Camping trip in your near future? Maybe skip the bug spray and prepare like you're hitting the club instead. Popular Science reports that a new study out of New Mexico State University found two fragrances—including Victoria's Secret Bombshell perfume—work fairly well at repelling two common types of mosquitoes. Researchers compared eight insect repellents, two fragrances, and a vitamin B patch in order to figure out what worked best against mosquitoes, an important task because the bloodsuckers transmit diseases, according to the study published last month in the Journal of Insect Science. “People need to protect themselves, especially if they travel to the tropics,” one professor says in an NMSU press release. “Insect repellents can be highly efficient, but you need to find out which work.”
Among the repellents, the three that included the chemical DEET worked best. In fact, only one of the DEET-free repellents even came close, and most did absolutely nothing. It's a huge knock against the "natural" repellents that have become more popular amid concerns about DEET, the study reports. According to Popular Science, the most surprising result was that the two fragrances—Victoria's Secret Bombshell perfume and Avon Skin So Soft bath oil—were actually effective against mosquitoes for approximately two hours. That seems to refute previous research suggesting that flowery scents attract the bugs. "It was interesting to see that the mosquitoes weren't actually attracted to the person that was wearing the Victoria's Secret perfume—they were repelled by it," says a research assistant. The vitamin skin patch, meanwhile, didn't repel either type of mosquito. (Read why mosquitoes like some people better than others.)
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