A month ago, just about everything, Gyneth Paltrow launched a vaginal-scented candle. Shortly afterwards, singer Erykah Badu announced that she would produce a vaginal-flavored incense. In both cases, the vaginal odor is inspired by the vagaries of the ideator, namely Gyneth and Erykah.

The Guardian asked a perfumer, Christopher Gordon of Perfumer's Studio in Los Angeles, whether it's possible to produce a vaginal scent candle; has it been done before; and what's currently happening in the perfume world.

Can you make a perfume with vagina flavor?

Of course, these scents can be created. We have thousands of basic materials; some are slanderous, some extremely beautiful, some cheap, some expensive. By combining these materials we can create any flavor - it depends on whether we like it or not.

But is the vagina scent strong enough to turn into a perfume? How do you smell it in the first place?

To be honest, it's all a marketing game. The celebrity perfume market has been declining. No one will ever buy a famous woman's perfume anymore - the only way to sell it is by creating some sensation. The scent of the skin is easily recreable but does it really resemble the skin of a specific person? I have my doubts.

If someone orders you a scent that holds the scent of their skin, how would you do it? Would you smell them?

No - we do not approach the customer that much. We could try. It usually has an origin - usually, the skin smells of soap or detergent that was recently used. They all have musks in composition, so we associate them with purity.

Some mites are more animalistic, some more creamy, milky. Some are like new skin, some like old skin. We would consider the materials and person concerned, whether it is blonde or brun, young or not, and try to recreate something.

So create the scent that these people would like to carry and not the scent they really carry?

Exactly.

Has vaginal scent ever been made before?

Historically, there is precedent. Once, these sexual aromas were taken from animals. Cat by cat cat; the natural moss that is now banned; castoreum by the beaver; and ambergris from whales. They are all animal products that have been used in perfumery from the beginning.

How are these fragrances obtained?

We are no longer using them now because they are not that ecological. All the fragrances come from the lower part of the animals, from the sexual glands, from the reproductive glands. Use them to mark the territory.

Beavers are regularly killed in Canada and their bags taken after it happens. Ambergris doesn't know what it really is, but the whales pull it out or float on the surface of the water. It cannot be used immediately as soon as it comes out of the whale. It must float in water for two years before it becomes usable.

So people have been fond of these intimate scents - at least for animals - for years?

Absolutely. It's at the heart of perfumery. We wash and strip our natural scent. When we wear perfume we want at least an element of that human scent. We want to be carnal, but not dirty.

In short, vaginal scent perfumes are just extravagant perfumes?

Yes. They are just perfumes with a post marketing game.