Discrepant Awareness Alex Fleck

There are a handful of conventionally unpleasant smells that I really enjoy.

One is gasoline.
The reason for that one is easy to identify, though. It reminds me of summers up at my extended family’s cabin north of Lake Superior. Images of gassing up the tin-bottomed fishing-boat for a morning on the lake always mist through my mind whenever I smell it.

Skunk appeals.
I think that’s for a similar reason to my enjoyment of gasoline. You only ever smell skunk while driving through the country on a summer evening.

Both of those scents are fairly associative.

But one fragrance I enjoy for its sheer olfactory aesthetic: nail-polish.
There’s a certain smooth tang to it that I find intriguing. It’s the nasal equivalent of blending vinaigrette with a sweet fruit sorbet.
Something about that smell also reflects that appealing, pearly viscosity that makes you stare at the little bottles while turning them slowly over and over.
Substances that come in vials just seem magical somehow. It might be a Lord of the Rings thing.