Naomi Campbell smells incredibly good, like a dewy, spring morning within the woods. Fresh, floral and female notes hit first, offset with undertones of sandalwood and musk; an intoxicating balance of sweetness and spice. I do know this because, by some beautiful accident, when she arrived at a fashion show in Paris last week, she was ushered into one among the last remaining empty seats, directly back-to-back on an intimately thin bench with me. As some other scent obsessive would, I instinctively inhaled deeply. The unrelenting heat of the afternoon sun briefly dissipated, and I felt a way of calm wash over me.  

The facility of scent on our emotions could be traced throughout history: holistic medicine, aromatherapy and incense date back to ancient civilisations. In Ancient Egypt, for instance, essential oils were used for not only medicine, massage and cosmetics, but additionally of their highly refined means of embalming the dead. Perfume was so closely linked with religion that every Egyptian god was assigned their very own unique scent, which was often used to anoint their statues. 

Perfume has at all times used the magical, mystical qualities of scent to create sellable stories in marketing campaigns that mirrored the trends of the time. And with the ever-booming wellness industrial complex showing no signs of slowing, it only is sensible that today fragrances are increasingly being shown as self-care tools, promising to boost every part from mood to mental clarity. Some, equivalent to the mix of ingredients in wellbeing brand Vyrao’s latest addition, Sun Ræ, are so specific the brand claims the fragrance has been scientifically proven by the IFF’s proprietary Science of Wellness programme to amplify self-confidence by 67 per cent and joy by 25 per cent.

This shift is an extreme example of an increase in emotionally-charged beauty, or ‘emo-beauty’, as coined by Cult Beauty founder Alexia Inge. But unlike most of the industry’s money-making schemes, this latest self-care sell is scientifically backed: of the five senses, scent is the just one with a direct line to a few of crucial areas of the brain, including the limbic system, which processes feelings, emotions and memory. Research shows 75 per cent of our emotions are reactions to scent, it affects each concentration and memory recall, and other people experience a 40 per cent improvement in mood after being exposed to nice smells. Wood and musk have been proven to advertise calm and the scent of rose and jasmine to advertise happiness. Because it seems, my response to smelling a supermodel’s scent wasn’t strange, it was scientific. 

Functional fragrances, equivalent to The Nue Co’s Mind Energy, formulated to enhance focus, and Edeniste’s Leisure Lifeboost to boost rest, are created using aromachology principles: a singular scientific field that studies the olfactory effects after inhaling fragrant compounds on mood, cognition, memory, and overall sensory experiences. This is completed through the likes of brain scans, saliva and hormone tests and studies conducted by neuroscientists, and, since it’s 2023, naturally, AI can also be involved. Last yr the Swiss company Firmenich launched an Artificial Intelligence program to create fragrances to extend concentration, during which perfumers analysed 1.9 million consumer responses to greater than 34,000 fragrances to develop scents that trigger emotions related to enhanced focus.  

Givaudan, the world’s largest creator of fragrance, has been investigating the impact of scent on emotions for 30 years. As Julia Brooks, the corporate’s fragrance technology manager, explains, it’s not the scent itself that makes us feel glad or relaxed, it’s the subconscious connection now we have to the smell that impacts our emotions. “Scent brings back a complete realm of associations, thoughts, feelings, connections to things that you simply perhaps didn’t even realise you were registering if you first smelt it.” There are consistent odour areas which might be common to everybody. But quite a lot of the time, our response could have to do with our surroundings, culture and the trends we’ve been exposed to. Lavender, for instance, is big in Europe and Brazil. “But for a client in Asia, it has no resonance, it doesn’t robotically mean relaxing.” 

Givaudan’s latest technology, MoodScentz+, combines brain imaging with in sitchu scans to measure how consumers reply to fragrance, each on the brain level and at the buyer product level after they use it. “Our sense of smell is working on a regular basis. Once you use a product commonly, you’re getting slightly signal each time you utilize it to make an association.” Brooks uses a distinct shower gel through the week – when she’s preparing for work – as she does on the weekend when she desires to chill out and switch off. “It’s about pondering, ‘how are you going to use fragrance to assist cue positive experiences?’”

While science does play an element within the crafting of those fragrances, there has at all times been a way of the magical possibilities of scent. In Ancient Greece it was believed that the Oracle of Delphi could channel the divine by respiratory in scented vapour and getting into a trance, while within the third-century BC epic poem Argonautica, the sorceress Medea uses a scented potion to lull a dragon to sleep. 

Today, this unknowable, magical quality of perfume still holds a grip on people’s imaginations – particularly on TikTok, where it’s claimed scent can do every part from make people fall in love with you (pheromone perfumes) to remodeling into the smell of the person you miss essentially the most (Phlur’s Missing Person). Just like the mainstream TikTokification of manifestation – from Lucky Girl syndrome to the orgasm method – a lot of us appear to consider that fragrance could be used as a hack to attain whatever we’d like, whether that’s happiness, calmness or concentration. There’s a component of wish fulfilment present within the marketing of quite a lot of these perfumes; like a spell, only one spritz will make all of your dreams come true.

Vyrao, dubbed by founder Yasmin Sewell as a brand “built of vibes” was founded with the “belief is that our energetic, spiritual and emotional wellbeing alters our lives, physical bodies and just about everyday existence greater than anything.” In 2021, after 20 years of working in the style industry, Sewell created Vyrao to channel the principles of energetic healing into scent: the brand’s fragrances, candles, and incense are formulated spirit and emotion first, smell second. The science comes after the very fact. Each of Vyrao’s seven perfumes serves a particular purpose: The Sixth for Mindfulness and Intuition, Witchy Woo, Sewell’s go-to, for courage and creativity, and I’m Verdant for transformation and illumination. 

This shift in the best way we buy and wear fragrances means in certain circles the signature scent is dead. Most of Vyrao’s customers don’t wear one perfume, Sewell says. Fairly, they “connect with what they feel or need to feel on the time”, often layering one on top of the opposite to create their very own magic potion. “Scent is so magical, and healing and connecting through the senses. Yes, it takes you somewhere, but additionally takes you back to yourself.” Sewell says. 

After I posit the potential of a potion that would make your unrequited crush notice you to Brooks she says there are actually key odour areas which might be universally loved and highly attractive, equivalent to vanilla. “But we’re too complex as human beings to form of have that easy response. There isn’t a single ingredient that may try this. It’s a context issue.” If you happen to knew exactly which scents the precise person you had your eye on was drawn to – or managed to persuade them right into a brain scan – though? “Technically, yes.”

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