What am I smelling?

[vanillabean]

Hello beloved BPAL-ers!

 

As a newbie, I have been immersing myself in all sorts of oils to try and find ones I like. The only prroblem is, sometimes I don't know what it is I am smelling so I can look for other blends using that note.

 

Oh sure, some of them are obvious (like vanilla or blueberry) but some like amber and vetiver confound me.

 

Any advice on how to tell what it is I am smelling in a blend?

 

[patina]

Hello beloved BPAL-ers!

 

As a newbie, I have been immersing myself in all sorts of oils to try and find ones I like. The only prroblem is, sometimes I don't know what it is I am smelling so I can look for other blends using that note.

 

Oh sure, some of them are obvious (like vanilla or blueberry) but some like amber and vetiver confound me.

 

Any advice on how to tell what it is I am smelling in a blend?

 

 

It's really sad that smells don't translate into words that well, but reviews can be a tiny bit of help.

All I can suggest is to read the scent notes. If you happen to get extra frimps or sniffies, practice on those and look up the notes even if you don't like the scent. I don't think anyone except professionals can pick notes out all the time, but I've definately developed a more educated sense of smell.

[RaeiNarcissus]

One of the best ways to figure out your chemistry is to get a bunch of scents that have slightly similar notes. Pay attention to what they smell like on your skin. Certain notes will never show up on your skin, and others, will overpower all the others. To give an example, I recently figured out that I amp pear. I figured this out when I tried Ginger Skulls, which is ginger, quince, and pear. I kept smelling it, and I didn't have much if any ginger, which is a note I know works on me. Rather, it smelled a lot like Thalia, a GC that I had an imp of, which is Plumeria, pear and white champagne. Thus, they smell extremely similar, because of one note.

I also amp tobacco, but in a way I don't like, so I have to avoid anything with tobacco in it. You're going to have a lot of trial and error before you figure out what works on your skin, and what doesn't.

[EmpressPixie]

Honestly, I think the best way to get better at recognizing and picking out notes is to get in on one of the circle swaps with imp boxes. You get to sniff a metric ton of things and when you do that, you are more able to pick up on the differences -- especially when you look at the notes and sniff really similar perfumes. So I guess my advice is to sniff a LOT of perfumes.

[lookingglass]

If you are brand new to single notes, you can get a bit of an idea by going to a health food store an sniffing EO's. Eden Botanicals also sells sample of their EO's.

[Vega]

I know how you feel! My scent memory is all kinds of fail, and I have a hard time picking out notes. I'm still learning my nose, but what helped and still helps me is (1) testing lots and lots of scents and comparing everything to everything else, and (2) taking copious (written) notes on my findings. Gradually I started picking out individual scent notes, and got better at identifying the ones that I like.

 

You might want to hang on to every scent you get. Just test everything with each other for a while, then when you're able to identify some notes, test similar scents with each other to pick out the remaining unfamiliar notes. Writing down my impressions and comparisions definitely helped.

[ModderRhu]

try seeking out scents with very few listed notes. a few of my favorites are:

 

Urd

Imp

Goblin

Haunted

Black Pearl

Unsteady Governess (Halloweenie LE, still available til later this month)

 

if i think of any more, i'll add them

[plainjean]

I can really only echo what everyone else has been saying. Try everything, even if you don't think you'll like it. For me, I always test with the notes of the scent in front of me or, at least, a computer nearby. I will try to pick out the different parts at first, but if I'm stumped, I'll refer back to the list. I also agree with ModderRhu. Try some simpler blends first and see if you can pick out the different notes in those. That way you'll have a sense of what some notes smell like. And then, really, just go from there.

 

I'm going to say it again for emphasis: Try everything! I've only been buying/swapping BPAL for a few months, and already my nose has become more sophisticated, because I try every scent I get (Well, okay..that's not entirely true. I will not try anything that is heavy on the vetiver. It smells awful on me, and I don't want to put myself through that torture, thankyouverymuch ).

 

Also, re: identifying amber and vetiver. Maybe get a scent that you know what all the other notes smell like, except the amber/vetiver. That might help you to pick out the anomaly (in other words, the amber or vetiver) and figure out what it smells like. You need to keep in mind, though, that no note is necessarily the same from blend to blend.

[mxtine]

It's trial and error. It took me several months to be able to start picking up notes. At first, my nose was so untrained that I could only pick out "musk", "floral", "resin", "green" or "vanilla". Now, I can distinguish between different types of musk, vanilla, woods, florals, etc. I'm still learning, and found that I amp certain notes like honey, ginger, red musk, and teak (to name a few) so those notes tend to overwhelm anything else that may be in the blend. This is great when I love the notes but if we're talking about aquatics, vetiver or milk, it can be very bad.

 

Definitely train yourself on the scents with few notes, so you get used to what they smell like, and try everything. I like to test the scent and take notes before I look at the Lab description. I usually get frustrated and look up the notes right away and then I'm like "Oooh so THAT'S what I'm smelling".

Edited November 9, 2010 by mxtine

[meaganola]

Definitely train yourself on the scents with few notes, so you get used to what they smell like, and try everything. I like to test the scent and take notes before I look at the Lab description. I usually get frustrated and look up the notes right away and then I'm like "Oooh so THAT'S what I'm smelling".

 

This is why I have finally come to the realization that I need to stay the hell away from Chaos Theories. The frustration at trying to figure out what's in there just obliterates all enjoyment I might possibly get from the scent.

[Vega]

I asked for simple BPAL blends a while back; the replies may help you.