By Katie Pelech
Photo by Ashley Heifner
As cribbed from an essay on neuroscience written by someone more clever than I:
The primary olfactory cortex forms a direct link with the amygdala and the hippocampus. Only two synapses separate the olfactory nerve from the amygdala, which is involved in experiencing emotion and also in emotional memory. Only three synapses separate the olfactory nerve from the hippocampus, which is implicated in memory, especially working memory and short-term memory. Olfaction is the sensory modality that is physically closest to the limbic system, of which the hippocampus and amygdala are a part, and which is responsible for emotions and memory.
I couldn’t have said it better myself—but were I to try, I’d summarize by asserting that the nose, uh, knows. Of all the senses, smell has a unique ability to tap deep into our psyches in a single whiff without being waylaid by contemplation or reflection. No one is more aware of this than Kelley Barr, founder of K. Hall Designs (khalldesigns.com), who sells perfume, candles, incense and body products across the country from her St. Louis retail store. She also owns one of the city’s most delicate olfactory palates. From an Atlanta trade show, she gave us up-to-the-minute info on the season’s most scent-ual styles.
Barr deals in three fragrance veins: bath, home and body. Those used to be clearly delineated categories, in part because they encapsulated narrow ranges: Bath scents were a sickly artificial floral or baby powder. Home scents were pine or lemon. Body was the only realm open to interpretation, and even that was heavy on the synthetic rose.
But times change. Women today are liberated, free of bras and eau de fleuriste. The floodgates of aroma have been thrown wide, and scents of all connotations waft freely through society. “Fruity florals are very popular across the board, which is a shift away from the very high florals,” explains Barr. “Those can be overwhelming—people are looking for more comfort out of their scents.”
Ah, and what better to comfort man than food? “As the year progresses, we’ll see more in the woody fruit palate, things with a little more depth,” Barr continues. Her top-selling scents at the moment, in all three categories, are milk and pomegranate. A newly introduced flax-linen aroma has also proved quite popular. What does this say about us, this desire to call up the childhood scents of freshly made beds, warm milk and sun-ripened fruit? “Anytime there’s chaos in your life, you look for something that gives you comfort,” says Barr, “and fragrance can do that.”
I see—or, rather, I sniff, then snatch up a Cocoa Almond candle. My mother was a pastry chef.
