68 fragrances, no clear favourite - in search of a mood-boosting fragrance

Sarah has always had an interest in the neuroscience of scent. She’s never wanted to create something with the sole purpose of smelling nice; she loves it when people take a sniff of one of her creations and it stirs up a feeling inside them. That was really the reason behind it all when she started 4160Tuesdays. It followed her book, The Scent of Possibility, in which she wrote about a mystical, borderline magical woman who created scented memories of happy times for people who needed them most, offering them in little potion-like bottles.

Recently, she’s been reflecting on why she started making perfume all those years ago, and which fragrances make her happiest. Alongside this is her curiosity about whether particular perfumery materials can actually affect our mood. It’s a topic she’s particularly interested in, and one others are talking about too, with research and studies exploring the connection, but no answers yet. 

This train of thought led her to ask her community in our Facebook group which fragrances they reach for when they want a mood boost or simply to encourage a smile. The responses, at least to me, were astonishing and utterly unexpected.

Before reading them, I assumed I could have easily predicted a small selection of Sarah’s fragrances that people would choose as the most mood-boosting. I imagined they’d centre around what we typically think of as bright and cheerful notes - sweet summer fruits, citrus, light spring florals.

That wasn’t the case at all.

Sixty-eight fragrances were mentioned. Two were mentioned four times, five were mentioned three times, and fourteen were mentioned twice. That leaves forty-seven, by far the majority, mentioned only once. And many of them didn’t contain any of the so-called ‘uplifting’ notes.

It was surprising, but also rather pleasing.

People who experience an uplifting feeling when wearing a fragrance do so because the scent is significant to them. It’s not because it's popular or expensive, or feels cosy or summery. It’s because it connects to experiences and memories that form part of who they are.

With no clear mood-boosting winner among Sarah’s creations, it made me wonder, if personal experiences vary widely, why do certain fragrances become so popular, remaining bestsellers year after year across the world?

Perhaps people choose them because they’re reliably pleasant, the safe option, and fashion often prevails. But it also made me think, if we were all a little braver, if we explored more interesting things, might we discover things we don’t just like, but truly fall in love with? Not just perfumer, but across other areas of life too.

Of course, we’d need far more than the responses to a single Facebook question to draw any real conclusions. Still, there’s a gentle suggestion here that our connection to scent is deeply individual. It’s not difficult to find something that smells nice, but finding something that truly speaks to us is something else entirely. Special, but possible, with exploration.

There’s clearly much more to uncover, and Sarah is understandably excited about the whole thing.

That said, I do still think fragrances with bright, sweet, citrusy notes are more likely to score highly if rated out of ten for “upliftability.” But I’m convinced that these could easily be surpassed by something that triggers a deeper emotional response, something tied to joy and personal nostalgia.

So while I might recommend a fragrance expecting it to be a pleasant experience, I wouldn’t claim I can suggest something that will truly lift someone’s spirits.

Until we invent a way to scan the brain for the perfect perfume match, I recommend that, in search of their joy fragrance, everyone sniff lots of testers and find the one that makes them feel like they are ready to take on the world.

The specific responses don’t actually matter because it’s all about personal connection and what things in our lives may have led us to being drawn to a fragrance, and that’s the point, but if you are curious, here are the fragrances that are available in our collection today that were mentioned by people in our Facebook post:

• Doe in the Snow + 3

• Lemon Sherbet + 3

• Lavender Rice + 2

• Over the Chocolate Shop + 2

• The Lion Cupboard + 2

• Salt Rose + 2

• Complicated Shadows + 2

• Court of Ravens + 1

• Tart's Knicker Drawer + 1

• Mother Nature’s Naughty Daughters + 1

• Hammersmith Tea & Biscuits + 1

• The Sexiest Scent on the Planet Ever (IMHO) + 1

• Clouds Illusion + 1

• Hush Hush + 1

• No Mow May + 1

• Saltburn Driftwood + 1

• What I Did on My Holidays +1

• Take me to the River + 1

• Wash Me in The Water + 1

• Be Careful What You Wish For

• #MrsGlossMadeMeDoIt

• The Orange Tree

• Another Kiss by the Fireside

• Temptation

• Pirate Queen

• White Queen

• London 1969

• Rhubarb & Custard 1:29

• Maxed Out

• Master JoJo

• Meet Me On The Corner

• Fluffy Lemon Top

• Sleep Knot

• A Flame In Your Heart

• Dancing with Strangers

• Le Bain de McBain

• Paris 1948

• Sonnet No 1

• Wishful Thinking

• Burnt Cedar Rainbow Doves

• Old Sport

• Creamy Vanilla Crumble 

• Captured by Candlelight

• The Extra Sexiest Scent on the Planet Ever (IMHO)

• Freeway

• Damn Rebel Witches

• Ginger Snap

• Dandelion Musk