Masculine Scents?

mirrorkisses · Apr 27, 2008

I'm not talking as in cologne, of course. Natural scents....
In a love scene I was trying to think of a way to describe the way the hero smelled to the heroine, and I was at a loss for words other than cloves, wood, and tobacco. I wanted to be a little more detailed, but I couldn't think of anything (other than burning wood).

What else can you all think of?

WittyandorIronic · Apr 27, 2008

mmm...I just smelled my husband as he came out of the shower (he is used to my weirdness, lol) and all I can think of is yummy.

. I know, that probably isn't very helpful. Maybe instead of relating it to a specific scent, you could describe the elements. Fresh, familiar, warm, and right are all words that come to mind.

Bubastes · Apr 27, 2008

It depends on the type of man. Does he wear cologne at all? You're on the right track with cloves, wood, and tobacco if he's the right type of man. If he doesn't wear cologne, the scent of Ivory soap does the trick for me.

Have you sniffed men's colognes? There are woodsy ones, citrus-y ones, fresh/aquatic ones, grassy/green ones, stinky ones (like Axe -- BLEAH!), musky ones. That might inspire some ideas. Good luck!

mirrorkisses · Apr 27, 2008

there was a scent that an ex boyfriend of mine used to wear... It was probably the best smell I'd ever encountered on a man. I wish I could remember what it was.

Gillhoughly · Apr 27, 2008

Cloves works for me; I don't mind if the guy smells like pie. Maybe he was baking, and I like a guy who can cook. If he does pie, I'll do the coffee. :Coffee:

And then maybe HIM.

Burning wood? Not so sexy. I get that all the time when *I* try to cook--and that's in a microwave!

Tobacco? It's okay unsmoked, but soon as the dude lights up a cancer stick--and one can assume that if he smells of tobacco, he smokes it and the stink will be all over him--I pitch him out the door so fast he hears the sonic boom.

That yucky reek is a turn off for me. And smooching a smoker--even if he smokes clove cigarettes? Ugh. Like French-kissing an ashtray!

There's no need to get hung up on what will be a fleeting fast descriptive to your reader. If you did your build-up right, she's going to be screaming over that part to get to the money shot.

mirrorkisses · Apr 27, 2008

MeowGirl said:
It depends on the type of man. Does he wear cologne at all? You're on the right track with cloves, wood, and tobacco if he's the right type of man. If he doesn't wear cologne, the scent of Ivory soap does the trick for me.

Have you sniffed men's colognes? There are woodsy ones, citrus-y ones, fresh/aquatic ones, grassy/green ones, stinky ones (like Axe -- BLEAH!), musky ones. That might inspire some ideas. Good luck!

not a cologne wearing type of guy, but you know mansmell, it's natural, yet hard to describe, and it drives me wild.

mirrorkisses · Apr 27, 2008

Gillhoughly said:
Burning wood? Not so sexy. I get that all the time when *I* try to cook--and that's in a microwave!

firewood has a different smell than burning paper, ha! that's what I was meaning, it's one of my favorite scents.

Bubastes · Apr 27, 2008

Hmmm, my sweetie smells like a mix of soap and the ocean with a little musk underneath (gawd, now I sound like a wine snob or something!). Don't know if that helps you at all.

TsukiRyoko · Apr 27, 2008

If you wanna get super natural, men are made to produce a musk-smelling scent at times, and some men just naturally smell good with it (others...not so much). However, this only happens when they sweat :Shrug:

.

CDarklock · Apr 27, 2008

Gillhoughly said:
If he does pie, I'll do the coffee. And then maybe HIM.

What would you do for cheesecake?

I make the world's best cheesecake.

Burning wood? Not so sexy.

Maybe compare it to a romantic crackling fireplace.

Tobacco? It's okay unsmoked, but soon as the dude lights up a cancer stick

Reality check: my dad smoked. Throughout my life, the smell of a man who smokes has been the smell of my dad, and brings in all the good memories of my childhood. I come dangerously close to swooning if I stand too close to a man with five o'clock shadow who smells of cigarettes and Jack Daniels.

What? A straight man can't appreciate other men? Okay, maybe I spent too much time in London.

mirrorkisses · Apr 27, 2008

well, talked to my mom and she said since said hero is a musician, say anything opposite of what a stereotypical musician would smell like, eg, tobacco, alcohol, sweat.

She suggested simply saying he smelled clean.

WittyandorIronic · Apr 27, 2008

mirrorkisses said:
well, talked to my mom and she said since said hero is a musician, say anything opposite of what a stereotypical musician would smell like, eg, tobacco, alcohol, sweat.

She suggested simply saying he smelled clean.

HAHA....that is too funny.

clara bow · Apr 27, 2008

I've seen sandalwood mentioned in a few books.

JeanneTGC · Apr 27, 2008

I love the smell of Brut and alcohol, preferably with a five o'clock shadow attached.

Needless to say, I only let the hubs wear Brut and he's got my permission to have a beer or a scotch at any time, and I tend to beg him not to over-shave.

I'm kind of partial to "manly" in terms of a description where it's scent-based and you don't want to go into too many details. I think "clean and manly" would invoke whatever the reader considered clean and manly (me, Brut and alcohol, CD it would be tobacco and JD, etc.) and that lets the reader create the charater in their own mind a bit more, which I think makes the character more "theirs".

sunandshadow · Apr 27, 2008

Leather's a pretty common one if he wears any. If he's a fighter, maybe iron, oil, gunpowder. A baker or cook, yummy, he could smell like fresh bread, vanilla, chocolate, fruit. Whatever kind of tea he drinks, if any. Mint, lemongrass, chamomile, oranges. Licorice if he snacks on it, or peppermint.

mirrorkisses · Apr 27, 2008

WittyandorIronic said:
HAHA....that is too funny.

funny, yes. She asked me what I associate with musicians and those where what I came up with. She suggested leather, and I said it reminded me too much of S&M (not a bad thing, necessarily, but certainly a little comical to me). Finally she said clean (in complete seriousness), and I didn't know how to make that sexy, but I found a way.

WriteKnight · Apr 27, 2008

OKay here's a personal man's take on the issue.

At the moment when I think I probably smell the absolute worst IE:After a joust in armor in the hot sun - I have had women tell me I smell 'gorgeous'.

One asked me what scent I was wearing as I signed her program. I looked at her and told her "What you are smelling is a mix of Mink Oil from the leather harness straps on my armor, WD-40 to help keep it clean, a build-up of old sweat from the gambeson I cannot wash, fresh sweat on my body right now, and a healthy dose of the Horse's sweat that has rubbed off on me."

Her eyes glazed over and she gave me the strangest smile.

I think what smells 'sexy' to one woman is probably a turn off to another. Phereomones are strange and powerful chemicals.

BlackViolet13 · Apr 27, 2008

This woman makes custom perfume scents, and made some perfumes for a friend of mine. Her creations are out of this world, and she goes about it in a very old-fashioned way (drop by drop until it's perfect). I've linked to the manly scents on her site because she gives the scent ingredients; hopefully they help!

Robin Bayne · Apr 27, 2008

How about a woodsy pine scent?

Haggis · Apr 27, 2008

My women tended to love "ripe armpit," although, in truth, they never stuck around long enough for me to really discuss it in depth with them.

san_remo_ave · Apr 28, 2008

I think of a man's scent in terms of what they've been doing most recently, because that's what I notice about my hubby. Of course, there are distinct tones for different people that tend to be more prominent depending upon how long they've gone since a washing or what they've been eating recently (like garlic!).

If he's been working out in the yard he usually smells of fresh sweat, grass and sunshine. If he's been working in the garage he usually brings in a musty, dusty kind of smell, like upholstered furniture that's been stored a long time. If he's fresh out of the shower, his skin smells like crisp water or morning dew, etc, etc.

Hmm, I'm working from home today. He's deep in a research paper with dusty library tomes. Now I'm wondering what he smells like at the moment....

DWSTXS · Apr 28, 2008

I smell like the Pillsbury Doughboy (and I giggle when poked in the tummy!)

jennontheisland · Apr 28, 2008

Leather, earth, and fire (not smoke, just the heat). And everything WhiteKNight mentioned.

Ken · Apr 28, 2008

...why not bypass the issue, altogether, and say the heroine had a stuffy nose on the occasion and couln't sniff, "though she did try."

Hildegarde · Apr 28, 2008

BlackViolet13 said:
This woman makes custom perfume scents, and made some perfumes for a friend of mine. Her creations are out of this world, and she goes about it in a very old-fashioned way (drop by drop until it's perfect). I've linked to the manly scents on her site because she gives the scent ingredients; hopefully they help!

This is a good idea. I was going to suggest you look up some of the men's colognes and see how the manufacturers describe them. A lot of them will use referrences that are familiar - cloves, sandalwood, musk, like some of the descriptions here. If you actually have an idea what he might smell like, take a trip to the nearest men's dept. and sniff a few colognes until you find one that "fits" his character. Then Google the cologne name and see what descriptions you come up with.

Oh, yeah, what kind of artist is he? Does he smell like paint and paint thinner? Clay? Does he work outside or inside?

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