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The course of true love never runs smooth, nor scentlessly if you happen to be Mr Anonymous of Anonymoustown, Anonymousshire, who says:
I have started seeing a delightful young lady, and all is going well. Except for one thing: I can’t really stand the smell of her perfume. Every time I see her, the floral scent hits me and hangs around for ages until I can convince my nose to get used to it. So what am I to do? Is there some kind of way I can get her to stop smelling like that, or am I doomed for the rest of the relationship?
You could buy her a new bottle of perfume, but let’s be frank here: most of them smell just as awful. You could effect an allergy which only goes away when she eliminates various of her beauty products. Or you could puke loudly whenever she spritzes on the infernal potion. That should get the message through, although the relationship may not survive.
Readers, speed forth to the comments to dish out your own advice upon this disagreeable olfactory problem.
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Answer Me This! Podcast 
January 7, 2011 at 12:55 pm |
You could possibly talk to her about it..
Or failing that, I would say buy her another bottle of perfume until you feel you can talk about it.
January 5, 2011 at 8:07 pm |
I have a horrible allergy to most every perfume that is on the market. I would suggest finding a place that sells essential oils. These are nature’s perfumes in man made mixtures and can replace that stinky, chemical-laced perfume your new squeeze insists on. What you can say is, “I’ve noticed you like perfume so I bought you some (input example here: cinnamon vanilla orange) oil”. Really, they smell much better, change with the person’s own chemistry and if applied sparingly, shouldn’t knock you outta yer boots. Maybe try this, eh?
January 4, 2011 at 11:07 pm |
http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/4/411.full.pdf+html
This study demonstrates considerable variation in people’s ability to smell certain scents, it helped me understand my own hyper reaction to some products.
Speak up and explain that your nose has an unfortunate reaction to her scent. If the relationship is blooming, you could have a pre-Valentine’s Day exploration in the fragrance and grooming products department to find things you both like.
For more on the subject, the book Perfume: The Guide by Turin and Sanchez is fascinating and hilarious. Good luck.
hyper nose
January 4, 2011 at 7:45 am |
I would definitely go the fake allergy route. He could claim to get migraines (a notoriously unprovable malady) from the perfume, saying that he didn’t say anything before because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings.