I Am Trash Perfume

So, what does I Am Trash smell like? Apparently a bit like strawberries. More info: adage.com

Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 23, 2018 - Comments (0)
Category: Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Old Milk Perfume

Created by Swedish grocery chain Coop as a way to promote their campaign of lessening food waste. The logic here being to teach people that they shouldn't throw out their milk until it actually smells rotten. More info: CNET

Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 14, 2018 - Comments (4)
Category: Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Bacchus After-Shave

Very strange 1969 ad campaign for Bacchus after-shave. The premise is that instead of leaving a giant horse outside of Troy, the Greeks actually left a "towering bottle of Bacchus," and that this caused the Trojan women to become so wild with lust that the Trojan men no longer had time for fighting.

It then follows this up with the tagline: "The Romans conquered an empire with it. Go out and conquer yours."

But what do the Romans have to do with the Trojan horse? Rome didn't even exist at the time of the Trojan war. I guess there's a vague connection because the Romans believed they were descended from the Trojans, but even so the history seems hopelessly muddled.

Esquire - Jan 1970

Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 16, 2018 - Comments (4)
Category: History, Advertising, 1960s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Donut Cologne

Invented in 1996 by three California firefighters turned entrepreneurs. Their explanation of how they got the idea:

More info: LA Times - May 3, 1996

San Bernardino County Sun - Aug 7, 1996

Los Angeles Times - May 3, 1996

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jul 12, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: 1990s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Ambush Perfume

Apparently, women who wore this perfume were inclined to hide behind vegetation--then presumably leap out upon their prey.

History and description of perfume here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue May 22, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, 1950s, 1960s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Serb, the men’s cologne

In the midst of the Bosnian War, two Serbian designers came out with "Serb" the cologne. I can't think of any other cologne inspired by a war.

Arizona Republic - Apr 17, 1994

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - May 9, 1994

Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 28, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: 1990s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Nuts & Bolts Toiletries

More info here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 06, 2018 - Comments (1)
Category: Advertising, 1960s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Pullman Fragrance

For the man that wanted to smell like a train.


Someone has a bottle of this stuff for sale on eBay, if you wanna try some 50-year-old fragrance. Only $180!

Philadelphia Inquirer - Oct 29, 1967

Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 25, 2018 - Comments (1)
Category: 1960s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Fragrance-coded card catalog

In 1974, the public library in Upper Arlington, Ohio added scratch-and-sniff scents to its card catalog. They called it the "Stick Your Nose in the Card Catalogue" program.

The idea was that the card in the catalog would have a scent, and then the book on the shelf would have a matching scent. So you could find your books by smell. There were about 60 scents in total, including apple, chocolate, garlic, lemon, roses, root beer, leather, pizza, orange, strawberry, candles, pine, cheddar cheese, clover, and smoke.

I was curious what became of the scented catalog, so I emailed the library and asked. The reply came just a few minutes later:


And they also emailed me a news clipping about the catalog (in extended, below) from the local Upper Arlington paper.

The Vernon Daily Record - Feb 9, 1975

San Antonio Express - Apr 11, 1976

More in extended >>

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 16, 2018 - Comments (9)
Category: Libraries, 1970s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Cigarette Perfume

From Etat Libre d'Orange. For women who actually want to smell like an ashtray.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 21, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents