How to improve your sense of smell with The Perfume Society

I’ve always been a bit of a closet perfume hoarder and am not averse to chasing someone down the street to ask which fragrance they are wearing that I caught a quick whiff of as they sashayed past me. What I’m not so clever at is working out why I like certain scents and detest others, as well as which other perfumes might be worth checking out that are similar in character to the ones I love. So when The Perfume Society hosted a workshop on how to improve your sense of smell I hot-footed it over to founder Jo Fairley’s gorgeous home on the Sussex Coast for an afternoon of sensory schooling.

I discovered The Perfume Society last year and have been receiving glorious little boxes of fragrances to try with their VIP subscription service. You may well have seen our fab giveaway with them just before Christmas too! The workshop was my first opportunity to meet other subscribers and discover their stories and passions for all things perfume.

Of course, a workshop is not a workshop without a galvanizing cuppa and a delicious biccie or two to set you up for the task ahead.

So after the first ten minutes of coveting Jo’s gorgeous collection of vintage crockery, it was on to the business at hand of honing one’s hooter. Working through a series of scents we were asked to test our senses by smelling various blotters and coming up with descriptions which meant a little more than the norm. So instead of rose, or sandalwood or some such bog standard label, the super creative noses in the room came up with associations like walking through summer fields, a warm embrace from their mother, or even their granny’s dressing table. I came up with golf clubs…!

Jo advised that the key to kicking your senses back into action is all about a ‘daily workout’. If you practice analyzing what you can smell from different scents every day for 3 weeks you will be well on your way to nailing the skill. It’s this repetitive action which will help you strengthen your sense of smell in the long run.

This was a super fun workshop and well worth taking time out on a Saturday afternoon. For more on The Perfume Society and their fab VIP Subscriptions take a peek at their website here. I’m off to douse a few blotters with some scents for my homework… just wondering if I’ll still be smelling golf clubs by the end of it…?