How To Add Scents to Your Self-Care Routine

Self-care is a vital part of modern life that involves taking care of your physical health, emotional health, mental health, and overall well-being. If you immediately associate self-care with a balanced diet and less scrolling, you’re on the right track. That being said, there are many different types of self-care that can help you improve your quality of life. 

In this article, we’re going to take a close look at how you can add scents to your daily self-care routine. Although they’re not often talked about as a big part of self-care, fragrances actually have the ability to influence your mood and self-confidence. Let’s dive in to see how your signature scent can play a role in your self-care activities. 

Why Is Self-Care Important?

Before we turn to scents specifically, it’s crucial to understand why self-care is even important in the first place. Engaging in self-care practices can improve your mental health by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, improving concentration, and minimizing anger. 

You might notice that certain self-care activities, like spending time with loved ones and prioritizing your emotional well-being, leave you with more energy to invest in your relationships. This can translate to a win-win where you can prevent burnout both professionally and interpersonally and show up as your best self in various situations. 

From a physical health point of view, it can reduce your risk for certain diseases like heart disease as well as your chances of stroke or cancer. In terms of the day-to-day effects of self-care, you might notice that it helps you feel more energized and strengthens your immune system so that you feel less run down and more awake during the day. 

What Are Common Self-Care Practices?

Self-care is highly personal. This means that it looks different for everybody. That said, there are a few common self-care practices that people tend to find helpful. 

Some of these simple ways to engage in self-care include:

• Getting enough sleep 
• Conducting a daily check-in with yourself 
• Reading a little bit every day
• Having an enjoyable, grounding morning routine
• Avoiding stressors like social media
• Learning to say no
• Having some kind of creative outlet
• Taking intentional, deep breaths when stressed
• Practicing affirmations and positive self-talk
• Prioritizing hydration
• Engaging in physical activity regularly 

How Do Scents Affect Your Well-Being?

Now that you have an idea of self-care overall, it’s time to turn to scents and their ability to affect your well-being. In this section, we’ll look at three of the most powerful effects that scents can have on your mood and energy level. 

Invigorating

If you notice yourself falling asleep at work or struggling to concentrate, certain invigorating scents might be able to help. Although it is associated with Christmas and all things cozy, cinnamon can help improve your cognitive functioning. 

Other energizing, tangy scents like citrus can make you feel more awake and alert. Next time a midday slump comes along, instead of reaching for a cup of coffee, consider a spritz of your favorite citrus scent.

Relaxing

While some fragrances can wake you up, others can help you wind down and relax. Perhaps the most famous relaxing scent of all is lavender. This flowery, herbaceous scent has been scientifically proven to promote relaxation and mood stabilization. 

Even though it is not as often talked about in terms of its relaxing benefits as lavender, pine is another fragrance that belongs in this category. Pine can help reduce the symptoms of stress and anxiety, making it an ideal choice for a nighttime fragrance. 

Confidence-Boosting

Regardless of what your signature scent is, incorporating one into your daily routine can give you a boost of confidence. What might at first seem just like pampering, choosing and wearing a fragrance can make you feel more professional and put together — wherever your day takes you. 

How Can You Add Scents to Your Self-Care Routine?

If you want to add scents to your self-care routine but aren’t exactly sure how to go about doing so, this section is for you. We’ll provide you with a few simple self-care tips to make adding fragrances into your routine easy. 

Find a Signature Scent You Love

One of the best ways to incorporate fragrances into your daily life is to find a signature scent that you absolutely love. 

Thanks to our trial program at Snif, this process has never been easier. With Try Before You Buy, you can order an eligible product of your choice, and it will come will a full-sized version along with a sample. 

As soon as your Snif products arrive at your door, you’ll have a full week to try out the sample. If you love the fragrance or candle you’ve chosen, you can keep the full-sized product. 

If you don’t love it, you can send it back (free of charge) and continue your search — and you won’t be charged. Finding your signature scent is a process, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t fall in love with the first scent you get a whiff of. 

One scent you might want to try this spring is Heal The Way. A collaboration between Snif and NYT Bestselling author and restorative writing teacher Alex Elle, this fragrance was crafted with self-love in mind. 

In Heal The Way, pistachio’s calming, protective properties meet pink davana’s mood-boosting scent, the comforting and relaxing smell of vanilla, and the cozy feeling of creamy musk. This fragrance is the perfect choice to help you embrace fragrances as part of your self-care routine. 

Try Fragrance Layering

If you already know that one signature scent will never be enough for you (we understand), Snif bundles are the perfect way to try several different fragrances and experiment with scent layering. In a Snif Bundle, you can choose three different scents to try for every occasion and mood. 

Plus, by layering a few different fragrances, you can create a signature scent that’s totally distinct. 

Incorporate Your Favorite Scents into Your Laundry

Once you start wearing Snif fragrances and smelling great all the time, you’ll want your clothes to follow suit. With Snif scented detergent and scent boosters, you can easily make this happen. Ditch your run-of-the-mill detergent for a laundry detergent and scent booster from Snif that will have your clothes smelling luxurious and clean for far longer. 

The best part about these products is that, due to the range of scents available, you can match your fragrance to your detergent and scent booster. The result will be absolutely irresistible, so get ready for an onslaught of “You smell amazing!” compliments. 

Fill Your Home

Last but not least, you can incorporate different scents into your life with Snif candles. With a wide variety of candle scents available, you can hand-pick the fragrances for your home based on the vibe you want to create in each room. 

For rooms where tranquility and relaxation are a must, go for a calming candle scent that will help you unwind after a busy day. In the kitchen, you might want to opt for a more gourmand scent that will inspire your inner chef. Places like the bathroom, laundry room, and hallway benefit from more energizing, earthy scents that you’ll never get tired of. 

Es-scent-ials for Your Self-Care

From taking frequent bubble baths to listening to a meditative podcast, the options for self-care are seemingly endless. While it might not be the first thing to come to mind, incorporating a fragrance into your laundry and skincare routine can have positive effects on your emotional state, self-confidence, and overall health. 

With our line of fragrances, laundry products, and scented candles, you can easily incorporate scents into every aspect of your self-care routine. Spritz a bit of one of your signature scents on as an act of daily self-compassion today and see where smelling good takes you on your self-care journey. 

Sources:

Self-care research: Where are we now? Where are we going? | NIH 

Social Media Self Esteem Statistics [Fresh Research] | Gitnux.

Cinnamon and cognitive function: a systematic review of preclinical and clinical studies | NIH

Lavender and the Nervous System | NIH