My Favorite Smell

Carnations

I love carnations, they are my favorite flower with their warm spicy smell.  They (dianthus caryopyhllus)  don't do well in zone 9, don't know why exactly, they're a Mediterranean flower and like a warm climate, but they like a sunny well drained area and with the water table as high as it is here they don't do as well as you'd expect.  Not even in pots or raised beds.  What we have instead are dianthus plumaria, sweet williams and pinks all from the same family but able to put up with the damp and humidity better.
You almost never see Carnation plants for sale here but I spotted some at Walmarts a couple of weeks ago and bought one.  So far so good and it's covered in buds, as soon as they bloom I've been cutting them and bringing them into the house.  I also have loads of the dianthus plumaria, some 5 or 6 years old.  They take a lot of abuse and keep on going.  They're as pretty as the carnation they just don't smell as sweet or as strong.

Dianthus

Dianthus

I think my love of the carnation's  smell is why I like Opium perfume so much.  The Yves St. Laurent website lists Opim as having topnotes (obviously their word not mine, I mean really...) of mandarin, bergamot, lily of the valley, a hint of jasmine, carnation, myrrh and a base of vanilla, amber, sweet myrrh and patchouli (must not be much of that because that's a smell I do not like!).  But what I get from it the most is the carnation and it's so sweet and spicy.

I get more compliments when I wear it, total strangers ask what I'm wearing because it smells so good.  What's your favorite smell?