The Smell of Zombies: Now in Cologne Form for Him and Her

Do you like your movies filled with rows of living corpses? Does the idea of some rotting flesh bring out the 12-year-old boy in you? Is Night of the Living Dead your favorite guilty pleasure? And did you secretly say "yeah, zombies can be normal folks like you and me" while watching Shaun of the Dead?

You're in for a treat then!

Demeter, a cult fragrance line off NYC, has brought out the scent of the living dead in cologne form (in masculine and feminine declinations no less!), so you know what you're going to douse yourself with next Halloween or next Zombie-slumber-party.

The Demeter Fragrance Library explains that its colorless, Zombie For Him cologne smells like 'forest floor', with notes of dried leaves, mushrooms, mildew, moss and earth. And the women's version (Zombie for Her) is slightly 'lighter', with the additional aroma of dregs 'from the bottom of the wine barrel for that feminine touch.'[source]

Shaun of the Dead

The two scents are limited edition, available only from March 15th to April 20th on the Demeter online store.

Demeter, founded by Christopher Brosius and Christopher Gable in 1993, has never stopped producing not-your-average-fragrances for people who are after specific smells (their Rain is the scent of a humidifier pegged just right, their Dirt is the kind you plunge your gardener's hands into and rejoice, they have Vanilla Cake Batter, Play-Doh, Turpentine, Beetroot, Sex on the Beach (after the cocktail), Moonbeam, Laundromat and many many others in a staggering catalogue of 250 scents.

Now would you be curious to smell these? And what do zombies smell like anyway? 
As one reader commented on the Daily Mail: "I don't know what a dead man walking would smell like, but I'll bet it isn't too dissimilar to the current occupants of the government front bench." I couldn't have put it better myself.

This snippet of news was brought to my attention by the lovely Minette.

Demeter Fragrance Library Wisteria: fragrance review

Demeter Fragrance Library hides many little gems: from the convincing ivy green note of mysterious evil of Poison Ivy to the exact replication of the ionically charged and just outright lovely wet scent of a baby's humidifier caught in Rain, the line never fails to present one with small epiphanies and delighted coos of small discoveries where you least expect it (They have things like Laundromat, Belladonna, Sex on the Beach, referencing the cocktail....an endless pit of joyful playing around). So I wasn't really astounded to find their Wisteria cologne was actually good.


Wisteria by Demeter goes where upscale fine fragrance doesn't go, who knows for what inexplicable reason: It creates the beautiful, utterly gorgeous scent of the mauve hanging grappes of wisteria (glycine), perched like bunches of decadent grapes over terraces, latticework and verandahs in early spring. A fusion of spicy goodness reveals itself from the core; a middle road between peppery twinkle, clovey note, and carnations, with a side of a somewhat oily green nuance reminiscent of hyacinth and lilacs. All these facets are surprisingly caught in Demeter's Wisteria, a soliflore that is lush and rich like the natural flower.
The scent starts a little alcoholic at first but the progression into an intense spicy floral is more than enough to compensate. Sadly presented only in Eau de Cologne, but with rather good lasting power nonetheless. If you like spicy florals, carnation scents or just love the mauve blossoms themselves, there are good chances you might like Wisteria by Demeter.

At 20$ for 1oz it is an unmissable bargain. If you know of European based online outlets for this, do let me know in the comments.

photo via armchairfrance.com