mel_from_adelaidein Learning to Smell · Adelaide ·
Snapshot
Jasmine on the cellar door fence at dusk
Jasmine's out on the back fence at work. Strong at dusk, almost nothing at midday.
Club circle
Learning to Smell, page 2
Exercises to train your nose, find words for what you smell and compare your attempts with others.
30 posts · 19 active members
Posts
ingrid_berlinin Learning to Smell · Berlin ·
DiscoveryHedione on a strip: jasmine with the window open
At a workshop they passed round a strip of Hedione. Jasmine, but with the window open and no heavy part. The article on methyl dihydrojasmonate , its chemical name, says a Firmenich chemist characterised it between 1957 and 1962. It is the reverb of jasmine…
jess.in.philly Jasmine without the heavy part sounds exactly like my thing.
joon.yuzuin Learning to Smell · Seattle ·
Scent diaryCardamom and vanilla on strips, checked all day
TL;DR: the cardamom strip was gone by dinner, the vanilla was still there at breakfast. Did the blotter exercise from the Class on top, heart and base notes with kitchen stuff: - a crushed cardamom pod rubbed on one strip - a drop of vanilla extract on…
harriet.hayin Learning to Smell · Bristol ·
ChallengeBack from a weekend away? Smell your own hallway
A weekend challenge for anyone travelling: when you get back, stop in your own hallway before you put the kettle on, and write down what your home smells like. Your nose files the smells you live with under background, so the moment you walk back in is the…
jess.in.philly Back from my mom's: coffee, radiator dust and the cat. I had no idea about the radiator.
aoife_mintin Learning to Smell · Cork ·
QuestionAbsolute, concrete, essential oil: what's what?
Reading about Grasse for a college project and I'm lost. Rose absolute, jasmine concrete, essential oil: are they the same thing at different strengths, or made differently?
nell.wattle Okay, nerd moment: made differently. According to the Wikipedia page on absolutes , the plant is first extracted with a solvent, hexane, which gives…
joon.yuzuin Learning to Smell · Seattle ·
Exercise
Yuzu, lime and grapefruit peel, smelled blind
TL;DR: three peels, blind, and I only got the grapefruit right. Setup, if you want to copy it: - one yuzu from the Asian grocery, one lime, one grapefruit - my partner zested each into a ramekin and covered them with a paper towel - one sniff each, three…
orla.citrus Lime and lemon fool me every single time, so yuzu wouldn't stand a chance. Did the yuzu smell sweeter than the lime to you?
priya.cardamomin Learning to Smell · Toronto ·
ExerciseThread of the week: which note leaves your strip first?
Thread of the week: which note leaves first? Jess asked this when she joined, so let's watch it happen instead of just reading about it. 1) Put the same scent on two paper strips, or a drop of something from the kitchen if you'd rather. 2) Smell them right…
jess.in.philly Laundry musk reporting in. The citrusy sparkle at the top was gone before my lunch break, and the musk was still on the strip when I went to bed.
ash.and.emberin Learning to Smell · Calgary ·
QuestionI know smoke, how do I start on flowers?
Woods and smoke are going fine since I joined. Flowers still all smell like 'flower' to me. Where do I start?
ingrid_berlin Start with orris. Half root, half powder, close to wood. I wear it since two years. /Ingrid
fern.mossin Learning to Smell · Swansea ·
Question
Coffee beans between sniffs: does it work?
Popped into town out of the rain to smell a few things and there was a little pot of coffee beans next to the testers. Does sniffing coffee really reset your nose, or is it just a nice idea?
petey_pepper Pretty sure it works. Coffee is so strong it wipes out whatever was there before, like a palate cleanser.
priya.cardamomin Learning to Smell · Toronto ·
Challenge
Thread of the week: describe rain without saying fresh
Thread of the week: describe rain without saying fresh, clean or petrichor. It has rained in Toronto for three days straight, so there's plenty of material. 1) Go outside, or open a window, while it's raining or just after. 2) Write what you smell in your own…
aroha.rain Hot tarmac after a spring shower: wet coins and warm bread crust. Its my favourite smell in Wellington
ingrid_berlinin Learning to Smell · Berlin ·
TipCoffee filter strips when you have no blotters
No blotters at home? Cut a paper coffee filter into strips a finger wide. It drinks the liquid fast and smells of almost nothing. Write the name on the end before you dip, or after three strips you will not know which is which. I do this since three years.…
first.sniff Didn't think of that. I've been using the edge of an envelope, which smells of glue.
juniper_julesin Learning to Smell · Portland ·
ExerciseOne cologne, two bottles: windowsill versus drawer
Studio notes: at the end of summer I split my everyday citrus cologne into two little bottles. One went on the kiln-room windowsill, one in a drawer. Smelled them side by side tonight. The drawer one is still bright. The sill one is flat, a bit sour, and…
jess.in.philly That's what a turned bottle looks like: flatter, a bit off, darker than it should be. Your sill bottle got the light and the heat, the drawer got…
first.sniffin Learning to Smell · Exeter ·
QuestionHow do I work out which scent family is mine?
Total beginner. Everyone here seems to know whether they're woody or floral or whatever. How did you work out which family you like?
nell.wattle Okay, nerd moment: there isn't one official list. The French perfumers' society uses seven families, which is what the club's Class on the seven…
petey_pepperin Learning to Smell · Denver ·
Exercise
Black pepper and pink pepper, eyes shut
Had my buddy hand me black pepper and pink pepper with my eyes shut, first snow on the Front Range outside. Pink was easy, like a rose and a lemon drop. Black was hot and woody.
dex_in_brooklyn ok so pink pepper crushed fresh smells like rosé and resin. you're onto something with the lemon drop