All my fragrances are based on the idea of mind moving scents. Scents that take you places, whether that’s into a memory, a moment, or somewhere far-flung. I’ve never had much of an artistic hand, but developing fragrances has become my creative outlet. Most blends are shaped by a combination of material, place, mood and memory.This is how that usually plays out.
I. Nature
Because I work mostly with essential oils, nature is where everything begins. That doesn’t mean grand landscapes or picture-perfect scenery. It’s usually much more ordinary than that. Walking in the woods, noticing how the air smells different from season to season. Picking herbs from the garden. Standing still long enough for a scent to hit home.
I use fir, patchouli and cedarwood when I’m trying to capture the feeling of being in a forest. Steady, open, grounding without being heavy. Rove came directly from that place. It’s about woodland wandering, freedom. The kind of calm you get from being outside and your thoughts really settle.
Lavender and geranium sit at the other end of the scale. Softer, more familiar, but incredibly adaptable depending on how they’re used. There’s an old saying in cooking that what grows together goes together, and I’ve found the same is often true when it comes to scent.
ii. Travel
Many scents are shaped by places I’ve travelled to. Holidays are great because you have time to open yourself up to noticing things.
I loved the lavender fields of Provence. I’m not talking about the romantic idea of lavender, more the dry, almost dusty smell of it in heat. Neroli takes me back to the markets of Marrakech. Citrus, blossom and spices. Bergamot and basil come from time spent in Tuscany. Green, slightly bitter, sun baked.
I’m not trying to recreate those places, that rarely works. Instead, they sit quietly in the background of the blends, influencing the balance or direction rather than dictating the scent outright.
iii. Mood
Training in aromatherapy really changed how I approach fragrance. I still care about how a scent feels creatively, but I now pay a lot of attention to the scent’s influence on my body and the mind.
If you’re anything like me, you don’t feel the same all day, let alone all week. Sometimes I’m low on energy and want something bright and lifting. That’s where Beam comes in. It’s designed to feel fresh and optimistic, like an easy morning when everything feels a bit lighter.
Other times my brain won’t switch off, and I need something to help slow me down. Eve was built for such moments. It’s centred around calming oils like lavender and geranium, which have been used as sleep aids for centuries and are well supported by research. It’s the one I reach for when I want my evenings to feel quieter.
I’m often asked what my favourite scent is, and the honest answer is that it depends on how I’m feeling. Thankfully there’s usually a solution. A way to scratch my itch.
v. Workshops
Believe it or not, when I started running candle-making and fragrance workshops, I didn’t release what amazing grassroots research they’d turn out to be.
They’ve really highlighted the subjectivity of scent. I personally lean towards more unusual combinations, but watching people work with oils is always revealing. There are notes they instinctively reach for, others they’re convinced they won’t like, until they smell them in a blend and something clicks. Workshop crowd favourites tend to be fresh scents like may chang, neroli or bergamot.
Over the years workshops have revealed combos I would never have considered. They came together beautifully because someone trusted their instincts. It’s made me admit I don’t know best, and to be brave and experiment! These moments have directly influenced the range.
iv. Memory
Scent’s ability to unlock memory is still one of the most powerful things about it. A smell can take you back ten, twenty, thirty years in an instant. That’s because it’s processed in the limbic system, the part of the brain that’s linked to memory and emotion.
Advent is probably the clearest example. It’s built around familiar Christmas notes. Spices, citrus, warmth. Smells that bring family and tradition to mind, time spent indoors, the old rituals. Music on, good food in the oven, glass of something to make me feel fuzzy. A candle burning in the background.
Those memories don’t need to be big or sentimental. Often it’s the everyday moments that stick, and scent has a way of bringing them back without warning.
Every Cedar scent is shaped by a combination of these things. There isn’t a formula. I don’t overthink it. I simply pay attention to what’s there. There is no better place to start.
If you’re interested in working with scent yourself, I also run small candle and aromatherapy perfume workshops from my studio in the Northern Quarter. You can check them out here.
