Our Modern Lives 100ml natural body and room fragrances

Our perfumer, Sarah McCartney, is also a practising yoga teacher and created Our Modern Lives to use in her classes, and in life beyond the yoga .mat

Red – Harvest – Gratitude: A sense of security, nature’s bounty, reaping what we sow. For us it feels like a rich red berry in colour, it has an intense, spiced fruity richness. The materials we used include hay absolute, Turkish rose absolute, raspberry leaf absolute, oakwood CO₂ extract, hazelnut CO2 extract, labdanum, wine essential oil, davana essential oil, pink peppercorn CO₂ absolute.

"I use this for practising seated poses in yoga classes; the first time I sprayed it into the room, everyone just sat down without being asked. I've observed that it spreads a smile and a calm feeling around the room." Sarah.

INGREDIENTS: Alcohol (denat), Parfum, Limonene, Citral, Citronellol, Geraniol, Coumarin, Eugenol, Linalool

Orange – Sunset – Peace: A sense of serenity as the sun goes down, lighting up the sky in shades of blood orange, Materials include: neroli essential oil, honeybush CO₂ extract, vanilla absolute, cocoa absolute, peach natural liquid, bran absolute, rose geranium essential oil, Virginian cedarwood essential oil.

"I made this for evenings, to revive and calm people who come to my Tuesdays night yoga class after work. What I discovered was that it seemed to encourage extra energy, to enable us to throw off the day's tensions and enthusiastically take on the standing poses. Outside the yoga room, I use it when I'm flagging mentally." Sarah.

INGREDIENTS: Alcohol (denat), Parfum, Limonene, Citronellol, Geraniol, Linalool, Citral.

Yellow – Sunrise – Hope: A sense of vitality, but because it’s early we’ve added in a dash of coffee for a touch of real life. Materials include: lemon petitgrain, fennel, cardamon, clementine, yellow mandarin, blood orange and sweet orange essential oils, coffee absolute, narcissus absolute and cabreuva essential oil.

"I'm an owl not a lark, so I needed a morning fragrance to smell revitalising, encouraging and uplifting (as in lifting me up out of my bed on to my feet to practise). For grey days, this brings a feeling of sunshine. Spray it in the room, or on yourself, for your sun salutations." Sarah.

INGREDIENTS: Alcohol (denat), Parfum, Limonene, Citral, Farnesol, Geraniol, Linalool.

Green – Leaf – New: A sense of revival. The smell of spring when green shoots appear from the cold and dark. Materials include: jasmine tea CO₂ extract, green mandarin essential oil, Calabrian bergamot essential oil, cucumber extract, bergamot mint essential oil and spinach absolute.

"This is my heart opening, chest opening, fresh leafy scent. It's like opening the windows on a spring day when someone is cutting the grass and trimming a privet hedge. It's like walking into a greenhouse and picking salad leaves. I use it for dark days, real or figurative, ro encourage myself to lift up my spine and open up to what's ahead." Sarah.

INGREDIENTS: Alcohol (denat), Parfum, Limonene, Citral, Geraniol.

Aquamarine – Waves/WiFi – Clarity: A sense of connection. The colour of the clear warm sea, and sharp hit of citrus and deep seaweed. Materials include: white grapefruit and rosemary essential oils, olive fruit CO₂ extract, jasmine sambac absolute, blue hemlock essential oil, organic English lavender essential oil, seaweed absolute.

"This opens with a spash of seaweed that's too much of a surprise for some, but I had in mind a boat trip between Mediterranean islands, starting in the harbour: herbs, olives and citrus fruits, jasmine and pine trees. For me this is about communication, sounds waves and light waves depicted by a gentle sea. When we're spending too much time online, and can't visit the real sea, this is for opening us up to listening and speaking." Sarah

INGREDIENTS: Alcohol (denat), Parfum, Limonene, Linalool, Citral, Geraniol, Benzyl Alcohol.

Blue Screen/Blue Horizon – Perspective: A sense of balance. We spend too much time looking at screens, not enough at the horizon. This is a scent to help you meditate. Materials include frankincense essential oil, lavender absolute, vetivert absolute, eucalyptus mint essential oil, patchouli essential oil, bergamot essential oil, lemon petitgrain essential oil, organic English lavender essential oil.

"A friend of mine was talking once about how in daily life we rarely see the horizon, the edge of the visible earth. He moved to the seaside to look at it. Instead we're looking at blue screens far too much. I use Blue for Savasana practice, and my students have it at home to remind them of the feeling of peace they get, surrending theirmselves into the ground, putting down the screens and looking further, both outside and inside out own minds. It has essential oils traditionally used for grounding and balancing." Sarah

INGREDIENTS: Alcohol (denat), Parfum, Linalool, Limonene, Citral, Geraniol.

Indigo – Into the Night: A sense of the infinite. A 3a.m. scent of total darkness, when night feels endless. Materials include: Cognac absolute, black tea CO₂ extract, osmanthus absolute, Atlas cedarwood essential oil, jasmine sambac absolute, labdanum absolute, rum CO₂ extract.

"There are so many different ways to quieten the mind, to get in deeply. As well as yoga, reading a good book takes me there. I made this with a mild reference to the other things people use: cognac and rum extracts and tea, flowers which waft out their seductive aromas at midnight. It's a scent of surrender." Sarah

INGREDIENTS: Alcohol (denat), Parfum, Limonene, Benzyl Alcohol.

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