🕰️ Nostalgic Scents I Wish Existed in Bottles...

Sometimes I wish I could bottle certain scents from my past — not because they’re traditionally “beautiful,” but because they carry memories.

I'd collect them like time capsules.

Like the smell of freshly printed books and magazines — that mix of ink and paper that reminds me of school mornings and sticker collections.

Or the scent of home renovation: freshly painted doors and windows… and that unforgettable wallpaper glue we used during Soviet-era repairs — made from flour and water, warm, steamy, and strangely comforting.

The smell of freshly washed laundry drying outside in winter — crisp, cold, and tinged with soap.

None of these are “perfume-y” in the usual sense. But if I could have them, I would  to time-travel for a few minutes.

What nostalgic scents do you wish you could collect?

Lovely thread!

The scent of sitting in the audience, watching my brother, who was a ballet dancer, dance. I got beautyfull wafts of scent when sitting there. My brother told me it must have been the maquillage the dancers were wearing, devine smelling powders and such. It was wafted towards me with their every movement. I can smell it a bit in Infusion d'Iris (2015) Eau de Parfum but unfortunately I get noseblind to that lovely scent after one day of wearing. So still searching.

The scent of an art or office supply store for sure. L'Eau Papier isn't gonna cut it, I want to smell Pilot G-2s.

It's hard for me to judge what is or isn't "perfumey" or "traditionally beautiful", but...

Decaying leaf litter in autumn. That damp warm smell that you feel when you stick your face into the leaf pile. Wet soil smell in a broader sense. 

Mushrooms. Not truffles, but rather the normal everyday forest shrooms. I suppose they're technically also "earthy", but imo they have their own smell that's damp, juicy and green. It's faint and gentle compared to green scents usually used in perfumery, but it is rather distinct (and dear to my heart). Oh, and while we're on the topic of mushrooms, dried porcini. That pungent woody flavor is to die for. 

Horse sweat. No comment on that one. Cow dung. No comment on that one either. 

Overripe fallen fruit that's starting to ferment. Not the kind you forget in your fridge for two months until it starts to rot, but rather apples, apricots and various berries from the half-wild trees on the outskirts of towns and villages that wild critters feed on. 

The smell of galbi-jjim cooking (a traditional Korean dish).  My mother used to cook this for us when I was growing up and I miss the way she makes it. 

Freesias. But not the synthetic, cloying stuff that I've experienced in most fragrances with freesia notes. No, I want the real deal, a true soliflore, just like you find in nature.

Oh, I love the smell of real Freesias too!!!

The new shoe smell!! I remember getting new shoes as a kid and absolutely loving the smell of the inside of a shoe.