What turns you on? More to the point: what (if any) smells turn you on? Have you ever stopped to think about it? I remember being in high school and catching a whiff of a certain person's soap/aftershave and all of my senses going ba-ZING! That's pretty normal, though, digging the smell of a perfume. What about other scents? For instance, I go nuts when I walk into a Home Depot or other hardware-type store. The smell of building supplies sends me over the edge. Stop laughing, I have NO explanation for it! All I can figure is that I was some sort of carpenter in a past life. Or maybe a termite...
Let's see...what else? Um, garlic, rosemary, clean-cut grass...Oh, here's an odd one: The other day I was at the park and as I was walking around with Ems I suddenly caught a waft of an incredibly familiar scent. All of a sudden I was transported back to 9th grade when I used to sit outside at lunch and talk to (okay flirt with) my current crush. I started smiling and my face got flushed thinking about the adolescent rush that I'd get around that boy. I looked around for the origin of the sweet smell that was sparking my memory. It was a shrub (a shrubbery!) that was blooming all over with tiny white flowers. I walked out of the park all giddy with my head full of happy times. (By the way, that boy has turned out to be quite a looker, so obviously I had excellent taste, even at age 14.)
So come on, spill it. What smells get your motor revvin'? Tell me the normal ones AND the weird ones. Hey, I admitted to Home Depot, okay?
The scent of gardenias drives me crazy. To the best of my knowledge, I've never been around many gardenias, nor have I known anyone who wore gardenia perfume. Nevertheless, the scent of gardenias definitely give me that "ba-ZING!" vibe.
As for the weirder scents, I have to admit an inexplicable fondness for the stuffy, chlorinated smell of an indoor pool. No idea why.
Posted by: Jess | January 09, 2007 at 02:20 PM
Indoor pool, huh? Awesome. :D
Posted by: Fuzzball | January 09, 2007 at 02:23 PM
I assume this is a "normal" one but it was new (or unusual) for me. The Hubs' neck. I have always been a sucker for soap smelling, cologne smelling men but when I got a whiff of the Hubs's neck (sans any fragrance!!!), I about lost my shit. I don't know what it is (pheromone?) but I've never experienced anything like it with previous boyfriends.
Tuscany (men's cologne) makes me a tad weak in the knees.
Bath and Body Works ~ Woodland scent.
As far as everyday scents that make me feel warm and fuzzy (not necessarily "revvin" though) are: Vanilla, black licorice, garlic.
Posted by: Suzie | January 09, 2007 at 02:26 PM
giggle...i don't know why..but I love the smell of fresh dirt! oh..and fresh rain..
Posted by: andrena | January 09, 2007 at 06:18 PM
Not aphrodisiacs, as the subject line says, but yeah there are certain scents that ping a spot in my brain. Including some already listed above. The scent of rain. And humus. Asphalt after a rain. Leather. Swimming pool. The way the air smells in the fall when a cool front moves in. Rosemary (smells like chicken to my husband cause that's what I use the seasoning for a lot). Tomato plants, the way the leaves smell. Talisker, single malt scotch---the scent of it just transports me. I can pour some and spend the whole evening just smelling it. I first tasted it in Scotland. I think a lot of scents I like are associated with happy memories, many going back to childhood. (Why I love the scent of leather however is unaccountable.) I read somewhere that people remember scents better than things taken in by other senses. I also heard a news report some years ago that researchers had proven that the scents of chocolate and coffee lights up pleasure centers in the brain. Which explains why my husband who doesn't like coffee, nevertheless likes the scent of it. ;-)
Good topic...and I know I didn't do it justice because right now I can't think of a long-forgotten scent that has hit me out of the blue...but I've had those moments when I caught a whiff of something and was catapulted to another time and place. :-)
Posted by: Gymshoes | January 10, 2007 at 08:28 AM
i love to walk by a laundromat on a crisp cool day. it makes me feel 14 and carefree. even tho i wasnt carefree when i was 14. but whatever!
Posted by: minnie | January 22, 2007 at 06:45 PM