Fragrance ingredients that help us feel better

According to fragrance and fragrance company Givaudan, 74% of consumers believe that well-being is about mental and emotional state, only 36% of millennials and baby boomers feel very satisfied with their well-being and less than half of the population knows how to achieve psychological well-being. This is why the company - and the fragrance industry in general - has spent the last few years working on the emotional side of fragrances. The goal: to create solutions based on scientific research to help create fragrances that enhance the holistic well-being of consumers.

For example, it has developed a technology to improve rest during sleep. DreamScentzTM makes it possible to design fragrances that optimise the quality of sleep, which can satisfy the 80% of the population who say they do not sleep well. What sensations can we enjoy with this technology? Tranquility and relaxation to help you fall asleep more easily.

Folk tradition and aromatherapy have used chamomile (camomile), lavender and sandalwood as relaxing ingredients to improve sleep.
Because of its gentleness, chamomile is an appropriate ingredient for children's perfumes which, as well as being subtle in fragrance, must be suitable for the delicate skin of the youngest members of the family. We find chamomile among the notes of Petits et Mamans by Bulgari, for example.

Chamomile is characterised by its sweet, soft and slightly herbaceous scent, reminiscent of freshly cut hay, with a soft floral note. This is one of the main ingredients of Harvest Mouse, Zoologist Perfumes, a fragrance that transports us to a wheat field surrounded by chamomile plants, davana and hay, cosy aromatic notes.

We continue with lavender, a star ingredient in perfumery, present in many compositions, especially those aimed at a male audience due to the green and earthy sensations it evokes, with a rustic touch. Its relaxing scent will help the night owls in the house to sleep.
A tip to help you fall asleep: place a lavender sachet under your pillow, or scent it with a lavender essential oil fragrance.
In Lavender & Thyme by 4711 Acqua Colonia, lavender is perceived as a relaxing scent that captures the warmth of the French countryside. And it stars in Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea Lavender Eau de Toilette.

Also relaxing, sandalwood is also considered a sacred ingredient. Its fragrant scent, woody, balsamic and warm, with milky and creamy facets, is exotic and irresistible to Westerners and mystical to practitioners of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, as the wood is often burned in religious and meditation-related rituals.
Woody and spicy, Sandal Ruby, from Carolina Herrera's Herrera Confidential collection, draws inspiration from oriental perfumes by combining sandalwood with nuts and spices. The opulence of sandalwood contrasts with citrus notes in Sandalwood from Acqua di Parma's Signatures of the Sun collection.

With an intense and vibrant colour, the orange fruit leaves no doubt about its benefits: refreshing and revitalising, it combats fatigue and favours emotional balance and stress reduction, thus helping to improve mood. Its antioxidant properties act as a natural medicine for our organism, strengthening us and making us more resistant to external aggressions and even to ageing.
All aromatic products derived from the orange tree are characterised by the fact that they contain aldehydes, molecules that modern perfumery has recreated synthetically and which are present in soaps. This is why we associate their scent with sensations of cleanliness, hygiene and well-being.

From the orange tree, perfumery not only benefits from its fruit, but the entire tree provides valuable ingredients for creating fragrances: orange essential oil is extracted from the fruit; from its flowers, neroli and absolute; from the leaves and branches, petit grain essential oil; and orange blossom water (or neroli water) is obtained by distilling the flowers of the bitter orange tree with water vapour.
Effervescent, joyful, sunny and vitaminised, Orange Soleia by Aqua Allegoria is distinguished by a combination of orange, blood orange and lemon, enhanced with a touch of stimulating mint. And in Rochas' new perfume, Orange Horizon, we discover a multifaceted orange that combines freshness with a bitter and luminous touch, resulting in a woody floral hesperidic fragrance that evokes energy and good humour.

They relieve fatigue, fill us with energy and stimulate our senses. Lemon, mint and cinnamon have little in common in terms of aromatic properties, but their benefits are similar in their revitalising capacity.

Lemon in perfumery is perceived as sparkling, acidic or with a subtle sweetness, it raises energy levels and is associated with purity. It is the star ingredient in traditional eau de colognes, such as Eau de Toilette 1916 Original, and is present in a multitude of olfactory compositions that invite joy such as Happy Lemon Dulci by Chopard and Essence of El Palacio Limoneros by Arquiste, a portrait of Mexican summer.

The menthol notes are always stimulating and very fresh. Traditionally used as an anti-congestive to improve breathing, mint is beneficial to the respiratory system and increases mental alertness. We find this ingredient in Davidoff's refreshing Cool Water, whose top note has a hint of peppermint; in Atkinsons London 1799's Mint & Tonic, which combines it with citrus notes; and in Dyptique's Eau de Minthé, a perfume in which mint offers a new take on the classic fougère.

Under the chemical name cinnamaldehyde, cinnamon is a popular ingredient in perfumery. It has an energising and stimulating power, but also helps to reduce stress and anxiety, and is characterised by its warm, spicy and slightly pungent aroma. Its essential oil is extracted by distilling leaves or bark from the cinnamon tree, where the scent is richer in cinnamic aldehydes and a spicier aroma.
Like a magical alchemy, perfumer Dominique Ropion blends cinnamon with black pepper, bergamot and incense in Cosmic Power, one of Charlotte Tilbury's five new fragrances. "Charlotte was thinking of a fragrance that would help stimulate feelings of inner self-confidence. Something very intimate, but with a strong personality. I was immediately drawn to Amber, which, being such a mystical ingredient, is perfect for connecting with your inner self. Then I incorporated spices because they are sparkling and bring personality to the fragrance," explains the perfumer.
Complex, woody and gourmand, Francis Kurkdjian's Grand Soir evokes the Parisian night, when the city gives free rein to pleasures. Tonka bean, ciste labdanum and cinnamon leaf essential oil give rise to an oriental ambery fragrance.