{"title":"Why Can't I Smell My Own Perfume? What the Science Says","source":"https://www.scento.com/blog/why-cant-i-smell-my-own-perfume","creator":"Scento","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","citation":"Scento (2026). Why Can't I Smell My Own Perfume? What the Science Says. https://www.scento.com/blog/why-cant-i-smell-my-own-perfume","dateModified":"2026-10-21T06:00:00.000Z","tables":[{"index":1,"name":"What the research measured: adaptation, specific anosmia and the effect of wearing perfume","columns":["Study","What was tested","Key finding","Source"],"rows":[{"Study":"Steinmetz, Pryor and Stone, 1970","What was tested":"Olfactory adaptation and recovery, two test procedures","Key finding":"Often more than 50% adaptation (and recovery) within the first 2 minutes","Source":"1"},{"Study":"Dalton and Wysocki, 1996","What was tested":"Continuous exposure to an odorant at home for 2 weeks","Key finding":"For most individuals, reduced sensitivity still evident up to 2 weeks after the last exposure","Source":"3"},{"Study":"Grosofsky, Haupert and Versteeg, 2011","What was tested":"Sniffing coffee beans, lemon slices or plain air between fragrance trials","Key finding":"Coffee beans did not yield better performance than lemon slices or air","Source":"9"},{"Study":"Knaapila et al., 2012","What was tested":"Detection of the musky odorant Galaxolide","Key finding":"Not detected by 11.7% in the discovery sample and 23.5% in the replication sample","Source":"5"},{"Study":"Croy et al., 2015","What was tested":"Specific anosmia across three studies (1,600+ people); 99 tested on all 20 odours","Key finding":"34% of the 99 showed specific anosmia to at least one of 20 odours","Source":"2"},{"Study":"Beekman et al., 2022","What was tested":"Smell test (Sniffin' Sticks) with no perfume, a just-about-right amount and an excessive amount, 19 participants","Key finding":"Combined score 33.05, 29.05 and 26.57","Source":"6"},{"Study":"Amoore, Pelosi and Forrester, 1977","What was tested":"Specific anosmia to a urinous and a musky odorant","Key finding":"About 46% anosmic to 5α-androst-16-en-3-one and about 9% to ω-pentadecalactone","Source":"8"}]}]}