Perfumes, we usually think of them as sweet-smelling oils crafted from flowers, spices, or synthetic chemicals. But brace yourself, because not all perfumes are designed to please. Some have been deliberately created with the most terrible smells imaginable!
Then there are those unusual perfumes that defy the conventional logic of what a perfume should smell like, even if they boast nice or neutral scents. Prepare to have your senses challenged with these insane and crazy perfumes!
10. Corpses
The titan arum, also known as the corpse flower, is infamous as the world’s smelliest flower. Its scent is akin to a combination of cheese, dead rat, and rotting fish. So, what made The Eden Project in the UK think it was a good idea to make a perfume that mimics this terrible scent?
They marketed Eau de Titan to men who wanted to take their scent to a “bold and completely new direction.” According to a spokesperson, “The distinctive odor attracts insects brilliantly, so it stands to reason it should work on people too.” A perfume to attract insects? Unsurprisingly, Eau de Titan never caught on.[1]
9. Sushi
Ever wanted to smell like a plate of warm sushi? Demeter Fragrance has you covered with their Sushi cologne. This perfume smells like rice and seaweed flavored with a bit of ginger and lemon—not raw fish.
Demeter Fragrance’s Sushi cologne doesn’t smell like raw fish because sushi is not just raw fish. Sushi is a rice dish flavored with vinegar and topped with raw fish. Rice flavored with vinegar but not topped with raw fish is not sushi neither is raw fish without the vinegar flavored rice. Raw fish alone is sashimi. Despite that explanation, few people are eager to smell like vinegar-flavored rice.[2]
8. New Cars
The British online car-trading website Autotrader launched a perfume that smells like a new car. Eau de New Car was created after a survey revealed that one-fourth of humans linked the scent of a new car with success. They described it as “success in a bottle.”
Eau de New Car smells like the original leather and hard wax used in premium vehicles. Autotrader claimed it was produced to “recreate the heady emotion of the first journey in a new car.” However, the perfume is intended for humans, not cars. Autotrader used to sell the perfume on their website for £175 per 50ml bottle, but it has since been removed, likely due to poor sales.[3]
7. Comets
What does a comet smell like? The Aroma Company’s Eau de 67P can tell you. Perfumers crafted the fragrance to mimic the scent of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. This one-off scent was specially made for the European Space Agency.
The European Space Agency commissioned the scent after an attempted landing on the comet in 2014. The Philae lander bounced off its surface but still completed four-fifths of its mission, determining the composition of the minerals in the comet.
The comet contains ammonia, methane, and sulfur dioxide, meaning it smells like rotten eggs mixed with bitter almond and cat pee. Eau de 67P captures that unique aroma.[4]
6. Books
For those who want to smell like old or freshly printed books, perfumers offer a solution. The nostalgic smell of old books comes from lignin, a major compound in wood pulp used to make paper. Books release lignin as they age.
Dead Writers perfume by Sweet Tea Apothecaries captures this scent. They chose the name because they assume that the author of any old book you’re trying to reminisce about may be dead at this point.
Anyone willing to buy the scent of a book written by a living author should consider Christopher Brosius’s Paper Passions, which goes for $200. If you love the fragrance of a new book, buying a new book might be a better deal. It’s a two-in-one—you get your favorite scent and something to read.[5]
5. Rain
Ever noticed that fresh, pleasant, and relaxing scent after rain? That’s petrichor. Petrichor forms when heavy raindrops hit the ground, causing the soil to release various chemicals.
If you want to smell like rainfall, Demeter, the same company that made the sushi perfume, has Thunderstorm perfume. According to a reviewer, Thunderstorm has a nice scent, but it doesn’t stick well to the body. Depending on who’s around you, that might be a good thing.[6]
4. Dead People
Katia Apalategui, a French perfumer, has found a way to keep people’s scents alive long after they’re gone. She packages that scent in a perfume she calls Eau de Death.
Eau de Death doesn’t have a standard scent like other perfumes; each bottle mimics the scent of the deceased. Katia extracts molecules from the clothes of the dead person and then recreates the chemical composition of those molecules.
Katia was inspired after discovering her mom kept her late father’s pillowcase to remember his scent. She collaborated with Havre University chemist Geraldine Salary to develop a method for extracting molecules from clothes. A single bottle costs $600.[7]
3. Toast
In 2013, the United Kingdom Federation of Bakers released a perfume that smells like toast. They sent the perfume to models attending London Fashion Week that year. The perfume was popular, and the models grabbed every sample.
The trade association may recreate another batch as part of a future marketing campaign, but it’s unlikely to be for sale. It commissioned the perfumes as part of its Slice of Life campaign to discourage people, especially women, from skipping breakfast and encouraging them to eat bread daily.[8]
2. Space
NASA uses an artificial fragrance to familiarize astronauts-in-training with the smell of space. NASA contracted Steve Pearce, founder of UK-based Omega Ingredients, for the job back in 2008. Pearce spent four years developing the scent for NASA.
Omega Ingredients also creates scents for the food industry. They released the scent as a perfume called Eau de Space. But what does Eau de Space (and space itself) smell like?
Omega Ingredients isn’t talking, stating only that the scent was based on a “secret shelved formula based on verified astronaut accounts.” However, Don Pettit, who worked as a science officer on the International Space Station, said space has a sweet metallic scent, like sweet welding fumes. Other astronauts have likened the scent to sulfur, rum, gunpowder, burned meat, and raspberries.[9]
1. Macbook Pro
Three Australian artists collaborated with Air Aroma to recreate a perfume that smells like a newly opened Apple Macbook Pro. They shipped an unopened MacBook Pro to Air Aroma’s office in France. Air Aroma analyzed the materials used to make the package and used it to recreate the scent.
The perfume isn’t an official Apple product. The artists created it for an exhibition in Melbourne, Australia, and don’t plan to sell it. So, anyone who wants to smell a newly opened Macbook Pro will need to buy one.[10]
Which of these insane perfumes surprised you the most? Leave your comment below!
