How to Create a Signature Scent for Your Home
When it comes to living your best life (in quarantine or otherwise) putting effort into the environment you spend your time in can be just as important as what you put on and in your body. After all, your setting plays a big part in your psychological and emotional well-being, so paying attention to the details, like how your home smells, can really impact your mood. The following excerpt from Garrett Munce's new book, Self-Care for Men: How to Look Good and Feel Great, details everything you need to give your home a signature scent story.
Just like choosing a cologne, deciding on how your house should smell takes some thought. You want people to remember it once they leave—in a good way.
Think about the Mood You Want to Set
The same principles of aromatherapy go into scenting your home as other areas of self-care. If you want to create a relaxing, calm atmosphere for instance, use notes like lavender to increase chill vibes. Citrus scents are energizing and usually make things smell clean, where scents like wood and smoke create a cozy, warm ambience.
Mix Different Products
When conceptualizing your scent story, don’t feel like you have to stick to just one thing. Mix products like candles and incense to create layers of discovery. Place different tools in different rooms to keep people guessing. And remember, stronger isn’t always better.
Get Inspired by Nature
Most men don’t gravitate toward sweet or food-inspired scents in the first place, but when in doubt look to nature. Fragrances that come from trees, plants, and other natural substances generally smell better in larger areas like homes. Think about how great your house smells when you have a Christmas tree up; a pine- scented candle can give you the same effect without your needing to clean up the needles afterward.
Better Yet, Use Living Things
Supplement your natural-scented candles and di users with the real thing for extra power. Bring in fresh flowers or fragrant plants to make the good smells more layered and more realistic than you could ever get with a candle alone. Think of them as complementing the scent, not competing with it, and choose plants that are similar to the notes found in the candle or diffuser you’re using.
Pick a Through Line
When you start delving into the world of home scents, it’s easy to go overboard. Instead of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks (or, in this case, smells good), pick a theme and build up on it. Choose multiple products that all have the same note. For instance, if you like wood scents, pick a few different candles that all have sandalwood in them, and place them in different rooms of the house. It will keep the scent layers from fighting each other.
Keep It Clean
You’re doing all this work to make your house smell great, so you don’t want other things competing with it, do you? Household scents can overpower even the strongest candle without you knowing it. Always empty the trash, clear the sink of dirty dishes, and stow away dirty laundry if you want your good smells to take center stage.
Don't Stick to Just One
Scent pros do something you probably don’t: they use different scents in different rooms of their houses. It’s easier than you might think. First, find a few different scents that work well together and then place them strategically throughout the house like this:
Foyer or front door: Have a candle or diffuser that smells inviting, like something with vanilla or spices to draw people into your home.
Kitchen: Go for freshness like citrus or green herbals to signal that your place is clean.
Living room: Light up a candle with cozy notes like pine or sandalwood to recall a crackling fire and invite people to relax.
Bathroom: Keep a diffuser tucked away with a scent of eucalyptus or sage to make the space feel open and chill.
Bedroom: If you’re expecting a little hanky-panky, choose a sexy scent like frankincense, and if you just want to chill out and sleep, opt for something with lavender.
Excerpted from Self-Care for Men: How to Look Good and Feel Great. All rights reserved.
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