or anywhere with lots of scents, especially artificial ones. I occasionally find my throat closing as I walk past a store in the mall. I find it a shame, because I DID used to enjoy scented candles. Now, I have one in my guest bathroom with a nifty electric lamp thing so it never actually burns, just warms up enough to release the scent. I try to remember to turn that on when we are having company -- perhaps it is the low heat, but I notice that seems to give off such a mild scent it really doesn't escape from that one room. And I remember around Christmas someone gave me a candle with a pine-y scent that I burned in the living room without discomfort -- but that is pretty much the only time of year I would want that, I think.
ReplyDeleteI do love some of the natural outdoor scents--daphne in the spring, blooming jasmine, my honeysuckle in the backyard (soon!) and the smell of sunshine on pine needles. I do like some scented candles--mint and eucalyptus, holiday spice, and frankincense and myrrh, but don't usually buy them for myself. I have many stories about being bothered by strong perfumes, starting with 18 year-old me who was assigned to work the Estee Lauder counter at Meier & Frank during Christmas. I wore contacts at the time and the strong scents were very irritating to my eyes. I now use "free and clear" laundry soap, unscented deodorant, and try to stay away from anything highly perfumed. At 9-1-1, we eventually instituted a scent-free policy. One employee would have to go home if someone came in doused in cologne. He would lose his voice.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the scents used commercially are developed by a company called Givaudan, which began in Grasse, France in the 1800's, where the "cradle of perfumery" is still located. It's a massive international company, with locations all over the world, including Cincinnati. Which is the home of, among other companies, Procter & Gamble, at one time a large user of product fragrances. Anyone who lived in the area 30 years ago or more remembers driving past on I-75, and smelling the various aromas of blending whiskey, soap from P&G's Ivorydale, and whatever scents being cooked up at Tastemakers which Givaudan bought in 1996 to make them the biggest flavors and fragrances company in the world. Our neighbor worked there for 20+ years.
ReplyDeleteHaving grown herbs and flowers specifically for their fragrances, and having made real potpourri, not the fake crap they sell in most places, I am particulary sensitive to fakey scents. Lavender, lilac, even lemon have to smell like the real thing, or I, er, turn up my nose. Yes, I am a fragrance snob.
By the way, not all candles are toxic, Judy. Soy candles are lovely, as long as they have cotton wicks, and not the ones with a wire inside. And they burn cleanly. Not as easy to find, though, unless at a good farmers market or natural products store. My local health food store used to sell them, until it changed owners.
Scent is important to me, as in lotions and laundry products, although I am going to more scent free for most items in the laundry in hopes that my skin won't be so itchy. But the lavender pods from Clean People are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI no longer burn candles since the fires, and yes a burning wick does pit soot in the air, so keep it trimmed as short as possible. Sometimes I put a jar candle on my coffee warmer and enjoy the scent that way. I especially like the evergreen scents. I once gave a red candle to a friend and it had a very interesting wick, maybe some kind of wood. But it smelled divine even though I can't tell you what specific scent it was. Maybe some kind of berry?
All this smelly talk reminds me of when my 3 year old GD and I were in a store and there were a bunch of things with a very strong cinnamon odor. I asked her if she knew what the smell was and she promptly replied "dental floss!" I would like some cinnamon flavored dental floss but I never see it any more. Has it gone out of fashion? At least they don't have pumpkin flavor!