Neuroscience and Aromatherapy

ALARA APOTHECARY
LUXURY IN A JAR

SHOWERS OF PURE GOODNESS

Peaches, Lemon Verbena, Petrol, Freshly-mowed grass, Night-scented stock. Every single person has a set of aromas that make them inordinately happy. In fact, the loss of olfactory perception can be one of the first signs of some illnesses. Hope that fact helps the next time you’re struggling to breathe on the Victoria Line because of some soap-dodger! Congratulate yourself on your healthy senses instead. Some aromas can promise more than they deliver: coffee– it always smells great even if it tastes like dishwater. Some never let you down: bacon, roast chicken– I need say no more.

The senses of smell and taste are inextricably intertwined, and are as personal to each person as their fingerprint is. To say that this complicates matters when one is formulating a fragrance is a massive understatement. One of the hardest things I had to learn was not to compound scents based only on my preferences. The second was to learn to rely on people’s instinctive responses. I found that if you encourage people to dwell on a scent they hated at first smell, they begin to vacillate. However, they still hate it deep down and would never apply that scent, so you end up with a false positive. Of course, some testers are wonderfully brutal and honest (Thanks, the BC crew!!),  and that makes life a lot easier for the chemist.

A smell can instantaneously transport you back to another place or time in a way that even music or words cannot. This can be pretty freaky because one often can’t pinpoint the source of the aroma but suddenly, there you are at the door of the principal’s office again. We all know nothing good ever came from THAT, except for you swots out there. So, stay safe. Confine yourself to the lovesome AlaraApothecary range of products and all will be well. Coming soon–the personalised sci-fi style inflatable Aromabubble. You never need fear the Victoria Line again………