WASHINGTON 鈥� The scent of a woman (or a man, for that matter) triggers strong feelings of love, attraction, and comfort 鈥� but what happens when that man or woman dies, or is far away?
A French company has developed a method of bottling a person鈥檚 unique scent in a perfume.
Inventor Katia Apalategui witnessed her mother鈥檚 holding onto her late husband鈥檚 pillowcase, as a way of preserving the smell of the man she loved.
Apalategui is now working with the France鈥檚 University of La Havre, which has developed a technique to reproduce the human scent, reports.
鈥淲e take the person鈥檚 clothing and extract the odor 鈥� which represents about a hundred molecules,鈥� says researcher Geraldine Savary. 鈥淎nd we reconstruct it in the form of a perfume in four days.鈥�
Apalategui says the perfume offers 鈥渙lfactory comfort鈥� equivalent to photos and videos.
Apalategui and her son plan to launch a business in September, and plan on offering the service through funeral homes.
She expects the perfume will cost approximately $600.
Apalategui hopes the perfume could be appealing as a Valentine鈥檚 Day gift, or for soothing children who are temporarily away from parents.
