Scent Play

Any sexual play that uses scents to heighten the experience is referred to as scent play.

Popular Smells for Scent Play

A wide variety of scents might stimulate those interested in scent play. Scents associated with their spouse or other individuals, such as body odor, unclean genitalia, worn underwear, and feet, can turn people on. This could be because, although the existence and effects of human pheromones have not been scientifically verified, things like perspiration and vaginal fluid may include pheromones that draw people to one another. Nevertheless, some people like to use pheromone perfumes and vaginal fluids (dabbing) to practice scent play. Scent play can also be done with perfumes, particularly those that people identify with their lover or other beautiful people.

Scent and food play overlap when people engage with foods with strong scents. Fruits, liquorice, and desserts with vanilla or cinnamon flavors are a few meals with a wonderful aroma.

Scent Play Scenes

Scenes involving scent play can be as mild and sensual as intense.  For instance, using scented oils to massage a lover or lighting fragrant candles are two ways that people might indulge in subtle smell play.

Forced sniffing, in which the submissive is made to sniff the dominant's crotch or feet or odorous objects like sneakers or underwear, is a more strenuous BDSM-style scent play exercise. For instance, a dominant might choke their submissive with their used undergarments or tie a used shoe to their face using the laces. Additionally, people may kiss or lick their partner's feet, armpits, and other body areas with strong smells. To combine smell play and humiliation play, a dominant may fart or burp into their submissive's face.

Scent and Attraction

Humans' limbic system reacts when they smell something. The hippocampus, which creates memories, and the amygdala, which produces emotions, are located in this brain area. A person who enjoys a scent will feel good and create happy memories; a person who dislikes a scent will feel bad and make bad memories. A person will feel satisfied and have a pleasant memory of the interaction if they enjoy how someone smells. Some people may be drawn or repulsed by persons they don't know well because of the influence of smells. According to a 2019 University of Newcastle study, people are more likely to find themselves drawn to persons who smell like them.

A person's reproductive system releases hormones that prime them for mating when they scent someone they are attracted to. Pheromones that either attract or repel possible partners can also be released by humans in bodily fluids like perspiration and semen.