The Drawer Test: Open It. What Can You Smell? – Tips & Tricks by Soul’s Spirit
A little fragrance experiment to try at home. All you need is a few seconds, a drawer and your nose. You might discover that your laundry isn’t the only thing responsible for what you can smell.
Let’s do an experiment.
You don’t need to buy anything, wash anything or, most importantly, even get up if you have a drawer within reach.
Open it.
The one with your T-shirts, underwear or towels. Any drawer you like.
Now move a little closer and take a sniff.
What can you smell?
Fresh laundry?
A very faint fragrance you can barely recognise any more?
Nothing?
Or that mysterious aroma we could scientifically describe as:
“the smell of things that have been sitting in a closed drawer”?
Good.
The test has begun.
TEST ONE: THE T-SHIRT DRAWER
Let’s start with an easy one.
You washed your T-shirts, dried them, folded them with a degree of precision you were actually rather proud of, and put them away in the drawer.
They smelled lovely when you put them in.
A few days later, you take one out.
And that fragrance?
Where did it go?
Nothing strange has necessarily happened.
Once your laundry is put away, it enters a completely different environment from the washing machine: an enclosed space with little air circulation, in contact with other fabrics and materials.
And, above all, time passes.
That’s why the fragrance experience of your laundry doesn’t necessarily end when you switch off the washing machine.
It continues in your wardrobe.
And this is precisely where Essenze di Elda Scented Cards come in.
They can be used in enclosed spaces such as wardrobes and drawers, helping the fragrance accompany your fabrics while they are being stored.
And this is where the fun begins.
Because there is no such thing as the right fragrance for a drawer.
There’s simply the one you like.
You can choose the brightness of Luce, play with more exotic notes such as Mango, Ananas or Cocco, or stay within the fragrance world you already love for your laundry with Diamante, Perla, Smeraldo, Topazio, Dolce, Soffice, Lavanda and many more.
TEST TWO: THE TOWELS
Now open the bathroom cupboard.
Take out a clean towel.
Smell it.
This is where the test gets interesting.
Towels are washed frequently, so we naturally expect them to give us that immediate feeling of freshness and cleanliness that we associate with freshly washed laundry.
But washing and storing are two different stages.
A towel can come out of the washing machine with a lovely fragrance and gradually lose that fragrance once it has been put away.
The solution isn’t necessarily to keep adding more and more product to the wash.
Quite the opposite.
More fragrance doesn’t automatically mean a better result.
What’s much more interesting is creating continuity between the fragrance you choose for your laundry and the one that accompanies your fabrics while they’re stored.
If, for example, you love Diamante on your laundry, you can continue the same fragrance experience in your wardrobe with the Diamante Scented Card.
The same principle applies to Perla, Smeraldo, Dolce, Topazio, Soffice and the other available fragrances.
It’s a little like choosing the fragrance of your home.
Except this time, we’re starting with a drawer.
TEST THREE: THE DRAWER NOBODY WANTS TO OPEN
We all know it exists.
The drawer for all those things you’ll “just put here for a moment”.
Then six months go by.
Scarves.
Swimwear.
A fabric bag.
Three belts.
A glove that has mysteriously ended up single.
A T-shirt you didn’t even remember owning.
And perhaps a charger belonging to a phone from 2012.
Open it.
We’re no longer looking for the scent of freshly washed laundry.
We’ve entered the world of domestic archaeology.
And it’s precisely in spaces we open less frequently that a Scented Card can become a useful little ally.
Drawers, cupboards, wardrobes, shoe cupboards, suitcases: choose a fragrance and let it welcome you the next time you open them.
TEST FOUR: THE SUITCASE
Try this one when you come home from a trip.
You’ve unpacked your suitcase.
Washed everything.
Closed it.
And put it away.
Then it’s time for your next trip.
You open it again.
And...
surprise.
A suitcase that has been closed for months doesn’t always smell exactly like a five-star hotel room.
Here too, you can think ahead.
A Scented Card placed inside an empty suitcase can accompany it during the months it remains closed.
You can even choose the fragrance according to your mood.
Mango, Ananas or Cocco if you want opening your suitcase to put you in a holiday mood before you’ve even left.
Diamante or Perla if you prefer something closer to the feeling of freshly washed laundry.
Lavanda if you love a more classic fragrance world.
Or simply whichever one you like best.
After all, it’s your suitcase.
TEST FIVE: THE WARDROBE
Now we’re moving up a level.
Open the doors and stop for a moment.
What can you smell?
The scent of a wardrobe is one of the most distinctive smells in a home, even though the people who live there often stop noticing it.
Inside, you’ll find fabrics washed at different times, coats, jackets, wool, cotton, shoes, bags and perhaps several different fragrances.
That’s why it can be interesting to choose a kind of olfactory thread running through it all.
That doesn’t mean turning your wardrobe into a perfumery.
Quite the opposite.
It means choosing a fragrance you love and keeping it consistent.
It’s the principle of a scent signature: your laundry, wardrobe and fabrics can all speak the same language.
If you use a Laundry Fragrance Essenza, you can choose a Scented Card in the same fragrance or have fun creating a different combination.
And if you’d like to bring that same feeling to fabrics you don’t wash all the time — curtains, cushions, bedspreads, sofas or certain garments — you can also explore Essenze di Elda Fabric Sprays.
ONE IMPORTANT RULE
So far, we’ve been talking about fragrance.
But there’s one important thing to remember.
Fragrance should never be used to hide a bad smell.
If a wardrobe has a persistent damp smell, if fabrics are put away while they’re still damp, or if a drawer smells unusual, the first thing to do is find the cause.
Air it out.Check the humidity.Wash anything that needs washing.Clean the space.
Then comes the fragrance.
A Scented Card shouldn’t become an invisibility cloak for a problem that actually needs to be solved.
NOW FOR THE FINAL TEST
You’ve made it through drawers, towels, wardrobes and even the forgotten suitcase.
Now try one last thing.
Choose four places around your home:
1. a drawer2. your wardrobe3. the towel cupboard4. a suitcase or shoe cupboard
Open them one at a time.
Don’t overthink it.
What can you smell?
And, more importantly:
What would you like to smell?
That’s the real question.
Because fragrancing your home doesn’t necessarily mean filling it with fragrance.
Sometimes it simply means choosing those little details that, almost without us noticing, make everyday moments a little more enjoyable.
Opening a drawer.
Taking out a T-shirt.
And thinking:
“Ahhh. That’s my fragrance.”
So, what does your drawer smell like?
Discover the Essenze di Elda Scented Cards and choose from Luce, Mango, Ananas, Sport, Cocco, Diamante & Ylang Ylang, Yo Go, Diamante, Thomas, Perla, Smeraldo, Lavanda, Topazio, Dolce, Soffice and the other available fragrances.
Then take the test.
But be warned: after the first drawer, you might find yourself checking the entire house. 😄
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