Is your partner’s smell a turn-on?

Jasmine Gardner
16 Jun 2009

When asked what you look for in a partner, you might say a sense of humour or dazzling eyes. You're unlikely to say: “a delicious odour”.

Nevertheless, scent matching is the latest development in dating sites, and companies such as Basisnote in Switzerland are now providing personal scent codings to match up potential partners. It's based on “sweaty T-shirt” science — an experiment that showed women preferred the smell of T-shirts worn by men whose genetic make-up was most different from their own, which is the key to producing healthy offspring.

With that in mind, I went to Virgin Active in Putney, where pheromones were running high, to ask members sweating it out on the treadmill whether the scent of a partner is a turn-on.

Yes
Leonie, 39, student
I don't know what it is about a smell that's a turn-on but you really know when you smell somebody whether it's right or wrong. For example, I've got a male best friend and he smells wrong — but I can't explain it.

Yes
Mitch, 30, banker
You can be turned off very quickly by the wrong smell and aroused very quickly by the right sort of smell. As I'm in the gym my smell right now is probably not very arousing. After a shower is when people smell good.

Yes
Leila, 25, recruitment consultant
Some people have a really nice natural smell and it's a turn-on when you recognise the smell on their clothes. I don't even mind the smell of sweat, provided they've just been exercising and it's not stale.

No
Jamie, 32, recruitment consultant
My wife is always complaining that I can never smell any of the perfumes she wears. She puts her wrist in front of my nose and says: “Can you smell this or that, which do you prefer?” and I just go with whatever I think is the right answer because I can't smell any of them.

Yes
Taija, 31, midwife
A really clean smell is a turn-on. If my partner is sweaty, I instantly want to stay away, but in the mornings when he has just had a shower and then puts on a little bit of aftershave, it's fantastic.

Yes
Daniel, 35, banking
Whether you're attracted to a perfume or just a natural aroma, it's a real turn-on. The kind of smell that turns people on is really subjective, for me it's flowery fragrances or sexual and erotic smells.

Yes.
Fabio, 27, works in cosmetics
You can really identify a person by their smell — it's a combination of their natural smell and the products they use. You link their smell with their face and whenever you smell a product they use, you think of them.

Yes
Rachel, 29, fitness manager
Sometimes a person's smell can instantly put you off because something about it tells you not to trust them. You can't put your finger on what it is but it stops you being attracted to them.