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The smell of hot tar in the summer after the rain

Posted by Robin on 26 December 2011 15 Comments

Horses. I do like the smell of hot tar in the summer after the rain. Church incense moves me very deeply. And old books. I am not adverse to lab smells, because going to visit my father was very glamorous to me. I saw scientists in white lab coats as heroes.

— Denyse Beaulieu, of the Grain de Musc blog and the upcoming book The Perfume Lover, on the non-perfume smells that turn her on. Read more at Scents and sensibility: The art of the perfumer at the Scotsman.

Filed Under: perfume in the news
Tagged With: denyse beaulieu

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15 Comments

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  1. LaMaroc says:
    26 December 2011 at 12:28 pm

    Hot tar in the summer – with or without rain – has always been a favorite smell of mine. And horses and hay and ripe cornfields. Ahhhh. 🙂

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    • Robin says:
      27 December 2011 at 8:45 am

      I loved the smell when I was a child, but seems like I never smell it now…have they changed the tar they put on the roads?

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  2. sugarplum says:
    26 December 2011 at 2:44 pm

    Yes hot tar! And a put-out cigar. And pencil shaving.

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    • Robin says:
      27 December 2011 at 8:45 am

      With you on the pencil shavings!

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  3. Bela says:
    26 December 2011 at 3:22 pm

    My first big post on MUA (nine years ago) was asking what non-perfume smells people liked: the answers were fascinating. It’s amazing what weird smells we find attractive.

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    • Robin says:
      27 December 2011 at 8:46 am

      You have a good memory! I know I used to love to start polls on MUA but for the life of me can’t remember any them.

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      • Bela says:
        27 December 2011 at 10:16 am

        You *always* remember your first big post on MUA. Especially when, being so new, you’re convinced no one else ever thought of asking that particular question. LOL! That’s the only poll I ever did, I think (apart from the Story with Perfume Names – which I should have patented).

        Btw, just realised I never wished you a Happy Christmas, R. I’m so sorry. Hope it was fun. 🙂

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        • Robin says:
          27 December 2011 at 3:54 pm

          And a belated happy Christmas to you too! I caught a cold at the last moment, so it was quiet but very nice. Almost back to normal now.

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  4. lise says:
    26 December 2011 at 3:26 pm

    Oooh, yes tar is lovely. And freshly grinded coffee. Cut grass. My little sons hair. And my my hubbys neck, when I can still smell that he spritzed L´Artisans Timbuktu on some hours earlier 🙂

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    • Robin says:
      27 December 2011 at 8:47 am

      Cut grass, yum.

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  5. AmyT says:
    26 December 2011 at 4:57 pm

    You can’t beat the smell of woodsmoke on a chilly day. I have a memory of the smell of used bookstores I used to visit with my dad – they smelled of aged paper and pipe tobacco. Bookstores just don’t smell that way anymore.

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    • Robin says:
      27 December 2011 at 8:47 am

      Used bookstore — yes, one of the best smells in the world! Most of my favorite used bookstores are gone now.

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  6. olenska says:
    26 December 2011 at 4:58 pm

    I’m eagerly looking forward to this book. (But couldn’t the phrase “scents and sensibility” be retired? It’s so overused.)

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    • Robin says:
      27 December 2011 at 8:44 am

      I laugh every time I see “Scents and Sensibility” — overused is an understatement!

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      • Bela says:
        27 December 2011 at 10:18 am

        You could say that again. I think I have an article dating from the early ’80s which bears that title (and it can’t have been the first even then).

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