When Vyrao founder Yasmin Sewell begins to create a new scent, she starts with an emotion. For its latest fragrance, the eighth perfume since the company launched in 2021, it was the feeling of stress caused by incessant screen time. As a result ‘Mamajuju’ offers up olfactory respite from the glare of digital devices, by grounding its wearer in nature.
Sewell drew inspiration from a location close to her heart to achieve this. ‘I was thinking about Australia’s red earth, the deep sweet smell I encounter every time I land there,’ she says. When we meet – on a rainy day in London – we are miles from her Sydney birthplace and the source of the key ingredient in ‘Mamajuju’, Australian sandalwood. The smell of petrichor in the air is, nonetheless, fitting.
Vyrao ‘Mamajuju’ is an earthy fragrance to counteract the effects of excessive screen time
Trained in holistic practices and energetic healing, but renowned within the fashion industry for her career as a brand-savvy buyer and consultant for Browns, Liberty, Farfetch and the British Fashion Council, Sewell is led by instinct.
A few years after moving to London at 19, she opened the Soho-based store Yasmin Cho in 1998, which stocked then-emerging labels such as Rick Owens and Miguel Adrover. A riposte to the less-than-welcoming atmosphere of high fashion retail in the city, Yasmin Cho soon counted the likes of Courtney Love amongst its clientele.
With Vyrao, she took the same thoughtful and customer-led approach. But this time, her intuition led her towards the symbiotic relationship between scent and emotion. ‘Not everyone’s as comfortable in the esoteric as I am,’ she says with a laugh, understanding that some may initially find this all a bit ‘woo-woo’. (The brand’s celebrity following includes Gwyneth Paltrow, who wears herbaceous accord ‘The Sixth’ for ‘mindfulness and intuition’ and the crisp and summery ‘Sun Rae’ to ‘boost joy and happiness’).
But all is not what it may seem, as everything that Vyrao does is rooted in neuroscience. ‘That’s why I’m so happy the brand is partnered with the IFF,’ she says, referring to the global company International Flavours and Fragrances, which formulates products across health and wellness, food, beverages, scent, and more. Its ‘Science of Wellness’ programme has conducted years of extensive research into renewable plant-based ingredients and their effects on the mind, providing Vyrao with the data to back up its claims.
‘Mamajuju’ contains 12 of these naturally occurring ingredients in its scent pyramid, which come together to energise and reawaken amidst the stresses of day-to-day life. Notes of sandalwood help ease anxiety and promote self-esteem; saffron and nutmeg uplift and relax; pink pepper and cedarwood heart boost memory function and focus. The evocative living red clay that reminds Sewell of her home country is soothing and balancing, which is illustrated in an accompanying film by long-time Vyrao collaborator Ruth Hogben.
The new perfume comes in a glistening brown metallic bottle – as if rain-slicked earth itself were rendered in glass. Its design – and that of every Vyrao bottle, which also contains its own energetically charged Herkimer diamond crystal – is almost more time-consuming than the creation of the scent itself, Sewell confesses. ‘I’m drawn to colour, I think it makes [a person] happy,’ she says. ‘I don’t believe anyone wants to live in a black-and-white world.’ A synesthete, she is painstaking in her efforts to ensure this is reflected in the branding ‘My biggest brief to my creative team is always: how do we create bottles that match the energy and emotion of the fragrance?’
‘Everybody understands and relates to the fact that our emotions affect our physical health,’ Sewell concludes. ‘I think now there's also an understanding that when we are overwhelmed, anxious, worried and stressed, inevitably, we probably get sick. If you feel amazing and you have moments of happiness and joy – if you laugh or spray on a scent that makes you feel grounded and uplifted – it might just alter and affect your immune system. I think that emotional connection isn’t “woo-woo” at all. If I have one small thing every day that makes me feel good, that helps set my intention for positivity.’
