apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Sounds like clever marketing.

yup i agree jackie.. "in the library" eww who likes the smell of musty books? market one called, "grandmas house" smells like moth balls and musty fabric..

...or one just called "grandma." It smells like...um, naw, I'm not goin' there.

There are quite a few folks I know who love the smell of books. And you know, I'd certainly wouldn't mind the smell of my grandmother's home...the scents surrounding memories of family is always a welcome one.

It's actually impressive how on the mark some of these scents being concocted are these days. If you haven't checked out Demeter's fragrances, I'd highly recommend you give their products a sniff or two (you can often find them at Sephora). Paperback, Pipe Smoke and Angel Food are especially impressive.

On a related note, a friend sent me a perfume concocted to smell like the most intimate part of a woman as a gift. Let's just say it was amongst the most popular conversation pieces where everyone had an opinion....

I personally love the smell of old books, but I don't know that I'd want my home or my person to smell like them unless I really happened to have a collection.


(Then again, I'm imagining aged paper, worn leather, fireplace, and the slight smell of pipe tobacco...mhhh...)

There are a lot of scents I wish were much more available. Not necessarily as room fragrance or perfume. Just things I like the smell of. Scents that bring back memories.

Anyone remember dittos? The smell of a warm stack of dittos? That purple ink!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_duplicator

"The aroma of pages fresh off the Ditto machine was a memorable feature of school life for those who attended in the ditto machine era. A pop culture reference to this is to be found in the film Fast Times At Ridgemont High. At one point a teacher hands out a dittoed exam paper and every student in the class immediately lifts it to his or her nose and inhales."

I think if I'm ever disgustingly wealthy, I will buy a ditto machine and ditto every day.

"Who likes the smell of musty books?" Um, I do! Perhaps not as a room spray, though.

Oops, it wasn't ink. I never did know how dittos worked until I started reading the article.

Do they sell it anywhere? I can't imagine buying scent over the internet...

I think this is a keen tie-in to the post about what colors remind you of (some subset of years in your parent's or parents') home. I think it's somewhat scientifically satisfying that they're trying to recreate actual smells instead of variations of something sort of flowery, and moving on from the weird trend of dousing oneself in the aromas of baking, but experimentally, they could just come up with what smells like gasoline or stale tobacco in the draperies or dog crap on your tennis shoe. Some of these scents aren't that appealing really but it's interesting that they can make them.

Also, I thought those were mimeographs. What is the difference?

K T G:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicating_machines

The mimeo machine (mimeograph) used (heavy) waxed-paper "stencils" that the typewriter cut through. The stencil was wrapped around the drum of the (manual or electrical) machine, which forced ink out through the cut marks on the stencil. The paper had a surface texture (like bond paper), and the ink was black and odourless.

The ditto machine (spirit duplicator) used two-ply "spirit masters" or "ditto masters". The first sheet could be typed, drawn, or written upon. The second sheet was coated with a layer of colored wax. The pressure of writing or typing on the top sheet transferred colored wax to its back side, producing a mirror image of the desired marks. (This acted like a reverse of carbon paper.) The two sheets were then separated, and the first sheet was fastened onto the drum of the (manual or electrical) machine, with the waxed side out.

In The Library smells heady and warm kinda like Old Spice without the cringe factor. Like the sharp smell of old leather mixed with the sweet part of a book's page.

In The Kitchen smells just like Kiehl's Coriander to me.

Burning Leaves is amazing. It smells exactly like smoldering leaves and then mellows to a very sexy smoky and sweet scent. I think my little tester is almost empty.

M#1 Narcissus wasn't for me but a good friend of mine loved it. So she got a little treat.

The samples are totally affordable.

Last winter, I spent just under $100 trying out a bunch of different things. It was cool to read the story for each blend and then to imagine what they would smell like, agonize over what sample to order, wait for them to come and then have everybody I know try them out with me.

Really, until I saw him mentioned here, I felt like he was more of a storyteller or artist... not just a Room Spray maker.

Minpin, where did you get the testers???

The "nose" behind "I Hate Perfume", Christopher Brosius, is the same one who created the Demeter line.... his second line is even better, made with better quality ingredients.... He does custom scents too, so TRUEBLUE, the next time you come to Brooklyn, make an appointment with him, and he will try to custom make the scent of a ditto machine fore you.

Most of the testers are available online, others just in the store.

http://www.cbihateperfume.com/

Christopher Brosius is a scent artist, and there is next to marketing around his scents.

Grandma's House? No thanks. My grandma lived on a farm in Texas.

I second Demeter's scents. I've got Sugar Cookie and Laundry and love them. I gave away Brownie and I think Spice Cookie as gifts at Christmas. I have Playdoh on my wish list. Oh and I have Pruning Shears as well. It's definitely a more summer scent.

I did have to take back Ocean (I think). It smelled great at first, but after about 20 mins all I could smell was dead fish on my wrists. I was in the ladies room scrubbing at myself over dinner, took it back and exchanged it for Orange Juice (delicious).

For In the Library, my first thought was a school/community library, not a home library. I guess I'm not so posh ;) To me that meant yes, paper, but also that plastic they cover books with. Summers of reading voraciously and spending an hour in the stacks picking out the best books.

We lost our Sephora in this area, so I guess I'll just wait to get near a store and try these. I wish I could find a good coconut/suntain oil room spray. Any suggestions?

"eww who likes the smell of musty books"

Every librarian and book lover that I've ever met - which is loads!!!

Other scents I'd like to have...

Leather coat store scent. I worked at one in my youth, and came home reeking of leather, without a bit of leather on me.

Honey. A place DOES make honey scented room spray, which I found on clearance at Marshall's but the pamphlet said they were in Australia. And I haven't seen it since.

Feather/down pillow scent. I'm beginning to think I am allergic to feather pillows, but I can't help but to buy them, mostly for the scent.

Silk shirt scent, the nubby kind. I don't know if it's the silk itself or some chemical that is used to process those shirts, but they smell great and have almost a lanolin feel to them.

Lanolin/wool too. That has a nice scent, but can be a little "petsy" sometimes.

That70'sHeidi -- CBIHatePerfume has a great beach scent (with suntan lotion). If you ask, maybe he can make it into a room scent for you...

http://www.cbihateperfume.com/CB1966.html

http://nowsmellthis.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/7/28/2171830.html

I'm intrigued, but $40 for a room spray? I can't justify it to myself. My place isn't that stinky. :)

I would like the smell of summer, which to me is freshly mowed grass and sunshine. Or the smell of fresh sheets drying on a clothesline.

Hose sweat and horse breath are my favorite smells.

Hey, anybody else remember Maude's aroma machine in that dear movie "Harold and Maude"?

I actually ordered 2 scent samples from I Hate Perfume. One was called--I think--"Black March," and the other was "In the Summer Kitchen." I loved them both, and I would describe these scents as ones you actually wear for yourself, not for other sniffers of your person.

But here was the rub: I wanted to make an appointment in Brooklyn with Mr Brosius for the blending of a personal scent, but before that, I wanted to ask him why the 2 sample scents only lived on my skin for about a 10-minute max, hoping there was something about their bases, or whatever. Mr. Brosius was not inclined to respond to my emails. Oh, well then--pffft, Mr. Brosius! (Fair or unfair, I developed the feeling I was trying to deal with a prima donna.)

Dang, not hose sweat, yuck, I meant to type horse sweat.

Kate, I don't even want to try to picture in my head how you go about obtaining a horse's hose sweat... ;)

I have samples of Winter 1972 and Burning Leaves and they both smell amazing. But yeah, they don't last long on the skin (a common complaint with the Demeter fragrances too).

As long as we are talking about unusual scents, I think Mandy Aftel of Aftelier perfumes (expensive!) is worth a mention, she only works with natural fragrances, which don't last that long on the skin, but, hey, they are natural! I somehow doubt these room sprays are natural, they might be more expensive if they were. Also, TRUEBLUE, there is a honey absolute that you can buy from Eden Botanicals...
http://www.edenbotanicals.com/essentials1.html

maybe I'm just not as cool as the rest of you, but I can't see the sample sizes on the website.

I have two of the beachy scents. We give a light spritz to our sheets and it is like an instant sea-side getaway. I love these.

the oil based versions of these scents last longer than the water based

roseslaw:

http://www.cbihateperfume.com/CBjustbreathe.html

It's the 2ml for $12.