Posse – this is a Mashup Response to Tom’s ‘Whine’ post from last week (LOVE that hat, Tom! I have one in ochre but would KEAL for it in black!) and Portia’s ongoing ‘thunk’ posts. Tom and alityke chatted about using cheap Spanish EDCs in the laundry – I don’t do that in the washONLY because the smell doesn’t linger – I tend to use the C&Cs in the dryer – usually splashing it on my hands, then on a wet towel (or something else that won’t stain). I also will use a C&C in the rinse basin of handwashables *C&C = Cheap & Cheerful
Lately, though, I’ve been ‘thunking’ samples and dregs of decants in my laundry – and it’s been an … interesting.. experience – mostly good… but an occasional O.M.G. As far as laundry goes, especially in Summer, I am a bit of a perfume magpie – I just like the idea of ‘perfume’ and I really like the idea of ‘thunking’ a lot of little vials that have a smidge of Eau du Whatever, whilst also getting a bit of Pretty Smell to linger in a drawer.
So… most of the citruses and florals are thunked to great delight. Done with that gallon jug of 4711 or Jean Nate? Swish a bit of water in there, throw it in your hands then throw it on a couple of towels headed for the dryer. They won’t actually smell of the scent – they just smell-adjacent. Ish. You’ll like it!
Every now and then, though…. I mean, really Musette? READ THE DAMB LABEL! Or at least smell the vial before you dump .05ml of OPIUM into the towels! It’s like that time I spilled Aromatics Elixirs on El O’s leather recliner – he didn’t care but I ended up with a low-level migraine for a week! Mayne! Those towels? 3 vinegar rinses later, they still smelled of Opium, though I’m not sure if they actually smell of Opium or if I just have that PTSD, where the scent lodges into your soft palate and lingers, possibly until you die…… at 96. Or later. Or never (it’s possible that they could dig me up after the next Ice Age and they would find traces of Opium or AE still stuck in the bones of my nasal cavities. Or the dust of the bones ; I wouldn’t put it past either of those Perfume T-Rexes!
The dregs of a Surrender to Chance decant of Chloe (vintage) … that one went into the diffuser! Sheer perfection. But I could see where it could really be a Possible Miss if it got lodged in some fabric. Another Possible Miss (but it wasn’t – but it nearly was) the original Oscar de la Renta. Y’all want to Go LIGHT! with that one. Pretty much all those 80s powerhouses should be wielded with a careful hand – and you’d damb well better like the scent – because it’s gonna hang around for awhile.
Have you ever ‘thunk’ed via laundry? Do you ever use perfume to, well, perfume your laundry? Wash? Rinse? Most important: have you ever had a Regret Thunk, as I did with that damb Opium?? Lordt. That thing has the half-life of yellowcake! Overall, though, I have had great success with the Laundry Thunk – mostly the drawers and a bit of closet action yields an overall Pretty Perfume Scent.
Oh, yeah. One other thing: I wouldn’t ‘thunk’ Dog Laundry, if I were you. They don’t like it. And they will do everything they can to get rid of the perfume smell. Including scratching The Thing to oblivion. Ask me how I know that..
all photos: pexels, bless their creative little horts.
I put a few drops of Youth Dew bath oil in the rinse water when I was hand washing sweaters, hoping for a “whisper of Gramma’s ghost” effect. Why. I already know I like Youth Dew best from a distance of 6-12 inches, dried down, on someone else. I have regrets.
You win my giggle if the week. Thank you it is needed
I laughed and smiled all through this post Anita. I think this is a brilliant way to use up odds and ends of samples. I’ve tossed scents into the bathtub along with bubble bath for a nicely scented soak before, but I hadn’t thought to use them in laundry. I know Le Labo did a collab with The Laundress on products –spendy but good according to a gal I know.
well – and thanks!! But now you don’t have to go ‘spendy’ – you can collab on your own, with your ‘thunks’!
don’t do this with wash or in dryer. use vinegar to sort stinky washing machine when required. I remember dryer sheets from when much younger and they made my nose twitchy. do put lavender oil on pillows sometimes. per Portia, never let groomer use dog cologne — after first time, when person didn’t ask me and it took several weeks for Joe the Lab to smell like himself again after his salon visit.
Monsieur gets the hose, so there’s no groomer (though occasionally he’ll get his nails trimmed). I can’t imagine a better smell than a healthy dog, so no perfume required!
I use vinegar instead of fabric softener, courtesy of Portia and it really helps freshen both the laundry and the machine!
Don’t think about it for the washing machine, but I’ve occasionally put a bit of scent when doing a hand wash.
oh, absolutely! I definitely use it in handwash, especially the rinse!
Mysore Sandalwood soap dregs & the soap on dirty collars pre wash, arm pits of anything after a sweltering day. I wouldn’t use it on somewhere it might show too much on white but it’s smell does linger nicely. Use it in drawers too along with Myrurgua Maja soaps. When clearing mum house I found a bar of Maja soap in almost every drawer.
The Spanish colognes don’t last very long I admit, it’s more “line dried freshness” they do keep the “smelly washer syndrome” at bay
I love smelly bar soaps in drawers – I tend to use the almond ones (that smell like Jergen’s ) – I get them from the discount stores and they last forever!
my curandera used a lot of C&Cs in her rituals, so I’m a bit leery of using them elsewhere – though Jean Nate is a close cousin… so.. (insert shrug)
You are all so clever! I never have thought of these fabulous perfume thunk suggestions. Brilliant!
here’s another: if you have a ‘thunk’ you don’t hate, wipe down your bathroom counters with the diluted dregs!
Will do, great suggestion!
POOR DOG! Ha!
Musette, the dog groomers put fragrance on the dogs once. I don’t usually yell at people who are in no position to yell back but I was so upset. Yes, I apologised after my rant. They then changed their policy to “Ask For Perfume”. While not a total win for the poor pooches, at least they thought about it.
Whenever I spill perfume it gets swabbed up in a tissue or hanky and popped in the drawers. It’s nice to open the sock drawer up and get a waft of spilled loveliness.
Portia xx
I absolutely hated when the groomer would perfume my Airedale – he just smelled weird. Luckily ain’t nobody ’bout to perfume M. Jacques. He’s such a weirdo. But I did wash his bedding and did a ‘thunk’ – it was NOT appreciated.
Hahahaha, glad you didn’t have to burn the house down to get rid of the Opium smell! I know exactly what you mean when a scent gets stuck up there like an icepick to the brain… I use Mrs. Meyer’s Lemon Verbena laundry detergent because I love the smell (which stays in the laundry even after it’s dry) although weirdly (?) I don’t use the matching hand soap, dish soap, etc. I only want that smell on my clothes. I do spray fabrics around the home, though, mostly curtains and rugs.
Aromatics Elixirs is even worse!
I got the Meyers LVerb awhile back, based on your laundry adventures but it didn’t have the same smell as your laundry does. Maybe…. maybe I’m just … dirtier? who knows!
Could it be the March love of skank + LVerb combo?
hmmmm…. perhaps…
I haven’t done that and I have no clue as to why? I mean I thought I was pretty good at the creative thunk- pour them onto used dryer sheets and stick them under the car seat. Pour them into the fake plants in my office (no sunlight to to grow real ones and I’m lazy.) just pour them on the bedsheets. Onto carpets where the furniture will hide it. On old socks, stuffed into various nooks and crannies…
But yes you gotta be careful. Opium will love on forever and jump out at you when you least expect it: a chorus line of high-kicking Theda Baras singing in the combined voice of Yma Sumac and Florence Foster Jenkins.
Giorgio is the same, just in sequined hot pants and auto-tuned like Cher’s “Believe”
I do hate you so. I’m now stuck with “Believe’ worming its way through my brain.
And omg – the idea of Mme Jenkins shrieking on FOREVER… omg. Opium is terrifying in that way. I spilled one drop – ONE DROP! on a finger (which I could easily wash) – and still it lingered.
Omg and an earworm is born!
Inorite? That TOM! Always with the Unforgettable Earworms!
😉
Had’t thought to use perfume in laundry, but I have sprayed my shower curtains to get rid of stuff.
Oooh! I forgot about that – I have, too! I also use a ‘thunk’ to wipe down bathroom countertops, which is a lovely surprise when you go back in.