Thursday, November 29, 2007

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

Or would it? I had a man in my office just now whose smell just about drove me wild. It definitely drove me to distraction. I didn't ask what he was wearing, because this is a professional setting and it just didn't seem appropriate as I don't know him that well. Yet. Whatever it was, his scent shot straight to the most basic areas of my brainstem, mofos. This shit was limbic. Primordial.

I wonder how much differently (if at all) men and women smell things, and what smells appeal to the sexes differently. Would that scent have been as good to me on a woman? Are the scents they engineer for women designed to appeal to men or to the woman who buys it? Some scents just ooze sex, and that can be independent of the wearer. I've had a female friend who preferred to wear scents marketed to men. They still smelled great to me, but I never did have the urge to bury my face in her neck like I did with this guy today. I could have suffocated on this guy's neck (or in his armpit) and died a happy man.

That is all.

11 comments:

The Other Andrew said...

I love smells. I mean, I was a Fragrance Buyer for a chain of 14 stores once upon a time, and if the rest of the job (long hours, manic stress) hadn't sucked ass so bad I could have died happily curled up in the samples cupboard. Have you ever sat opposite a fragrance company rep and discussed the latest fragrance with the same seriousness that one discusses an end to world hunger. I have, and let me tell you it's both fabulous and surreal.

I remember standing behind a woman on an escalator once, and I took the opportunity to not only recognise her fragrance, but to compliment her on it. Someone did the same thing to me in a store about a year ago. Made both of us happy, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

Whenever I go into Abercrombie, I always make the comment that it just smells like sex in there. Weird, but whatever cologne/smell they use in the store has an odd effect. Also, if you want an insanely good smelling cologne - I love Abercrombie's original scent. I've bought it for many a guy friend.

Not to get all hot and bothered, but if a guy is wearing just the right amount of a delicious cologne, that makes him ever so more attractive. Smells are so powerful.

sam said...

omg, i'm with maddie. i went in AnF just to get the smell that intoxicated me as i walked by the door, only to find that they don't have any one specific cologne with that scent. it's like an orgy of all the others. i was so disappointed, i went to macy's and got something armani instead.

Landis said...

oooh.

you used the word "limbic".

that, my friend, THAT is sexy.

Ur-spo said...

i think billions are spent researching just this topic.
and the 'pheramone' notion never dies out.

Michael said...

It's the morning after and I'm slightly embarrassed by how I gushed over that guy. So professional, right? Such is the power of the right smell, I guess. Reminds us we're animal?

freakgirl said...

Samuel, your icon is killing me. KILLING ME.

I don't regularly wear fragrance, but when I did, I wore unisex, mostly.

For when I do want to smell, I think my favorite scent is vanilla, though. I also have a lemon sugar perfume that's to die for. Oh, and Michael Kors Island is great, too. I heard it was inspired by Doris Duke's estate in Hawaii.

Anyway. Women's magazines always tell us ladies that we can attract the boys by wearing fragrances that smell like food; that men are drawn to things like cinnammon and vanilla.

But then I've read that gay men are attracted to different scents than heterosexual men.

And here's a little tidbit about me; I've never set foot inside an Abercrombie & Fitch. Mostly because the whole A&F vibe gives me the creeps, also because I probably wouldn't fit into any of their clothes. But now that I know what the store smells like, I'll be sure to stay even further away. I prefer my retail to not reek of sex. ;)

Michael said...

Samuel....dark-sided he is.

Well speaking as a man of the homosexualist persuasion, I'll offer than I DO enjoy the scents of vanilla and cinammon, I mostly enjoy them on women. I like food smells on women. But on men I prefer spicy smells, earthy smells, grassy smells, pit smells....

freakgirl said...

I used to wear this:
http://tinyurl.com/3e4vt4

Michael said...

For real?

Slut.

;-)

freakgirl said...

Yeah, pretty much.