The perfume that smells like a Macbook Pro
Australian artists hire scent experts to recreate the distinctive aroma of a brand new Apple gadget. The question is: Why?
If you love the smell of a just-out-of-the-box Apple product, you're in luck. Now anyone willing to travel to Melbourne, Australia, can savor that aroma without having to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new Macbook, iPad, or iPhone. That's thanks to a group of young Australian artists called Greatest Hits, which has created a fragrance meant to capture the scent of a freshly minted Macbrook Pro. Here, a brief guide:
How do you put the scent of a Mac in a bottle?
The artists — eager to capture everything that wafts off of a box of Apple gadgetry the moment it's opened for the first time — enlisted the help of Air Aroma, a "pioneering scent solutions company." Greatest Hits sent a brand new Macbook Pro to Air Aroma's lab in France, which combined fragrance ingredients that evoked the scent of the box's plastic wrap, the ink on its sides, the paper and plastic packing material, and the aluminum laptop inside.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Why do such a thing?
To create the perfect atmosphere in which to display art, specifically an exhibit called "De Facto Standard" that Greatest Hits is mounting in Melbourne starting this weekend. The fragrance Air Aroma produced will be dispersed throughout the gallery using a diffuser.
When will this scent be available in stores?
Sadly, never. According to Air Aroma, the fragrance — call it "Stink Different" or "Eau de Mac Unboxing" — was "created for use at this particular exhibition only and is not available for purchase on our online retail store for personal use." Oh, well, says Doug Aamoth at TIME. "Looks like it's back to rubbing Apple product packaging all over your neck, huh?" Don't give up hope so easily, says Chris Matyszczyk at CNET. I'm sure that "if enough fragrant fanboys were to pester the creators, it would soon be for sale at an Apple store near you. For $120 a bottle — small size."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why Bhutan hopes tourists will put a smile back on its face
Under The Radar The 'kingdom of happiness' is facing economic problems and unprecedented emigration
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
7 beautiful towns to visit in Switzerland during the holidays
The Week Recommends Find bliss in these charming Swiss locales that blend the traditional with the modern
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Werewolf bill
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published