Maybe the ones who put on way too much of it don’t realize how overwhelming it is – like, their sense of smell has become desensitized to it over time. It is, at least, a possibility, though nothing makes it more bearable for the rest of us.
I just don’t wear perfume. My mom is sensitive to something that’s in a lot of them, and her reactions include asthma attacks. I never got into the habit.
I thought of that, and I know that some people’s sense of smell deteriorates with time. But this woman – sheesh, this is not age, this is like industrial accident nose removal.
:eek: I guess that explains quite a few of the females in this town. sneeze They are very pungent in this town, male and female alike. (Especially my brother in law, with his Axe cologne, and his girlfriend.) It’s sad that the art of teaching your daughter how to apply scent discreetly is a bygone pasttime. My mother taught me that you shouldn’t be able to smell yourself, and to ask someone if they can smell your scent, and if so, ask if it is too strong. They shouldn’t be able to smell you across the house, but if the are right beside you, they should be able to smell a very light barely discernable scent, not a wave of odor. (And only if the scent has just been applied, because it will fade.) I did so until I got the hang of how much of a particular scent should be applied, it varies with the scent. The scents I wore weren’t cheap, but not terribly expensive. Xia Xiang when it first came out when Revlon was making it, or Ysatis. (Both of which were Christmas gifts, but when I ran out of the Xia Xiang I managed to get more.)
I think what some woman fail to realise is that with almost any department store perfume, two to three sprays is MORE than sufficient to scent oneself (and with some, even two sprays is seriously pushing it - Aquolina Pink Sugar, I’m looking at you). Even if you can’t smell it on yourself - WE CAN! Furthermore, there is rarely a real need to re-apply throughout the day, and certainly no more than once. Just because your nose gets used to the scent doesn’t mean that it’s undetectable to others.
Also, even though it’s called a “body spray” this is not an indication to douse yourself with the stuff. With most body sprays, five to six sprays all over the body is, once again, more than enough. These fade pretty quickly, but again, not an excuse to re-douse every five minutes.
FURTHERMORE - not every scent smells good on you! Just because Cameron Diaz and whoever else is supposedly a big fan of such-and-such perfume doesn’t mean YOUR ass has to sport it ad nauseum. The biggest offender I can think of is ‘Angel’ - a perfectly beautiful scent, on the 10 percent of the female population it smells good on. The rest of you, put it up on ebay. Please. Or limit yourself to less than a dozen sprays. I promise you that I can smell your patchouli stink.
There is no place more off-putting to be encroached upon by scent than at the gym. When I’m working out there’s nothing more upsetting than a flash-headache brought on by some stupid bitch’s Eau De Necrotic Rhinoceros Fallopian Tubes.
Trunk, if it had a strong lilac note, Anais Anais is probably the stuff. I love that scent.
The firm I work for now isn’t nearly as bad as my last one. I could tell who’d ridden in the elevator by the stench they left behind. I could smell my boss before he even walked around the corner. I went to HR three time to let them know about various people who still insisted on smelling up the place despite our ‘scent-free’ workplace policy.
Then there was the time one of the worst scent-offenders decided to buy the dollar store air freshener for the ladies room, instead of the ‘no-scent’ air freshener that had been in there - ‘it was much cheaper!’ I’m one who is also allergic to scents, they give me a ferocious headache within minutes. The bint who put it in the bathroom just couldn’t understand how I didn’t think it smelled great. :rolleyes:
Hint - if you’ve been wearing scent regularly, and you think you’ve not got enough on until you yourself can smell it - you’re wearing too goddamn much.
That clean, soapy smell is sexier than anything you can buy at the store!! Even better than that is the smell of someone who’s been out on a cold day long enough to get that wonderful chilly smell. I can’t explain it very well–it’s a nice clean, crisp, cold smell. Is it just me, or do other people like that, too?
I’m sensitive to scents, too, and even a lot of the designer perfumes give me headaches. Bath and Body Works is nasty–they all have a very unpleasant undertone. The worst is musky scents, especially when you can tell people have been wearing that exact same scent since the 70s, because surely they’re still not making that crap. I used to work with someone who had good taste–she’s a graphic designer, good taste in clothes, but she wears this nasty musk. Hated to be in meetings with her.
Some years ago, I had a roommate who reaked of cologne. Just before he’d go out, we’d hear the squirts of the bottle - usually around 5 or 6 spritzes. It was actually a good cologne, but somewhat overpowering in excess. His girlfriend, who he’d met through his church, had the same problem. My theory, based on having met several other folks from his church, was that they all doused themselves so they wouldn’t have to endure each other’s perfumes/colognes/scents, because when a few were in a room together you needed to open a window*.
I get it, and I agree. I also like the beach smell. There’s just something about the combination of fried skin, sunblock, and dead fish that says “Let’s shower together.”
I especially love getting doused by someone’s designer imposters aeresol spray-can just before a nice workout at the gym. There are signs posted all over the locker room advising members to be careful with scented lotions and sprays - not that I would expect somone wearing that much perfume to be able to see the signs through the cloud of stench around their head.
It smelled exactly like bugspray - what kind of perfume comes in aeresol, anyway?
I read in a fashion magazine (forget which one) years ago that if someone can smell you from more than a foot away, you’re wearing too much. A guy at my work wears Aqua D’Gio (I know, b/c an ex wore it an I really liked the smell so I recognize it). However, I have no idea how he can afford to douse himself in a whole bottle every morning, seeing as it’s about $100 a bottle. The smell is actually kind of nice if you go into a room he was in a few hours before.
Designer perfumes and colognes are meant to last awhile, and one or two sprays is all you need. Sometimes even that is too much, at least for a few hours before the scent fades a bit.
Why is it that the wearer of the scent cannot smell iT? I love the smell of Canoe…but after its applied, I can’t smell it at all!
Try googling on the term “olfactory fatigue.” You’ll probably get some good hits.
from Ethilrist
Okay, I will hijack…how did that happen?
“Seriously, you should share your scent with as much reckless abandon as you share your vagina. Any more than that and you’re a stink slut.”
I will give you one hundred million dollars if you post that note up on all the hospital “scent free zone” posters at work. I triple dog dare you!
Mmmmmmmmmm…that sun-drenched, sandy smell is really nice, too. I like it better without the dead fish smell, though.
I don’t wear perfume very often–when I do, it’s Trish McEvoy’s Mandarin and Ginger Lily. No more than one or two sprays. Very nice, warm scent, but it makes me want to gnaw on my wrists. Maybe perfume shouldn’t smell like food. But I like it. I also like vanilla, but unfortunately the Body Shop ruined their vanilla perfume by adding nasty musky scents to it. I still have just a little bit of my last bottle of vanilla perfume. 
Does this woman smoke, I wonder? My mother can’t smell much of anything thanks to her smoking and steadfast refusal to believe in olfactory fatigue. She wouldn’t make your eyes water, but you do end up hating whatever scent she’s chosen. Mom just doesn’t feel proper until a good bunch of super sweet smelling stink water has been applied.
Oh, God, Axe body spray. whimpers There are two men in the entire world this smells good on, and none of the guys I encounter wearing it are in that number. It’s hell in a can.
Well, the same works in reverse. There are some men + cologne combinations that almost instantly turn me on. Men who wear cologne well, don’t stop, please!
FTR, I use body oils and only rub on my wrist and neck, and a tiny bit at that.
Wrist, great spot…nothing like a pretty girl borrowing your pen, and then you can smell her on it when she gives it back.
Most of the hot guys I know wear cologne, and too much of it (hint: if we’re dancing, and my eyes tear up, those aren’t tears of joy, baby).
OTOH, the only girls I know who wear obvious perfume are all mother-ugly.