At lunch today, my mom and I were discussing the fabulousness that is the Tide to Go Pen. It does everything. It gets out those quibs and small spills that can totally embarrass you. It can erase coke dribbles and the stain from the jelly that was squeezed out the back of your PB&J. It is handy too as it can fit into even the smallest of purses.

The only problem with it is the smell.

Don't get me wrong. It doesn't smell rotten eggs, stinky feet or warm brownies. It just smells like Tide. It is kind of a cross between fresh and clean. (So fresh and so clean, clean!) It smells like some of those stain removers you use before you throw things in the washer. It's a very down to earth smell. It smells like clean laundry after all it is a product of Tide.

However, I don't really want my Tide to Go to smell like anything at all. Yet, Tide to Go doesn't make and Unscented Tide to Go. I know this for a definitive fact because I have e-mailed Proctor and Gamble begging asking for an Unscented Tide to Go. They wrote me back the next day with a very nice letter saying that everyone has their own preference when it comes to smells, but they'd pass it on to research and development and see what they could come up with. I am nothing if not proactive.

This however, got me thinking. Most of the products I use in my life I would rather use unscented. Mostly because I don't particularly want to smell like a Bath and Body Works exploded around me when I walk into a room. So, I made a short list of the products that I use that I would rather be unscented: deodorant, face wash, feminine products, Downy Wrinkle Release, Febreze, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, lip gloss, dish soap, hair sprays, shaving cream, cleaning products and bath soap, but I'm sure there are more.

Clean smells are ok. Not desired, but sometimes the best choice. I understand that bathroom cleaner should make your bathroom smell fresher when you finished, than when you started. That's kind of nice, but I don't particularly want my bathroom to smell all pine fresh or all lemony. That's not a natural bathroom smell. (At least not in my bathroom.) This is in the same manner that I don't like it when my armpits smell like raspberries or when my hair smells like chlorine. It just makes me very self conscious.

So, I try to buy all my basics unscented if I can. If i can't find unscented (which with deoderant sometimes you can't) I try to look for the most neutral or inoffensive smell. Clean usually works. THEN and only then do I layer myself with the smelly stuff of my choosing. I figure if my deodorant doesn't smell, but my lotion does then it is more appealing to those of you who actually have to sniff me. I'm not trying to make myself smell like a fruit cocktail by any means. (Don't feel pressured to sniff me either. I think that suggestion could get creapy if it falls into the wrong hands.)

Of course, since I am that in control about what scents I'm wearing, I like to have a variety. I don't have a signature scent. (Although, my apartment in college always seemed smelled like Strawberries and Cream Glade Plug-Ins. I used them once and it lasted nearly three semesters.) I do solve my inability to pick (or complete defiance to pick) a signature sent by buying travel size or sample sized lotions of a variety of smells. I like the sample packs that you can get at Christmastime. I'd rather have five small bottles of five different scents, than one huge bottle of something that I'm sure I will get tired of quickly.

I know, I'm a nerd, but at least I smell nice.