Perfumes, body sprays and fragranced soaps may, to some extent, put the beauty balls in our court. “Odor pleasantness and facial attractiveness integrate into one joint emotional evaluation,” says Janina Seubert, Ph.D., a cognitive neuroscientist. “This may indicate a common site of neural processing in the brain.” The finding suggests that attractiveness is an emotional process, while other judgements we may make about one’s appearance, like age, are rationally based. Now, the fragrances used in this study were pretty polarizing. Obviously most of us will think fish oil smells bad, while most like the smell of roses. Perfume, on the other hand, is a little trickier as not everyone loves the same fragrances. From the scientific standpoint, there are scents proven to be universally appealing. They include many notes that regularly crop up as top notes in popular perfumes: grapefruit, bergamot, orange, lime, freesia, and mimosa. Smells that rated lowest in the “pleasant” spectrum were musk and patchouli. Bottom line: If you’re looking to enhance your beauty with fragrance, don’t leave it to chance. Enhance your aura with a spritz of rose, something citrusy or freesia.
MORE: Pleasant Smells Make Us More Attractive, Says Science
