Project Description
For Yael Alkalay, scent has been a lifesaver—literally. “It was a smell that rescued me from devastation,” she says, referring to a calamitous accident she had in her 20s while skiing in the French Alps. The trauma from the fall was so bad, it caused Yael to experience a stroke. This, in turn, led her to lose the ability to speak and the ability to use her hands. “What ultimately woke me up in the hospital was a friend washing my hair with a very pepperminty shampoo,” she says. “The scent of mint brought me back to life.”
And from that experience, Yael’s mission was born: To bring the beauty of scent to others. Red Flower, the holistic brand of fragrances she founded, is what Yael describes as the embodiment of her soul and her history. Harkening back to her childhood in Israel, when she watched her mother boil flowers to blend essential oils, and to familial generations before her of Turks and Argentinian farmers, she wanted to express her deep appreciation of nature, the land, and old-world traditions. And put to practice the botanical knowledge she had learned in Japan, where she lived for five years working for a beauty company before that fateful event.
“I want everyone to experience the health benefits of scent daily,” says Yael of her intention to spread the word that scent can restore and revive. And as we navigate this current climate dominated by unpredictable stress and new anxieties, finding novel ways to cope and provide a soothing or revitalizing balm is all the more essential. Reaching back to its history as a critical player in ancient rituals, ceremonies, and healing realms, fragrance has adopted a modern role beyond a pleasant dab on the wrist.
To be clear, honoring scent is not new, but its potential to shift our experiences feels newly recognized. And plenty of research backs up its capabilities. One review of studies published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience in 2020 determined that smell is the strongest of all our senses, affecting our limbic system, which governs emotional processing, motivation, fear, and pleasure. Another study found that an impressive 75 percent of emotions generated throughout the day are due to smell. The impact goes way beyond mood and memory. Additional research finds that scent can affect how calm and alert we are, sharpen our focus, cause us to be more generous, relieve anxiety and fatigue, improve brain power, and enhance physical health. The list goes on.
Perhaps one of the most surprising discoveries is that scent has a palpable energy. “It’s like a heartbeat,” explains Yael. “You can read the vibrations of an essential oil as you would a cardiogram. A gas chromatography [a laboratory technique for separating an element into its components] reading of, say, rose essential oil will show a line that moves vividly up and down, indicating the energy of the 130 unique molecules that make up the rose. That vibration is transmitted when you inhale the scent. When we say a smell has a good vibe, we mean it.”
While the chemistry of scent is complicated, Yael insists reaping the benefits of it is simple. One place you can really make an impact with fragrance is your home. “Filling your space with mood-enhancing smells makes a world of difference in how you live,” she says. “And when we are home more, as is the case these days, scent can be an escape. It can send you on a journey through its notes, and through the rituals of lighting of the candle, seeing the flicker of the flame, spritzing a mist, turning diffuser sticks,” she says.
Scent-scaping is the antidote to functioning in what Yael calls, “automatic mode,” the state of mindlessly going through the motions of taking care of everything—work responsibilities, bills, cleaning, car, pets—without being present and certainly without finding contentment in the process. According to Yael, experiencing the here-and-now through fragrance is an overlooked means of self-care that restores your inner peace and gives you a feeling of emotional warmth. “Think of it like hanging art in your home, or playing music. Your olfactory experience should have the same consideration and intention.”
Whether you choose a well-placed candle, a diffuser, or a room spray, Yael has a few specific times and spots she suggests focusing on scent.
Brighten Your Morning
Citrus (think lemon, grapefruit, and Italian blood orange) has very active vibrational energy, so it naturally wakes you up and stimulates your mind, says Yael. “That bright scent is proven to reduce anxiety and make you feel more positive. Beyond that, it sets you up to be proactive throughout the whole day. It’s an excellent way to start the morning.”
Cardamom is another scent she likes to rise and shine to (layer it with citrus or go solo). “When you crack a cardamom pod between your fingers, you can actually feel the bit of heat, the energy. Likewise, smelling it will activate your brain, and give you a feeling of positive wellbeing and warm groundedness that you can take with you wherever you’re headed.”
Energize Your Work Space
Rosemary is shown to enhance performance, focus, and memory, so it’s a great scent for when you need to be creative and mentally charged. “The scent itself is strong and defined and encourages that driven state you want to cultivate when working,” says Yael. While multiple studies point to the scent’s power to improve mental cognition, one in particular proved that smelling rosemary not only boosted performance on math problems, it confirmed that the scent compounds entered the subjects’ bloodstreams, thus providing evidence to the physiological changes breathing in fragrances can induce.
Orange blossom, demonstrated in studies to reduce anxiety, is perfect to shift your mood to me-time. “The fragrance is not overly sweet, but still has a honey-plus-fruitiness, like an exotic nectar that calls you to another wonderful world,” says Yael. “When you want to leave your day behind and be transported to a relaxing state, this rich, sensual, indulgent scent will do that.”
The scents of jasmine and the moonflower, both night-blooming florals, also transition you out of workday mode. “These flowers open up in the late hours, emitting an abundant, seductive fragrance to allure night pollinators who must find it in the dark. Smelling them connects you to that same natural rhythm, encouraging you to release yourself to the evening,” says Yael. “The headiness of jasmine and the subtler, grassy, dreamy quality of the moonflower work magic alone or combined.”
Get Close with Friends
The woodsy scent of palo santo evokes the feeling of cozying up with close friends by a warm fire in the hearth, says Yael. And during colder months, that’s about as luxuriously welcoming as it gets. “Plus, food and scent are so entwined,” she says, “the earthy smell makes you crave a comforting meal and great conversation with others.”