Why We Love Some Smells and Dislike Others

Whether we like a smell depends mostly on what we have learned to connect it with. Smells met in happy, comforting or delicious moments tend to become pleasant to us; smells met with illness, fear or disgust tend to become unpleasant. Culture shapes which smells we meet, and in what setting. On top of that, people differ in their genes, so some can smell a molecule that others cannot, and the strength of a smell and the words attached to it change how it is judged. That is why perfume is so personal, and why a list of notes or a friend’s recommendation can only take you part of the way.

Learned, mostly

Very young children react to some smells, but most of our likes and dislikes are learned through experience. The smell of a particular soap, a hospital corridor, a garden after rain or a relative’s kitchen takes on the feeling of the moments it belongs to. Because a smell tends to stay tied to the first setting we met it in, these associations can last a lifetime. See Why Smells Trigger Memories.

This is also why the same perfume can be "my grandmother’s perfume" to one person — comforting or old-fashioned, depending on the grandmother — and simply a beautiful rose to another.

Culture decides what is familiar

What counts as a pleasant, everyday smell differs from place to place. Wintergreen, for example, is a sweet candy and chewing-gum flavour to many Americans, while to many people in Britain it smells first of muscle rub. Oud and rose are part of daily life and hospitality across much of the Middle East, while in some other places they read as exotic or intense. See Perfume Culture in the Middle East.

Even the idea of a "clean" smell is learned, largely from the soaps and laundry products of a time and place; see What Does "Clean" Mean in Perfume?.

Genes: we do not all smell the same thing

People carry different versions of the genes for smell receptors. As a result:

some people cannot smell certain molecules at all, or only faintly — certain musks are a well-known example; see What Is Musk in Perfume?;
some molecules smell quite different from one person to the next — androstenone can seem unpleasant, sweet or odourless;
some people find that coriander leaf tastes of soap, a difference partly linked to genes.

Behind many arguments about a perfume is a simple fact: the people arguing are not receiving quite the same signal. See How Does Smell Work?.

When two people disagree about a perfume, they may not be smelling the same thing.

Strength changes the verdict

Many materials smell lovely in a trace and harsh in excess. Indoles give jasmine its warm, heady depth, but in quantity smell animal or even unpleasant; see Jasmine in Perfume. The same is true of perfume as a whole: a scent you love at arm’s length can become oppressive in a closed room. That is part of why how much you apply matters as much as what you wear.

Words and context change it too

What we are told about a smell changes how we experience it. In a well-known experiment, people rated the same smell as more pleasant when it was labelled "cheddar cheese" than when it was labelled "body odour", and their brain activity followed the label. Perfume works within the same effect: a name, a bottle, a description or the place you first smell something all colour your first reaction.

Your own state matters as well. Food smells are more appealing when you are hungry; a heavy perfume can feel wrong on a hot afternoon and right on a cold evening — see Choosing Perfume for the Season.

Acquired tastes

Repeated, unhurried exposure can turn a strange smell into a favourite. Patchouli, oud, leather and smoky notes are often disliked at first and loved later. Many perfume lovers find that the scents they wear most today are ones they rejected years ago. See Patchouli in Perfume and Leather Fragrances.

What this means for choosing perfume

Notes are only a guide. A list cannot tell you what your memory will make of them. Smell for yourself.
Test on your own skin, over hours. See How to Test a Perfume Before You Buy It.
Find your family, then explore within it. See Fragrance Families Explained.
Be careful choosing for others. Their associations are not yours; see How to Choose Perfume as a Gift.
Revisit what you disliked. A sample tried again a year later may surprise you.

Common questions

Why do I like a perfume my friend hates?

You bring different memories to it, you may be sensitive to different molecules in it, and it may even smell different on your skin. All three are normal.

Can you learn to like a smell?

Often, yes. Repeated, relaxed exposure can make an unfamiliar smell pleasant, which is why many people come to love materials they first found strange.

Are some smells liked by everyone?

Fewer than you might think. Some smells are widely liked within a culture, but likes and dislikes vary a great deal between people and places.

Sources

Ivan E. T. de Araujo, Edmund T. Rolls and colleagues, "Cognitive modulation of olfactory processing", Neuron 46 (2005), pages 671–679 — the "cheddar cheese" and "body odour" labels.