Harvard grad invents a perfume that 'flirts' for you

When the story about a perfume named eau Flirt landed on my desk a few weeks back, I was skeptical. After all, the fragrance supposedly "flirts" for you.

It all started with the founders' mother. Class of '08 Harvard graduate Shaan K. Hathiramani created a perfume named Ageless, with crisp fruity notes of pink grapefruit and pomegranate and the goal of counteracting smells associated with aging. Shaan, along with his brother Raj, continued to experiment with scents and what feelings these scents were associated with. This led them to create Harvey Prince, a women's fragrance brand that intends to "put the power of scent back into women's hands," Shaan told me by phone.

"It’s all done with good humor," he explained. "Every day we get e-mails with very funny stories [from users] about how they walk into bars and get guys trying to get a second whiff."

eau Flirt was developed after two series of focus groups and blind smell tests at the the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation and Columbia University, where Harvey Prince worked with scientists (and male testers) to develop perfumes with strong positive scent associations and that were pleasant as a scent on its own. "We asked what scents guys recalled and what kind of images of women they would expect to smell like them," said Shaan.

The result was a mix of pumpkin pie, lavender, mango, plum, and gardenia.
"Cinnamon and nutmeg is a very nostalgic combination," he explained. "It's associated with really classic, great memories that we collectively have -- whether it's growing up or interacting with people we love and care about."

Does it work? I'm not so convinced, but I'm willing to give it a go. As for now, Shaan still tries to keep my hopes up:

"I got an e-mail from a woman in the Persian Gulf the other day," he said. "She ordered our perfume online and had eau Flirt airdropped into a war zone. She said she had to be careful about using it because too many guys came up to her and started saying 'Hello.' But as you can imagine, the ratio of guys to girls is pretty favorable to her ..."

But does it really work? Have you tried it? Let us know in the comments.

Find Harvey Prince's eau Flirt online at HarveyPrince.com.

[image courtesy Harvey Prince]