Mosquitos are the bane of many people’s existence. As every experienced camper knows, the most common way to get rid of these annoying blood-suckers is spraying your entire body with controversial DEET repellents.

But what if we told you, there was a “sexier“ and more expensive way to get rid of them? Curiosity piqued?

In a new study published in the Journal of Insect Science, researchers at New Mexico State University tested the effectiveness of DEET along with some organic brands and Victoria’s Secret Bombshell perfume.

The heftily priced $68 dollar perfume seems like a random choice to add to the experiment. But testing it may help to dispel myths about fruity floral scents enticing bugs.

Researcher Stacy Rodriguez explains in a statement:

“There was some previous literature that said fruity, floral scents attracted mosquitoes, and to not wear those.”

What are mosquitos attracted to, anyways? According to the study, mosquitos are attracted to Carbon Dioxide (which you exhale), lactic acid, and chemical changes made by bacteria in our sweat.

It’s not easy being a scientist. One of the researchers was chosen to be the test subject for the experiment (she’s apparently super attractive to mosquitos. Lucky her!). The “volunteer” placed her repellent-covered hands in a tube full of swarming, hungry mosquitos (cringe). The more mosquitos bit her—the less the repellent worked, obviously.

These are the repellents tested:

Unsurprisingly, they found that DEET based products protected her the best. But Victoria’s Secret Bombshell worked better than Cutter Natural Insect Repellent, Avon, the Mosquito skin patch, and Ecosmart Organic, protecting the volunteer’s hand for up to two hours.

See the table below:

DEET works—but it it actually safe? One Reddit user wonders:

Some studies say that DEET is relatively safe (unless you ingest it, of course). But according to the US National Library of Medicine, short-term exposure to DEET may cause hives, while long-term exposure to high concentrations can cause your skin to blister and burn (ouch).

Certainly if you want to smell better—you’re better off sticking to Victoria’s Secret than a highly concentrated DEET-based product. But you might want to stay away from Calvin Klein colognes if you’re going to trek into the jungle anytime soon.

Fun fact:

Yup—Calvin Klein perfume attracts some jaguars and other big cats! In an interview with the Scientific American, zoo supervisor Louise Ginman describes the allure:

“We spray it around the enclosure in lots of little concentrated sprays, and when the cats come out and smell it, they literally roll onto the ground, rub their cheeks all over it, and rub their faces with it. I guess it’s kind of like the reaction that you get from a cat when it’s enjoying catnip, they just seem to be in absolute heaven.”

And Bronx Zoo researcher and biologist Miguel Ordeñana explains that it may have something to do with the chemical civeton, found in many perfume products.

“What we think is that the civetone resembles some sort of territorial marking to the jaguar, and so it responds by rubbing its own scent on it,” he said.