Beauty’s Next Big Thing: How Emotions Are Transforming The Way We Think About Body Care
Sitting at the intersection of body care, fragrance and wellness, emotion-led beauty is the next big thing, say industry experts.
The zesty sweetness of oranges grown in Grandma’s garden. The powdery musk of your mother’s perfume on her bedside table. The crisp salty air of summer holidays spent by the beach.
A scent that hits the rewind button. Takes you back to a moment in time. Or anchors you in the present.
That’s scent’s superpower.
Not something to simply delight the senses, scent’s ability to trigger memories and conjure emotions is well-documented, including in a review published in the National Library of Medicine which unpacks scent’s physiological effects on mood, stress and emotional capacity.
While branding, packaging and claims around efficacy influence a customer’s decision to pull a bottle off the shelf, so too does its scent. Better still if that scent conjures up a happy memory or feeling.
It’s further evidence of wellness’ footprint on the beauty industry, transforming it into a space where self-care and scent are intertwined like never before.
Perfume brand Vyrao claims it infuses energy healing into its perfumery, using “neuroscience insights” to develop its range of scented candles and incense. Its website says its collection uses plant and flower essences “to trigger specific positive emotions”. This Works formulates its line of sleep support products using hero note lavender to help calm body and mind.
According to Stacey Fraser, a cosmetic chemist and Design Practice Teaching Fellow at the University of Canterbury, smell has a direct line to our emotions.
“The moment we inhale, scent molecules trigger receptors that connect directly to the brain’s memory and emotion centres. It bypasses logic, which is why fragrance can instantly energise, calm, comfort or transport us,” Fraser explains.
“Even years later, a specific aroma can still trigger those same memories and emotions; it’s truly magical.”
Fraser was last year named by in-cosmetics Asia as one of nine faces of the APAC Beauty Industry in 2025, an accolade that speaks to her experience as one of the industry’s leading cosmetic chemists. She has consulted on both the scent and base formulations for many local brands, including Tronque and CZE Hair.
“Fragrance and wellbeing is a topic I am incredibly passionate about,” Fraser says. “Scent is truly a vital layer of product design. It is subjective and provides the storytelling and emotional connection that gives a product life.”
Treena Nixon, founder and in-house perfumer at Miller Road Fragrances, agrees, adding that scent unlocks a physiological response in the body – specifically the olfactory bulb in the nose.
“Scent molecules bind onto the receptors in your nose, which is linked directly to a part of your brain that is responsible for mood and memory,” she says.
Nixon and her team host a series of immersive perfume workshops at her fragrance studios in Ponsonby and Queenstown, and says many shoppers are being drawn to certain scents for the way they make them feel.
“It’s down to where you grow up and what smells were around you. For me, my grandmother had violets, so when I smell violet I immediately think about her, which is such a positive thing for me. But someone else might smell violet and think it’s a bit nanna-ish and not like that smell,” Nixon says.
“It depends on what your life experience was when you smelled that smell, as to how you respond to it.”
Embodyme founder and CEO Sarah Reid says emotion-led body care is the next frontier in beauty and wellness.
The brand first launched in 2023 with four body oils, which couple nutrient-rich botanical oils with internationally certified organic fragrances designed to impart feelings of peace, joy, kindness and courage.
Born out of Reid’s own experience with burnout, she set out to transform body care into a small yet intentional daily ritual of self-connection using scent, touch and presence.
The brand is now launching a hand and body wash, available from February 18, to extend the self-care rituals to the shower. The product has been developed using ScentState, EmbodyMe’s proprietary way of understanding fragrance as an emotional experience.
“ScentState has become our unique method of perfumery,” Reid says. “It uses scent as an emotional cue, so that through the ritual of scent, touch and presence, women can consciously cultivate how they want to feel,” Reid says.
“We want to be known for emotion-led body care, which is why we’ve taken a feeling-first approach to fragrance.”
The hand and body wash will be available in two ScentStates also available in the body oil range – Joy and Peace.
“This is a moment for us to really hone in on [these two] emotional states, which are very relevant at the beginning of the year,” Reid says. “It’s a sign of the times that we all need to feel more joy and peace right now.”
Reid says Joy uplifts with notes of sweet orange, neroli and sandalwood, a ScentState to cultivate a feeling of happiness and vitality, while Peace is soft and calming, with notes of lavender, bergamot and vanilla, to restore a sense of ease and balance.
Reid says her mission has always been to support those who feel overwhelmed by the pressures of daily life.
“That’s why I’m excited about Hand & Body. There are more places that you can connect with the product – at your kitchen sink or in your bathroom,” Reid says, who has Joy in her bathroom but Peace in her shower.
The transforming texture changes from a gel to foam upon contact with water, and highlights New Zealand botanicals golden hemp seed oil, kiwi seed oil, manuka honey, kawakawa and kumerahou to leave skin feeling soft – not stripped.
“It’s not just body care; it’s about giving women a moment where they can do something for themselves and connect with how they want to feel.”
Take Notes
Nixon explains how different fragrance notes will elicit different emotions, like lavender, which is often used in sleep mists for its calming effects. A sense of calm can also be created by soft wood notes and resins like frankincense.
Or for happiness, Nixon suggests something citrussy like blood orange, mandarin, lime or grapefruit, which she describes as “uplifting and energetic”.
Creamy notes like vanilla bring comfort, which Nixon describes as a skin scent, closely mimicking mother’s milk.
Engaged couples often come in to Nixon’s studios to create their wedding day scent – with notes of rose, jasmine and soft musk evoking love.
Peppermint, eucalyptus and ginger are good for energy, alertness or focus, Nixon says, although not common in perfumery, rather home or body.
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