LUSH TIMES | SPRING 2024

LUSH

TIMES

LUSH

TIMES

ISSUE#002

SPRING 2024

SCENT- SATIONAL ROUTINES The power of scent to improve your day and night

Scented Slumbers

some fragrance. I find being surrounded by the right scent can help my mind make the shift from a busy day towards a restful sleep. I always go for something more gentle than I’d typically wear during the day. My favourite perfumes for this are Vanillary, Dear John and American Cream—to me, they all have softer, calmer, or sweeter elements to them which makes me feel cosy and wrapped up.” What’s your bedtime scent?

Marilyn Monroe famously once said, “What do I wear to bed? Why, Chanel No. 5 of course.” It seems Marilyn was ahead of her time, as more and more people cotton on to the idea that wearing perfume to bed can have a myriad of benefits for mind and body, from aiding better sleep, to just adding a touch of luxury to your every day. Fragrance Category Lead, Lee Howes, explains: “Before I go to bed, I always put on

S cent is a powerful way in which we experience the world. We build connections with our sense of smell all the time, just as we do with all of our senses. When we take in a fragrance, the odour molecules race through our systems, firing up key parts of the brain. Our amygdala is the part of our brain that processes emotions, and is part of our olfactory system. For thousands of years, cultures around the world have used fragrant materials for aromatherapy to affect mood and state of mind through scent. We also intrinsically encode the smells in our environment as part of our wider memories. Sometimes this can be a smell linked to a particular memory, like the smell of the orange blossom from your childhood garden, or the perfume you wore on your wedding day. But we also begin to associate everyday activities with the smells we encounter regularly—the smell of toothpaste in the morning or the pillow spray you spritz before you go to bed. Every habit starts with a cue. We can use fragrance to recall these everyday memories and how we felt at the time, making scent a powerful tool in building routines that support our natural cycle of sleepiness and wakefulness. Finding the right fragrances to wake you up or soothe you to sleep can be a wonderful way to weave scent into your every day. Here, our own Lush fragrance experts share what works for them.

Emma’s PM routine Here’s how our Perfumer, Emma Vincent, ensures a peaceful night’s sleep in the Vincent household.

Lee’s AM routine

Fragrance Category Lead, Lee Howes, shares his top tips for a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed morning.

4. Clear The Air Lush Melt “I’m a massive believer in using fragrance to shift and change the atmosphere of a space, and Lush melts do this perfectly for me. Lemongrass, mint and eucalyptus give Clear The Air a clean, breezy and refreshing scent. I love to use it in my oil burner on a Sunday morning when I’m cleaning the house, and I often have it melting away on my desk as I work to help me feel awake and focused.” 5. Happy Hippy Shower Gel “I’ve been using Happy Hippy for about 15 years now and it always has a place in my shower. Grapefruit has an amazing way of instantly lifting me up as soon as I smell it, and we use both the juice and the oil in this shower gel. On grey cold days, it feels like a bit of sunshine, and in summer it’s super refreshing.” 6. Cup o’ Coffee Face & Body Mask “This one has a dual purpose for me. My skin loves the exfoliation, but I also (like most people) naturally associate the smell of coffee with my morning routine. The mask is comforting and energising at the same time, helping me feel like I’m washing away the day before and starting afresh.”

1. Twilight Body Spray “I actually use this as a room spray in my children’s rooms. I go in an hour before bedtime and pump a few sprays into their room and have noticed they either settle a little quicker to sleep, or have less broken sleep.” 2. Deep Sleep Magnesium Massage Bar “This is the newest Lush product I’ve been loving. I began using it as I would often get restless and swollen legs, especially if I’ve been on my feet all day. Once I’ve rubbed it into my calves, I rub it into my forearms and hands as well so the strong lavender scent sits with me for some time before I go to bed.” 3. Sleepy Body Lotion “This was my go-to body cream for my children as it is mild enough on their skin, and became part of the ‘sleep’ routine we did after bathing, gently moisturising, and getting us all settled down for the evening. It’s been a family favourite for years.”

Level up your bathing with Bathe, Lush’s audio-visual platform. Soak in guided meditations, from the healing vibrations of a sound bath, to the sleep-inducing sounds of ASMR. Available on the Lush app. TO THE FTR