Nosy Interview: Roisin Meaney

Roisin in the Hidden Treasures of M78, © ESO & Igor Chekalin

Roisin and I met at La Muse Writers' and Artists' Retreat, where certain magical 12th-century smells still linger in the stone walls. A bestselling author in Ireland, Roisin recently celebrated the U.S. publication of her novel Semi-Sweet. To learn more about Roisin and her work, please visit her website, or connect with her on Facebook.

What do you smell like?
I think it depends on the time of day. First thing in the morning I probably smell lavender-ish, because I douse my sheets and pillows in a lavender spray every evening to help me sleep. (It's not all that effective, but I love the smell.) After my shower I smell like a grapefruit; I'm partial to the scent of citrus in the morning, so I tend to hunt down lemony/mandariny/grapefruity shower gels, and right now it's grapefruit.
 
After a walk I imagine I smell like the street - carbon monoxide with a dash of fast food - or the rain if I've been caught in it (damply woolly, or wetly cottony). After a session of baking (which happens quite often) I hope I smell of vanilla, or coconut, or almonds, or something equally tasty. In September, when I bake my Christmas cakes (about a dozen, for various households) I smell permanently of dark rum, mixed spice and oranges. After my weekly bums, tums and thighs class I smell rubbery, because I use my yoga mat for the floor work.
 
When I'm going out I smell of whatever perfume is on my dressing table. At the moment it's Chanel No 5. I use the body oil and the perfume, because I feel just one layer of scent doesn't last on my skin. I rarely buy the same fragrance twice in a row, because by the time I get to the end of the bottle I'm usually sick of it, but some of the scents I revisit every so often would be Jo Malone's Grapefruit, L'Occitaine's Jasmine and Vivienne Westwood's Boudoir.
 
Going to bed I smell of toothpaste and night cream, which has a talcum-y, floral scent. And overlaying every other smell is probably essence of cat, because I love to cuddle my two!
 
What do you like to smell?
Seaweed, jasmine, peat briquettes, frying onions, melting cheese, vinegary French fries, sweet pea, my six-month old nephew's belly, milk chocolate, country air after the rain, old books, new books, fat felt tip pens, barbecuing meat, just-picked strawberries, and freshly-brewed coffee (but oddly, I rarely drink coffee.) I also love the smell of the sea and just-mown lawns and flower shops. Oh, and wood smoke. And forests. And cotton that's been hung out to dry.