Scent Free Day?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

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Portia

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Hi there APJ,

Sometimes my nose needs a rest. I am not quite sure why. Today I woke up and usually before I grab the dogs to feed & walk them I scent myself so I can enjoy the fragrance as I wander with the boys. It’s usually around 10am and the day is warming up nicely, this summer it’s already been quite hot by the time I get home so I really feel I’ve put the scent through its paces. 30-40 minutes after spritzing I’m well into the heart of the fragrance, in some cases even the dry down already.

Scent Free Day?

Anyway, today I walked into my fragrance room and my body just said no. So I walked back out again with only the merest traces of last nights fragrance on my T-Shirt. I quite liked having my nose open to smelling the various eucalyptus, cars, coffee and toast at the local cafe, the mown yesterday grass in the park and the myriad other scent snippets of a half hour wander around the neighbourhood.

There are other times I don’t like to be scented. Some illnesses, in very enclosed spaces, meeting potential employers for the first time. I do have a little Meeting New Employers Hack though. I always have a softly scented hand cream with me and apply a very smell amount before going in. Int means my hands feel nice and leave a fresh, clean scent on their hands when we shake. You’ll notice people touch their face almost directly after shaking hands, unconsciously they are reading your hand scent.

By now though I have given myself a spritz. Ballets Rouges by Olympic Orchids to fit with Lucasz at Chemist In A Bottle‘s rose month. MMMMMM

So, my question to you all today is “When do you need a Scent Free Day?”. Are there specific moments or periods in your life when being scented feels wrong? Is there a friend or colleague that prefers you go unscented? Or are you a give me 10 spritzes no matter what kind of person?
Portia xxx

 

31 thoughts on “Scent Free Day?”

  1. I have a very dear friend who suffers from severe asthma and is very sensitive to perfume so I don’t wear scent when we’re together. There’s also some doctor visits, haircuts and illness when I keep scent free or I’ll wear just a dab of something on my chest.

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    • Yeah, I hear you Gina.
      Though while I was really sick on the cruise my Miss Dior vintage parfum kept me sane.
      Portia xx

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  3. Oh, I agree, there are some days I just don’t feel like wearing any fragrance. So I just don’t. 🙂 There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to the occasion.

    Sometimes if outside is particularly fragrant – a honeysuckle bloom day, or a dry crunchy fallen leaf day, scent on me seems superfluous and even distracting.

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    • Hey Mals86,
      Yeah, it’s murraya time here in Sydney. walking the dogs through streets littered with fallen flowers is a wonderland scent wise. It’s interesting how many gardens are planted for fragrance around here.
      Portia xx

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    • Ha Ha Ha ClaudiaS,
      I can just imagine. Such a great visual.
      Do you wear dabs of extrait to school? I’m thinking that the lack of throw might mean you could have your own smell scent bubble.
      Portia xx

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  5. Lovely question Portia. You would think that over indulgence would put one off scent but funnily enough, when I was hungover I actually used to crave certain scents as if they would cure me. Eau de Cartier was my favourite “purity” scent.

    When I volunteer at my son’s school I try and go scent free as the heating is always up very high in their school. Likewise in the cinema and theatre, I’m scent free or very lightly scented (nobody could be offended by one spray of L’Air du Temps in the cleavage, right?)

    The one period of my life when I went scent free for over a year was when my children were born. They needed to smell me and nothing else. I even wore unscented deosorant.

    I do love the smell of the world around me, though, and I love your descripttion of coffee and eucalyptus.

    love from Wales
    Sam xxx

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    • Hey Sam,
      Great to see you.
      Yeah, I have never thought about children needing to scent bond with their mums. THAT is a really interesting theory. I bet you could get a scientific grant to study that if you were in the field.
      Portia xx

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  6. If I’m going to be working with or visiting people I know are sensitive to fragrance then I’d be thinking twice about applying something. I agree job interviews are to be treated with caution as well.

    Sometimes when I’m sick – depending on what the symptoms are – perfume is only going to make me feel worse (looking at *you* nasty gastro bugs).

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  7. Thank you Portia for bringing this up. I have at least one unscented day per week, usually following a run of scrubber samples and I can’t even… or just to give my nose a “re-set” if you will. Sometimes I’m just too lazy to open the cupboards and make the choice. But I do think that the occasional frag-free day is necessary and needed.
    Xoxo

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  8. Headache or head cold days are the closest I get to “no scent” days. I wear light, fresh scents if I know I’m going to be in close quarters – meetings, workshops, church (usually). I just don’t feel dressed if I’m unscented though…

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  9. I also like to use scented hand cream in the work place. I have a lavender lotion that gets lots of compliments and smiles because it is gently aromatic with a bit of citrus.

    Agree that giving the nose a day or longer to re-set is wonderful. Fragrance is so much more delicious after a missing it for a time.

    I go scent-free when I walk the trails at a nearby suburban nature center. There are eucalyptus and pines, lakes and streams, flowers and wild herbs growing. I can smell all of it as I breathe deeply.

    Also avoid fragrance when illness, headache, or extreme emotional upset strikes. Those are the times there is no brain space for anything extra.

    This is interesting to ponder. Thank you, Portia, you make the world more beautiful and fragrant.

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    • Hey Tiffanie,
      Wandering unscented is surprisingly lovely. I did it again today because we had a little rain and I love the way the world smells when it’s damp.
      Ahh, you know the right things to say to bring a big smile to me face.
      Portia xx

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  10. Personally, I don’t need perfumes only when I’m seriously sick. But socially there are situations, in which I seriously limit the intensity of perfumes I wear:
    – I’m trying to be very moderate when I wear perfume to the office
    – For wine tasting I dab a tiny amount of something on the wrist of my non-dominant hand
    – Planes, concerts, doctor visits and other similar occasions translate into very conservative application (dabbing or a single spritz somewhere under my clothes.

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    • Hey Undina,
      I never even thought about how fragrance would affect wine tasting before. What an interesting idea.
      A single spritz under clothes can be just enough to get me through too.
      Portia xx

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  11. Yes good question Portia! The only times I gave up fragrance were when my kids were babies and when my father died, only for a short period one was happy one was sad…

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  12. I usually don’t need a scent free day but I noticed when I’m really stressed out and in a hurry, I tend to forget to put any on. Luckily that doesn’t happen often. 😉

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    • Yeah, stress can easily lead me to forgetfulness in every area of my life. I have so little of it Ines that when it comes I freak.
      Portia xx

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  13. I would tend to forgo wearing a fragrance if I was going for a long drive with somebody else. Can’t think of many other occasions when I’d go without.

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    • Aha Greg,
      So Jin will give extra spritzes of frags when we are driving so I get to smell how beautifully he wears my faves. Sometimes the air is so thick with Mona di Orio Oud that I have to open the window.
      Portia xx

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  14. Portia, I don’t ever want a scent free day not even when I am at home doing ‘nothing’, however I will tell you what makes my heart sink. It’s when I go out and forget to put on a scent and I feel so naked! For this reason, I have an emergency bottle in the car for those instances, any scent is better than none. I include a standby vial inside my handbag pocket, but of course it does not help should I switch bags on certain days.

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    • Hey Hage,
      I too have emergency bottle in my car and two rollerballs in my Trivia Q&A pack. just in case.
      Portia xx

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  15. I’m always wearing perfume. Sometimes I get carried away by my work in the morning, but as soon as I remember it I apply my perfume. As Hage said above, I feel naked without it. I took perfume even to the hospital where I had my operation last year.

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  16. I don’t wear scent on headache or dodgy stomach days. I also don’t wear any scent when I go bike riding or hiking because I prefer to smell the natural odours in the air around me. A few years ago I had a really bad rheumatic episode which left me bedridden for 3 weeks and the only thing I could bear was Tom Ford Musk Pure, and I am not normally a white musk person. It was so odd. I don’t think I’ve worn it since. When I want to go stealth it’s just a bit of scented lotion.

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