Interesting article in the New York Times last week: The Sweet Smell of ... Nothing

I used to like perfumes. My mom and dad were of a generation that used colognes and perfumes quite a bit, and dad would always try to get me to test out a new one at the department store counter. ("Daaaad! No! Don't spray that on meeeee!") I was extremely picky and only liked soft, powdery scents or those with just a hint of spice. I hated the overwhelming in-your-face types of scents even then. Unfortunately that seemed to be what typically lined those department store counters. Even so, I had a few favorites and kept several bottles of perfume around.

My interest in perfumes took a nose dive when I developed seasonal allergies, about a decade and a half ago. All of a sudden, some of my favorite perfumes gave me staggeringly painful headaches and I had to give them up. I actually resisted, keeping a few of the culprits around for a while until it was just too apparent that they made me sick. Still, even today I have a few tiny bottles lining a small cupboard as decoration, and a handful of bottles in a drawer that are probably older than the World Wide Web.

As I used scented products less I was able to pick out subtler fragrances more easily. The unfortunate side effect being that the strength of a typical perfume absolutely overwhelmed me. Increasingly, scented candles became overwhelming and now I can't even open some fashion magazines because of the overwhelmingly strong scents that waft from them.

It's never bothered my husband that I don't wear traditional perfumes. In fact, I think he'd be just as happy as I would be if I touched a little vanilla extract behind my ears. I suspect he'd like the scent of apple-wood smoked bacon even better, but I'm not about to dab that on my pulse points.

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