Jo's Scent Notes: ØTHERS

Would you wear a fragrance that you’d also use as a room spray? They are definitely a trend (Kate Moss’s Sacred Mist is also thus designed, and of course, where Kate leads…)

The debut fragrances from ØTHERS, a new fragrance brand recently unveiled to press at the Frameless immersive art space at Marble Arch, are designed as home-slash-skin-scents. But there’s more to the innovation that drives ØTHERS than their ability to multi-task. They are designed to be used in tandem with an app, for wellbeing; the concept is that you download the app, listen to specially composed soundscapes on your phone, and breathe the fragrance.

As ØTHERS put it, ‘Our daily ritual is a 360-degree fusion of scent, sound, breathwork and philosophy. A journey of deeper self-awareness, priming you for sustainable habits that create emotional resilience for daily life…. The dual combination of sound and scent allows an empowering sensory experience to help prime your mood, your body and re-align your mindset in readiness for your day.’

Now, that’s quite a promise. But these two fragrances really are very grounding and meditative. Definitely not ‘party scents’, that’s for sure. I’ve used them to spray the room before a yoga session, and there’s a very definite sense of turning the dial down, tuning into senses.

ØTHERS did some very interesting research into their scents which showed that 85% of subjects achieved a more focused state, while 90% reached a more meditative state. (You can read more about the science, here.)

As a scent-lover though, that’s not enough for me; any ‘functional fragrance’ (the phrase for perfumes which have an aromachological, i.e. psychological, effect) has to smell good, too. And these really do. (I don’t feel that ØTHERS big that up quote enough, in their marketing.) They’re not pretty-pretty in any way whatsoever (I can think of several men who’d love these), but quite mesmerising.

Red Skies is moody, oudh-y, lots of woods and earthiness. ‘Tethering’ is the word it conjures up, for me, although ØTHERS maintain this is created to get us into a ‘flow state’. Mystic Zingaro (no, I don’t know what it means, either) is green and lush, evocative of forest bathing and mossiness, and I happily wear this on my skin, rather than simply spritzing it in the air.

Notes listed for Red Skies are orange blossom, pink pepper, rose, mandarin and neroli, jasmine and spices – but I’d say it rapidly deep-dives into the base notes of oakmoss, resin, cedarwood and patchouli. Mystic Zingaro, meanwhile, is composed of green tea, smoky palo santo (a wood burned in ritual), smoked amber, Hinoki wood, sandalwood and vetiver. It feels like is rooted in the earth.

Each scent comes with a QR code and another code that enables you to download the app to your phone; in fact, one of the founders is a music producer and ‘sonic brand specialist’.

The app thing seems like a lot of faff but is worth it when you get there (I had to squint at the unique code on the card inside my fragrance box, getting it wrong a couple of times but ultimately being successful). Once downloaded, you can lie back and lose yourself in the otherworldly soundscapes, which are really quite transporting (caveat: I’m really into sound therapy; I have friends who’d just giggle and snort at this suggestion).

Or you know what? You could just wear ØTHERS – ON YOUR SKIN – like good ol’-fashioned perfume, as I am with Mystic Zingaro. (Don’t tell the scientists.)

£90 each for 50ml eau de parfum – buy here

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