The sense of smell is the most powerful of all senses. It leaves a greater impact on the mind. This is because the nose has a direct connection to the brain, particularly to the areas responsible for controlling the cognitive functions, including memory and thinking.
Due to this, the scents that you inhale have a significant impact on the way you experience and perceive emotion. An attractive smell doesn’t only make you feel good about yourself, but it can also provide a soothing experience. For this purpose, aromatherapy has been used for ages to treat stressed-out individuals.
Your emotions are also linked with smells. Often, scents can create a nostalgic experience, which brings you back to good times. When the smell provokes you to remember a positive memory, the recollections can end up improving your mood.
How a link between scent and memory develops
The human mind operates information through two processes. These include accommodation and assimilation. In the mind, the information is organised and stored by identifying similar patterns of experience. This organisation is known as a schema. When you experience a scent that you have smelled before, the mind assimilates (adds) the information to the existing schema. On the other hand, when you experience a fragrance that you have never smelled before, the brain accommodates the information by creating a new schema. This means your thoughts are restructured and modified to accommodate the fresher information.
Every time you experience a smell, the brain processes the information and sends it to the memory storage. As a result, when you experience the smell again, the brain triggers the memory in an attempt to retrieve the information. For instance, when you smell the perfume of the person you love, although, in a different environment, you are reminded of the memory of that person.
This is why perfume sellers encourage you to test the perfume on your skin instead of the scent strip. As the scent of the fragrance combines with the wearer’s natural odour, you are required to test the smell on yourself to accommodate the memory in your brain. This way, when you wear the same perfume again, your brain would become used to the fragrance, and therefore, would uplift your mood the same way it did in the store.
How perfume can change your mood
A fragrant perfume can directly influence your mood. Different scents affect your mind in different ways. For instance, if you put on a sea-breeze scented perfume, you would feel more relaxed. As sea-breeze reminds you of being on a holiday, this scent can have soothing and stress-relieving properties.
Similarly, perfumes that include Ylang Ylang as an ingredient also has relaxing properties. These fragrances can cater to the physical symptoms of stress, such as calming down the palpitations, reducing depression, and moderating the high-blood pressure.
Parallel to Ylang Ylang, Lavender also has soothing properties. In fact, perfumes and essential oils featuring lavender are used to cater to emotional stress and to calm the nerves. These fragrances can also relieve you from experiencing tension headaches and migraines. Additionally, if you wear a lavender-based perfume to bed, you can easily fall asleep without much struggle!
While lavender puts you to sleep, lemon or other citrus-based fragrances can wake you up. Citrus-scented perfumes can improve concentration and focus, which is why they are ideal to wear to school, university or work.
Additionally, perfumes with grassy notes can elevate your mood. Typically, people associate the grassy scents with the happier summer days, which can essentially make them feel elated. Therefore, wearing perfumes with grassy tones is recommended for moments when you are feeling down or exhausted.
The scent of rosemary also has stimulating properties. When you wear a perfume that includes rosemary as an ingredient, you can feel a drastic reduction in mental and physical exhaustion. Additionally, the scent of rosemary can also give you a memory boost.
How to make the fragrance last longer
Perfumes comprise of three notes, which include the top note, the heart note and the base note. The top notes last for a mere duration of five to fifteen minutes, while the heart note and base note tend to last relatively longer. With that said, there are a few tips and tricks that can help you enhance the quality and duration of the fragrance. So, before you apply the perfume, take the following tips into account.
- Moisturise the skin using a scent-free moisturiser.
- Apply perfume on clean and dry skin.
- Make sure that the laundry detergent or other fragrances do not overpower the perfume’s fragrance.
- Spray perfume on the hairbrush before brushing the hair.
- Re-apply the perfume only after half the day has passed.
- If you are wearing layers, make sure to spray the perfume on the middle layer.
- Apply the perfume on all the pulse points. These include the base of the neck, behind the ear lobes, on the inner wrists. You can also spray behind the elbows and knees to improve the intensity of the fragrance.
- Keep the perfume bottle closed and prevent any contact with direct sunlight. If possible, store the bottle in a box or the wardrobe.
The relationship between fragrance and mood has been established by numerous researches. Therefore, if you are looking for a scent that can make you feel confident, happy or stress-free, explore the wide range of discount perfumes in the UK, offered by Match Fragrances.
