You don’t need to identify every ingredient in a candle to enjoy its scent. The mystery of unidentifiable accords can add to the magic. However, natural curiosity often makes us want to pinpoint which scents are tickling our nose—is it jasmine, vetiver, musk? Knowing and memorising these scents helps us make the right choices in the future when picking up candle jars and breathing in the aromas.
Our sense of smell is trainable. Our noses are the tools, but it’s our brains that connect and learn. Scents and odours profoundly affect our perceptions, memories, and even judgments. We often encounter scents beyond our control, like the uninviting smell of rubbish on the street or the delightful aroma of freshly popped buttery popcorn at the cinema. But what if we could train our noses to pick out scents intentionally? What if we could identify fragrance notes in a glass of wine (an impressive dinner party trick), or discern the notes while shopping for home fragrances or perfumes?
Humans love routine and familiarity. When we find a scent we like, we tend to stick with it, sometimes fearing the change of trying something new. What if this new candle doesn’t bring the same joy as the one we’ve been buying every Christmas for the past ten years? By training your nose, you open up a world of new fragrances and gain confidence in trying new scents because your nose will recognise the fragrance notes you prefer.
Understanding the Smell Cycle
To appreciate how busy your nose and brain are every day, let’s talk about the Smell Cycle. From the initial whiff, odours enter our nose and trigger chemical receptors. Electrical signals travel to the olfactory bulbs in our brains, where clusters of nerves called glomeruli process the smell’s signal. Odours then take a direct route to the limbic system, including the amygdala and hippocampus—regions related to emotion and memory. This is why there’s a strong tie between fragrance, memory, and emotions.
Train Your Nose: Tips and Techniques
Ready to embark on a fragrant journey? Here are our top tips for training your nose:
1. Start Simple
Begin by guessing the smells of raw materials like vanilla, rose, and fruits. Smell them individually, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and retain their scents. Top Tip: Associate these fragrances with specific memories and feelings to help memorise them.
2. Use Every Occasion
Incorporate olfactory training into everyday moments. Smell your food before eating, breathe in the aromas of your hot chocolate before sipping, and sniff individual flowers at the garden center. When tending your herb garden, try to identify the individual scents of each herb.
3. Personal Preferences Matter
Everyone perceives scents differently. One person may love the smell of cinnamon, while another might find it nauseating. Your sense of smell is as unique as your fingerprints. Trust your own tastes rather than getting fixated on the precise breakdown of fragrance recipes.
4. Reset Your Nose
When testing out scents, remember to “reset” your nose after each sniff to avoid olfactory fatigue. Top Tip: Smell your elbow to reset your senses, a trick perfumers often use.
5. Be Patient and Adventurous
Fragrance requires patience. Wait through all its twists and turns, as it may take hours for a new scent to fully reveal its many facets. Be adventurous and playful with fragrances.
You don’t need to be a perfumer to perfect your sense of smell and identify the variations of notes and ingredients in a fragrance. A world of scent is just waiting for you if you open your nostrils.
Happy smelling!
