Get a whiff of this:
You’re a bit of a ludite when in comes to technology, but you have to get that term paper in today, and as your home printer appears to be busted, you’ve had to venture on campus into the computer lab, which you’ve heard is populated by a plethora of certain unfashionables, the geek squad. You enter the room expecting to be blasted by braces and bottle cap-framed faces, and yes, you are, but to your surprise and delight it smells fresh and pleasant in the room, not at all like the BO, bad breath, or unwashed clothes you had obviously been expecting – shame on you. There is a huge vase of geraniums and jasmine on the front table, the room is neat and organized, the lighting is lovely (the flourescent lighting of yesteryear has been ditched) and the air is circulating perfectly, a draft coming in just behind the flowers. You realize you are potentially looking at cool pool of tomorrow’s leaders, and you think to yourself that you should start doing a little research for the next essay while you’re here, seeing as it’s so pleasant in this particular computer lab, and if you need any, there’s likely someone around to offer help.
Don’t expect a new scentsation from Nerd XX. This is an extremely simple, ordinary fragrance – fresh, but highly creative. “Fragrance minus pretense” is the catch phrase of Eau de Nerd, and while the XX scent is indeed clean, refreshing, and uplifting, what’s heaps more refreshing than the scent itself is the concept for it. Clearly the creators are having a good laugh taking the piss out of the industry, but they are doing so lightheartedly, not in a smeary, demeaning way. To boot, in the process, because the scent is in fact so… well rather bland, to be honest, but in a pleasant sort of way, if Nerd XX and her brother Nerd XY become highly successful, it will be because of the marketing. I hope I’m not the only one to see the amusing irony in that.
There is little more to the scent that nothing more than carnations. I don’t get much of the jasmine or the spiciness it has, but it is clean, refreshing, and uplifting.
Canadian start-up company Good Olfactory Inc. launched the nerd line of fragrances to counteract the distorted messaging common in the beauty industry. All prices are in multiples of the number pi, 3.14. Cute! Spokesperson, Erin Posner says:
“You don’t need a pocket protector or advanced degree to smell good. Our message is more inclusive and self-affirming than what you typically see in fragrance advertising.”
“Society often views or portrays nerds as outsiders, excluded from the superficial realms of beauty and coolness, but this is all fantasy and fallacy. In that shallow light, our fragrances are les eaux pour les autres, but in reality, there is broad appeal, because everyone has some other-ness in them. Everyone is a nerd.”
Good Olfactory Inc. intends to donate 7% of profits to charities and causes that combat bullying. Excellent. The company also sells small decants of 3.3 ml ( 0.11 fl. oz.) to try. Eau de Nerd was launched in spring, 2013 with two scents – Nerd XX for the ladies, and Nerd XY for the dudes. Nerd XX can currently only be purchased from the company’s uber simple and clean website: Eau de Nerd (now just Good Olfactory).
From Fragrantica:
- OLFACTORY GROUP: floral
- MAIN ACCORDS: white floral, floral, warm spicy, animalic, aromatic
- TOP NOTES: —
- MIDDLE NOTES: jasmine, carnation
- BASE NOTES: —