Our brains are wired to scent in an immediate and chemical way. Studies show that erotic scents can wake up the limbic center of the brain where arousal is often sleeping and turn the desire-arousal argument on its head. Even in circumstances of serious fatigue, scent has an extraordinary ability to help us remember our sexual selves.
Your Own Unique Scent
Did you know that you have a scent all your own? The nature of your scent is unique and even fluctuates depending on your environment, the products you use, your diet, your skin microbiome, where you might be in your menstrual cycle, your pheromones, and your state of arousal. Not only is your scent unique, but it is a powerful part of your relationships. Studies show that the scent of a romantic partner can help lower stress levels and will come to smell even better to you over time.
For this reason, when you introduce a scented product to your skin, it smells different than it does on anyone else. In fact, when I used to do group demonstrations with Love Oils, customers were genuinely shocked to see how different a particular scent was on them compared to everyone else in the group. Tap into and heighten your own special pheromone chemistry with Love Oils and make all-new alchemy between you and your love.
Reviving Libido with Scent
Struggling with low libido, as one-third of women do at some point in their lives, can make you feel left out and down on yourself. While low libido is often associated with middle age and menopause, there are actually a variety of reasons that women can suffer from it, including normal hormonal changes, stress, anxiety, relationship issues, certain medicines and contraceptives, and a history of trauma. (It’s important to remember that “low” just means lower than you want. If you are happy with your libido level, then there is nothing wrong with it.)
Last year, we spoke with registered nurse practitioner Lise Martin, ARNP, who actively works with patients on treating low libido with Love Oils. “The Love Oils stay for a while and they smell good and they get it all going. They’re triggering those neuro-receptors and getting the brain excited for sex. But also, physiologically, when you’re putting your hand on your vulva, the friction is so much more comfortable.”
It is odd that we so often overlook scent when we think about finding a mood for love because the limbic part of our brain that registers scent is also the part of the brain that controls memory, emotion, and sexuality. Real scent – essential oil scent – travels both through the skin and through the inhalation of the nose. The chemical compounds that make up essential oils actually change your brain chemistry (and that of your partner) while you are using them. It creates a kind of scent bridge, that is unique to the two of you.
The Magic of Scent + Touch
Of course, scent is only half of the equation when it comes to elevating arousal. Combining scented oil with the perfection of naked skin is what erotica was built on. The art of lovemaking happens as you extend the space between arousal and orgasm.
Learning about the kinds of touch sensations and buildup that lead you to the point of no return is a worthy endeavor. That information can be invaluable in your coupled sexuality as you are able to identify that line and introduce other forms of touch, scent, or breath to extend the time you love. I have long been an advocate of waiting as long as you can to surrender into your orgasm. The longer you wait, the more power and energy is built up and the sweeter the release.
Here are some of our favorite ways to blend scent and touch:
- Kissing with Love Oil on your lips
- Blindfolded touch
- Massage
- Wax play with Massage Candles
- Bathing together with a few drops of Love Oil in the water
Conclusion
Scent is our primary gateway to our sexuality – a literal storehouse of fantasy is often locked up inside. Having the courage to attend to what lives in us, moving beyond our fears of being abnormal (which everyone has) is where our erotic relationships to ourselves and others begin. I believe the arousal mechanism in our limbic brain is always looking for and maybe even longing for the opportunity to be experienced.
