Really. I had noticed it a couple of times, in the car, but I didn’t want to say anything. I mean, what can you say, “Pee-yew, what IS that smell, oh, it’s you, my darling daughter”?
But the other day I walked into the house, back from running errands, and involuntarily exclaimed, “Who was spraying bug spray in here? What happened?” and from the dining room The Cat Who Walks Alone said innocently, “Nobody was spraying bug spray, Mom.”
I said, “Then what is that I smell?” and she said, “Well, I just took a shower, 'cause I’m going to the mall with Heather, and I put on some perfume…” I said, “Um…”
She actually took the news fairly well, that some people might not like her new perfume. It does distinctly smell like Raid to me, and I wondered if anybody else amongst the Teeming Millions has noticed this.
It’s a knockoff of Clinique “Happy”, but The Cat says that the regular Clinique “Happy” smells just the same as the knockoff.
[hijack] my little sister wants parfum for her b-day. Anybody know whats like $50, nice, good for a 16 y/o, and does not smell like bug spray. [/hijack]
Happy is stinky. I agree. In fact, I think most perfumes are stinky. I like perfumes I can associate with something, vanilla, flowers, etc. I smell like lavendar. Makes me think of my mom’s herb garden.
I am highly susceptible to mosquitoes for some reason. They will eat me alive in the summer months if i don’t perform the nightly ritual of spraying my whole body for several minutes, including closing my eyes and mashing my lips and giving myself a blast in the face with the bug spray.
And i can’t use any of that Skintastic stuff- no, it has to be hard-core OFF! or Deep Woods Cutter- it has to smell harsh.
Anyway, the smell of this harsh bug spray makes me feel a sense of security and safety, like a forcefield, and the smell is also nostaligic of summer days past.
So my suggestion is to just learn to love the smell of bug spray. Mmmmm… bug spray.
Nah, it couldn’t be Bonzo, the girls have a Death Ray set up to incinerate him if he sets foot inside their door.
Spider, what you want to do is go down to Sears and play with their perfume testers. Pay close attention. Pick out the one that YOU like.
Then give her a gift certificate, 'cause there’s no way under God’s heaven that you’re ever going to be able to pick a perfume for her that she’ll like. But after you’ve spent an hour playing with the perfume testers, you’ll be primed for conversation with her, and it’s never a bad thing to have a couple of conversation starters in your back pocket. “Yeah, I really liked BrainFarts by Helena Rubenstein…”
I know how you feel!
My mom, the hippy, wears some crappy perfume that smells like Raid. It is petulli (sp?) oil! I can’t stand it. It really smells exactly like Raid.
My girlfriend wears Happy. I do not like it much but I do not think it smells like bugs spray. She got ripped off by whomever sold her that crap. Buy her the good stuff!!!
NIce perfume?
Try Gap. I know, I hate the place too. But their perfume is great! It’s not too stronge, very fresh, clean, light and fun. I myself LOVE Heaven, while my sister likes Dream.
Om is kind of nice, almost cinnamony…
You wimp. I’ve got a bottle of military-issue 'skeeter repellent…It’s 75% DEET. “Keep out of reach of small children. Do not apply directly to skin”–I’ll second that. Seizure-in-a-bottle.
[hijack]I have the same problem. I can be sitting at a BBQ with ten other people, and NO ONE is getting bitten, because ALL of the bugs are chewing on me. People love to sit with me, because then they NEVER get bothered by 'skeets. Spiders love me too. And, I am sort of allergic, so when I get bit the bites swell up and hurt, and itch-hurt, so that when I can’t stand it any more and scratch them, it both brings relief and hurts like the dickens. Of course, then they get really red and tender, and scab and stay forever. When they finally go away, a month later, I have a nice scar to remind me of their visit. How nice!
This year I bought some mega-buck an ounce stuff from some company in England called “Alfresco-Beauty Without Bites” online. It is supposed to be all natural, smells pretty good, and so far it is actually working as well as the noxious smelling stuff. I’d say it is working even better, but I don’t want to tempt fate.
I don’t have the link, but you should be able to search with the name and find it.[un-hijack]
I have an 11 year old daughter.The one thing I have noticed is ALL perfumes aimed at the adolescence market reek.She takes two or three showers a day and sprays this stuff on. Yuck. I’ve tried being subtle, I’ve tried the direct approach (you stink!!). None of it works. She likes the crap, her friends like the crap. I suppose she’ll just have to grow out of it like I did.
Several years ago I was at a friend’s apartment. I asked, “Did you just spray for bugs?” My friend’s wife glared at me and said through clenched teeth, “It’s perfume.”
Has anybody ever smelled the Tinkerbell products? I dont remember if they’re Avon or not but they’re cosmetics marketed for pre-teens. All of their stuff; nail polish, lipstick, whatever has this distinctive oily, gasoliney smell that you can not forget. Peeeyewww.
“I cant seem to get the stink out, your Windsong stays in my car” - MST3k
I was a bit of a tomboy as a child, no, I was a hard-core tomboy-
but I LOVED Tinkerbell products. That crappy pink lipstick…oh yeah.
I would have to agree that the smell of the stuff is probably pretty funky to an objective inhaler, but to anyu little girl of the 80’s, the aroma is highly nostalgic and desirable.
Oh- and Scotticher, thank you for the tip. Yes, your problem with mosquito bites mirrors mine.
Everyone loves to sit with me outside in the summer at parties because I absorb all the mosquito bites.
If it makes you feel better:
My mom always told me that all the skeets like me the best because myblood is so sweet. Isn’t that cute? Aww…
When I went to the doctor one summer when my legs were COVERED with these awful wounds, and I wanted some lotion to stop the itching so they could actually heal, he told me the same thing!
Apparently it is a scientific fact that our blood is sweeter than other people’s.
Let me get this straight, your daughter uses perfume that smells like bug spray…
Where can I get some of this? I have daughters and one day I will have to let them out into the world and if it repels boys as well as it does parents I want a case of it…
