Which smells do you like that are NOT perfumes?

* Freshly brewed coffee

* Rain on asphalt

* Haystack

* Horse stable

* Sundrenched beach

* Furry kitten

Line dried sheets and clothes
That wet dirt smell you get on a hot day right before a big rainstorm.
I also like the smell of kerosene and gasoline (yeah...I know it's weird).
That fatty clean smell of a bar of unscented soap.

I used to love walking into a shoe repair shop as a kid. The smell of that glue was awesome !!! You won't find those small mom and pop retailers anymore.

My favorite smell was my grandmothers house. She was off the boat from Italy and there never was a time she wasn't cooking something. Wafting through her house was an ever present aroma of sausage, meatballs, garlic and peppers slow cooking in sauce.

I spent time with her in her kitchen while she cooked and it's more than a coincidence that I'm a chef today.

When I was a kid on the farm, I used to fill up my tractor with diesel, or fill up the cars with petrol. I loved the smell, I used to put my face down to get a whiff of the petrol (preferred this over diesel, but I would sniff them both happily) as it was going in. I didn't know then that it was dangerous, I just liked smelling it. I don't think it got me high, it was just the smell of it. I used to offer to fill up my parents' cars, so I could smell the petrol I look back in disbelief. I would only have been 10 or 12. Yeah, farm kids start young.

Our kelpie (sheepdog) had a favourite smell too. If he could find a dead and rotting sheep, he would roll over and over in it, in ecstacy.

- Old paper (I always think "This is what time smells like.")

- Freshly ground coffee (and the brew as well)

- Celery

- The air in tea boutiques, flower shops and vegetable/fruit groceries

- Freshly printed books (even though that is a very chemical smell I love it nonetheless)

- Spices such as cinnamon, vanilla, pepper and curry powder

- Herbs such as dill, parsley, basil and oregano

- Red cabbage and Sauerkraut (makes me hungry in a second !)

- Certain plastic curlers (kind of a sweet smell, I think)

- Summer rain (or, that is, wet stone material)

- Canola flowers, roses and chestnut flowers

- Leather (I like sniffing at my leather bags)

- Freshly cut wood (nice moments in DIY-stores)

- Pineapples, peaches and strawberries smell wonderful when they have reached perfection

Automotive paint
Hydraulic fluid
Compost
Gasoline
Soul Food

Witch Hazel

Roasted Sesame seeds

Buttery things baking in the oven

Malbec and Zinfadel

The furry spot on a dogs head right between their ears

Cilantro, Thyme, Rosemary

Roasted Garlic

Oak Barrels

Ink

Undeveloped Film

Goats (neutered)

Aged Soft Camembert

Mahogany, cinnamon and pecan wood

Thai Ice tea & Lapsang Souchong Tea

Oatmeal cooking

I can totally relate to that!

Also:

- Puppy breath
- My dog's smelly feet (corn chips!) and ears (a sharp, almost floral scent)
Ok, enough of the dog talk.

- Babies
- Old books
- Clean, pressed bed linens fresh out of their lavender-scented drawer
- Armagnac, Calvados and Aged Rum
- The Sea
- Pine forest in the summer
- Leather jacket
- Mowed grass
- Baked yams, especially on a chilly day when their aroma travels for miles
- Roasted chestnuts
- Rain falling on a hot dusty road
- Fresh dirt

and lots more

Spicy Spaghetti sauce stewing on the stove
Spicy Chinese Food
Roasting or Grilling Meat
Dill Pickles
Gyokuro Green Tea
Mochigashi (Japanese Sweets)
Fresh squeezed Raspberry Lemonade
Pine Forest after a rain
Grove of freshly blooming orange trees
Inside of a Flower Shop
Fresh Cut Ginger
Hot Sugared Black Tea
Sea Breeze
Fine Tobacco Shop
Rosewood, Mahogany, Cedar, Sandalwood
Kyara Agarwood
Ripe Fresh Fruit
Garlic Mashed Potatos
My cat's furry head

geranium leaves

tomato leaves

moist, decaying leaves

the first few minutes of a summer thunderstorm right as the rain is hitting the hot sidewalk

fresh horse and cow manure

potter's clay and slip

shoe polish in a can

gear oil (in small amounts)

skunk (in very small amounts)

freshly cut grass, hay

overripe cantaloupe and bananas

black walnuts

old books

strong-flavored vegetables as they cook (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, spinach)

the inside of old leather purses

the inside of a silverware chest

lumberyards

fabric stores
and so many more

I entered a specialty wine shop and was struck by the obvious cellar smell, but they were also burning a fig type candle and there was a large flower arrangement on a central table. Quite delicious.

Rain
Autumn (I suppose it's the decomposing leaves I'm smelling.)
Freshly cut grass
Clean cats
Nail varnish remover
Toast
Petrol
Cake

Freshly baked cinnamon rolls, candles, clean laundry, the smell of my husband when he's fresh from the shower, all my soaps and body washes, fresh rain and damp soil, campfires and BBQs, toasting marshmallows, and babies.