Naming Scents: The Ambiguous Nature of Describing Smell

It is really difficult to name smells without just saying the thing that produces a smell. We don’t really have words for smells specifically. A floral scent is called that because it smells like flowers, “floral” is not its own word specifically for the scent. This becomes especially apparent when reading the names of candles and perfumes. For example, I own a perfume named “Velvet Moon”. That name has nothing to do with what it smells like, and yet I personally think it is aptly named. The perfume smells like cardamom, mahogany, beeswax, and black pepper. Is that what the moon or velvet smells like? Almost certainly not. But the words used to describe the scent have given me the association between those scents, velvet, and the moon. This is also true when the name of a scent doesn’t match what mid tells you something should smell like. There is a Yankee candle called “By the Pool” that is amber and coconut scented. That notably is not what pools smell like, so while the scent itself may be fine, the connection I make between pools and smell not lining up with the name of the candle makes it feel wrong to me.

I believe this is part of what allows us to form connections with smells. A smell never really reminds you of another scent, like a picture of the ocean might remind you of a cruise you went on. Instead a scent reminds you of an experience. The smell of the ocean might remind you of the cruise. Memories of smells always connect back to an experience, and this is what makes smell so powerful when trying to create specific emotions.