On-the-Street Poll: Patchouli

The smell of patchouli brings many of us back to our college days: the smoking, guitar-strumming, unwashed roommates with propensities to play bongos. But recently, the familiar smell has had a revival, courtesy of several upscale beauty brands. Normally, a rich, deep scent that seems more suitable for the winter months, patchouli has appeared in many products for spring. To test the likability of patchouli — you either love it or hate it — we decided to conduct an unscientific poll of five new items on the market right now.

We took a candle, a men’s aftershave, shower gel, a bar of soap, and perfume to the streets and asked random subjects to sniff and react. Would they use it? What did the smell remind them of? Did they like it? And, most important of all, would they date someone who used it? The results showed that our older testers were more nostalgic about the scent (Woodstock!), while many of the younger ones found it too strong or mature. Find out below what they thought of the heady scent.