Favourite smells can make us happy

Fried bacon or petrol? Freshly mown grass or baked bread? What smells evoke the most nostalgic recollections for you in your life?

A recent survey commissioned by Air Wick, which has looked into the nation's favourite scents, found that freshly baked bread was the most popular, with one in five (20%) selecting this homely aroma as their favourite. Clean sheets (10%) and freshly mown grass (8%) were second and third respectively in the survey, which also discovered that – unsurprisingly – vomit, body odour and public toilets were the three smells we dislike the most.

Interestingly, the research has uncovered what smells have emotional ties to our lives in Britain. Freshly brewed coffee, heavenly or hellish? Musky perfume: love or loathe? People enjoy classic fragrances and scents that they know and love, with more than 80% of those admitting that a scent could make them happier. Certain scents can take Brits back to their childhood (35%), remind them of a happy time/place (53%) and comfort them (48%). Brit’s say the smell of an open fire reminds them most of autumn or winter, while freshly cut grass is most reflective of spring or summer.

Scents like lavender and other more traditional fragrances have long been household favourites, but more recently scents with a modern oriental twist have proved popular. In this video, members of the British public cited everything from leather, old library books and chocolate as some of their favourite smells.

So can the ‘Essence of Britain’ be captured within a bottle? With 90% of Brits agreeing that scent has the ability to affect our mood, can we find out our nation’s top smell?