11 Nov 2026
- Smell is closely linked with areas of the brain involved with memory and emotion.
- A familiar scent can remind you of a person, place or moment.
- Fragrance influences mood in a very personal way.
- New scents can become associated with whatever we experience around them.
Ever caught a scent and suddenly you're reminded of somewhere else?
Your grandparents' kitchen or a holiday ten years ago. All it took was a smell.
How can fragrance take us back like this? And if it can take us to moments in the past can a new fragrance create new memories ongoing?
Turns out, your nose has a lot to answer for.
Why are smell and memory linked?
Brains deal with smell in a different way to the other senses.
Things we see, hear or touch create signals that pass through an area in the brain called the thalamus and from there the information carries on to other areas for more processing.
Smell does not do this.
When scent molecules reach receptors in our nose, signals go straight to our olfactory areas which connect to areas linked to emotion and memory (the amygdala and the hippocampus, if you’re asking).
Researchers think this explains why smells trigger strong feelings or remind us of things.¹ ²
Part of the brain | How it connects to scent |
Olfactory cortex | Processes and identifies what you're smelling |
Amygdala | Involved in emotion |
Hippocampus | Helps us form and retrieve memories |
Scent back in time.
There is a name for the feeling you get when a scent reminds you of something.
The Proust phenomenon.
Named after a famous scene from Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time”, where the taste and smell of a cake brings childhood memories flooding back.
Research suggests that memories triggered by smell can be so strong you can feel as though you are taken back to another time and place.² Which explains why a fragrance doesn't always simply remind you of something. It almost feels like being there.
What does fragrance have to do with mood?
Memory is one part of the story.
Whilst it is thought that smell influences mood, scent isn't a set formula where lavender automatically makes everyone calm and lemon automatically makes everyone happy.
Your life experience matters as do your likes and dislikes.³ A fragrance that feels calming to you might remind somebody else of something entirely different. Scent is personal.
Can we make new scent memories?
Yes. Our smell memories can develop throughout our lives.
If you experience a fragrance again and again alongside a person, place or routine, it can gradually become associated with it.
So, where will your laundry take you?
Our Laundry Reset range showcases 5 wonderful scents for your clothes.
Maybe No.16 Jasmine & Cedarwood is the fragrance of a clean shirt on a totally normal Tuesday. But then there are school runs. First dates. Weekends away. Pyjama days. New jobs. Old friends. People you hug while wearing that shirt. It could remind you of anything.
That's the thinking behind Laundry Reset. Beautifully layered fragrance with touch-activated scent, releasing little bursts of fragrance as your fabrics move. Every touch is a reset.
What about the scent of home?
Think about the smell of the house you grew up in or your grandparents' hallway from when you were a child.
Often we don’t notice that places have a scent until we encounter it again somewhere else.
Our Clean Reset surface cleaning range brings that thinking into the home. Exceptional fragrances make cleaning about more than how a surface looks afterwards. It's about how the room feels when you've finished. And how you feel when you’re done.
Maybe Rhubarb & Pink Pepper takes you back to bright summer mornings, while Cardamom & Rosemary brings back slow Sunday mornings in the bath.
Scent is science. Memory is personal.
There's chemistry happening when we smell, and neuroscience happening when that smell connects with emotion and memory.
But what we experience feels simpler.
A scent brings on a feeling that connects us to a familiar place.
Where could fragrance take you back to?
Fragrance, mood and memory FAQs.
¹ Saive et al, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 2014
² Herz, Brain Sciences 2016
³ Kontaris et al, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 2020
⁴ Willander & Larsson, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 2006
Catherine Green, Cleaning Expert
Catherine has been on a mission to revolutionise the way we tackle chores since the dawn of smol and is an advocate for making more sustainable living accessible to all, with a strong focus in cleaning that’s heavy on dirt, lighter on the planet and gentle on the skin. Catherine has tested hundreds of hacks to make tackling chores easier, safer, and better for the planet and our homes.
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