Can’t smell your Scentsy candles anymore? Here’s why –
Having been in the candle industry for over 20 years, I sometimes hear how customers claim they can’t smell the candles and blame it on the company changing their formula.
Basset hounds have over 220 million smell receptors, and the portion of their brains tied to sense of smell is 40 times that of a human’s. Don’t you wish you were a basset hound?
The short answer to why you can’t smell Scentsy candles is that it’s your nose; not Scentsy.
What?! How Dare You Suggest It’s My Nose!
The scientific and technical explanation of why this is true can be found here. It’s called Anosmia or Olfactive Fatigue.
In layman’s, LA terms – it works like this: your nose gets used to or immune to certain components of your favorite candles. If you tend to warm the same type, such as spice/cinnamon scented candles frequently, it’s possible they will seem not as strong to you or you may even think they forgot to put the fragrance oil in them.
However, instead of spice, if you warm a floral or clean type scent or one you don’t particularly care for, you’ll definitely smell that one. It’s because your nose hasn’t become “nose blind” to those fragrance notes.
I know, I know some refuse to believe that. It tends to happen more often at the change of seasons. I hear about it year after year.
My Nose Quit Me Too
Consider this: I’ve been in the candle industry since 1995. I’ve been home based since 1999. I warm candles 365/24/7 unless I’m in a travel status. My favorite scents tend to be male cologne and warm fall scents. I warm them all year.
Sadly because I live in these scents day in and day out, I rarely smell them anymore. I do for a couple hours when I first put them in. I know with 100% confidence that these same candles that I cannot smell are loaded with scent. My children tell me. My children’s friends call my Subaru the “candle car” because they say they open the door and a fabulous scent wafts out.
I attend meetings or go to the grocery store and invariably someone will claim I smell like cookies, or pumpkin or that they strangely smell candles and they can’t figure it out. I had a door to door solicitor tell me he could smell the candles as he walked up the driveway and all my windows and doors were closed.
I am the Exception to the Rule
My extreme situation is unusual. Most candle fanatics don’t have it nearly as bad. Most candle addicts haven’t been living in the same fragrance notes almost every day, all day, for 21 years.
Most customers will have some difficulty smelling their favorite scents if they spend a lot of time around them, just not to the degree I have.
The Fix
Don’t worry, you can again smell your favorite scents.
- Mix it up. Warm some type scents that you don’t generally gravitate toward. Make it opposite. If you prefer tropical, fruity type scents, try a clean, spa type scent.
- If you travel for business or go on vacation don’t bring your favorite scents with you. Give your nose a break.
- If you usually leave your warmers on 24/7, for a while only turn them on for short periods of time.
I wish I knew what my basset hounds think about my frequent use of scents in the home. I suppose if I had a Dog Butt scent, they’d love it!
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