Heavenly scents that room can make a zing
A CHICKEN roasting in the oven. A pot of coffee on the hob. Sweet peas in a vase. The garden after it’s rained. Just- washed linen sheets. These are the smells, delicious and enticing, that make coming home a pleasure.
But as we cannot roast a chicken every night, nor have sweet peas out of season, other ways of scenting the home become the next best thing.
We take great care choosing our perfume or aftershave. A bottle of Chanel or Jean Paul Gaultier becomes our ‘signature’, and we howl when a favourite scent is discontinued.
But fragrance in the home is often an afterthought. A spritz of this or that; an air freshener put in the trolley with the rest of the supermarket shop.
A new exhibition, Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent at Somerset House in London, dares us to think more imaginatively. Why be confined to lavender bags in the drawer and a pot of basil by the window?
Sometimes the scents that are most evocative and stirring, that remind us most compellingly of home, are unexpected.
Perfumer Lyn Harris’s scent Charcoal was inspired by the memory of holidays with her grandfather in Scotland: of dungarees smelling of sawn wood; of clean soap on her grandfather’s rough, gardener’s hands; of the pipe tobacco he loved.
Edward Bodenham, perfumery director at Floris, says we shouldn’t neglect our sense of smell at home.
‘I do think that different scents lend themselves to different seasons and different environments. For the spring and summer, fresh white florals are particularly popular, as they create a delicate, light and airy ambience. During the cold winter months, it’s comforting to choose a warm spicy scent which has a cosying effect.’
Try room fragrances and scented candles such as Peony & Rose for spring and summer, and Cinnamon &
Tangerine for autumn and winter (from £25, florislondon.com).
Think, too, about intensifying the paint colour of a room, with a corresponding scent. People tend to associate lighter scents with paler colours and heavier scents with darker, richer colours, says Bodenham.
Often the associated colour corresponds with the shade of the raw material: for example, grapefruit with yellow, violets with purple, oakmoss with green.
The purpose of the room should also be taken into account, says Bodenham.
‘ For a man’s study, I would recommend a fragrance generally associated as being masculine containing rich woody, mossy, possibly leathery notes, such as sandalwood or patchouli.
‘For a woman’s dressing room, something subtle, light and airy which is also comforting, such as mint or lavender.’
Jo Malone, Penhaligons, and Diptyque make candles with scents that are clean, not cloying. They seem wincingly expensive (£30 and more), but often work out cheaper by the wick-burning hour than more budget brands.
If you are asthmatic or have small children or pets, an alternative to scented candles is an aroma diffuser. These use ultrasonic waves to disperse scent from essential oils. Try Muji’s diffuser (£59.95) with Lemongrass or Blood Orange oils (£ 4.95, muji.eu).
YOU could also consider pot pourri. Cheap blends can smell dusty, but Santa Maria Novella’s blend of buds, leaves and petals gathered in the hills above Florence smells divine — they’ve had 300 years to perfect it — and looks pretty in colourful majolica-style bowls, such as those by Solimene (from £14,
divertimenti.co.uk) or the Aragonez range by Oka (from £62 for a set of four, oka.com).
The Santa Maria Novella pharmacy on Piccadilly in London takes orders by phone (020 7493 1975).
A bar of good soap in the bathroom can perfume the whole room. Liberty’s Yuzu and Grapefruit is invigorating, while the Charcoal & Sea Salt bar works miracles on hands that have been chopping garlic and onions (£6.95, libertylondon.com).
Anna Day, a florist and co-author of The Flower Appreciation Society (£20, Sphere), urges us to decorate with fresh flowers, aromatics and herbs.
‘Eucalyptus has a lovely, fresh piney aroma which works well in bathrooms and bedrooms. In the kitchen, a pot of fresh lavender or sweet peas is uplifting.’
Beware flowers with overpowering scents. Hyacinths are heavenly, but can be sickly in a centrally-heated room. Anna Day says that lilies, freesias and paper whites (narcissi) can be too strong if the room isn’t well ventilated.
Of course, for many of us, there’s nothing to beat the smell of clean sheets. So much so that perfumers strive to recreate this elusive smell.
Rei Kawakubo, founder of the fashion house Comme des Garcons, once challenged her team to recreate the irresistible perfume of ‘washing drying in the wind’.
Perfume is at Somerset House, London, until September 17.