Now, a perfume that smells even better when you sweat

Washington: Trying to cover up your sweat odour with perfume? Worry not as scientists have now, for the first time, developed a perfume that smells even better if you sweat more.

Created by researchers in the Queen's University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL) Research Centre, this unique new perfume has a delivery system which releases more of its aroma when it comes into contact with moisture, meaning a person smells nicer when their sweat levels increase.

This innovative perfume system has been created by tagging a raw fragrance onto an ionic liquid (salt in the form of liquid) which has no smell. The "perfumed ionic liquid" releases its aroma when it comes into contact with water, allowing more of the perfume's scent to be released onto a person's skin.

In addition, the perfume system also has the ability to remove the bad odours that come from sweat. The "thiol" compounds that are responsible for the malodour of sweat are attracted to the ionic liquid, attaching themselves to it and losing their potency.

Project leader, Dr Nimal Gunaratne, said that the exciting not has great commercial potential, and could be used in perfumes and cosmetic creams, but it could also be used in others area of science, such as the slow release of certain substances of interest.