HOW TO PICK A COLOGNE - Scentual Science - Smarter Every Day 125

Hey, it's me Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. This is my buddy Ben, and he got a new toy, so we're gonna try to shoot with this. Just because we want to try it. Show 'em what it does.

Do I have to stand right here?

(Ben) Yes.

OK, here we go.

Alright, so today on Smarter Every Day, I am gonna tell you how I determined my cologne, my man smell. The way I did it was using the scientific method, but the reason I did it is pretty interesting. You know that smell is linked to memory. So I used to squirrel hunt here and it smells like childhood to me; it's pretty interesting. You probably have things like that in your life. Like honeysuckles might remind you of your grandmother or something like that.

So today on Smarter Every Day, I'm gonna show you how I selected that cologne because, after all, I wanted to be really desirable for my wife, right?

Here we go.

Hypothesis: If people like different smells, I should be able to test scientifically to determine the optimum smell for my wife, which I can then wear consistently and hopefully trigger memories about me when I'm not around.

But first, we've got to figure out how to set up this experiment. I searched the internet trying to find out which colognes women seem to prefer most. I Googled the popular brands but realized quickly that this was influenced by marketing, so instead, I went to Two X to try to get opinions of women talking to other women about their men. This gave me some good preliminary data.

But then, I went to the Smarter Every Day Facebook page and asked everyone on there which colognes they preferred. This is where I started to see some clear front runners, which made me wonder if I really wanted to smell like every other man in the world. There were over 300 unique responses submitted by 800 different comments. Clearly, I can't afford a bottle of each of these colognes. If you've ever looked at how much these things cost, you'd know that this experiment is about to get expensive.

I was surprised to find that there are websites that buy huge bottles of name brand cologne and divide them up into smaller samples, but 200 colognes is still way too many to try. So I asked my friend Will Leahy to compile all this survey data up together into one chart. Clearly, women respond well to the smells on the left side of this chart, so keeping that in mind, obviously I want to get a larger sample of the fragrances on that side.

However, I realized that this could also mean that these brands are simply marketed more effectively. So, to keep things fair, I chose several colognes that weren't as popular. Once I cut away the less interesting candidates, I narrowed it down to a manageable size that I felt like I could test over a six-month period, and here they are.

There's a broad spectrum represented here. There's super expensive stuff, cheap stuff, popular stuff, and stuff that's less known. At this point, I would have been willing to bet that she was gonna go for something that was on the left side, that's more popular with other ladies.

OK, when the bottles showed up, I found myself being biased by the names on the bottles. For example, there was one called Explorer. I want to be an explorer, so I wanted that one to win. Obviously, I had to blind myself to the marketing and assigned each vial a number, which I could then cross-reference at the end of the experiment.

With that out of the way, it came down to brute force science. Over the course of three months, I applied colognes randomly and documented her reactions to each. I didn't want her to expect a scent at a certain time of day, so often I would not apply anything and just make sure that she wasn't getting confused or maybe even starting to give me lazy data.

After four months of doing this, I narrowed it down to two fragrances—one for casual Destin and one for fancy Destin. Which means it's time to start conditioning her for memory triggers.

So in mid-October, I traveled to Peru. But before I even made it to my connecting gate in Atlanta, I got this text message followed up by this FaceTime call. Yup.

So is this the scent? Earlier today, she was preparing the kids' schoolwork, and I decided to test it on her to let her eyes tell the story.

Alright, the moment of truth. I'm not gonna show you what kind of cologne I have. I'm going to apply it. [laughs] And I'm gonna let you smell it.

(Wife) Mm hmm.. It's nice.

• Is it the nicest?
• It's the nicest.
• Do you like it?
• I like it.
• I'm not gonna tell you what the smell is because it's unique to us, right?
• Right.
• OK, so I will tell you that out of everything that we tried, it wasn't one of the most popular ones, but it was on the suggested list.

Alright, so when I was in Peru, I snuck in her bedroom and sprayed this smell that took me several months to arrive at, on my pillowcase, and what happened?

• It reminded me of you.

• When I was in a different continent, in the jungle.

• Yes.

• So, that was the point. To try to create memories that would be established long after I was gone, so now I'm gonna take this smell to the safety deposit box and spray it on our will. In case I die. [laughs] I'm just kidding.

I guess now I will show people how I shave. Is that OK?

• Yes, you can show people.
• I can show people?
• Wear clothes.
• What?
• When you show them.
• Oh cause I shave in the shower?
• Yeah. [laughs]

Alright, this episode of Smarter Every Day was sponsored by Harrys.com. They're clearly a superior product. I used to shave with little disposable stuff like this, but this is the same price as this, and it's way better.

Anyway, if you'd like to support Smarter Every Day, go to Harrys.com and then use the promo code smarter, and you can get a discount on razors. They're actually a really good product. It's really weighty, and the packaging is really cool. I like it.

So if you're interested in a better shaving experience, these blades are made in Germany; there are 5 of them. You can go to Harrys.com, use the promo code smarter, and I'm confident you will be happy because I was actually a Harrys customer before they offered to sponsor Smarter Every Day.

Anyway, that's it. Promo code smarter and get yourself a discount. They make really good gifts too.

I'm Destin, you're getting Smarter Every Day. I guess, smellier every day in this video. Have a good one.

Alright, we're gonna see if you can keep up. Are you ready? Here we go.

Come on. [laugh]

(Destin) I think it's awesome, but I think I'll do this.

• Yeah, that's way better. That's so you. [laughs]

[laughs] Stupid. Was it fun?

• Yeah, it was fun.

• Was it interesting?

• It was very interesting.

• So there you go. Any closing thoughts?

• Or maybe not pregnant; I might smell.

• Oh, that's right.

• I mean... yes.

• That's... [laugh] That's a factor.

• Just a thought.

• We have more variables to isolate. Might have to redo this in six months. [laugh]