How To Lift Your Mood With Scent Without Ever Leaving Your Sofa
Michelle von Mandel (a.k.a. Perfume Pervert)
It’s been a weird however many months since the first lockdown went into effect in the UK and I don’t know about you, but for me it’s been a screentime overload but sensory underload. Especially when it comes to the sense of smell. It recently occurred to me just how little olfactory stimulation I’ve had over the past, what is it, 8 months now? (What day/week/month is it?)
I miss the aroma of my favorite coffee shop, the delicious smell of the bakery where I used to treat myself to a donut every friday, the salt and vinegar whiff of the chip shop across the street, the floral scented candle that was always burning in my favourite boutique, I even miss the smell of my gym. It’s true, I said it. That odor, somewhere between sweat and cleaning products, energized me as I walked through those sliding glass doors and it’s my belief that after 2 years of weekly classes, that scent began to trigger endorphins even before class started. Yes, I miss so many smells from those pre-lockdown days.
Lately I’m mostly smelling that stale loc kdown air , which is fairly imperceptible to my own nose (I mean I do shower, I promise), but is mainly marked by an absence of new olfactory stimulation. I’m sure we’re all experiencing a lack of smells at the moment and I believe adding a bit of scent back into our daily lives could have a very positive impact.
It’s no secret that smells can affect our moods – they can comfort us, empower us, inspire hope, and bring back warm memories. I encourage you, dear reader, to think about what sorts of smells you would like to invite into your life in the coming months? Perhaps some scents that trigger that holiday nostalgia? Maybe it’s time to bake those holiday cookies that remind you of your family home. Or light that pine-scented candle that you usually save for parties because you don’t want to use it up. Or perhaps you’re looking to exercise your nostrils with some new and exciting scents and learn a bit about fragrance along the way?
If the latter sounds interesting to you, why not try out scentschool™ in a box brought to you by London-based fragrance brand, Floral Street? Don’t let the word ‘school’ fool you – there are no pop-quizzes or looming essay deadlines. It’s actually a very fun scent event delivered to your door, which The Aroma Company helped make possible. I was invited to attend Floral Street’s in-store scentschool™ just before lockdown and I had a blast learning about what they call their ‘hero ingredients’ – the main ingredients in each fragrance that really make them sing. For scentschool™ in a box, The Aroma Company translated these hero ingredients into a set of scented touch and smell cards that can be experienced from the comfort of your couch. scentschool™ is still a live event, taking place over Zoom at the moment, and it gives you the
rare opportunity to sniff and learn about fragrance ingredients that are typically reserved for perfume industry professionals. (And hard-core hobbyists who’ve invested lots of time and money into sourcing these ingredients for themselves. Guilty!)
So for under £30 , you get a fun virtual event plus a box full of scented goodies including a Floral Street discovery set containing 8 of the brand’s cult-favourite fragrances, a set of hero ingredient cards produced by The Aroma Company, some scent blotters, and the option to add a gift voucher for a bottle of fragrance. So whether you’re looking to expand your knowledge about fragrance, searching for new scents to brighten up your week, or trying to find something new and fun t o do from your sofa, scentschool™ in a box could be just the ticket.