Posse! How YOU doin’? Just so you know, this is a further riff on the ‘You Smell Good’ theme. I’m in the midst of the midway point of that bathroom renovation; Drywall Guy comes to sand tomorrow night!! I wish I had a Tile Guy but, alas, that is all on me. Sigh). I am still having difficulty emotionally connecting to this project, probably because I’d wrapped my entire psyche around getting my back porch done first! But as Cranky Contractor (and every other sane human being) said “you don’t need a $)#&! PORCH right now. You NEED a bathroom”
Anyway, it’s a bit stressful but it’s getting there. To assuage the stress, though, I spend very early mornings and late(ish) evenings rubbing cream into my skin – it’s such an ongoing thing that my sister can tell at what point I am in the process by the timbre of my voice (early, it’s a pinched sound. Nearly done, it’s much mellower)!! My choice of skincream, though, is a bit catholic, ranging from drugstore finds to niche/ haute (a word of warning – if you are using an Amouage cream, apply sparingly or cut it with something like Vanicream – not only is it spendy, it’s REALLY potent) I shower (no real soap to speak of, unless I’ve been ripping out trees or something) twice a day and I have difficulty sitting still, so the rubrubrub is constant.
Why am I telling you all this? Well… because I’m not scrubbing in the shower, the melange of creams becomes…well…a melange. And it’s become an indefinable Skin Scent that, even though it’s indefinable, seems uniquely mine, even though I can’t really smell it. Yesterday I had two (TWO!) responses to it. I went to lunch with a couple of friends and the server said ‘omg. somebody here smells SO GOOD! Like baby lotion? Or something like that!’. In unison all 3 heads swiveled my way (honestly, it was kinda creepy). I was wearing the gorgeous contemp Femme (in the Mighty Mouse bottle) so I gave my wrist to the server to smell. She said ‘oh, that’s so pretty – but that’s not it.‘ Then she sniffed in the general direction of my hair and said ‘that! THAT’S what I’m smelling! It smells amazing – like… baby powder. or something like that..! ‘ – it was the remnants of the Vanicream and the Yadain Milk & Honey cream I’d slathered on my shoulders and just ran my hands over my hair to get it off my palms and also tame a few of the MANY flyaways. Oh yeah… there was also some babaria Coconut cream I’d used the night before because I had just a scrab in the bottom of the jar.
Later, I went to Walmart (don’t judge – I live in the boonies so Walmart) for groceries, et al and ran into an acquaintance who said ‘ha! I thought it was you! I can smell you from here!!!’ (true story). When I asked her what that meant she looked pensive and said ‘…… I.. I dunno… you just always SMELL! I mean, you always smell really good – but you always….. I dunno…. I can always SMELL you!!’
I chose to take that as a compliment. I should… right?
But it appears that I do not have a Signature Perfume. No one identifies me with No5. Or Mitsouko. Or Lyric.
It’s just a melange of body creams and a generic ‘smell’ that is now always prevalent (unless I’m wearing a really heavy hitter like Lyric or Mitsy). And I’m not quite sure how to feel about that.
Does this happen to any of you? I mean, if I’m wearing Lyric (or Mitsy) it doesn’t happen – but a less aggressive perfume seems to be somewhat subsumed by my overall 500+ creams scent.
It’s weird. And I’m kinda mad about it. But… WAIT! Dunno how I can be ‘mad’ when I have the same experience) I will tell folks ‘you smell great!’ all the time – and it’s usually something mainstream (Happy is a great example – and I found out about Dossier by asking a woman in Dollar General what she was wearing (I live at the Back of Beyond and every town has a DG and DON’T JUDGE and it was the dupe of Baccarat Rouge 540 and she smelled DIVINE) – I wonder if it’s because if you’re wearing Lyric or Mitsy I KNOW what it is? Does this make sense? I’m wearing Lyric right now because I was alone and raking leaves and yes, it’s STILL Lyric. After my evening shower it’ll probably blend with the Vanicream, etc… like an old house (lots of different furniture polishes?) or …an old tree (peel off a scrab of bark and you’ll see what I mean)
The only perfumes that I have ever gotten compliments on were vintage Mitsouko or Feminite du Bois. Once in a while, I get compliments on Lyric and I adore Lyric. The only lotion that has garnered my compliments is the Hempz age defying peptides and caffeine. It has a musky smell to it that really works well with the Kiehl’s Musk perfume.
I think musks are very well received as a ‘you smell good’ smell – they’re the perfect skin scent.
When I used to work in house at an investment bank I got a lot of comments on what I wore. Mostly positive and mostly from guys who were not able to say they liked something in a straight forward manner. It was pathetic how adolescent these middle aged guys were. A lot of wink wink comments about Arpege and TF Scent. Sigh.
sigh, indeed. It does get old…
I’ve been stalked around a supermarket by a woman obsessed with what she could smell. It was Clinique Aromatics Elixir body products with just one tiny spritz of the scent.
DH enjoys Palmer’s Cocoa Butter lotion which is vanilla & white chocolate without sugar. Cheap as chips
It was probably me… are you sure it wasn’t me? I love AE.. on other people and especially in the application you described! Palmer’s… haven’t smelled that in ages! Must revisit.
Hehehe…. Not sure my bit of the UK would be somewhere you’d search out. It’s the UKs most stereotyped town. Ex mining community with attitudes to match but a mile outside town it’s now open countryside. Rolling green hills & valleys. You’re welcome to stalk me though.
Palmer’s smells fantastic! I keep meaning to pick up a bottle.
HA! Funny, annoying and interesting Musette. It’s rarely the $$$$ perfume that gets the comment, always something cheap or lotion or even food. NEVER the big guns.
Portia xx
Inorite? I wonder if it’s that they’re sooo BIG?
AH! Good point. You think they are so overwhelmed by our sillage that it shuts them up?
HA HA HA HA HA
I love it
Ha! I love investigating those on strangers (and I try to do it in the most complimentary way) and it’s often … some combo of, like, hair product and lotion, or deodorant. It’s more often that than some deliberate, single fragrance. I think it’s grand, as long as it’s not driving people from the room. Carolyn tells me I smell amazing post-shower, which is some combo of Yadain, TJ body butter, and hair goo. And of course our special sauce is Hawaiian Tropic hahahaha.
I think post-shower is the best smell – once we’ve slathered Whatever all over us, slicked some Goo on our hair, etc…
…and the spritzed our Magic Weapon 😉
I love that you get compliments of “smell,” of course wonderful smell. I always wear perfume, along with fragranced body lotion, dry shampoo, hair products, remnants of scent on clothing etc. I think that I exude a smell? Funny, friends tell me their dogs even smell like me when I babysit them!
Oh, honey! With all that? You certainly do exude a smell – and it’s a fantastic one!
And yes. Dogs, babies… I remember holding a baby while I was wearing Calyx – gave him back to his mother a few minutes later..
…’omg! he’s never smelled so good!’
I do get people telling me that I always smell nice, but what I’ve noticed is that as I’ve gotten older I need to battle the dreaded “man stink.” Down there. I’ve started using that Lumi stuff and it really works. How the nation managed to spend a century getting women to put salad dressing up their hoo-hah in the name of “freshness” but never told Mr. Sister that unless he showers twice a day his jingle-jangle starts to reek.
The best argument for a bidet are b*lls..
OMG That is soooooo funny!!! lololololololololololololololololoololol
You are hilarious! What is “that Lumi stuff”? I never bought into the Summer’s Eve nonsense. Also (nobody’s going to read this, right?) I’ll take your word on your nether bits but oh man that … area is one of the most delicious scents when it’s clean but not too clean, maybe even a little sweaty. 😀
Inorite?
well… now that I’ve stopped snorting…
… the VERY BEST argument for a bidet are ladybits – but that may be because I’m a lady.
Man-smell is a good thing, as long as it’s not old (as in “I haven’t showered today, rather than the age of the man)
I chortled at your comment, Tom! There are hormonal/chemical goings on that make us whiffy as we age. When I was in art college, I used to clean houses for some income. There is definitely a smell that older people’s houses acquire and it’s hard to eradicate.
That Lume deodorant looks interesting…
From Wiki:
One study suggested that old person smell may be the result of 2-nonenal, an unsaturated aldehyde which is associated with human body odor alterations during aging.[3] Another study failed to detect 2-nonenal at all, but found significantly increased concentrations of benzothiazole, dimethylsulphone, and nonanal on older subjects.[4] There are also other hypotheses,[5] such as change of the monounsaturated fatty acid composition of skin surface lipids and the increase of lipid peroxides associated with aging.[6]
In 2012, the Monell Chemical Senses Center published a press release claiming that the human ability to identify information such as age, illness, and genetic suitability from odor is responsible for the distinctive “old man smell”. Sensory neuroscientist Johan Lundström stated, “Elderly people have a discernible underarm odor that younger people consider to be fairly neutral and not very unpleasant.”[7]
I don’t want a mental picture of “younger people” sniffing my pits!
Funny image in your last sentence and I agree with you. Thanks for the info.
Strange how we feel we’ll somehow be young forever or is it forever young, then suddenly – surprise – we turn around and we’re not young anymore. Sigh.
Maya, that is so true.
From the age of 25 on up, I kept wondering WHEN I would look “old.” Well, now at 72, when I look in the mirror, an old woman looks back at me.
That’s why I spend so much time rubbing cream, etc into my skin – I certainly am not trying to look 25 again (dagNABBIT!) but I would rather push the ‘old’ back a bit.
Funny side story: remember that Very Inappropriate Man? Well! he started seeing a 25yr old (he is in his mid-40s) and my friends were in high dudgeon!
“But you’re so beautiful! and elegant!”
‘ well, thanks – but she’s 25’
“but…but”
‘she’s TWENTY FIVE!!!’
“well… he’s a creeper -she’s so … YOUNG! ”
‘erm…. what does that make ME?’
::ooopsie!::
What a great post! I wish I had a “pleasant smell” unique to me, but alas! But one day in our crowded office, a PhD student asked what I was wearing, because it reminded him of his grandparents in Bangladesh…it was Papillon “Salome”, which I used to think I’d NEVER wear in public, but I love it and sometimes care more about my personal scent experience than what others think. But he really liked it, I was glad he asked!
I love Salome! Liz Moore creates some beautiful perfumes. How interesting that Salome can be a scent of Bangladesh.
Salome is wonderful!
You probably do (in fact I’d wager that you definitely do) – but as I said, it seems that the person in that skin cannot really discern it!
I always love to smell scented people in the wild as long as, 1. It’s not a man who oversprayed something strong, 2. A teen boy wearing tons of Axe/Lynx, or 3. A gal wearing so much it gives me an asthma attack. I’m a light sprayer because migraines, asthma and allergies. Love scented bath gel and lotions. I’ll bet your skin is glowing and beautiful, Musette.
I agree with ALL of those – but you forgot to include BOD, which is Axe’s low-rent cousin. Towards the last years of my dad’s life, when he really didn’t want to shower, he would spray copious amounts of BOD. If you read Tom’s comment … add the noxious fumes of BOD and …barf!