Then you start to associate that person with that scent as opposed to liking the person because of the scent. it is far more complicated. i don t know if we have time for this, but tristen white is the smell researcher, listen to how he put it. if you look into your nose, there are something like 400 different receptors, each detecting a different range or kind of molecule. and what s even stranger is we don t all have exactly the same 400 in our nose. and that s down to our genetics, it is highly variable. it might explain, for example, why we like a person or their perfume but not somebody else. it does explain, for example, why some people like cilantro in their guacamole and others don t. there is a reason for that. it is genetic. it is very individualized.