SMELLS LIKE GREEN SPIRIT
Inhaling your garden can also be beneficial: ‘A fragrant garden, with its therapeutic plants, is so uplifting,’ explains aromachologist and perfumer Danièle Ryman. ‘And the curative properties of each aromatic plant can be harmonised to maximise their benefits – from being energising to relaxing.’
Lavender, for one, has long been proven to aid relaxation and memory, while recent studies into sage oil have shown it to inhibit a nasty little enzyme whose job it is to break down the chemical messengers important to memory function (we love the scent of sage combined with mint and rosemary in Pacifica Scalp Love
Rosemary Mint Serum, £14). Probably less well known, however, is the power of geranium, which in ancient practices had been revered for its ability to balance emotions, as well as reducing restlessness and anxiety. ‘Geranium is full of chemical compounds that have the ability to calm a frazzled mind, and renew an exhausted spirit,’ says Holly Brandenberger, nurse, aromatherapist and founder of the Science Of Essentials blog. ‘It’s the perfect scent for anyone feeling overworked or depleted of energy because it promotes a sense of wellbeing, optimism and joy.’
So enchanted is designer Cath Kidston by the plant (she collects varieties in her greenhouse) that she has dedicated the debut line of her new beauty venture to it. Inspired by her and her grandmother’s love of gardening and early memories of the smell of crushed geranium between her fingers, Cath’s new brand C.atherley launches with the Geranium No.1 collection. Comprising 10 bath, body and fragrance products, from £10, the entire range has been formulated and bottled in the British countryside.
And the geranium memo did not get missed at Fortnum & Mason, whose recent collaboration with Bramley – the
Garden Song collection – features the plant alongside a solid supporting cast. Every product in the line – Body Wash,
£32, Lotion, £32, Hand Duo Set, £60, and Candle, from £36 – features carefully thought-out fragrance combinations designed to soothe to such a degree that you’ll mistake your bathroom for the apothecary garden GOOD HOUSEKEEPING from whence the ingredients came. The lotion, for instance, contains geranium alongside lulling lavender, while in the wash it’s mixed with juniper and bay laurel, understood to relieve tension and exhaustion and relax the mind respectively.
Meanwhile, mood and memory, it seems, are benefited by a little mint, according to Dr Howes. And Dr Maruthappu agrees: ‘It’s very much a refreshing and calming herb.’ Here on the GH beauty desk, we can’t think of a lovelier way to clear brain fog
than with a liberal spritz of Whïnd Pomello Mint Tea Leaves EDP, £180, whose citrus-infused spearmint scent is as invigorating and centring as it is delicate and sophisticated. And mint’s distant cousin marjoram – traditionally loved for its stress-lowering properties – appears in
Aveda’s Botanical Repair range as part of the brand’s ‘pure-fume’, designed to add a moment of mindfulness to our haircare rituals. We love the Botanical Repair Strengthening Leave-in Treatment (currently available in a beautifully illustrated, limited-edition larger size, £32.50) for its transformative hair-strengthening and smoothing powers, as well as its scent.
Haircare as a whole is getting in on borrowing from the garden to uplift the senses. One of the two signature scents that run through Adam Reed’s Arkive line – a fragrance called No One Elsie in the new
The Body Hybrid Mousse, £13 – is ‘inspired by nature and my childhood growing up in the South West of England’, he says. It uses the lively, tart, green-viney scent of tomato leaf and rhubarb to provide, in Adam’s words, a little ‘headcare’ with your haircare.