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.

I absolutely adore the original version of the perfume Blue Grass (was it Elizabeth Arden?) - my Nanna used to wear it.
I bought the revamped version a few years ago and was disappointed that it smelt nothing like the original but I was delighted to find a bottle on eBay. I don't wear it but keep it for a little sniff of the bottle if I'm feeling low and want to feel close to my Nanna (was never close to my mum, but extremely close with Nanna)

Lots of home woodwork and DIY car fixing at ours so the smell of wood shavings, Castrol GTX and all that!

There was a very specific smell of the paints we used for art in primary school. I have only smelled it a handful of times since. Not a particularly pleasant smell but lovely memories.

My mum’s hair lacquer. It was very strong and sweet. She used to backcomb her hair and spray it on from a squeezy bottle.

Banda machines! We used them in my school in the early 90s. You had to put some type of solvent in them and make a master on a sort of purple transfer sheet. Then, you cranked the handle to produce copies. I’d forgotten that smell!

Jeyes fluid, Fairy soap and cigar smoke.

Also the ‘stale beer and fags’ smell of pubs back in the day.

Imperial leather soap.

Mr Matey and Miss Matey! Yes! You've unlocked the mother of nostalgic smells.

Orange and cherry creamola foam made me very happy too.

And the smell of mixing Refreshers in my American Cream Soda from the Maine man.

I did that while watching Dallas and Dynasty in my fancy nightie pretending I was a rich lady who had to take special medication for her "nerves". I had specific and concerning aspirations as a child.

Devon violet perfume reminds me of holidays in Paignton and Torquay in the 80s. Really hard to find there now 😞

Yes @Lucia573 I was just about to say they were Banda machines. You'd create the worksheet on copy paper then put them into the Banda and turn the handle for 35 copies...great for the arm muscles!
We made sure to keep the window open when the liquid was topped up!

I walked past someone who stank of fags in the street today and it was quite nostalgic if disgusting.

My childhood smells include peach soap on a rope, freshly cut grass and Vesta curries from a packet. I also have a real fondness for Brasso metal polish and the smell of chrysanthemums as they remind me of going with my Grandma to clean the Methodist chapel and do the flowers for Sunday. I lost my sense of smell for a number of years and started to get it back after a sinus operation and Brasso was one of the first things I could actually smell again!
When I was grown up enough for real perfume, it was Avon Come Summer or Charlie, then Impulse musk body spray that my Dad loathed. I later progressed further to Body Shop White Musk which my MIL referred to as smelling 'like a tart's boudoir' 😂

The old Matey bubble bath smells. Sadly doesn't smell like it did 😔

When did lacquer lose its identity to hairspray? Sometime in the 70s possibly?

Outspan were quite large and had a really thick skin. My nan always bought them for me as for a couple of years when quite young, I seemed to get tonsilitis and I liked eating oranges. She used to cut them into quarters and put them on a saucer with sugar that I dipped them into. They were really juicy.

I don't think you see them any more but as I don't eat oranges now, maybe they are still around.

Smells can set off odd memories. Several years ago, I went into a Hollister shop and the smell of whatever scent they were pumping out in the store gave me a comforting safe and happy feeling (not something I often feel looking back on my childhood). I kept going back in to try and pinpoint what the smell reminded me of - but I still have no idea! The cost of the perfume was way out of my reach at that time. I expect they use something different now.

We do our fences and huts with proper Creosote every few years and i love it. The Creosote you buy in the shops is rubbish, you need the proper stuff.

@youbizarrehorse My mam also! She used to buy a long sachet of 'hair lacquer' , cut the end off and decant into a squeezey bottle. I can still hear the sound it made, her standing in front of the coal fire, and puff/wheeze/ puff/wheeze at her hair

Stu stu stu studiolines !

Aww you should have asked them. I'm sure they'd tell you. They could spray perfume onto a tester then you could keep it,if it's something they sell.

• St Bruno Tobacco smoked in a pipe (not only did my Grampa smoke it, my primary school also used empty tins of it to store crayons in and we used to be able to sniff it. I know it’s bad for you but it was a lovely smell.

• Spangles - not the normal ones, but the other packet which had stronger, more unusual flavours. I can still smell the smell of the burnt butterscotch coloured sweets in that.

• Pink custard for school dinners

Opium perfume that I wore a lot in the 80s
Recently kissed a man that smelt of ale and smoke and reminded me of my youth .
TCP
Leaded petrol I loved it
New crayons or the smell of new PlayDough
Smell of lavender water from my Granny's apron .

Perfumes for me were Soir de Paris and L’Aimant which my mum wore when I was a young child. Then Yardley’s Freesia and Aqua Manda. A friend absolutely drenched herself in Tabu before going out on the town, A girl at my ballet class always arrived leaving a trail of Youth Dew. I wore Opium, Shalimar and Coco or Miss Dior. Then later, mum wore Tweed or sometimes YSL Paris. I love remembering perfumes and there are a few I really miss and would love to wear again.

Sadly creosotenis banned..monsoon I was told by the lady in B&Q last summer when I wanted Somerford my fence (and kill the weeds).
I also loved the smell of parafin. My Gran kept a paraffin heater in her outside loo in the winter.

Old English Spangles...they were bloody lovely!

Ffs..my bloody new phone apologies for the typos 🤣