THE NATURE OF EARTHY FRAGRANCES

How They Ground Us

By Ana Elena Sastrias, Certified Natural Perfumer and Teacher

The Earthy smell in Nature after a Summer rain, is called “petrichor” which is caused by a bacteria in the soil called actinomycete. Earthy Fragrances have the power to ground us, making us feeling calmed, reducing our stress, and evoking a connection to Nature. These earthy Fragrance notes are used in Wellness products  for stress reduction, mindfulness, evok-ing memories and mood enhancement.

The ingredients creating an earthy fragrance are: Woods, Moss, Resins, Roots, Vetiver, Patchouli. Woods take a role in providing a grounding and comforting base note that can go from creamy, dry, dark, smokey, fresh, amber aroma facets: Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Bud-dha Wood, Tobacco, Eucalyptus, Palo Santo, Vetiver. Moss notes add a natural earthy, flo-ral and damp aroma facet: Oakmoss, Tree Moss. 

Roots, like Orris root have a powdery floral and earthy aroma facet. Ginger brings a shiny sparkling facet with earthy notes.
Vetiver is a grass that offers woody and earthy aroma facet with a hint of spice. It grounds us.
Patchouli is a very strong earthy aroma with a slightly sweet undertone, perfect as a base note and fixative.

The aroma components from natural products have been used for mental, spiritual and physical healing for millennia. 
Aromatherapy came to be a therapy through the need to treat various disorders by us-ing “fragrance substances” from natural sources.
Aromatherapy’s purpose is to heal a person’s mind, body and soul. Many ancient civilisations up to modern times have used aromatherapy, herbal medicine, and essential oils for the treatment of psychological and physical disorders such as headache, insomnia, eczema, stress-induced anxiety, depression and digestive problems.

There are various methods in Aromatherapy to uses for healing, using “substances” in small quantities, including inhalation, massage or simple applications on the skin surface and, in some cases,“substances” can be administered internally via capsules.

Among the various natural fragrant components, essential oils are the ones mainly used as therapeutic agents. These are highly concentrated volatile and complex mixture of aro-matic components obtained from different organs of the plant. There are about 17,500 aromatic plant species from different angiosperms families producing essential oils, particularly the Lamiaciaceae, Rutaceae, Myrtaceae, Zingiberaceae and Asteraceae families. Essential oils contain between 20 to 60 different components in various concentrations. These components are classified into two major groups: terpenes and aromatic compounds. The terpenes are the largest group used in natural fragrances.

In Aromatherapy, the most used aromatic plants for the healing of variety of physical and psychological disorders are: Bergamot, Caraway, Eucalyptus, Geranium, Juniper, Laven-der, Lemon, Lemongrass, Mint, Orange, Peppermint, Pine, Rosemary, Sage, Tea Tree, Thyme and Ylang Ylang.  Nowadays, a variety of consumer products such as candles, per-fumes, personal care products, fresheners, detergents, just name a few, have Aromatherapeuthic benefits as well.

The Art of Natural Perfumery is no longer focused on just making perfumes from the aesthetic point of view. Aside from the aesthetics, there is also a therapeutical function impacting our health in a positive way. The fusion of Natural Perfumery and Aromatherapy is bringing “Perfumotherapy” as a new Art Form.
The International Perfume Foundation (IPF) is offering this Certification in Perfumotherapy as a complementary certification from training in Olfaction, Natural Perfumery and Aromatherapy. 
Should you be interested in enhancing your Natural Perfumery skills, you are welcome to visit the variety of Certification Courses IPF offers.

REFERENCES:
“What causes the earthy smell after rain?” CGTN - Earth - Haylun, Wan - 
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“Influence of Fragrances on Human Psychopysiological Activity: with special reference to human electroencephalographic response” - Sowndhararjan, Kandhasamy; Kim, Songmun - pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov