Printed from smellbook.com/smells/skin. This printout keeps the entry for Skin itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
Categories and types group entries for browsing; they are editorial, not evidence. How smells are grouped.
A subtle personal body smell shaped by skin, environment, washing, clothing and individual variation.
Setting: personal. An editorial word for the kind of place or occasion the smell belongs to, not a smell word.
Skin smells soft, warm and subtle, a quiet personal smell that varies from person to person. EDITORIAL
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Links SmellBook records for this entry: related smells. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors. Nothing here is a ranking.
QUESTIONS ABOUT SKIN
Skin smells soft, warm and subtle, a quiet personal smell that varies from person to person. Clean skin carries a faint, slightly sweet warmth; after washing it may also hold soap or lotion. The smell is noticed only up close and shifts with heat, clothing and the time of day. It is easily confused with the fabric a person wears.
It is met in close proximity, such as hugging, holding a child or sharing a bed, and after washing when skin is warm and clean. Clothing worn for a day carries a trace of it too.
Typical settings: clean skin, close proximity, after washing.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: Volatile compounds of human skin. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
The scientific study behind this evidence is chemistry or emission work, not a study of how the smell is perceived.
Skin smell varies between people and contexts; this profile is descriptive and non-diagnostic.
Words that are easy to mix up: Is every warm smell spicy?
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
Volatile compounds of human skin
Sampling the upper back and forearm skin of 25 healthy people identified nearly 100 volatile compounds, from both endogenous and exogenous sources, some of which varied with age.
Skin away from the underarms; profiles differ between people and body sites.
How this was found: Emissions or air measured. What a material, product or place releases into the air was measured, usually without assessing odour. Source: primary study; material-emission work.
M. Gallagher, C.J. Wysocki, J.J. Leyden, A.I. Spielman, X. Sun & G. Preti
British Journal of Dermatology
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2008.08748.xLinks chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
Each step is a relationship SmellBook editors recorded in the knowledge graph, named as it is published there. Paths are not ranked or personalised, and they do not mean the smells smell alike.
MY SMELLBOOK · LOCAL ONLY
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MAP THIS SMELL
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Skin.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0086 — Skinsmellbook:smell:skinhttps://smellbook.com/smells/skinSmellBook. (2026). Skin (revision 4, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:skin. https://smellbook.com/smells/skin@misc{smellbook_skin_r4,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Skin},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 4, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:skin},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/skin}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-skin-r4 TI - Skin AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 4 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/skin N1 - SB-0086; smellbook:smell:skin; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/skin ER -
The citation names revision 4 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Skin smell varies between people and contexts; this profile is descriptive and non-diagnostic.
Other entries whose editors linked to Skin:
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30; changed in the first of two dataset releases of 2026-10-05 (descriptors).
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗