Why we all need to embrace the power of nature’s scents in our home for a better way of living.

Walk-in, shut the door, drop your bags and relax. When the world is in its constant state of flux, home is the one place of comfort, security, safety and peace where we can help reconnect with our emotions. Home is our safety net: our harmony hotspot. It indulges all the senses, yet the easiest way to instantly transform the atmosphere in your home - and your self - is with aroma.

Aromas constantly suffuse our living space. Whether your home smells of freshly cut flowers, furniture polish, or wet dog, familiarity gives comfort: it’s your home. Yet, we underestimate the subliminal impact everyday scents have on our psyche. Our innate sense of smell is powerfully evocative because the olfactory system is like the fast track to our brain, our emotional epicentre, and the key to our heart. This is due to thousands of smell receptors in the nasal passage directly linked to the limbic system that processes every emotional memory stored from when we were young. Faster than broadband, we each have unique scent fingerprint, but even more subconscious is the comfort, joy and security that positive aroma associations have on our wellbeing. For some, it might be the smell of a vanilla sponge brings back memories of a loving mother’s embrace; or the smell of freshly-cut grass reminds you of picnics during long summer holidays. For me it’s woodsmoke, rekindling early evenings spent by my late father’s side, stoking the garden bonfire with a stick. As a result, I am obsessed with woody aromas such as sandalwood and cedar that are used in my candle range. 

Fundamentally it’s about bringing nature back into your home by embracing purer botanical aromas that make us feel more secure and comforted, not the otherwise chemically deodorized scents that are supposedly ‘purifying’ our air, though research increasingly reveals how home cleaning products are affecting our health. A recent study across four cities for the Clean Air Day campaign says that air quality inside British homes is 3.5 times worse than outside, due to log fires and burners, plus scented products such as cleaning products, aerosols, paints that release volatile organic compounds (VOCs), airborne chemicals that can affect the nervous system, causing headaches, nausea and asthma. 

Aroma Therapy

Plant essential oils, aka Aroma-Therapy, have the power to work deeply on multiple levels both emotionally and physically. Individually they each have a unique signature and vibration that connects to our nervous system via the brain. This is the reason we will inevitably have a personal connection with certain notes throughout our life, starting from young. By infusing nature’s essences into your home or workplace (since so many of us now have an office at home) you can create a positive, beneficial effect on the ambience and your mood, especially mid-winter. Every time we breathe, we inhale - around 25k times a day. Time to breathe a little better, to energise your home and engage with your senses, naturally. 

How to be a Home Environmentalist

First, take yourself off into the wild, or to a garden centre - any space filled with ripe, botanical energy & immerse your senses in natural notes to find the elements you truly connect with. Run your fingertips through bushes of wintry evergreens, rosemary, cypress, lavender and thyme; crush a vibrant little leaf of geranium or sage between your fingertips. Now steal a moment to determine what stirs you within: it will certainly connect with your past and make you feel snug and ‘at home’ in yourself. Is it a woodland, fireside conifer moment like me? Are happiest cooking in the kitchen with fresh fruits, herbs and spices? Or perhaps you yearn for that bouquet of jasmine, hyacinth or orange blossom (neroli). Wherever your choice takes you that is your core, that is your sense of belonging, your go-to - YOUR home. 

Smells Like Home

• Citrus oils are refreshing and uplifting against anxiety, especially Sweet Orange and Grapefruit.

• Grasses and leaves are grounding and tend to have deep warm rich aromas like West Indian Bay, Vetiver and Patchouli.

• Pine & Conifers tend to evoke a sense of expansion and perspective and the outdoors.

• Herbal oils are clearing for the mind and energising, I would suggest Cardamom, Peppermint, Sweet Basil or Rosemary.

• Flowers are tonics for the heart and evoke contentment and good spirits like Geranium, Ylang-Ylang and Lavender.

• Spices are warming and activating and can be great maverick notes like Clove and Pink Pepper.

• Resins are very protective and calming like Frankincense, Myrrh and Elemi.

Scent Your Space

Using notes from nature you can transform your home into a natural retreat.

The first impression of your home is that step through the door. How does it make you feel? How do your guests feel? My own home is full of the aroma of our pure candle oils that burn as a harmony trio in the hallway. A recent testament to their power to seduce was when a group of estate agents visited to value our home. Each one raved about the aroma in our home and ‘what a great selling feature’ it was. We went under offer within 48 hours. Place candles and diffusers in the entrance of your home as the ultimate sensory hug hello. (optional extra) A scented candle is a ‘living light’ and the chicest way to create instant ambience, and get your home smelling inviting, but do check the ingredients. Around 95% of candles are currently made using paraffin wax, the cheapest ‘petroleum’ wax that blends well with any fragrance yet gives off fumes often equated by experts as running a small diesel car in your room. Headache anyone? Add to that a load of synthetic fragrance and that’s a lot to breathe in. Instead look for a cleaner burn with brands using sustainable waxes such as soy, rapeseed, beeswax and apricot oil, and fragranced using pure essential oils. These often burn slowly for longer too. 

Entertain 

From dinner dates to parties, make sharing your living space a mood-enhancing experience. Choose buoyant and upbeat citrus oils such as mandarin, lemon and grapefruit oils en masse, by adding two drops of each to a diffuser or dish of hot water, an hour before guests arrive. Or if it’s a sexy evening for two, choose a romantic blend of rose, ambrette seed and sandalwood, to set the scene. Why not simmer some scent? I love to fill a saucepan with red wine, oranges, cloves, nutmeg, and a cinnamon stick, and leave gently simmering on a low heat while the delicious aroma fills not only the kitchen but the entire home with that wonderfully wintry, mulling scent. As a kitchen refresh, I always squirt lemon juice down the sink to make it smell healthier too.

Bathe 

Add a more cosy feel to darker evenings with an indulgent, restorative bath time routine. Start by resting your eyes with dimmed lights by lighting a paraffin-free, mood-transforming scented candle, then placing a luxurious eye pillow over your eyes for a therapeutic 10 minutes of peace. Step into a soporific bath of Himalayan bath salts filled with a relaxing blend of vetiver, melissa and chamomile essential oils then take long deep abdominal breaths to help reduce any feelings of anxiety or exhaustion. To boost confidence: try sandalwood and ylang-ylang; to balance: choose geranium and orange; to seduce: rose, ylang-ylang and patchouli are perfect.

Sleep 

Lower the lights, snuggle down: warmth and comfort are key to help improve the quality of your sleep. Choose relaxing notes that appeal, such as lavender, rose, geranium, and ylang-ylang, either alone in a diffuser or mixed as a blend. Add your chosen oils to a clean plant spray (used for indoor plants), shake well then spritz high in the air, over pillows, sheets and towels from a distance of 2-3 feet. Alternatively, add neat drops to a favourite ornament such as a small vase or an electronic diffuser for half an hour before lights out, to naturally make a room smell more relaxing.