Have the good sense to bring home good scents

Walk into a fancy hotel or a luxury retailer these days and you will inevitably be embraced by fragrance.

“Mood maintenance,” the experts call it, or “sensory branding.”

It’s big business, with each fragrant whiff designed to encourage customers to stay longer and spend more. But scent isn’t just for your favourite boutique. It’s also an important part of your home decor. Scent sets the mood, expresses your style and can even clean the air. That’s why we love these gorgeous room sprays and diffusers.

SLEEK SIGNATURE

Forget the wall plug-ins and incense burners. This handmade porcelain plug-in diffuser from Vitruvi is sophisticated and slightly edgy. It comes in black or white and can run for hours. That fragrance will likely be one of the new “Vitruvi for Home” blends by the Vancouver-based team of siblings Sean and Sarah Panton. Concocted from precious natural essential oils, the five scents in the collection are designed to evoke specific moments in your home: Clean, Excite, Create, Relax, Sleep. Vitruvi | $119 | vitruvi.com

QUINTESSENTIAL QUINCE

Pottery Barn’s elegant glass Homescent diffusers are a beautiful way to add scent to a room. Each diffuser comes with 12 diffuser sticks that absorb the fragrant oil and gently release its aromas. Several different blends are available, but one we love is the Quince. Pottery Barn | $64 | potterybarn.com

SUMMER ESSENCE

The Summer Breeze room spray from Simons Maison evokes the fresh scent of a summer rain. It is blended from natural ingredients imported from Australia and can change the mood in a room with a spritz. Nothing triggers memory like our sense of smell. Simons | regular $9.50; now $6.99 | simons.ca