Perfume that helps you lose weight

Cutting down on calories is on a lot of people's minds after Christmas, but how many would think of buying a perfume because it promises to help them lose weight?

Prend-Moi, meaning 'take me' in French, helps you avoid reaching for that bag of chips by sending pleasure messages through neurotransmitters to your brain, and has proved effective in field trials

The first fragrance designed to boost your wellbeing, Prend-Moi, is touted noted by its French manufacturers Velds as offering "perfume-pleasure and slimming action".

They explain that the "delicious ... light, fruity and floral" fragrance "helps to compensate for bad habits [such as] snacking."

Meaning 'take me' in French, the scent is developed by the French perfume house Robertet, its zesty scent comes from a blend of bergamot, mandarin, lilac and ylang ylang.

But does it really help one fight the battle of the bulge?

Creator and ex-model Joyce Musy told The Telegraph, "Prends-Moi sends pleasure messages through the neurotransmitters to the hippocampus, the 'odour brain', which triggers the immediate sensation of well-being, a reduction in stress and an increase in contentment, reducing the need to overeat."

On sale for £15 for 100 ml, there are even studies to back up its claims, with 75 per cent of women between 18 and 75 agreeing after a 28-day trial that they snacked less while wearing it.

A reasonable 70 per cent said their eating behaviour was changed by the product.

Adam Anderson, buying director at The Fragrance Shop, said that staffers who sampled it were impressed, and there's now a waiting list "in excess of 6,000 people".

Prends Moi is the UK's first weight loss fragrance and claims to help users to lose weight by triggering the release of B-endorphins.

Its makers claim the fragrance is designed to 'slim with pleasure' and is based on 'aromatherapeutic' and 'neurocosmetic' research.

It also contains active ingredients including Betaphroline, a wild indigo seed extract, which when it comes in to contact with keratinocytes (cells found in the outer layer of the skin) will induce the release of B-endorphins present.

This sends a 'pleasure message' to the brain and the resulting sensation of wellbeing and increased feeling of contentment will supposedly stop you reaching for the biscuit tin to get a feel-good fix.

The perfume also contains a slimming complex formulated with caffeine, carnitine and spirulina extract, which activates the two key enzymes directly involved in lipolysis

The trial study by BIO-EC, the Centre of Biological Research and Cutaneous Experimentation, appears to back up the claims made my Prends Moi.

To get the full effect, Prends Moi advises that you generously spritz in the morning, as you would do with any perfume, and throughout the day when the need for snacking arises.

Further results can be achieved by very lightly massaging into targeted areas, morning and night to help sculpt and slim the contours of the body.

When first launched there was a waiting list of more than 6,000 customers but it's now available to snap up from The Fragrance Shop immediately. So if you are at all overweight and calorie-conscious, it might be a good idea to buy a bottle now.