Elle.com reports on a perfume designed by artificial intelligence. So, when the robots take over, at least they'll smell nice.
what if an AI-created perfume could be more than a simple blend? In 2017, the Brazilian cosmetics company O Boticário decided to find out. It approached IBM Research to help design two perfumes using only artificial intelligence...
Because [The AI program] wasn’t programmed with tradition or emotion, it never had a mentor to instill “the way things are done.” For example, it selected fenugreek seed, which perfumers often avoid because it’s tricky to work with, as well as a frothy, milklike aroma from Symrise’s flavor division. “I wasn’t even aware of the note,” Apel says. “When I saw that happen, it really hit me: This was a unique approach.” O Boticário tested the AI fougère and ended up bottling it. The scent, called Egeo on You, launched in 2019, along with a machine-made feminine counterpart called Egeo on Me.
In 1960, Monarch Books announced the launch of Perfume-o-Books. These were books infused with perfume.
They had plans to use a saddle-leather scent for westerns, floral odors for flower-arrangement books, and food scents for cookbooks.
All of which seemed logical. However, they decided to launch the line with three movie tie-in titles: "The Enemy General," by Dan Pepper, "The Stranglers of Bombay," by Stuart James, and "The Brides of Dracula," by Dean Owen. These three titles were each infused with a "Chanel 5 type perfume."
They seem like very odd titles to have been perfumed. And evidently the perfume didn't appreciably help sales, because no more perfume-o-book titles were ever printed.
The Stinky Candle Company is committed to offering scented candles that represent the full range of everyday olfactory experiences. So, while they do sell many traditional scents such as christmas tree, chocolate cake batter, lilac, and creme brulee, they also offer non-traditional scents such as chlorine, rotting flesh, gasoline, body odor, fart, skunk, urine, vomit, and "Spawn of the Devil" (which sounds mysterious).
Sounds like the Stinky Candle Company follows the same scent philosophy as Demeter Fragrances, who were selling that glue perfume.
Bombshell by Victoria's Secret quickly became a bestselling perfume after its launch in 2010. But in 2015, researchers at New Mexico State University discovered that the fragrance didn't only smell nice. It also repelled mosquitoes. Almost as well as DEET. From the study:
Other studies have shown that floral scents attract mosquitoes, and it is suggested to avoid floral scented perfumes to reduce mosquito attraction. Surprisingly, the perfume we tested, Victoria Secret Bombshell (Fragrance type: Fruity floral notes: Purple passion fruit, Shangri-la peony, Vanilla orchid) has shown to be a strong repellent with effects lasting longer than 120 min. It must be noted that the concentration of perfume we used in this test was rather high and that lower concentrations of the same fragrance might have different effects.
It's not a bad quality for a perfume to have, although Victoria's Secret doesn't seem to be interested in publicizing it.
Finnish ad agency Mirum Helsinki has created a perfume it's calling "Creative Essence." The raw material for it is sweat collected from employees, “in the midst of a workout, a sauna treatment, or in one case, gustatory sweating caused by extra spicy chicken wings.”
The agency is hoping the perfume will serve as a recruiting tool. Explains a rep:
“We believe sweat represents the creative passion we share as creatives. Excitement, goosebumps, the peak moments when our heartbeat rises during the visceral creative process that requires dedication and teamwork.… [It} may even shock people when they first hear about it, but it was a calculated risk we believed was worth taking since our target audience—the most creative people in the advertising industry—would be able to see behind the sweat… They would understand what we actually are talking about: creative talent and all the forms it can take.”
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.