What death smells like: A model's exploration of unusual scents
British model Bee Beardsworth, in a series dedicated to unusual perfumes, attempted to determine what death smells like and tested perfumes inspired by it.
26 July 2024 17:13
Model Bee Beardsworth writes for "Dazed" magazine about unusual scents. In the series's latest installment, she sought to answer the question of what death smells like and whether anyone has tried to recreate this scent in perfumes. She sought answers from people working in hospitals, funeral homes, and creators of unusual perfumes.
The smell of death is related to its cause
Tree Carr, a death doula and author of books, stated: "Death can have a scent, but there is not one scent that you can pinpoint." It greatly depends on the cause of death. The dying of lung cancer smell different from those dying of stomach cancer and yet different from those with Alzheimer's. Carr added: "Whereas, if a healthy person gets into an unfortunate accident and dies, they aren’t going to be giving off any odours as a fresh corpse."
When the body begins to decompose, a range of intense, unpleasant odours appear. It comes from a cocktail of chemicals that are released when proteins are broken down by microorganisms. Carr clarified: "When the body moves into an active decaying process from 72 hours and beyond, then the strong, unpleasant odours of decomposition are present: foetid, rotting, sour and pungent."
Does Tom Ford's Lost Cherry smell like embalmed corpses?
In the case of an embalmed body, the scent is entirely different. This can be partially attributed to the fact that some chemical compounds that make decaying corpses smell so offensive can be pleasant in smaller amounts. Skatole and indole, responsible respectively for the smells of feces and sewage, are in lower doses, suffocating, earthy, and floral. According to one viral TikTok by a mortician intern @katescosmeticcorner, Tom Ford's Lost Cherry perfumes "smell like corpses."
Perfumer David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi created a perfume deliberately meant to evoke death. In his niche brand Toskovat, he released the scent Inexcusable Evil. Beardsworth described her impressions after using it: "A heavily uncomfortable chemical smell hits me before something like a mix between burning plastic and gunpowder. This dries down into an acrid spiciness that seems to radiate a cloying heat off my skin."
There is no one smell of death
The creator of Inexcusable Evil, Jipa-Slivinschi, confessed: "It still surprises me how many people actually put it on their skin. The perfume was created as a protest for war. I specifically formulated it so it would scream off your skin and pull you back into thinking about our violent nature. Either I failed or people have a very strong self-comfort-preserving dissociation." The scent had the intended effect on Beardsworth. She wanted to wash it off as quickly as possible and launder the saturated clothes.
The model described the perfume Death's Elixir by Cursed as "something akin to the mythical, revered death of fairy tales, saints and martyrs." She stated that the scent is incredibly smoky and leathery with base notes of saccharine amber. It dries down to an earthy floral patchouli, which she perceived as both alluring and repulsive. On the other hand, she considered Dead Air by Oddity to be "snapshots of memories I’ve buried."
Concluding her quest, Beardsworth came to the conclusion that there is no single scent of death. She stated: "The smell of Death is whatever your association is, arguably a manifestation of your own dealings with darkness."
