Thinking Out Loud
It Makes Scents

February 19, 2012
By: Diane Szczepanski

"A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future" ~ Coco Chanel

Hi, My name is Diane and I own 87 bottles of perfume.

Well alright, cologne mostly.

True 'perfume' is out of my working girl budget. Although, I do have some quite nice 'Eau de Toilette's' purchased when I had a little extra cash flow and an itch to upgrade from $5 body splashes.

There's not a support group for me, that I know of anyway, to admit my addiction to.

I've contemplated starting my own and I think I have my co-chair picked out. I recently discovered she's as bad off as I am with all things olfactory related.

On the promise of anonymity and to protect her privacy, I will not divulge who she is. Let's just refer to her from here on in as 'ThegirlsometimesknownasAndreawhoworksatatitlecompany', or 'Ms. X', for short.

I'm not sure when I developed this passion (read: obsession) for scents, but it is a well documented fact that smell and memory go hand in hand.

Study upon study has been done testing the power of smell and it's association in our brains. Certain odors elicit a variety of reactions.

It's a documented fact that we will wrinkle our nose and run in horror at the smell of sewer gases, because it's rankness conjures up images of ex-boyfriends who did us wrong.

On the flip side, we feel all warm and fuzzy at the first whiff of baby powder and will have tendencies to salivate at the mere hint of popping corn in a theater.

So, maybe for me, 'Ms. X' and other connoisseurs of scent, our highly trained and sensitive noses lead us down fragrant memory lanes. We experience life thru all the wondrous, daydream-inducing bouquets that are available in the world.

Being the bloodhounds of the tuberose and sandalwood world, may just make us more in tune with odor-association and our emotional responses and moods, as well.

We've realized a touch of citrus in a cologne will help us feel energized in the morning when we've walked the floor all night with a sick baby, but still have to go to work bright and early the next day.

We spray our pillows with lavender, to induce restful sleep. We douse ourselves with coconut-infused cologne to remind us of warm days spent at the beach.

We've experienced the power of tonka bean, vanilla and amber and what reaction men have to it.

Calvin Klein's 'Eternity' reminds us of every bride we ever hugged in the 90's and we know 'Emeraude' makes us long for our grandmothers.

Bottom line?

Our world is made more full by our keen senses of smell.

On that 'note', I think I will say we don't need any kind of group to admit our so-called "perfumania" to.

I think we need a shopping trip.