Club circle
New members introduce themselves here: who you are, what you love to smell, what you want to learn.
The Welcome to the Club circle is where new members introduce themselves. Tell everyone in a few lines where your love of scent comes from, the perfume that takes you back to a memory, the material you would love to finally recognize, or the question that brought you here. Members reply, say hello and point you to a circle to start with, such as Learning to Smell. No level is required: a beginner's nose is as welcome as any other.
22 posts · 43 active members
bev.bostonin Welcome to the Club · Boston ·
IntroductionI taught fourth grade in Boston for years and I'm retired now. I'm here because of my late husband's aftershave: lavender, something like hay, a little lemon. I'd love to understand what was in it.
harriet.hay Hello and welcome, bev.boston. What a lovely reason to be here. That hay smell is very often coumarin, the sweet hay note , and lavender with hay…
ravi.teain Welcome to the Club · Brisbane ·
IntroductionI fix computers for an office in Brisbane, with a pot of chai on the go from nine to five. Cardamom and ginger together is the smell I want to understand first. Spring here, the jacarandas are getting ready.
priya.cardamom Welcome, Ravi! Cardamom chai is exactly how I got into all this, so we'll get along fine. Start with cardamom as a perfume note and tell us what you…
nnamdi.vetiverin Welcome to the Club · Nottingham ·
IntroductionI keep Nottingham's buses running, so it's engine oil and grease all week. On days off I want something else on me: vetiver mostly, a bit of black pepper. Early days.
gus_saltmarshin Welcome to the Club · Auckland ·
Introduction
I build boats in Auckland, so my days are kauri gum, varnish and spray off the harbour, not exactly floral. What I really want to know is how a perfume does the sea, because nothing I've smelled has got it right yet.
petey_pepper Isn't the sea smell in perfume made from whale vomit? I read that somewhere.
carys.cardiffin Welcome to the Club · Cardiff ·
ReadingFor anyone new: I read the Class on fragrance vocabulary last night the way I'd read a glossary at work, one word at a time. Accord, sillage, facet: finally I know what everyone's on about. Worth ten minutes before your first post.
first.sniff Sillage was the one I kept nodding along to without a clue. Reading it now.
shona.whinin Welcome to the Club · Aberdeen ·
Introduction
Hello from Aberdeen. I do the paperwork at the fish market, so my mornings are salt and ice. My favourite smell is the gorse on the cliffs in spring: coconut, from a prickly bush, and it gets me every year. I'm a quiet one, mostly here to read.
thiago.berlinin Welcome to the Club · Berlin ·
IntroductionHello, I am Thiago, from Brazil. In Berlin I carry food on my bike all day, so I smell the whole city from the saddle: bakeries, kebab shops, wet leaves. What I miss is coffee and ripe guava from home. My English is still learning, so please be patient with…
priya.cardamom Welcome, Thiago, your English is doing just fine. Coffee and guava is a lovely pair to arrive with, and coffee has its own page here if you want…
first.sniffin Welcome to the Club · Exeter ·
IntroductionStarting from zero. I can talk about a painting for ten minutes, but not about a smell. My gran's house smelled of roses and strong tea, and I'd love to be able to describe that properly one day.
harriet.hay Hello and welcome, first.sniff. Zero is where every one of us started, so you're in good company. Roses and strong tea make a lovely pair to begin…
priya.cardamomin Welcome to the Club · Toronto ·
ChallengeThread of the week: introduce yourself with three smells. No perfume names, just the smells. 1) one from your street 2) one from your kitchen 3) one from your coat pocket Mine: wet maple leaves on the sidewalk, cardamom pods splitting in a hot pan, and a…
harriet.hay Bonfire smoke from the allotments, toast, and a conker, which smells of nothing at all and lives in my pocket anyway. Shout if you get stuck.
pip.rhubarbin Welcome to the Club · Wakefield ·
Introduction
I help out in a primary classroom in Wakefield, and the rhubarb triangle starts at the end of our road. Forced rhubarb grows in dark sheds and gets picked by candlelight, and the smell in there is sharp, pink and earthy all at once. My friends think I'm…
nell.wattle Rhubarb actually has its own page in the notes, rhubarb as a fresh, sour note , so you're in good company.
aroha.rainin Welcome to the Club · Wellington ·
Introduction
Kia ora, I sell tickets at the ferry terminal in Wellington. It's spring here, and after a southerly the whole bush smells wet, green and a bit peppery, kawakawa leaves mostly. Pretty new to fragrance and keen to learn heaps.
harriet.hay Hello and welcome, aroha.rain. Spring for you while we're raking leaves in Bristol, I do love that about this club. Wet, green and peppery after rain…
harriet.hayin Welcome to the Club · Bristol ·
Tip
A tip for everyone who's joined this autumn, because the same question keeps coming up: what should I buy first? Nothing, honestly. Open the spice cupboard and the fruit bowl. Smell cinnamon next to clove, a lemon next to an orange, a vanilla pod if you have…
mags.lavender Lovely tip, Harriet. I did lavender from the garden next to a sprig of rosemary and learned alot in ten minutes.
lupe.pinonin Welcome to the Club · Santa Fe ·
Introduction
I drive the school bus in Santa Fe, and any evening now the first piñon fires start and the whole town smells sweet and smoky. Nothing beats it for me. I'm trying to learn resins and woods, slowly.
frankie.incense Fun fact: oud, the dark resin-soaked wood, forms in Aquilaria trees after a fungal infection, says Wikipedia's entry on agarwood . [Piñon is…
orla.citrusin Welcome to the Club · Belfast ·
QuestionNew here, from Belfast, where I count other people's money all day. Citrus and clean musk are what I reach for, and I couldn't tell you why. Do I need to learn anything before I start posting, or is it fine to just say what I smell?
harriet.hay Hello and welcome, orla.citrus. Just say what you smell, that's the whole club. When you want a map, the Class on the seven fragrance families puts…
bridie.hobartin Welcome to the Club · Hobart ·
Introduction
Hello from Hobart. Saturdays I'm behind an apple stall at Salamanca, and right now the orchards are in blossom, soft and a little like honey. Add the lavender farms in summer and the cold sea air all year round, and I've never had proper words for any of it.
mags.lavender Hello, Bridie. Lavender farms! You'll have to tell me alot more. There's a lovely page on lavender as a perfume note if you fancy a read.
mags.lavenderin Welcome to the Club · Norwich ·
Memory
Morning all, A few of our new members have mentioned a grandparent, so here's a lovely gentle one for everybody. My nan's dressing table had a cut-glass bottle of something violet, a powder puff that left clouds everywhere and a little dish of lavender from…
rafa_azahar On my grandmother's table in Seville there was always a bottle of orange blossom water, for the cakes and for her hair.