Nosy Interview: Charlotte

I am so happy and grateful to have Charlotte kick off the Nosy Interview series; reading her beautiful, funny answers affirmed my whole reason for starting this blog. Charlotte keeps her online "cabinet of wonders" here.


What do you smell like? 

I don't know what I smell like. My husband [Brian] says I smell "like a person" which is phenomenally unhelpful. I own a few perfumes: a large bottle of something or other Brian's grandmother gave me once, several samples of Clinique "Happy" because I keep buying their makeup, and a bottle of Jovan "White Musk" which I bought at a CVS one day in a fit of high school nostalgia. I had to push the button to get a depressed CVS employee to come unlock the perfume case, I remember, so I must have really really wanted it to endure that embarrassment. And I have a small vial of "J'Adore" that I've been hoarding, because it's the only one of those perfumes I actually like. I hardly ever wear perfume because I'm afraid I'll put too much on and offend someone. I have sometimes been offended by others' perfume and I don't want to be that smelly. I think that I probably smell a little like the tea tree soap in the shower; I fear that I smell like soup, because I cook a lot, and I probably smell like my house, redolent of a winter's worth of homemade chicken broths and tomato-based stews. At least that's what I thought it smelled a little bit like when I came home after a weekend away, which is the only time I notice the smell of my house. I wish it were spring so we could open the windows again and smell the outside.

What do you like to smell?

I like to smell lemons, and rosemary, and sage, and basically any good fresh herb. I like the smell of my cat's fur, especially when she has been sitting in the sun. I love the smell of beeswax candles. Lilacs. Wood smoke. Fresh bread. A friend gave me some fancy coriander hand lotion from Kiehl's, and I like the way that smells too.