Self Care: Why making your own perfume can be good for your mental health

Perfume is one of the few beauty products you can’t admire in the mirror. Yet it may be the one with the strongest hold on us. A whiff of coconut sunscreen sends me straight back to the ’80s, when I’d slather on SPF 4 and hope for the best. (Spoiler: I burned.) Scent has a way of unlocking our memories.

The science behind scent

Researchers have long known that smell has a direct line to the brain’s limbic system, which governs memory and emotion. Unlike our other senses, scent is processed through brain regions tied to emotional memories, which helps explain why certain aromas can instantly change our mood or bring back vivid moments from years ago.

Studies have also found that pleasant scents can reduce stress, improve mood and boost confidence in some situations. A 2016 review in the journal Brain Sciences found that scents tied to personal memory do more than trigger nostalgia; they measurably lift mood and lower physical markers of stress, more so than a pleasant smell with no memory attached.

If fragrance can change the way we feel, maybe we shouldn’t settle for wearing someone else’s vision. That’s the thinking behind the perfume-making experience at The 7 Virtues Perfume Atelier on Halifax’s waterfront, where visitors create a fragrance that’s completely their own.

Walking into a room full of choices

Personalized perfumes are created from 10 fragrances, ranging from airy florals to ripe fruit and richer gourmand scents. Each one carries what the company calls a proprietary harmony molecule, allowing any combination to blend without clashing with others.

“It’s really simple, like Build-A-Bear for perfume,” says Jasmine Hurbley-Parnell, one of the shop’s resident alchemists.

The process starts with making your way around the boutique, smelling each fragrance one by one, blotter cards in hand. Any scent that catches your attention earns a spray. Most people land on two to four favourites, Jasmine says, though there’s no rule against going further. If something intrigues you but doesn’t seal the deal right away, hang onto the blotter.

Trusting your nose

Paper only tells you so much. Our body temperature and skin oils interact with fragrance, which is why perfumes evolve throughout the day. That’s why staff at The 7 Virtues recommend testing your concoction on your skin throughout the process.

“You might love a perfume on your best friend, then buy it and find it smells completely different on you,” says Hurbley-Parnell. “That’s why it’s so important to test it in person.”

At my workstation, pipettes replace perfume atomizers, and I add drops of each fragrance into a glass apothecary bottle. Halfway through, it’s time for a skin test, then a few tweaks.

It doesn’t take me long to realize I lean toward bright, juicy fragrances with a hint of floral notes to soften the edges. Throughout the entire experience, I feel like an eight-year-old mixing magic potions.

“Perfume is one of those beauty products people can buy and feel different,” Hurbley-Parnell says. “It goes into your aura, but it doesn’t change how you look. It’s really personal.”

A bottle with your name on it

Once the blend is finished comes the hard part. Naming it. Panicked, I eventually land on Lychee Lumiére, before realizing days later I’ve named it after a Disney character.

While a custom label is printed, I’m handed stickers to decorate my perfume box. That sense of ownership is part of the appeal.

“The idea is to lock in a scent memory,” Hurbley-Parnell says. “Any time you smell it again, it brings you back to the time in your life when you made or wore it.”

My finished perfume feels totally me. It’s fresh and fruit-forward with peony subtly rounding everything out. Best of all, nobody else could have made it. After all, nobody knows what I like better than I do.

The 7 Virtues Perfume Atelier will open its second location at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York on Nov. 19.