Smells of yesteryear.....

[Linenspots]

My most prominent ones are:

The delicious smell of the bottle of Coppertone that Mum used to plaster us in for our annual holiday at one of the many Pontin's sites. Does anyone else remember Coppertone?

I also have really vivid memories of the smell of the turkey cooking at the crack of dawn on Christmas Day, right after we opened our presents, and being excited for the arrival of various family members. Am I imagining it, or does the aroma of turkey cooking these days not seem as strong as I remember?

Mum's perfumes - for best, she wore Estee Lauder's Youth Dew or White Linen (although she always called it Dirty Sheets). For everyday, it was Coty L'Aimant. My first bottle of perfume was Smitty...I felt so grown up!

Those smells...treasured memories.

For me it's lavender. My nan used to hang sachets of it in wardrobes.

There was a particular suntan oil (no spfs in the 60s/70s!) which I still remember fondly.

Also pink windolene - though I think it might still exist.

My mum pickling onions was extreme but I still think about it.

From slightly more recent times (80s) Vidal Sassoon shampoo. Smelt like marzipan. Still sold in Japan so you can buy it on ebay occasionally but at £50 a bottle it is too expensive for me.

School dinners- slightly overboiled veg and stewed meats. Sometimes get a waft of it walking by a local care home!

My dad used to paint the fence with creosote, not something you smell anymore

Also those little fruity body shop soaps.

The strong smell of roses from my grandma's garden in the 70's. Roses just dont seem.to smell these days. On the odd occasion I do smell roses I get very nostalgic.

A friend used to drench herself in Youth Dew - I still shudder to think of it.

For ages I associated lavender only with old ladies, since a GM always used lavender water. I like it now, though.

Going back a very long way, I used to love the smell of pipe tobacco!

Just remembered in pre photocopier days schools used to have a lower tech machine of some sort which printed in purple and the ink smelt gorgeous.

A lot of modern roses sadly lack scent.
Try older varieties. David Austin or Peter Beale online stock many old roses and the scents are fabulous.

Pears Soap. The amber coloured one. It instantly takes me back.

I had to use deep heat recently and it just took me back to sitting on my dad's knee cuddling. He was always lathered in the stuff and it made me feel very nostalgic and how much I miss him.

Oil of Ulay / Olay lotion.

My Nan used to use it liberally on her body, mainly her legs. I love the smell of it and if I smell it now, it takes me back. I don't think the smell is 'as' powerful these days though.

Swarfega, creosote and cigars - mmmm

Funfairs. The diesel, greasy burgers and onions, sugar from the candy floss being twirled and doughnuts.

I wouldn’t go to a funfair now. I don’t know why but they seem sinister to me now. But remembering those smells makes me smile. It’s odd really as in any other situation those smells would be quite unpleasant

I’m with the PP who mentioned creosote. I also loved the smell of four star petrol. On the garage forecourt rather than belching out of the exhausts!

Studiolines hair products from the 80s

This and creosote were the first smells that came to mind from my youth

Yes to Coppertone and the purple ink from the “duplicator “ machine !
Also Calamine lotion lathered on sunburn.

Two smells will be for ever associated with my late Mum - in her later years it was TCP ( still available, should you want it ! ) which was her cure-all for every ailment .
But in my childhood , it was the tiny blue bottle of Soir de Paris perfume dabbed on her wrists and behind her ears , strictly for special occasions. 🥲

Oh and pink germolene on knee grazes!

The smell of hot tar in a bucket. I remember as a child the roads were always being repaired and loved the smell of hot tar

Pipe smoke. Rarely smell it now but it takes me straight back to my childhood holidays at my grandparents house. Such happy times.

Lavender
Any Yardley smell
Tweed perfume, which my mum had for years
Chips frying in lard
The smell of the yellow plastic wrapper on a bottle of Lucozade
Plasticine

Good:

Plasticine
New school plimsolls
My grandad’s coal tar soap
Calamine lotion
The Kay’s catalogue
Laundrettes
School/nursery sand
Charlie perfume
Germolene
Body Shop Morello Cherry lip balm
Max Factor Crème Puff face powder
Old coloured foil hanging Christmas decorations

Bad:

School canteens
School changing rooms
Copydex
Ashtrays in pubs
Sterilised milk
Body Shop Dewberry
Body Shop Fuzzy Peach
Tinned vegetables
Perm lotion

@Linenspots I use Clinique Happy perfume because it reminds me of Coppertone 🩷
The smell of Ambre Solaire suntan oil is also another nice memory lane smell. I think these are associated with warm summer weather, holidays and fun. All makes for a happy vibe. When I was very small there was a newsagent/tobacconist shop in my neighborhood and the owner made his own blackcurrant and raspberry ice lollies in the summer. All the kids went there and the smell of that shop was amazing.

Geranium leaves 🍃 My grandmother used to grow batches of them from seed and kept them in her spare room. So whenever you walked upstairs, the scent just hit you! So every year when I grow some, whenever I walk past, I rub a leaf between my fingers and I’m back in my grandmother’s cold, unheated but lovely 1930s semi in her back bedroom, spying on her seedlings. 🌱
Also whenever I spray my bottle of the long discontinued Belles De Ricci perfume (bought from eBay but the scent has degraded since the 90s!) I’m transported back to when I was 14 and life was simple, fun & easy 💅

My mum wore Tweed perfume too. That was in the 1970s when we were at primary school

Yes, like a sort of soapy smell