Imagine walking into a coffee shop and not just smelling the roasted beans, but seeing a thick, swirling cloud of deep mahogany or shimmering gold hovering over the counter. For most of us, that sounds like a scene from a sci-fi flick or a high-budget Marvel movie. But for some people, this is just Tuesday. It’s a neurological condition called synesthesia, and specifically, a very rare version of it where the brain cross-wires scents with visual colors and shapes.
Lexie Greeson became a bit of a viral sensation for exactly this. She’s one of the few people who has openly documented what it’s like to navigate a world where a bad perfume doesn't just give you a headache—it physically blocks your vision with jagged shapes or "ugly" colors. It’s wild.
Most people have heard of "word-color" synesthesia, where the letter 'A' is always red. That’s common. But the girl who sees smells represents a much more intense sensory overlap. When you talk about olfactory-visual synesthesia, you're looking at a tiny percentage of the population. It’s not a hallucination. It’s not a "vibe." It’s a structural difference in how the brain processes input from the nose.
What's actually happening in a synesthete's brain?
Brains are usually pretty good at keeping their lanes clear. Your visual cortex handles what you see, and your olfactory bulb handles what you sniff. In a synesthete, those lanes have some serious "leaky" connections. Dr. Daphne Maurer at McMaster University has spent years studying this, and her research suggests we might actually all be born with these cross-connections, but most of us "prune" them away as we grow up. Synesthetes just kept the wiring.
Think of it like a crowded apartment building with thin walls. If your neighbor—the olfactory system—turns the music up too loud, you're going to hear it in your apartment—the visual cortex.
For Greeson, certain scents trigger specific visual "photisms." A specific brand of laundry detergent might look like blue bubbles or streaks. A rotting trash can might look like a murky, oily film. It’s constant. It’s exhausting. Honestly, I can’t imagine trying to drive a car while a passing diesel truck is literally throwing "visual noise" across my windshield.
The heavy lifting of sensory overload
Being the girl who sees smells isn't always a superpower. Actually, it can be a total nightmare in public spaces.
Lexie has mentioned in various clips and interviews how overwhelming certain environments are. Think about a department store. You’ve got the perfume counter, the leather shoes, the scented candles, and the food court all fighting for space. For someone with this condition, that's not just a smell-fest; it’s a blinding light show.
- Positive scents: Often appear as soft, rounded shapes or vibrant, pleasing colors (pinks, golds, soft greens).
- Negative scents: Often manifest as sharp, jagged, or "spiky" shapes with muddy colors like brownish-gray or sickly yellows.
There is no "off" switch. You can't just close your eyes, because the smell is still there, and the brain is still generating the image.
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Is this just a "quirky" TikTok trend?
Look, social media has a habit of turning medical conditions into "main character" traits. You’ve seen it with ADHD, Tourette's, and now synesthesia. But researchers like Sean Day, who is a synesthete himself and a leading voice in the American Synesthesia Association, have been documenting this long before the internet existed.
The data is real.
Functional MRI (fMRI) scans show that when synesthetes hear sounds or smell scents, the "wrong" parts of their brains light up. If you show a non-synesthete a picture of a lemon, their visual cortex lights up. If you let them smell a lemon, their olfactory region lights up. But for someone like Lexie, that smell triggers the visual cortex as if she were actually looking at something.
It’s a physiological fact.
How do doctors even test for this?
You might think people could just fake it for attention. "Oh yeah, that pizza smells like purple triangles." But scientists are way ahead of that. They use something called "test-retest reliability."
If I ask a normal person what color the smell of vanilla is, they might say "white" because vanilla ice cream is white. If I ask them again six months later, they might say "yellow" because of the flower. A true synesthete will give the exact same hyper-specific answer—like "a translucent neon green swirl with rounded edges"—every single time, even years apart. Their associations are involuntary and permanent. They don't choose them. They just suffer or enjoy them.
The weirdly specific world of Lexie Greeson
Lexie’s experience is unique because she’s been so vocal about the "ugly" side. A lot of people think synesthesia is this beautiful, artistic gift. And sure, for some musicians like Pharrell Williams or Lorde (who see sounds), it helps their craft. But for the girl who sees smells, it’s often about avoidance.
She’s talked about how certain people have a "scent" that she finds visually repulsive. Imagine meeting someone who is perfectly nice, but their natural body chemistry looks like a jagged shard of rusted metal to you. It would be hard to be their friend, right?
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That's the social complexity nobody talks about.
It also changes how she eats. Flavor is mostly smell. So when she eats a strawberry, she’s seeing a color show in her mind's eye that corresponds to the berry’s aroma. If the berry is slightly tart or "off," the color shifts. It’s a 4D dining experience.
Why some people think it’s fake (and why they’re wrong)
Cynicism is the default setting for the internet. People love to jump into the comments and say, "You're just imaginative," or "You're just describing a memory."
But there’s a massive difference between associating a smell with a memory and seeing a smell.
- Associations: You smell cookies and think of your grandma’s house. That’s a cognitive link.
- Synesthesia: You smell cookies and a physical golden mist appears in your field of vision. That’s a perceptual link.
The latter is what Lexie Greeson deals with. It’s not a choice. It’s not a "vibe" she’s trying to cultivate for the 'gram. It’s a neurological reality that has been studied by experts like Dr. Richard Cytowic, who basically wrote the bible on synesthesia (The Man Who Tasted Shapes).
How common is this, really?
Not common at all. While about 4% of the population has some form of synesthesia, the olfactory-visual kind is among the rarest. Most synesthetes are "grapheme-color," meaning they see numbers and letters as colors.
Seeing smells? You're looking at a fraction of a percent.
It’s so rare that many doctors haven't even seen a case in person. This often leads to misdiagnosis. Some people with synesthesia are told they have migraines with auras, or worse, they’re labeled as having psychotic episodes or hallucinations. But synesthesia is consistent and predictable. Hallucinations are chaotic and often related to internal states. Synesthesia is a direct response to an external trigger.
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What can we learn from the girl who sees smells?
Honestly, Lexie’s story is a reminder of how subjective "reality" is. My blue might be your blue, but my "smell of rain" is just a smell, while for her, it might be a shimmering silver curtain.
It makes you wonder what else we’re missing.
If you think you might have a version of this, there are a few things to look for. It’s not just about having a "strong imagination." It’s about whether these visions are:
- Involuntary: You don't try to see them; they just happen.
- Projected: You see them in your mind’s eye or out in space, not just as a thought.
- Durable: The smell of a rose looks the same today as it did five years ago.
- Generic: You usually see shapes, lines, or colors, not complex scenes or movies.
Managing a world that’s too "loud" for the eyes
For people like Lexie, the modern world is a sensory minefield. We live in a world of artificial scents. Walk into a mall and you’ve got "Ocean Breeze" floor cleaner, "Tropical Teakwood" candles, and fried cinnamon sugar all hitting you at once.
She has to find ways to dampen the input. This might mean wearing sunglasses even when it’s not that bright, or sticking to specific "safe" environments where the scents are predictable. It’s about boundaries.
There’s no "cure" because it’s not a disease. It’s a different way of being. Most synesthetes wouldn't give it up even if they could, because the idea of a "flat" world where smells are just invisible seems boring to them. It’s part of their identity.
Practical steps if you experience sensory overlap
If you’ve started noticing that certain sounds have a taste or smells have a color, don't freak out. You’re not losing your mind.
- Track your triggers: Keep a small notebook. Write down the scent and the visual you saw. Check back in a month. If it’s the same, it’s likely synesthesia.
- Consult a specialist: Look for a neuropsychologist who understands sensory processing. They can help you distinguish between synesthesia and other conditions like "Alice in Wonderland" syndrome or aura-based migraines.
- Find your community: Groups like the UK Synaesthesia Association or the American Synesthesia Association have resources and forums. You’ll realize you aren't the only one seeing neon clouds in the kitchen.
- Control your environment: If you’re overwhelmed, switch to unscented detergents and soaps. Reducing the "noise" in your nose will clear up the "static" in your vision.
The story of the girl who sees smells isn't just a viral blip. It’s a fascinating look into the plasticity of the human brain. Lexie Greeson has given us a window into a version of reality that most of us can only dream of—or, in her case, occasionally struggle to see through. It reminds us that "normal" is a very narrow slice of the human experience.
Next Steps for Deeper Understanding
To truly grasp the complexity of this condition, your next step should be to look into the Consistency Test. This is the gold standard for verifying synesthesia. You can find simplified versions online or through academic portals like the Synesthesia Battery developed by Dr. David Eagleman’s lab. Exploring these tests will help you understand the difference between a creative association and a hard-wired neurological trait. Additionally, reading "The Man Who Tasted Shapes" by Dr. Richard Cytowic provides the foundational medical context for how these sensory crossovers were first validated by the scientific community.