Does anyone else find the smell of Lillies horribly overpowering?

[RJB73]

DH got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers for my birthday last week, a mix of roses, lillies and greenery.

We have had to move them from one room to the other because I am finding the stench of the Lillies just too much. I am in perimenopause and I do now seem to have an over sensitive sense of smell these days but the perfume from these flowers blows my head off and is leaving me with a raspy feeling in my throat. I am sadly going to have to remove the Lillies which is a shame.

Does anyone else feel this about Lillies?

The smell of lillies takes me back to my dads funeral when I was a teen and the house was filled with them. I hate it.
I also find hyacinths really overpowering. Most other flowers are fine though.

Nope! I love them so much I want my house and me to smell like them all the time.

Hate them both for cloying sickly smell and that the stamens are highly poisonous to cats and dogs as well as staining clothes and carpet as the pollen drops.
If I send flowers I always specify no lilies.

I hate the smell. They’re my mum’s favourite so my dad would buy them fairly often, but they give me a headache.

I like the smell but I do not have them in the house as I end up with a headache

its quite overpowering

I used to be Ok with lillies, although I didn't buy them due to my cats but if someone bought them for me I liked them (and cut the stamens off)
BUT about 4 or 5 years ago I started reacting to them quite badly with sneezing so I can't have them in the house any more.

Lillies are poisonous to cats.

I am allergic to perfume and though Lillie’s are overpowering and I’m not keen I do not have a reaction, so I guess it’s some preservative or synthesised chemical in bottled perfume.

Any allergies can become worse in peri menopause as your body is more crap at fighting stuff as your immune system is getting a bit knackered and under stress. According to my Dr. I became allergic to hair dye in menopause.

I don't like it because it gets overpowering very quickly. Some varieties are worse than others I think. Agree with the removing the stamen trick to help. I just don't have them in the house though. Pil used to buy them for me when they visited and ignored all hints (I've now grown a better backbone don't worry). When it turned out lilies sent DC2's hayfever absolutely bananas I can't say I was particularly sorry - at least the gifts of lilies stopped, and they would make sure and not have them in their house when we visited too. Thanks Sorry DC.

Another one who can't take lillies or daffodils. Not keen on hyacinth or stock either. I think they're just too heavy for me and they tip over into stinky cat-pee territory if they get too old.

I do love other flower scents, like roses, freesia, box, camellia and philadelphus. Daphne, jasmine and mock orange too. Gardenia my all-time favourite!!

They make me sneeze and my eyes sting. I don't have hayfever, it's a lily specific thing. We have a cat now so don't have lilies in the house any more

I was actually raised to think that lilies in the house are bad luck but now I'm wondering if that was just because of the smell!

Agree about lilies and hyacinths. Daffodils are ok, but better in the garden.

I rather like the smell though I agree it is strong. I like the extra sensory kick you get from a vase of lilies in the house, and in terms of structure and scale in a bouquet they are wonderful. I prefer the plain white ones rather than the pink.

Removing the stamens assists with dampening the fragrance and preventing staining. However I normally give them a day or so at full fragrance when they are fresh and sweet-smelling and not dropping pollen. It’s a very Diptique/ Jo Malone style of fragrance to me.

I hate the smell of Lillies. I think it’s so overpowering.

They give my mum horrendous migraine. Every year at this time, me, my siblings and our eldest children receive a strongly worded directive to exclude lilies from any mother's day bouquets.

Not that we ever would include them after years of reminding.

Mum's 81 and the most relaxed and loving parent and grandparent.

That she says anything at all, let alone several times a year (birthdays and Christmas also apply) is testament to how vehemently the fragrance affects her!

Her mum was the same.

I absolutely love a lilly though!

They are funeral flowers to me, look lovely but I can’t bear the cloying fragrance.

What perfume scent are people picking up because lillies stink like feet to me?

I think that’s when they get older

I am another that hates the smell of them and hyacinths .
But I don't like anything strong smelling , scented candles, plug in's, perfume and such like always make me sneeze and get itchy eyes .

Yup, especially Tiger Lilies, they make me want to throw up. Also Hyacinths and Chrysanths. I was given a bouquet by colleagues a while back and pretended to like it but when I took it home it got stuck in a bucket of water outside as it was mostly chrysanths.

Lol, I think that would just about kill me off.

Most people only use lillies at funerals, which means many find the smell reminds them of death and sadness. Not a flower I'd want in my house!

I have a headache from them, I've cut the stamens out but gave left them out in the garden for the time being.

I'm definitely reacting to a lot more things since being in peri. I can't wear any of my favourite perfumes anymore. I end up so nauseous.

That did used to be the case but I think it’s really a bit outdated now - my grandparents’ generation.