The significance of scent
Do you clearly remember your childhood?
Most of us retain fragmented memories, specific situations and «core memories» Often these memories are accompanied with scents you may not have felt in years. Can you recall the aroma of summer, your grandmother’s kitchen, the flowers you tasted and the scent of fresh rain? Maybe the combination of concrete scent and the sound of children's laughter in drenched clothes from dancing holds a special place in your heart. It certainly does for me.
I bet you can recall aromas when thinking about memories like this. Maybe some feelings arise as well?
The brain’s olfactory bulb has direct connections to two key areas in the limbic system: the amygdala and the hippocampus. The amygdala plays a crucial role in processing emotions and is involved in the formation of emotional memories. The hippocampus is responsible for forming and storing memories, particularly those related to spatial navigation and context.
When we encounter a particular scent, the amygdala quickly evaluates it and associates it with previous emotional experiences.
In fact, some smells alone can bring us to tears.
I remember when I after many years returned to one of the small towns we lived in when I was younger. Our idea of fun at that time was to place coins on the railway, waiting for the train to arrive and deform the coins as it passed. It was such a joy to run around and collect them afterwards.
Oh, what fun it was. Oh, those scents.
The smell of metal against metal, intermingled with everything else that surrounded the railway: dust, plastic, grass, water and wild flowers.
In our search for brands and perfumes to bring into our homes here at Aspect, we search for the brands that evoke these feelings in us. Perfumes that feel real, authentic and capable transport us to places we have been or want to discover.
Ds & Durga has made this journey effortless. They proclaim that «Perfume is armchair travel». Each of their scents have the power to transport you to a place or a moment in time. «Burning Barbershop» is one such fragrance, inspired by what a burning barbershop in New York 1891 would smell like.
«All the shaving tonics with their spearmint, lime, vanilla and lavender burned. A charred bottle was found half-full. It smelled like this.»
And indeed it does.
Our wish for us all is that we experience scent and create memories as livid as the ones from our childhood. May we never cease to smell the flowers, pause on the street when the aroma of fresh bread hits us and may we never forget the scent of our loved ones.