The Science Behind Scent for Well-Being
Did you know that smell is central to the way we form relationships? It’s the first sense you experience when you meet someone new, it bonds you closer to your gal pals by cementing memories for years to come, and it obviously has a say when you meet your true love...
And while it’s no real surprise that smell has social and memory-inducing powers, did you know that fragrance plays a huge role in how you experience your day-to-day? Not just that, what you smell has the power to alter the way you feel about yourself. Let’s dive in...
SO COOL. BUT IS IT LEGIT THAT SCENT ALTERS EMOTIONS?
OK, so how does this actually work (lab coats on, ladies!)? Well, our smell and emotions are actually rooted in the same network of our brains. After a smell enters the nose, it travels through the cranial nerve and then the olfactory bulb which is part of the limbic system—the emotional center of the brain. No other sense is as deeply connected to our emotional state.
And according to The University of Oxford, because scent is so connected to our emotions, our subconscious associates positive (and negative) experiences to smells we experienced during actual life events. This is why choosing a scent that makes you feel empowered, strong, sexy (you name it!) has such a powerful way of altering your mood, because your brain associates that scent with positive experiences.
OK, SCENT ALTERS MOOD, BUT HOW DO I MAKE THIS NOT “WOO-WOO”?
Fair question. You become scent-savvy, that’s how! Certain scents can do powerful things for your mind and body, influencing how you behave. From stress relief to making you feel more joyful to boosting energy to elevating your mood to experiencing greater confidence, certain aromas have a (scientific) way of making an impact. Period.
And it’s because of this that we’ve designed our own fragrance collection to be a wearable reminder of the qualities that are already within you—confidence, strength, passion, and fearlessness (to name a few!). So you can inhale the good vibes, exhale the bad juju, and just be a really original, gorgeous smelling you!
SOUNDS GOOD! BUT WHICH DEFINEME SCENTS WILL BRING OUT MY INNER POWER??
Good question. Hello, experimentation! Feeling your inner strength isn't about selecting a scent at random or just buying an expensive fragrance. It's more special than that—it's about discovering a scent that reminds you how stunning and fierce you are. A smell that illuminates you from within each time you put it on because that's where your real power lies.
Ultimately, aromas have different effects on everyone so take your time, have (a lot of) fun with it, gather yourself a swag of fragrance options to pick from, and go where the scent takes you. And rest easy in the knowledge that, with fragrance, you are in the driver’s seat of how you want to feel. So take that wheel and if it makes you feel beautiful, then do it!
References:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200711/the-hidden-force-fragrance?collection=93588
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/collections/201205/the-science-scent
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/scents-and-wellbeing_n_5193609
https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/smells-nostalgia-why-do-scents-bring-back-memories-895521