What does a workday smell like to you? In a typical office setting, the answer might involve the smoky scent of coffee grounds or a whiff of citrus-tinged disinfectant.
Otherwise, the goal is usually to create an odorless environment. It’s considered impolite to to douse oneself in Chanel No. 5, and lighting a scented candle is one way to become the office eccentric. Even the smell of microwave popcorn has its (insane!) detractors.
But working remotely in the wake of Covid-19 means being the master of your own olfactory universe—and spending accordingly. In the second quarter lasting from April to June, US candle sales were up 13% from the same period last year, according to market research firm NPD Group, in contrast to plunging sales for products like perfume, skincare, and makeup. Newly remote workers are experimenting with scented workspaces, and their potential to make hours with an Excel spreadsheet feel, or at least smell, more like a day at the beach.
The science of scent
Scent has a subconscious affect on everyone. “Even at extremely low levels, it’s affecting you,” says Olivia Jezler, a fragrance expert and CEO of strategy and consultancy firm Future of Smell. In a paper for a 2016 conference on human-computer interactions, Jezler and her co-authors describe an experiment in which vanilla- or lemon-scented modeling clay appeared to prompt participants to make rounder or spikier shapes.
Scent also has the power to help us focus or destress, says Mark Moss, head of the psychology department at Northumbria University in the UK, whose current research focuses on aroma’s impact on mood and cognition.
“Aromas can improve cognition by interacting with our brain chemistry,” Moss says. “There are compounds in the aromas of the essential oils of rosemary and sage, for example, that can potentially improve memory by being absorbed into the blood when we inhale the aroma, then being passed to the brain where they enhance the activity of a neurotransmitter (brain cell messenger) that is involved in memory.”
Aromas can also stimulate the area of our brain known as the limbic system, which affects our levels of arousal, making us relax or perk up according to the particular scent. To get the maximum effect, Moss advises using room scents intermittently rather than throughout the day.
Along with the worker-friendly powers of rosemary and sage, the scent of peppermint has been shown to help people concentrate and work more efficiently. And for lunch breaks or chilling out after work, Moss recommends lavender: “Research suggests that lavender can improve relaxation, and so work performance later is improved as the rest period is more effective.” Chamomile and lemon balm are also good options for winding down.
Scent as adventure and self-care
When the pandemic first hit, Mark Crames, CEO of Demeter Fragrance, expected customers to go for aromas that carried associations of safety and comfort, like lavender and baby powder. “It did not work out like I thought,” he says now.
Instead, Demeter—which offers a collection of more than 200 scents that can be mixed and matched—saw a surge in adventurous smells. Thunderstorm and “Pixie Dust” sales soared, along with fragrances meant to evoke destinations like Morocco and Thailand. Crames’s theory: Cooped up at home for months on end, people “are looking for a sensory escape. They’re bored, and they want a jolt.”
That hunger for sensory stimulation has tripled Demeter’s direct-to-consumer business, according to Crames, who is himself drawn to scents reminiscent of hiking. “I’m big on Thunderstorm,” he says. “I also like things like Mountain Laurel, Mountain Air, Blue Spruce.”
If you’re looking for more of a high-powered law firm ambiance, Crames recommends sharp wood scents: Sandalwood, Sequoia, Cypress. These kinds of finished fragrances “make me feel corporate,” he says. “As a result, those are the ones that make me feel focused and on top of my game.”