How a Scent Can Turn a Bad Day Into a Good One

The next time you receive a package from KrisShop, you might notice a scent tag in it. Do take a deep breath when you open it to enjoy the fresh notes of citrusy bitter orange and bergamot, warmed by balsam fir and a faint hint of rose and musk.

“This is the scent of wanderlust. It is Capri in a bottle, a true interpretation of Mediterranean sunshine”, says Jason Lee, founder of fragrance brand SIX, which created this customised signature scent for KrisShop to inspire a sense of adventure and travel.

The Singapore-based brand, which was founded in 2016, is known for its range of home scenting products such as candles, nebulizers and reed diffusers as well as travel-inspired perfumes like 123 Tribeca, an exciting lemon, rosemary, oakmoss and Brazilian rosewood fragrance that evokes this edgy neighbourhood in New York City. 

The brand has also created customised scents for luxury hotels including Fullerton Hotel, Equarius Hotel and Outpost Hotel and collaborated with Eu Yan Sang to formulate the world’s first traditional Chinese medicine scent. 

Some of SIX’s fragrances are also inspired by meaningful travels that Lee, who used to work at world renowned fragrance house Givaudan, has gone on over the years. For example, 27°F Biei was created after a 2014 trip to Hokkaido where he proposed to his then-girlfriend, who is now his wife.

“It was romantic - cold outside but we felt warm as we had each other. Everywhere we walked, we could smell hints of Japanese lavender and green tea and this inspired me to bottle these emotions and memories in a perfume,” he recalls. “To me, this is a scent of love and marriage and it is calming, soothing and fulfilling.”

The memories and moods that a fragrance can have on an individual has also spurred Lee to delve deeper into how scents can uplift one’s mood. Calling this “fragrance intelligence”, SIX has partnered with respected fragrance houses like Takasago from Japan to develop more complex perfumes that are designed and proven to influence moods.

Here are some tips from Lee on how you can use fragrance to positively impact your day.

Scents are not just used to make a person or a space smell better - a well-blended fragrance can also have a positive impact on a person’s state of mind. “Fragrances can help to heal, soothe and enhance one’s mental wellness. Our scents are designed and tested to directly influence our moods so that the user feels happier, sleeps better and focuses better,” says Lee.

When you try out a new fragrance, take note of how it makes you feel so you can use it for that purpose in the future. For example, citrus notes like lemon and orange are recommended to make you feel more positive while peppermint and rosemary help to increase productivity. To enhance sleep, look for scents like lavender, chamomile and rose.

SIX has unique scents to help achieve these positive effects more efficiently. “One of our latest launches is a yuzu inspired scent made together with youths from Singapore Association of Mental Health that is designed to make you feel happier. Use it at your work desk to uplift your mood,” says Lee.

“Soon, we will be launching a tea-based scent designed to help you sleep better. Traditionally when we speak of relaxing scents, we think of singular notes like lavender, but now, with fragrance intelligence, we can go beyond that, to explore creative olfactive boundaries that are proven to work better.”

One product does not necessarily fit all when it comes to picking the right scented product for your home. Consider the size of the space and the purpose of the scent when choosing what to use. For example, a pillow mist is good for spraying a scent on targeted areas like pillows and sheets and will disperse after a while.

For slightly smaller rooms like the study or washrooms, Lee says reed diffusers are a good choice to keep the space scented through the day. And in living rooms or cars, he recommends using nebulizers for their consistent scent dispersion over a larger space.

For more innovative fragrances to inspire your journeys and to spark positive well-being, check out the range of perfumes and home scenting products by SIX.