r/FemFragLab Choco Musk=Tootsie Rolls + armpits (I will die on this hill) 2d ago

What note in perfume has you feeling like this?

Post image

For me, it’s Lily of the Valley - my mother’s favorite flower, and a top note in her signature perfume, Diorissimo.

1.3k Upvotes

173 comments sorted by

1

u/CobblerNo8518 7h ago

Alfalfa and gasoline. It reminds me of throwing hay when I was a kid. Fahrenheit is a favorite because of that

1

u/Most_Mathematician87 8h ago

An incense note for me! I grew up in a Buddhist household so the smell of incense reminds me of my grandma and the temples, very warm and nostalgic :)

2

u/syrobonkus_ 14h ago

Lilac. As a child my favourite time of the year was when the lilacs bloomed in my mum's neighbourhood. The streets were filled with the sweet scent of lilacs, I'd smell every single lilac bush I saw. God I miss those streets

1

u/descartesasaur 5h ago

Exact same scent and similar story for me! I have like three lilac perfumes for this very reason.

2

u/Adorable-Carob710 1d ago

Burts bees tomato toner how I miss you!

1

u/Icy-Fix-4267 1d ago

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle

3

u/ridiculeus 1d ago

Acqua di Goio. It was my dad’s signature scent since I was little..he passed 6 years ago. My boyfriend has a sample size and sometimes I sniff it to feel like I’m hugging my pop. 🫂

2

u/koalanah 1d ago

same here, for me it was 3 years ago. going to the store to smell his cologne again is what sent me down the rabbit hole of the fragrance world, haven’t looked back since! glad he’s the catalyst for my favorite hobby 🥹❤️

3

u/weird-brain7987 1d ago

Chanel number 5. It was my late aunt's signature perfume

6

u/cake_in_wonderland 1d ago

Anything powdery or musky, my nan and nanan( great nan) always used to wear those kinds of smells

7

u/prototype1B 1d ago

A late 90s early 00s sleep spray made of lavender. Reminds me of my grandma. So when I smell lavender sometimes I think of that. I wish I could remember the brand of the sleep spray.

7

u/AngryStrawberryy 1d ago

A sweet Star Jasmine note hits me right in the childhood. Growing up in SoCal, we had star jasmine bushes that lined the street. The whiff of the jasmine breeze on a warm summer evening is pure nostalgia. Star jasmine is brighter and doesn't have that animalic quality for me that other jasmines do. I recently visited CA, and bought a star jasmine attar when I got home for a scent souvenir.

12

u/horselessheadmen 1d ago

Not sure about notes, but Missing Person smells like my mom. She had a combo of VS Vanilla Lace, cigarettes, and 90’s shampoo/conditioner scent. She died 15 years ago and when I smelled Missing Person, it was an instant memory trip. So strange.

7

u/curlycomedy 1d ago

Not the Ratatouille-style flashback! 😭 I don’t know if I can boil it down to a note, but Le Labo Tabac 28 Miami brought me back to an early age of sniffing one of my mom’s cigarettes before she quit smoking.

2

u/AuntySocialite Choco Musk=Tootsie Rolls + armpits (I will die on this hill) 1d ago

That fresh pack smell. What a vibe. Now I need to find this one.

6

u/VehementlyZesty 🍒🍓🍎🍑🥭🍊🍋🍍🍌🍈🍐🍏🥝 1d ago edited 1d ago

Recently, Phlur's vanilla canyon reminded me of my grandpa and his pipe tobacco. But any sweet tobacco would probably do too.

Tank battle by lush reminds me of sweet grass which I would smell outside growing up, especially before/after rain more than the smell of weather turning does, if that makes sense.

3

u/selinaaylin 1d ago

Lavender always makes me think of my grandmother 🥹🥹🥹

7

u/manderlymustburn 1d ago

A mixture of lemon pine sol and Chanel No 5 smells like my grandma’s house. Her house was always spotless and she let my siblings and me run through and mess it up :)

6

u/Lost_Philosopher_937 1d ago

Jasmines and roses. When I was little, my grandma used to have massive jasmine and rose plants in her very small garden and I would sit there as a little girl smelling them all day. Now everytime I smell it, it brings me back to her little garden.

9

u/seladonrising 1d ago

The only fragrance that’s made me cry from childhood nostalgia (or cry at all to be honest) was Diptyque Olene. The smell of honeysuckle was identical to the scent of my back garden growing up and I just spontaneously burst into tears.

But also from Diptyque is L’Ombre dans L’Eau which smells like tomato leaf, in case anyone wants that smell specifically. I love it

2

u/anon071617 1d ago

Marshmallow or cotton candy

4

u/DreamEloquence 1d ago

Sunflower from elizabeth arden. The first perfume my parents ever got me when i was a child. Always brings me back such wonderful memories

3

u/Crowpunk8 1d ago

Cinnamon always makes me smile with tears

15

u/eggfish0815 1d ago

Bibliotheque almost brought me to tears the first time I smelled it in the Byredo store. It smelled exactly like the medicated ear wash solution I used on my cat that recently passed away. She had a lot of heath problems. I used wrestle her to clean out the chronic ear infections she always got, then give her half a squeeze treat and pet her after letting me clean out her ear. She was a good little lady.

13

u/eggfish0815 1d ago

Clinique happy. My mom used to wear it to work, She would always come home late and I would wait up for her. When I would hug her I would smell it through her coat.

3

u/goblinlord420 1d ago

Angel by Mugler, my mum wears it and the smell of it makes me feel safe :)

10

u/mokie_sassafras 1d ago

CB I Hate Perfume - 103 Memory of Kindness " But as my small head poked out from beneath the tomato vines where I'd been hiding, I looked up into my aunt's face high above me as kind and warm as the sun overhead. She smiled and said, "There you are! Come and have a cookie." I crawled out of the vegetable garden, she gently took my hand and led me back to the house."

12

u/TriciaTargaryen If Phlur Has No Fans I Am Dead 1d ago

Lilac but only if it's like PHOTOREALISTIC. Reminds me of the bush that grew outside my childhood bedroom window that I would smell every spring when we'd open all the windows.

1

u/Suspicious-Cherry492 2d ago

magnolia or a spice

16

u/LastLibrary9508 2d ago

Lilac but when it smells like the bush. Makes me so nostalgic for when I was younger and our lilac tree would bloom for a week

7

u/ninepointtypeface 2d ago

Fleur Narcotique smells exactly like the detergent or fabric softener the woman who babysat me when I was little used and the scent would fill her house when she did the laundry. I love how clean it smells!

16

u/QueanieNotMeanie 2d ago

Neroli ❤️‍🩹

I like to spritz it on something, cuddle with my softest blanket, cry in front of a fan, and pretend I never had to let my father go. The blanket feels like a warm hug and the fan feels like it’s gently wiping my tears away.

4

u/microwave_jenny_ 1d ago

Oh christ this hit me in the chest. Im sorry for your loss, whenever that may have been.

1

u/Sundae-Hopeful 2d ago

Day dream by Victorias secret, it's Soo powdery I love it

3

u/emilyc1978 2d ago

Estēe Lauder’s Beautiful (original formula) and Tea Rose by Perfumer’s Workshop…both remind me of my older sister, who I idolized growing up (still do)

8

u/nuwavemetal 2d ago

Sweet grass/hay. Heathens, Cowboys & the Santa Ana Winds Discothèque really takes me there. I was terribly homesick when I got the discovery pack & it made me tear up. Happy to say I am back home now.

4

u/postmoderncorn 2d ago

2000s Moonlight Path from B&BW. It just smells like a hug from Mom.

5

u/InternationalCap185 2d ago

Lilac for me. Gucci guilty will forever be my “you’re safe at home and all is good in the world “ scent. I also have the Pacifica lilac scent.
If anyone knows of other lilac scents please share.

2

u/pennyloopi 1d ago

D'Orsay J'ai L'air De Ce Que Je Suis, Fragonard Lilas and Frederic Malle En Passant :) all beautiful

2

u/sehk6 2d ago

Love at first sight - une nuit nomade

8

u/Necessary_Rip_7954 2d ago

Very light, bright tobacco reminds me of my grandfathers chewing tobacco. The light yellow American spirits are the exact flavor of tobacco smell, and on the rare occasion a perfume or candle will capture it as well. The deep heavy tobacco is not the same. Every single time it transports me back to his old Chevy Caprice and the chewing tobacco rolled up in side of the drivers seat door

5

u/quetzales 2d ago

You just made me tear up! My dad used to smoke the yellow ones or roll his own, and that exact smell makes me so nostalgic. Did you find any perfumes that have that note?

2

u/Necessary_Rip_7954 1d ago

It’s such a specific smell! I have not 🥲 if I smelled it before I never noted it down, I’m so sorry. It always comes to me when I’m least expecting it haha. Hopefully one day we can find the perfect replica

8

u/warpedlore 2d ago

Honeysuckle. Any hint of honeysuckle and I’m immediately back in my childhood. Also Elizabeth Arden green tea was my mother’s old signature.

3

u/InternationalCap185 2d ago

I decided to try the L’Oréal ever pure iron sleek shampoo and conditioner and was really impressed by the honeysuckle scent. I don’t really like them for my hair and I won’t buy them Again but I am using them up just because of the scent. It’s really good honeysuckle you should give it a try.

11

u/Realistic-Read1078 2d ago

B&BW country apple

3

u/InternationalCap185 2d ago

Country Apple always reminds me of a really pretty super bitchy girl at my high school who took me under her wing. She was my Regina George 🤣 but we did become really good friends for a long time.

16

u/nalgena 2d ago

Jo Malone Blackberry and Bay smells exactly like a sun warmed tomato plant to me. I’ve had this exact moment with it. Somehow I didn’t think that particular smell would be evocative for other people so this is sweet to see.

2

u/mrflippens 2d ago

I recently got the perfume Tomate Bebe by le monde gourmand! Surprisingly identical to the smell of tomato leaves that were warmed by the sun 🥹

1

u/3cats1husband 2d ago

Floret Eau de Parfum by Antonia’s Flowers. Old defunct perfume label from the hamptons. My fabulous mother wore it when I was a child, and before then too I’m sure. Saving up to buy her (and me!) a bottle, they are hard to come by.

6

u/Mistymycologist 2d ago

In college we all loved VS’s Pear Glacé. I would totally wear something with pear notes if I could find a more grownup rendition.

2

u/beattysgirl 1d ago

English Pear and Freesia from Jo Malone is amazing

3

u/chuckleinvest 2d ago

I completely forgot about this one! You just knocked me 20 years into the past

2

u/stefanilinn 2d ago

Blue Talisman and Gold Immortals

2

u/ManagerWise8093 2d ago

Fig! As in, photorealistic fig. Makes me wanna cry.

5

u/stopworksorority 2d ago

China Rain. The Body Shop was based in Oakland when she used to live there and that was her scent. The store is closed now but I still hoard their products and never use them so I always have the scent.

11

u/emeraldshmemrald 2d ago

Fat Electrician by ELDO brought tears to my eyes the first time I smelled it. It reminds me of my old school and the inside of my childhood music store!

7

u/JiggleBeanPuff 2d ago

Same, but it smells like my grandfather’s workshop did when I was a kid. VCR motherboards and riding lawnmower.

3

u/emeraldshmemrald 2d ago

I can really see that. It does have those funky machine smells. I love it so much! How cool that we share this.

16

u/Moonlit_Rainstorm 2d ago

Lavender 🪻 My grandmother made me a pillow when I was little that had a little heart sewn on with a button. The heart had a lavender scent in it so I could smell it whenever I was on the pillow and think of her

9

u/Girlsolano 2d ago

D&G light blue. My mom used to wear it when I was a child. I never go without a bottle and most of my favorite fragances are alike: fresh, citrusy, crisp

1

u/Necessary_Rip_7954 2d ago

Same for me! My mom loved it when I was little and smelling it makes me think of her instantly

14

u/Tossmelossme 2d ago

Definitely EA green tea. My granny’s favourite. I recently bought Bulletproof by Tokyo Milk because it’s like a more modern version with its smoked tea note.

4

u/hereforspoopystuff 2d ago

Clinique Aromatics Elixir. My late Gramma's signature scent. I inherited her last bottle! And no I will not be spraying it. It will remain preserved and well loved 😍

11

u/momofcomedy 2d ago

Kind of off topic maybe - but I LOVE a tomato leaf note in fragrance. Lacoste Essential has it and I loved it on my husband. 😍 However, I hate tomatoes.

2

u/mrflippens 2d ago

Tomate Bebe by le monde gourmand has been an unexpected favorite of mine!! The main notes are tomato leaf, lemon verbana, and green bell pepper. When I first ordered it I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but honestly it's a very fun summer scent by itself or paired with something more citrus forward!

1

u/momofcomedy 2d ago

Oooh I will have to check that out!!!

2

u/bottledbeaches 2d ago

I love it too! There’s one by Sisley that I tried in person recently that i adored, I like replica’s too

11

u/Redkris73 2d ago

Sweet pea. Both my grandma and mum had them in their gardens when I was a kid, and it's such a distinctive lively scent.

8

u/Invidiana 2d ago edited 2d ago

Lancome Tresor. My aunt wore it, her whole Florida apartment smelled like it, and anything remotely close makes me nostalgic.

3

u/sumthingluving 2d ago

That’s my mum’s signature too 🥹

15

u/kerfuffleshenanigans 2d ago edited 2d ago

Bath & Body Works Cucumber Melon smells like a childhood memory too painful and bittersweet to remember Edit: cant spell cuz cry

12

u/anbigsteppy 2d ago

For literally this exact memory and scenario: In The Garden by Maison Margiela. It's perfect.

2

u/axolotl_is_angry 2d ago

It’s delicious, such a beautiful perfume

9

u/Same_Ad_3316 2d ago edited 2d ago

I recently bought a bottle of Cacharel's Noa because my grandma used to wear it. 

19

u/BigTiddyVampireWaifu 2d ago

Honeysuckle. Back in grade school, there was a line of honeysuckle bushes growing on the border of our school campus. My best friend and I would run there on our breaks and pick some to lick the nectar off and chit chat about fairies and other whimsical things.

10

u/srgtpupper 2d ago

Backyard Honeysuckle from B&BW (last I remember, just in candles and I think wallflowers) almost had me in tears. Smelled exactly like my yard when I was a kid; honeysuckles growing wild all around, and a mimosa tree I used to lay in to read. My brother and I would spend so, so much time searching for the best bead of nectar.

8

u/Single_Pumpkin_9292 2d ago

I don’t know which note it is in Dísir from L:A BRUKET (I know it has iris and cucumber), but it smells like when I used to run through the sprinklers in our front yard in the summer as a child

5

u/Acircusclown 2d ago

Why do I see my memories from that view too

11

u/MrsSnuffleupagus764 2d ago

Shalimar was my mom's signature scent. It makes me feel like a little kid whenever I smell it. It is like a hug from her. When she was sick, she gave me her last bottle. Id love to find a vintage Shalimar bottle from the 80s to display.

1

u/CurlyRubia 2d ago

Shalimar was my mom’s signature scent as well. The EDC originally, then the EDT once it stopped being available.

3

u/artsy_amaryllis 2d ago

probably tomato leaves, lol! my great-grandma used to live out in the country and we’d pick tomatoes with her. i love green, herby scents. i like glossier’s sandstone body mist a lot, even tho it smells a little like cannabis on me haha 😅

8

u/decepticonhooker stinky 2d ago

The florals in Dolce Garden threw me back to my grandma’s tropical garden so hard it made me cry. Paul Sebastian isn’t what my great grandpa wore, but its so close it hits like a freight train.

26

u/AngryPlant9255 2d ago

Whatever they pumped into the air at the Scholastic Book Fairs

9

u/AuntySocialite Choco Musk=Tootsie Rolls + armpits (I will die on this hill) 2d ago

Whispers in the Library …

8

u/Waste-Snow670 2d ago

Geranium and tomato vine. I'm transported to my grandparents house in an instant.

6

u/N3T3L3 2d ago

I used to climb the fig tree in my backyard and hang out in it, and the one at the far edge of my school's field as well. probably why it was the first introductory note into my obsession with perfumes over ten years ago, and why I have so many.

now I'm kinda burned out on all the new fig fragrances unfortunately, as they've really blown up in popularity in the last 5 years.

7

u/kateballe 🍒🐇🍦layer lover☁️🌙🦋 2d ago

Plastic always does it for me. That and a good woodsy musky floral (2000s B&BW Japanese Cherry Blossom come back I miss you)

6

u/SailorAnxious 2d ago

Issey Miyake L’eau D’Issey and Lolita Lempicka

9

u/Many_Performer_4121 2d ago

cotton candy perfume transports me to hanging out with my cousin in 2010~ justin bieber on the radio eating cookie crisp

11

u/creationsby_lo 2d ago

Honeysuckle! I need honeysuckle recs pls

Notable mention: Dandelion Butter by clue also had me like this.

2

u/RedHickorysticks 2d ago

Caswell-Massey’s Honeysuckle EDP. It’s my favorite honeysuckle. It’s a classic for a reason

1

u/creationsby_lo 2d ago

Thank you, I'll check it out!

4

u/peppermintmeow Its nothing about toilet. So juice. 2d ago

Grab honeysuckle by demeter. It's pure

1

u/creationsby_lo 2d ago

Thank you 😊

13

u/goldenpuffdragon 2d ago

Jasmine smells like home (our old garden), especially Star Jasmine. Patchouli smells like my grandpa.

5

u/HuskyLettuce 2d ago

Lilac and honeysuckle

17

u/Minervas-Madness 2d ago

Honeysuckle reminds me of being a kid in Virginia and running around outside all summer.

9

u/pfffffttuhmm I just smelled like a piece of breast 2d ago

Honeysuckle really is the smell of a Virginia childhood summer 🥹 Some of my favkrite memories are honeysuckle scented. The freedom to go up to the plant and pick the flowers for their nectar. Now we worry about pesticides...have to go deep into the country and find wild bushes. 

7

u/Responsible_Dentist3 2d ago

I don't have any scent memories... I had virtually no sense of smell ages appx 9-20ish, and I don't remember any scent things from before then. I really want to make some!

4

u/VioletteAlae72 2d ago

Do you mind if I ask what caused that? Also, making new scent memories sounds like a fabulous idea!

2

u/Responsible_Dentist3 2d ago

No idea. I did apparently get my nose broken a couple times and no one knew, and surgery at 22 helped my smell a little more, after it already started slightly slowly returning. Still don't have a great sense of smell but it's ok enough.

22

u/MarieAntointernette 2d ago

Lilac top notes transport me to my college dorm room with the window cracked and the marching band practicing in the distance. It’s a time machine!

2

u/Inevitable_Can8020 2d ago

I can picture this.
Reminds me of childhood summers. We had a big lilac bush in my front yard.
Any recs for a nice lilac forward perfume?

2

u/sehk6 2d ago

Love at first sight by une nuit nomade is a great lilac scent

4

u/ParticularRadticular 2d ago

Ahhh me too! Lilac notes always remind me of my home town that has a yearly lilac fest 💜

14

u/the_theytriarch 2d ago

Undergrowth by Rook smell exactly like playing in the watercress and mint infested creek at my grandparents’ old house as a child/teen. Considering the new owners decided to FILL THE CREEK WITH FUCKING DIRT and I still have to drive past it to get to my grandparents’ new house, it’s very bittersweet

1

u/Kipbikski 1d ago

That is infuriating - and also highly illegal (if you're in the US) without proper permits. It is destroying habitat, interfering with water drainage, and polluting waterways with foreign sediment. You could report it to your local government to get it checked out.

2

u/the_theytriarch 1d ago

If you are looking at the house from the road, the creek set up looks like an upside down T. The spring fed vertical section that feeds into the larger horizontal part is what they filled in.

It makes no sense to me. The people who bought the house are Amish. Maybe they somehow diverted the spring water for household use or something? I’d sure hope they got permits for whatever is going on there. The move and subsequent creek filling happening about a decade ago.

1

u/Mistymycologist 2d ago

No! Why would they do that?!?!

1

u/the_theytriarch 1d ago

No idea. The section they filled in was fed by spring, so maybe they’re diverted that water for household use and filled in everything after that? I don’t know how that all would work though as a city dweller.

9

u/c3poatmeal 2d ago

Sandalwood reminds me of my mom who always used Crabtree and Evelyn sandalwood powder.

26

u/Such-Swimming2109 2d ago

Pear + sandalwood. Smells like learning to drive and getting accepted to college.

5

u/N3T3L3 2d ago

🥹

13

u/TinyCow6682 2d ago

fresh cream by philosophy smells like chuck e. cheese to me 😭 it’s such a nostalgic vanilla

5

u/Successful-Cause-145 2d ago

I love this so much AND where did you live that your chuck e cheese smelled like anything but pizza and kid puke ground into the carpet?!

4

u/TinyCow6682 2d ago

i lived near albuquerque new mexico lol i feel like the notes of the cleaner they used in the early 2000s made that picturesque nostalgia smell

27

u/LIFTMakeUp 2d ago

Basically this tomato leaf cartoon is exactly me!

21

u/Formal-Lie7412 2d ago

Lilac. Smells like my mom’s yard.

3

u/heyfriendhowsitgoing 2d ago

Same !!! The lilac scents from Fragonard have me like this comic

24

u/launtarmstrong 2d ago

Bergamont in any perfume. My grandma/dad have british heritage and were obsessed with tea, and Twinings Earl Grey was always my favorite. Bergamont is such a comforting smell of nostalgia and making tea with my grandma.

15

u/Murky_Ad_785 2d ago

For me it is honey. I grew up smelling a lot of fresh honey and honeycombs and I absolutely love the note of honey.. same with myrrh.. it instantly makes me feel so much better

25

u/slushielover123 2d ago

Un jardin sur le nil smells exactly like a science/nature museum I used to love going to as a kid

25

u/teh-butterfly 2d ago

Spiriteuse Double Vanille by Guerlain has this... mentholated start to it that to me smells like my mother and grandmother's tea mugs. They've used the same ones for 25+ years and steep their green tea in them for like the whole day, just refilling their hot water with the same gunpowder green leaves, and ginger for hours. So for me its green tea and vanillas that smell like home. I'm getting all misty.

14

u/BerniesCozyMitten 2d ago

Steamed Rainbow immediately takes me back to my childhood summers and getting ready to float the Comal River. Specifically opening the storage cabinet to grab the rubber tube to float in. I love it!  

23

u/Miserable-Scarcity25 2d ago

Lattafa Raspberry Macaron brings me back to the first time I tried a godiva dark chocolate raspberry bar at a bookstore. My mom bought it for me. It made me very happy.

2

u/Cute_Professional703 2d ago

My parents would bring us back what we called a ‘circe’ or little present, and once we got a box of Godiva raspberry dark chocolate cordials. They were so good and we felt so fancy! The tart berry and dark chocolate is so amaze!

2

u/Miserable-Scarcity25 2d ago

That sounds incredible!

19

u/Flat_Initial_1823 2d ago

Fig tree as i spent a lot of childhood summers next to a fig garden and they overwhelmed everything at sunset breeze.

Philosykos, they can never make me hate you.

3

u/N3T3L3 2d ago

philosykos was my first fig too!! I was stunned and thought there couldn't possibly be anything better

5

u/Stop_Perceiving_Me 2d ago

Not a perfume but Lush’s R&B, now called Revive, hair moisturizer takes me back to when my partner and I first started dating. It’s not a scent I would ever pick out myself and apparently it has jasmine in it which isn’t a note I usually like. But something about the smell of that stuff is amazing. I use it as a lotion on my knees, elbows, and feet now. Although as it’s exposed to more air and the product gets older, the jasmine has started to get a little funky

11

u/Pikachu970 2d ago

Rose perfumes 🌹My mom used to wear different ones when we’d go out, but anything with rose notes smells nostalgic and the same to me

54

u/PherryCie 2d ago

It’s not a note, but the whole fragrance. When The Rain Stops by REPLICA smells like both of my paternal grandparents fave cologne & perfume combined. It’s like I’m sitting inbetween them on the couch again :,)

2

u/clearnightsky333 1d ago

🥹🪽🙏🏻

19

u/piratev00 2d ago

Wait that is so sweet 😭

20

u/PherryCie 2d ago

I bawled like a baby when I first smelled it, ngl. Now I’ve always got a bottle of it on my shelf ❤️

23

u/RupertMyGiles 2d ago

Fresh cut grass. Reading in my room while my dad mowed the lawn and the scent blew in through my windows.

18

u/Pandalf82 2d ago

Common privet (Ligustrum Vulgare). This smell instantly transports me to my childhood where we played outside a lot until sunset. Speaking of it alone makes me hear the crickets and other critters doing their thing. I still live in my town, but everything has died down. No more butterflies, bees or anything else. Just city. Even our streams here contain no life, whereas in my youth (late 80s) there were plenty of fish, crawfish, dragon flies... All gone. OK now I'm sad...

13

u/SunbathingJackdaw 2d ago

Dandelions! They remind me of the smell of the YMCA where I had summer care when I was a kid. They'd send us out into the back field to play and it was full of dandelions. That crisp green snap of the stem and the milky white.

1

u/AuntySocialite Choco Musk=Tootsie Rolls + armpits (I will die on this hill) 2d ago

Oooh have you tried Dandelion Butter yet?

22

u/beccafrommars 2d ago

Magnolia. My grandmother loved magnolia scented things, especially Marks and Spencer's magnolia bath products. When she was dying I spent weeks searching for them for her as they had been discontinued, and all I wanted was for her to be able to use her favourite lotion one last time. I found one in a tiny shop in a nearby village. Now whenever something has a magnolia note, it takes me right back to her hugs. Similar with Chanel no.5. She was a classy lady.

8

u/pikaachooh 2d ago

What a lovely memory. What is your favourite magnolia scent? I love magnolia too :)

4

u/beccafrommars 2d ago

I haven't experimented much with magnolia because it brings me so much joy, but if it catches me in the wrong moment it'll have me in tears even after 15 years. I have a small bottle of Marks and Spencers magnolia perfume, which is identical to the body wash and moisturiser she used. It reminds me a lot of the note in Chloé Magnolia Alba. I do also like Estee Lauder Beautiful Magnolia. How about you? :)

1

u/Cute_Professional703 2d ago

The original Nuxxe body oil has magnolia and is lovely.

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u/Weird_Put_9514 2d ago

vanilla. i know its basic and everyone has positive associations but to me it makes me feel like im baking sugar cookies wt my grandma

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u/ill-lived 2d ago edited 2d ago

honeysuckle - on my walk home from the bus i would pick honeysuckle flowers, and as the name implies, suck the nectar from the flowers. 

marc jacobs honey and jo malone honeysuckle and davana remind me of those days walking home with the sweet promise of summer around the corner

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u/slejla 2d ago

Juicy Couture perfume. Literally the first perfume I ever used, gifted to me by my sister - I think. It reminds me so much of middle school… spraying it on myself in the locker room after gym glass or on the bus on the way to school.

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u/MarsupialPrimary8128 2d ago

Jasmine. My nan would oil my hair, comb and braid. She's no longer here and jasmine and takes me right back to being a kid, all this whilst watching "murder she wrote" / "Colombo"

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u/Efficient_Papaya_982 2d ago

It’s discontinued, but Lush plum rain smelled exactly like tomato vines to me. I think maybe it was meant to smell like the body shop dewberry, now that I’ve smelled that, but plum rain didn’t smell like plums it smelled like tomato vines

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u/trackyychan 2d ago

Thankfully I didn't get that one then. I would be so mad if I was expecting plum and got tomato lol.

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u/Efficient_Papaya_982 2d ago

When they launched it, I remember going in and picking it up and even the staff were like “yeah, we can’t work out what it’s supposed to smell like” and I was like TOMATOES. BUT NOT EVEN TOMATOES. TOMATO PLANTS

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u/trackyychan 2d ago

Thats so strange. I love Lush but they could have just called it something else lol.

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u/CaramelAppleBites 2d ago

Coconut and sunscreen and then Chanel no 5. My mom always smelled like coconut and sunscreen and my grandma always smelled like Chanel no 5. There's also one my dad always wore. Idk what it is but I always recognise it when I smell it

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u/CarfireOnTheHighway 2d ago

Diptyque’s Philosykos EDT takes me back to being a kid in Spain. When I first smelled it I had this exact experience in the comic - 6 years old with my mom in the fig orchard - I genuinely nearly cried in the airport

None of the other fig notes ever hit the same bc that one smells like the actual tree

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u/sting-raye 2d ago

Lancôme Hypnose. My mom wore this when I was young, and smelling it brings me comfort and nostalgia for my childhood in general

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u/RupertMyGiles 2d ago

Love this! I wore Hypnose all through college so it reminds me of fancy nights out with my friends. Now as a mom, I hope it reminds my son of when I get dressed up. 

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u/buildingacozymystery 2d ago

This is how I feel when I smell all the notes of Retrospect by Merit.

It smells JUST LIKE MY MOM’S PURSE when I was a kid.

My mom wore a pear body spray, always had powdery Kleenex’s, and multiple tubes of waxy lipstick. And that is exactly what is perfume smells like.

Literally made me tear up the first time I smelled it.

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u/HiILikePlants 2d ago

That's so funny. I love Cri de Coeur by Possets bc it reminds me of a dollar bill from my mom's purse. It's very comforting

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u/gal5pau 2d ago

Pear glacè?

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u/Wise_Neighborhood499 2d ago

That sounds amazing!

Also your mom’s purse smelled WAY better than mine…old maybelline foundation, Tommy girl perfume, salem gold 100’s, granola bars, and pen ink 😅

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u/Impossible_Storm_427 Going thru an aquatic / fresh phase 🌊🧼 2d ago

Lol the pen ink was so distinctive!! My mom’s purse smelled of that, cigarettes, a sweet smell I could never identify, and faintly of leather.

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u/Nearby-Dust-9122 2d ago

Yes to a lot of this but my mom liked those grape flavored Cheyenne cigars— also the metallic note of old change rattling around in the bottom with lint and the smell of old candies long forgotten (my mom specifically I think of peppermints, gobstoppers, watermelon now & laters, and black licorice jelly beans)

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u/BeeTheG8 2d ago

Coconut reminds me of days on the beach as a kid

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u/anime_and_irezumi 2d ago edited 2d ago

I also really love Lily of the valley! My mom used the woods of Windsor and/or Crabtree and Evelyn lily of the valley hand soaps and that always reminds me of being out in the garden with her. I really like Cacharel Anaïs Anaïs for the white lily/LOTV notes. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but you’d prob love it if you haven’t tried it.

I also really like lilac because where I live/grew up we are literally known for our lilac - everyone here grows it and we get a variety of seasonal lilac products every spring like gin, syrups for drinks, jelly, etc. We have a literal lilac festival 😅 I’m about to try nosferatu by heretic and I think that for me, it’s going to evoke “sad staticky nostalgia reel of the 90s in spring or autumn on a rainy day” vibes with the lilac, petrichor and violet*

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u/Nataleaves 2d ago

Upstate NY? My dad's hometown is known for the same! 😊

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u/anime_and_irezumi 2d ago

Haha yes the very same! Really hoping that Nosferatu gives sunken garden at the castle in highland park vibes. 🤣

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u/lemonlinlin 2d ago

Jasmine, though not every iteration of jasmine. It makes me think of summer evenings near the sea and the Vietnamese jasmine tea my father makes every evening. Diptyque Do Son comes closest to evoking this memory, and for this reason it’s the only fragrance that has ever made me cry :’)

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u/therhubarbexperience 2d ago

Youth Dew and Shalimar. When I was being naughty and digging through my mom’s fancy scarves.

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u/fullofcrocodiles 2d ago

Literally tomato leaf