You can’t smell small differences between fragrance samples when you smell or your clothes smell. My wife has a list of approved [laundry] products that we use at home, and a list of products she should never buy. It doesn’t have to have a totally sterile environment because you do get used to the way you smell and you can ignore it, but you can’t have anything that’s too strong.
— Master Perfumer Steve Nicoll of International Flavors & Fragrances talks to The Wall Street Journal about his job. Read more at Smell of Success: What It Takes to Be a Top Perfumer. Note that Mr. Nicoll works in consumer fragrance; when he was promoted to Master Perfumer last year along with Francisco Marano, IFF noted "As perfumers for consumer fragrances, you won’t see Francisco’s or Steve’s name in fragrance blogs or on the bottles containing their creations, but what they make becomes part of your personal olfactive tapestry.”
I can’t stand scented fabric softener, but that’s the one my boyfriend always chooses. I try to be the one who buys it most often so I get my way.
I wish Mr. Nicoll would publish his list for me.
They don’t promote many people to Master Perfumer, so I’d love to see his list too! He must be very good at what he does.
I’m with you on strong scents for laundry. My hubby bought some in-wash scent boost product which he used on the towels and bed sheets when he did the laundry. Not that I want to discourage him from doing laundry but the fragrance almost choked me out! And he didn’t say anything about it, almost as though he liked it!
That stuff may accidentally get thrown out when I’m cleaning up the laundry room.😉
I can barely walk down the laundry aisle at the store without getting a headache! I’ve started using wool dryer balls instead of fabric softener.
So glad I actually have a choice in fragrance/perfume free laundry products in my local small supermarket. Because I dislike most scents they put in that stuff.
The article seems to be for subscribers only, which is too bad as it sounds interesting. 🙁
I know realize they have to make a living, and I do subscribe to two other publications. I like how the Guardian gives you a conscience-salving option to make a small (or large, of course) donation if you aren’t able to subscribe.
I am not a subscriber and I read it, so that’s weird!
It was the same thing for me, nozknoz. I’ve had this issue before with WSJ links.
I couldn’t read the article either. I suspect that the WSJ doesn’t like the Internet browser I use. It might also have issues with VPN.