From your roommate’s smoking habit, to beloved cat’s stench, or even your husband’s unpleasant cologne—it can be difficult to avoid some of life’s unpleasant aromas. Well it's time to wake up and smell the roses! There is a way you can camouflage those icky odors (and believe me, it's much better then confronting your friend about her stinky socks). Legendary home fragrance expert and candle connoisseur, Harry Slatkin, shared his solutions to take on any "scent-titive" situation.
Scent Situation # 1: My best friend lives twenty blocks away from me so every time she visits she walks over. Of course, I want her to make herself feel at home so she takes her shoes off, curls up in a blanket, and lounges on my plush sofa. However, her feet stink! I obviously, can’t just whip out the Lysol every time I get a strong whiff of the nasty odor. Can you tell me what scent would work best to get rid of the smell and keep our friendship intact?
Harry Slatkin: My suggestion for you to keep your friendship intact is to light a candle before your friend heads out the door and have a can of concentrated room spray handy for when she arrives. The perfect fragrance to help with your friend’s problem would be my Cinnamon and Clove Buds Candle. It’s a delicious blend of cinnamon, warm vanilla, and clove buds. As soon as you hang up the phone with your friend, light the candle so that by the time your friend arrives, your home will be filled with the scent of cinnamon and clove, two fragrance notes that are powerful and recommended for masking unwanted odors. Also, just in case you need a little extra punch for when your friend’s shoes first come off, spray the Slatkin & Co. Concentrated Room Spray twice and instantly, a powerful dose of fragrance will fill the air.
Scent Situation # 2: Help! Last night, I surprised my boyfriend with his favorite entrée, scallops. Now, everything in my house smells like fish. Please, tell me how I can get rid of this scent…quickly?
Harry Slatkin: My advice to you would be to use a fragrance that's fresh, bold enough to cut the lingering scent of last night’s dinner, and not too floral for your boyfriend’s liking. The Slatkin & Co. Shore Breeze Candle is the perfect solution combining salt air and light musk which will instantly take your mind from the smell of last night’s seafood supper and transport you to the shores of the actual sea. Trust me, your boyfriend will be very happy when he discovers what a great chef and fragrance connoisseur you have become.
Scent Situation # 3: I just moved into my new apartment. It’s big, airy, and beautifully decorated except it smells like smoke due to my roommate’s habit. We agreed he would smoke out the window but the smell tends to creep into my room even when the door is shut. Are there any candles that can fight off the smoky scent and keep my room smelling fresh?
Harry Slatkin: The best solution to help eliminate a layer of heavy smoke is to coat your apartment with a fragrance like Clean Mist . It is the perfect combination of orange flower, clean rose, and lily of the valley. This fragrance is so fresh that you'll forget about the smoke problem with your roommate. And you'll swear you're suddenly in a meadow after a summer’s rain. So before the next time your roommate decides to light up, make sure that you have a Clean Mist Scentport plugged into any outlet in your room which will help you combat the smell before it has a chance to rise.
Scent Situation # 4: I love my cat. My cat is my best friend, but she is causing my home to have an unpleasant odor. My friends and family both have complained but I don’t want to give her up. Can you tell me how I can cure the stench without losing my cat or visitors?
Harry Slatkin: Pineapple Mango is the answer. Anytime you need to cut a pungent odor from a room or small space, any citrus type fragrances (orange, lemon, and pineapple) will help do the trick. Now I know that we all love our little four legged creatures and think that they are adorable, but having their presence linger behind is not that cute. A Plug-in Pineapple Mango Wallflower will fill the air 24/7 with notes of sweet pineapple, ripe mango, and crisp lotus. And even better yet, with my new “Scentportables ,” which are "scent on-the-go" portable fragrance diffusers, you can clip on the Pineapple Mango one to the side of the litter box. Then Fluffy's unpleasant odor will be a thing of the past.
Scent Situation # 5: I am throwing a party in my apartment. How can I camouflage all my guest’s perfume scents with something more neutral?
Harry Slatkin: My suggestion is to create the best formula to pleasantly blend all your guests’ scents so you can create the perfect and most welcoming scent harmony. My Sandalwood Vanilla Fragrance is perfect to marry all of your guests’ perfumes into one delectable scent. The great thing about this fragrance, with notes of creamy vanilla and warm sandalwood, is that it can be blended with any scent and make even the most offensive perfume smell magical. Since there are going to be multiple guests I would recommend the Sandalwood Vanilla Home Fragrance Oil in one of my chic oil warmers. Just put 20 drops of this product into an oil warmer and then light a tea light. This will guarantee a strong fragrance experience.
For more tips on how you can keep yourself smelling and looking great, check out iMag’s Beauty Section.
Harry Slatkin is the founder and creative force behind Slatkin & Co., the premier home fragrance brand celebrated for its authentic and sophisticated scents. The former financier created the company in 1992 when his passion for fragrance developed into a lucrative business. His luxurious candles, sold out of a New York City boutique, became a staple among celebrities, interior designers, architects, and editors. In 2005, Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD) purchased Slatkin & Co. and named Harry Slatkin President of Home Design. Harry oversees product development for all of Limited Brands’ home collections at Bath & Body Works, the country’s largest bath and body retailer in the nation with over 1,600 stores. Harry is also a contributing editor to Elle Décor and appears regularly on QVC. He has made guest appearances on CNN, The Martha Stewart Show, CNBC, ABC and Comedy Central. Slatkin currently resides in Manhattan and East Hampton, NY with his wife, Laura, and their two children.
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