Scent for emotional well-being

Scent intimately connects us with the Earth and our experiences. As we explore our surroundings and inhale aromas, like freshly cut grass, towering pines, or honeysuckle in spring, our sense of smell melds with our memories to signal emotional and physiological responses. Scents can instantly stimulate us, calm us, attract or repel us. 

To invoke the power of scent, many beauty formulas are crafted with enticing aromas — like lavender and neroli — that conjure memories of cleanliness and luxury. But scent is just one part of a product, and a focus on pleasure alone won’t cover the practical goals of achieving and maintaining healthy skin and emotional well-being. 

At Klur, we understand the difference between ingredients that simply stir the senses and those that are also beneficial for your skin’s health.

Not every product in our daily routine, nor every part of our body, requires scent. But when scents make sense for a formula, they can offer incredible benefits for mind and body.

Fascinatingly, our sense of smell is the oldest of all our senses, and it’s the only sense that has a direct connection to the brain. Women have a slightly stronger sense of smell than men (which may be why we love our aromatic products so much!), and the average person can detect at least one trillion distinct scents. 

When we breathe in an aroma, receptors in our noses receive the scent and send signals through our olfactory system to communicate with the parts of our brain responsible for memory and emotion. Smells that travel those pathways can cue potent recollections and feelings. Because of these interconnections, our olfactory sense is meaningful to how we perceive our surroundings, influencing our behavior, tastes, and moods.

Herbs, flowers, spices, and other botanical aromatics give us access to a huge variety of smells, and their unique volatile oils enter our bloodstream after being inhaled or absorbed. The scent’s interaction with our brain, bloodstream, and lungs is what gives it the ability to impact our emotional well-being as well as our physiological state, like breathing and heart rate. While each person’s response to an aroma is unique, the essential oils used in aromatherapy are selected for their prevailing therapeutic effect on mental and physical well-being, like soothing tension or uplifting your mood. 

With just a whiff, you can draw upon the power of scent to decompress, reduce daily stress, and cope with occasional anxiety. The power of aromatics is heightened by massaging the oils into your body, and, as a bonus, many aromatic oils also have wonderful benefits for the skin.

In our aromatic offerings, we use natural essential oils, which are distilled directly from plant matter, and not  fragrance oils, which are synthetic oils with lab-crafted aromatic attributes. Despite their lovely scent, fragrance oils have no legitimate therapeutic value. 

Unadulterated essential oils, on the other hand, contain the true essence of plants, herbs, flowers, roots, and resins, and because of this, they maintain healing and therapeutic qualities, making them more valuable in aromatherapeutic formulas.

Pure essential oils are too strong to put directly on your skin, which is why professionally formulated products, like our Elements of Comfort botanical body oil, are the ideal way to safely experience the magic of aromatics. We only use essential oils in our products when their function adds value to the formula, and each of our aromatic formulas is designed to deliver a distinct advantage; most will aid in grounding, de-stressing, energizing, and calming the mind and body.

The products we offer for facial care do not include essential oils. This is because of oils’ potency and the delicate nature of facial skin. Instead, our face care products may be naturally scented with herbs and botanicals that smell lovely in-and-of themselves, like cocoa butter and rose petals.

A couple of our must-have essential oils for elevated health and wellness are lavender and neroli:

Benefits of lavender essential oil:

Lavender helps soothe frazzled nerves and can gently address mild anxiety and depression along with occasional sleeplessness. The scent of lavender can ease an anxious mind and relax tension, and when rubbed on the temples, it can help alleviate headaches. Antibacterial lavender can also calm irritated and damaged skin, making it an ideal ingredient for a therapeutic body oil.  

Benefits of neroli essential oil:

Neroli (also known as orange blossom) oil can help lower blood pressure and reduce occasional stress, anxiety, and depression. Its antibacterial properties can address breakouts and irritation, and neroli can also rejuvenate dry skin and encourage the growth of healthy skin cells.

Because of these essential oils’ delightful scent, their relaxing influence on the nervous system, and their skin-supporting attributes, we intertwined lavender and neroli essential oils in our Elements of Comfort body oil, a synergistic blend that enhances their benefits beyond what can be achieved through the use of a single oil.

You can incorporate botanical scents into your wellness rituals in an abundance of ways:

Absorb: Massage aromatic body oil onto your skin to absorb its benefits. Try our Elements of Comfort, a 100% natural aromatic body oil made to holistically rejuvenate your mind, body, and skin, promoting maximum relaxation. A tranquilizing bouquet of lavender, neroli, and rose imparts a floral yet earthy aura, and the oil’s benefits go beyond its delicate aroma. It promotes skin wellness with reparative hempseed, avocado, and grapeseed oils, and it both replenishes and protects against daily moisture loss. By applying this oil, your glowing skin will smell great — and feel even better. 

Inhale: Keep a collection of essential oils at the ready for a stimulating or soothing effect, depending on what you’re seeking. For a quick hit of an oil’s scent, you can simply uncap the bottle and inhale. Or, use a diffuser to disperse the oil through a well-ventilated area; just be sure to take breaks and give pets and scent-sensitive guests the option to leave the room if needed.

Bathe: Just before you step into a bath, add a few drops of essential oil (follow the product’s dilution instructions) with 1 tablespoon of carrier oil, such as grapeseed, jojoba, or almond oil. As you soften into the soak, breathe deeply and massage the droplets of oil into your skin to absorb their benefits.

Our sense of smell is a beautiful and ancient thing. By enhancing your daily skincare rituals with scents for well-being, you can bring an extra dash of relaxation and calm to your day + extra glow to your skin. 

More Well-Being Resources

Making Space for Emotional Wellbeing 

The Prioritization of Wellness