what are some of your favorite and least favorite scents? and do you have specific memories or imagery associated with them?
To be honest, I love anything fresh and clean. I've only recently started exploring my taste in scents. I grew up in filth. The house smelled horrible from the mold, rotting food, cat and human feces and urine. It was a horrible way to live and I often am extremely self conscious about smelling bad. So things that smell fresh and clean like white florals, bergomot, herbs, linen, tea, powders, roses, etc are really my favorite. However, I also love spicy/tobacco/ash scents because they remind me of laying my head on my mom or my dad's lap while they smoked cigarettes. Even though I had asthma, I still loved the smell of it through a blanket. Another favorite scent of mine is very specific. The smell of fabric after it's been sitting next to an open window or outside in the sun is delightful. I'm not sure exactly what it is in particular that makes it smell so wonderful, but it's always comforted me. I used to have a baby blanket called BB that I loved to pieces. Had it since I was a baby and took it everywhere with me. And I'd open the window and set it right next to it. Then I'd smell BB for a long time while sucking my thumb. (Yes, that was my autistic stim until I forced myself to stop when I got out of my mom's house.) I also love dirt, grass, and moss because I was rarely allowed outside. Additionally, the scent of Murphy's oil soap, Ivory soap bar, Reshma rosemary soap bar (the best) are some of my faves. And lately I've been wearing some Walmart body mists - Desert Spirit, Petal to the Metal, and Resting Beach Face. All are fresh and not terribly sweet/gourmand. Gourmand scents just remind me of the tons of cheap shower gel/lotion sets my mom would get. They would set my skin on fire, lol. And I HATE strong, musky colognes or perfumes/incense. I have a distinct memory of my sister breaking a bottle of strong perfume out onto the carpet and being unable to escape it because the living room was the only warm part of the trailer. And, of course, I had an asthma attack. My mom would try to burn incense to mask the smell of rot and she also used old fashioned Lysol, which smells like burnt rubber. HATE those scents, blegh. Anyways, that's pretty much what I like.
