Radiance – How Scent Plays its Part

Spring is on the horizon, people! We can smell it in the air when the sun peeks out from behind the clouds. This time of year has long been associated with ideals of rebirth, rejuvenation and radiance, but what does this mean when it comes to perfumery?




Radiance is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as ‘a glowing quality indicative of good health or youth’, but it can be rather intangible when it comes to fragrance. Think about what makes you feel radiant. Is it a new hair style, a blossoming love, or perhaps at the moment it’s putting on something other than sweatpants? But the right fragrance can give you that same radiant feeling



Here at e-scents, we’d describe a ‘radiant’ fragrance as a balance between heaviness and light, neither overbearing in its scent or vague. The ingredients, whatever they may be, are melded with each other in such an expert way that they produce an almost luminous essence; the aromatic equivalent of a radiant glow. Crafting such a blend seems an almost unachievable feat, yet perfumers have, and do, achieve it in their own illusionary and emotive ways

Mandy Aftel says in her book Essence & Alchemy, A Book of Perfume, ‘To inspire, after all, is literally “to breathe in.”’ And that’s what perfumery is all about; the way a scent touches your emotions as you inhale it. A fragrance should inspire that feeling of radiance when you wear it. Diana Vreeland is quoted as saying, “Balenciaga often said that women did not have to be perfect or beautiful to wear his clothes. When they wore his clothes, they became beautiful”, and it should be the same thing when you wear your favourite fragrance



The fragrance industry has been built on scent and the way it provokes our emotions from the very beginning. Of course, the way you feel towards a particular scent will differ to your friend, and again to someone else, but there will always be an unyielding appreciation of the craft that went into a perfume, especially one that makes you feel as if you’re bathing in soft light every time you catch a whiff

So many factors play a part in your attraction and opinion on a fragrance. Did you know your sense of smell is actually sharper in the warmer months? There are so many extra moisture particles bouncing around in the air, that your olfactory sensors are so much more lively than usual. This likely plays a large part in that radiance you feel when surrounded by your favourite scent in the springtime



So, which of your fragrances makes you feel radiant? Do you only wear it in the warmer months, or do you spritz it all year long? Our sense of smell is often said to be our most neglected sense. Our sight and taste take priority over our sense of smell because of the modern era we’re living in, and when we do engage it, we discover there’s a whole other side of the world waiting to be explored. Spray the right fragrance on the right person, and they’ll feel like they can conquer it

With all this in mind, we’ve curated a group of scents that represent radiance to us, and to help you find the perfume that will make you feel that sense of rejuvenation we’ve all been missing a bit recently. Head to our Scents for Spring edit, and find your soft shining light