Life

Would You Buy Perfume Made From Dead People?

by Emma Cueto

They say that scent is the sense most closely linked with memory, which is why there are so many books and movies in which someone holds onto the clothes of a deceased loved one or presses their face into the clothes . But now in real life, you might have the option of something even better, if maybe weirder: a perfume engineered to smell like your dead loved one. That's right, there is now a company that wants to make dead people perfume. Is it as creepy as it sounds? I'll let you be the judge.

The person behind this rather off-beat and not at all morbid or disturbing idea is entrepreneur Katia Apaletegui, who has teamed up with a chemist at Universite du Havre in northern France. According to her idea, a person could gather up their dead loved one's belongings, such as clothing or pillowcases, and Apaletegui could then run the items through a chemical process to isolate the scent particles that came directly from a human. The particles will then be converted into a fragrance that the customer can however they wish. Spray it around your house to make it seem like the person in question is still there. Take whiff whenever you miss them especially much. Wear it around on special occasions like their birth day. Whatever you want.

The whole thing costs about $600. Which actually doesn't even put it among the most expensive perfumes you can buy.

The company has not yet launched, but they hope to be up and running in September. Apaletegui's son, who is currently in business school, will serve as her partner.

According to Apaletegui, the purpose of the perfume is to help comfort people after loss, not to be creepy or weird. Still, I personally think that it's a little creepy and weird, especially if you're wearing it. I mean, you'd literally be walking around smelling like a dead person. Not a dead body, but still. It's a little weird.

Then again, it could also bring a lot of people a lot of comfort, so if you can get over the strangeness of it, then I suppose you might as well go ahead. And it's not like it's the most bizarre product to ever exist. That honor probably goes to the Drake lint rollers.

Of course, it's also worth pointing out that the company doesn't seem to be limiting their service only to creating perfumes from people who have passed away, meaning you could also potentially make perfumes out of the living people in your life. Which could be good if your in a long distance relationship, or just really, really clingy.

But if you are making a perfume to smell like a living person, just maybe make sure they know about it before you do. Because otherwise, it is unambiguously creepy.

Image: Giphy