The first that comes to mind is the smell of bleach.. it reminds me of hotel swimming pools when I was a kid. We didn't get to use one very often.. but I love the smell of bleach because of it.

A ripe banana smell reminds me of my grandma Emma. She always had bananas in her kitchen.

The smell of Cherry tobacco reminds me of my dad, who used to smoke a pipe when I was growing up.

Those are the only ones I can think of right now. Good thread Sylvia!

Scent memories are the strongest. Some people explain it evolutionarily.

Interesting question, because I just tried to think of scents that do that for me, and I really don't have an aroma wayback. Things I see or do remind me of smells, not vice versa. I mean, if I smell Arpège or Old Spice, I think of the associated parent from when I was small, but it's nothing particular about them, just the association. Salt air makes me think of rotting seaweed and seagull stink, so that's scent calling up scent. :)

OTOH, when I see a roll of Regal Crown Sours, the back of my throat tightens up and pinches my ears just like when I was a tot and my father would give me one from his nightstand, and a picture of the inside of his drawer, complete with the '60's-tastic drawer paper comes to mind.

My mom wore Channel no.5, Estee Lauder Youth Dew, and White Shoulders. My dad wore Old Spice. I always think of them when I smell those fragrances. I go back to the 1980's when I smell Obession, Opium, and Giorgio which is what I wore. I haven't worn any perfumes for the last 15 -20 years, nothing smells good any more.

The only perfume my mother wore, originally created in 1912, was Guerlain's L'Heure Bleue. It is one of only two perfumes that I wear (the other being Guerlain's L'Instant de Guerlain). Whenever I smell L'Heure Bleue, I think of my mother. Can't think of any other scents/smells that trigger a trip on the wayback machine.

No perfumes, but whenever I smell dill growing, it takes me back to my great aunt Mary's kitchen doorsteps, where there was always a bunch growing. Love the smell, and I can see the place instantly, and it's been 50 odd years!

I wore Estee Lauder Youth Dew when I was pregnant 50 years ago. I can always detect that fragrance, still.

I remember Here's My Heart! loved that stuff!

Honeysuckle reminds me of summer nights;

for some reason I never noticed it during the day, but in the evenings, the air was rich with it.

Love's Baby Fresh Lemon comes to mind when I use any lemon scented soap. I'm instantly 15 again for a few seconds. I walked behind a woman in a quilt shop and stopped to ask her what she was wearing. "Aliage" we both said. LOL. Mid to late 70's, I loved that scent. My mother wore White Shoulders, it was so nice on her.

My grandmother wore White Shoulders, my Mom Youth Dew. My very youngest granddaughter, when she was about 3 or 4 years old and we were out shopping, suddenly announced, "This smells like Grandma's house (meaning my Mother's house)!" Then the other two granddaughters piped in that it certainly did. Someone had passed by us who was wearing Youth Dew. I used to love the scent of Captain Black pipe tobacco, but I don't recall who smoked a pipe (my Dad did not smoke at all nor did any of my uncles).

My mother has always worn Tabu perfume, as kids, we would often buy it for her for her birthday. My father was always an Old Spice guy, I remember thinking those white bottles they came in with the spritzer at the end were special. He also smoked a pipe and I was the lukki one to get his tobacco can when he passed aways. He passed in 77 and it still smells good. We would work on wood projects together in the garage, the smell of fresh cut or sanded wood is heaven to me. My Grandmother was the Avon fan, when she'd come to visit us from NY, she'd bring the sampler lipsticks for us as gifts. She said she liked Avon because her lipstick and nail polish came in the same colors and would match. She never used acrylics but always had the most beautiful naturally long red nails. Perfection.

I am an Estee Lauder 'Youth Dew' wearer, too - have worn it for 40+ years.

I remember Emeraude ( like Tabu I guess)- guess we liked heavy scents back then. I don't think they make it any more and not sure I would like it, but it definitely would "take me back".
I also remember a man's scent Tabac.

And for what it's worth, I too love the smell of bleach ; it always makes me feel CLEAN. And yes to Love's and Yardley scents. Oh just remembered- Jean Nate!

Yardley of London!

I still love their English Lavender.

My favorite cologne, since I was about 17 is Revlon's Charlie. My Grandmother bought it for me; she like the moxie of the advertising. I still wear the original Charlie - not the white or red or any of the other spin-offs.

I have four bottles in my lingerie drawer. I hope I never run out of it. I still get compliments when I wear it.

I worn many scents, White Shoulders is very nice; I also loved Avon's Sweet Honesty, but Charlie is my tried and true. I also adore Channel 19; but I can't find it anywhere anymore. Channel 5 is nice, but it's too heavy for my tastes.

My Grandmother wore Coty products, and I still search for their "dusting powder." Mom loves Youth Dew to this day. My great-grandmother had huge banks of fragrant, purple petunias in front of her porch. I also grow at least a large pot full of them so my porch can smell like hers.

Back to Charlie and their advertising spearheads...read this blurb from Wikipedia about Revlon's Charlie advertising.

- - - - - - - -

Charlie, named after Charles Revson, was released in 1973. It was originally launched to compete with Estée, a fragrance released by Estée Lauder. Ad campaigns for the scent featured models Shelley Hack, Charly Stember, and, notably, Naomi Sims, making Sims the first African American woman in history to be featured in a cosmetic company's advertising.

Television ads featured jingles sung by Bobby Short. Young, working women were set as the target audience, and the ads were said to represent the "new woman" of the era. Hack and Stember wore pantsuits by Ralph Lauren and were the first women to wear pants in fragrance ads. The response proved to be profitable for Revlon, as Charlie became the world's top selling perfume within three years. However, a later ad, showing a female model patting a male model on the backside, was controversial. While some praised the ad as being "playful" and representing "female self-sufficiency," others called it "sexist" and "in poor taste." Subsequent advertising in later decades featured Lauren Hutton and Cindy Crawford, with jingles sung by Little Richard. Oprah Winfrey dedicated a segment of her talk show in 2007 to discuss the impact of Charlie advertising. She stated that the ads inspired her. She wanted to be "confident and fabulous" like the "Charlie girls."

Revlon's Charlie

Grandma's perfume Jolie Madame by P. Balmain. It stunk!

Grandma's laundry smelling of Clorox. Comforting memory that world was clean and in order

Mom's Shalimar by Guerlain

Jontue, Charlie, college days

Opium, Fendi reminds when I thought I was hottest thing around

DH's "no smell" smell. Nothing better.

Flamingo, I still wear Aliage! I love it, however it was apparently reformulated and it not quite like it was I the 70s.

One of my earliest and strongest smell memories are toasted English muffins.

My grandmother lived next door to us in an old, two story house. I was never close to her....family feud....not sure what started it because it was years before my time. I was born into the family when my parents were in their 40's.....so a lot of water had passed under that bridge. Anyway, after she died....when I was 10 years old, for the first time, I went upstairs in her house. She was old and dipped snuff, and maybe that was the smell....old, musty....maybe something like snuff....but thinking about it now, I doubt she had been up those stairs in years and years. Her bedroom was downstairs....but I remembered that smell. A few years ago, I went to an auction and bought some bentwood chairs. They had lumped a couple of others into the group....just to get rid of them, I am sure. One was a very, very old chair...and since a lot of the antiques at that sale came from England, I imagine this chair did also, but it smelled just like my grandmother's house....at least, the upstairs. The chair had several repairs and is an odd looking thing. Complete with worm holes and little square nails. I didn't particularly want the old chair when it was added to the grouping, but even though I don't have any fond memories of my grandmother, I do like the old chair. It is still in my storage building....I haven't brought it into the house yet, but I do kind of like it. I also remember going into a store and smelling the shampoo that a former boyfriend wore. Brought back many memories. ;)

Another boomer here...Daddy smelled like Canoe, Mama like Emeraude.

When I was in my twenties, I was on vacation and there was dispensers of perfume in the ladies room. I tried White Shoulders. I received so many compliments, even from strangers.

Walnut Creek, I'm 61. When you say your grandmother, how old was she when she wore it. Just curious.

Fast forward. I decided to buy White Shoulders for my aunt's 90th I thought it would be be retro. They opened it and it smelled horrible! I'm wondering if the formula was changed or I got a bad batch? Disappointing as I wanted to recognize the aroma.

Return it to the store. I think sometimes perfumes get exposed to heat, maybe in trucks, & it ruins them.