By Ryan Fox, Co-Founder, FOX & WOLF
Every time I walk past a jasmine plant it hits me. That instant moment where I take a breath and suddenly I know exactly where I am, what I am doing, and why it matters. It is not a thought. It is not a decision. It happens before any of that.
I have been trying to figure out why for years. First as a therapist, now as someone who makes fragrance for a living.
Turns out, the two things are not as different as they sound.
A BIT ABOUT WHERE I AM COMING FROM
Before Scott and I started FOX & WOLF, I spent years in rooms with people, helping them figure out what was getting in the way and find a way forward that actually worked for them. I trained as an integrative therapist, which means I drew on person-centred work, CBT, solution-focused approaches, and whatever else the person in front of me needed. No one-size-fits-all. Just paying close attention and working with what was there.
One of the things I noticed, consistently, was how much the seasons mattered. Not in a vague way. In a real, observable way. Every spring, something shifted in the room. People sat differently. Talked differently. Something loosened.
I never stopped being curious about that.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS TO US IN SPRING
There is solid science behind the seasonal mood shift. Longer days increase serotonin production. More light suppresses melatonin, which means better sleep and more energy. Warmer temperatures reduce the body's baseline stress response. We move more. We go outside more. Our nervous systems, which have essentially been in a low-grade conservation mode all winter, start to come back online.
Seasonal Affective Disorder gets a lot of attention, and rightly so. Millions of people across Europe experience a real, clinical dip in winter. But the flip side, the genuine lift that spring brings, gets talked about far less. It is not just that winter is ending. Something is actually switching back on.
Living on the Costa Blanca, I am lucky. Our winters are mild. But even here, I notice the shift. The light changes in February. By March, the jasmine is starting. And something in me, every single year, exhales.
WHY SCENT IS THE FASTEST ROUTE IN
Of all our senses, smell is the only one with a direct line to the limbic system, the part of the brain that handles emotion and memory. Every other sense routes through the thalamus first. Scent does not. It goes straight to the amygdala and hippocampus, which is why a smell can pull you into a memory or a feeling before your conscious mind has even registered what happened.
As a therapist, that matters. Most of the work in a therapy room is about finding ways past the cognitive defences, the stories we tell ourselves, the habits of thought that keep us stuck. Scent bypasses all of that. It is non-verbal, non-cognitive, and almost instantaneous. It does not ask permission.
That is not a small thing. It means that the fragrance in your home is doing something to you whether you are paying attention or not. Which is either a reason to be more intentional about it, or a reason to just light a beautiful candle and try to focus our attentions elsewhere. Honestly, both.
WHY WE MADE THE GARDEN HOURS
When Scott and I started developing our spring collection, I kept coming back to that jasmine moment. That involuntary breath. That sudden awareness of being exactly where you are.
We wanted to make fragrances that did that. Not just fragrances that smelled like spring, but fragrances that felt like the emotional experience of it. The loosening. The opening up. The sense that something difficult is behind you and something good is ahead.
LA BOU is the morning version. Fresh green jasmine, gardenia, and tuberose over a violet musk. Bright, intoxicating, the kind of scent that makes you feel like the day has potential before you have even done anything with it.
DEKU is later. The same garden after dark. Warm oriental orchid, sweet heart jasmine, wild white rose, ylang-ylang. Richer, more settled. Still spring, but the version that has stopped performing and just is.
Together they are called The Garden Hours. Because spring is not one thing. It is a whole day, and different people need different moments of it.
THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT USING SCENT WITH INTENTION
From years of sitting with people and watching what actually helps, here is what I would say:
1. Anchor a ritual to a fragrance. Light the same candle every morning with your coffee, or every evening when you switch off. Within a few weeks, that scent alone starts to trigger the state you associate with it. The brain is remarkably good at learning these associations.
2. Use different scents to mark transitions. If you work from home, this one is worth trying. A reed diffuser in your workspace and a different candle in your living space. It sounds small. It is not small. Your nervous system picks up on environmental cues constantly, and giving it clear signals helps it actually shift between modes.
3. Do not underestimate your environment. In solution-focused therapy, we talk a lot about what is already working and how to do more of it. One of the things that is almost always working, at least a little, is the space someone is in when they feel okay. The light, the smell, the temperature. It matters. A well-fragranced home is not indulgence. It is paying attention to the conditions that help you function well.
THE SHORT VERSION
Spring is a genuine psychological reset. Scent is one of the fastest, most direct routes into your emotional state. And if you are going to have something in your home doing that anyway, it might as well be something that actually moves you.
That is why we made The Garden Hours. And honestly, it is why I walk slowly past every jasmine plant I find.
Explore The Garden Hours collection here.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
DOES SCENT ACTUALLY AFFECT YOUR MOOD?
Yes, and the science behind it is solid. Smell is the only sense with a direct pathway to the limbic system, the part of the brain responsible for emotion and memory. It bypasses cognitive processing entirely, which is why a single fragrance can shift how you feel almost instantly, before you have even registered what you are smelling.
WHAT ARE THE BEST HOME FRAGRANCES FOR SPRING?
Fresh white florals are consistently the most effective for mood in spring. Jasmine, gardenia, tuberose, and violet musk all carry deep associations with renewal, warmth, and the sense that something difficult is ending. FOX & WOLF's The Garden Hours collection was built specifically around these notes and the emotional experience of the season.
CAN HOME FRAGRANCE HELP WITH LOW MOOD OR SEASONAL DEPRESSION?
Home fragrance is not a treatment for clinical depression or Seasonal Affective Disorder, and I would never suggest it as one. But intentional use of scent can genuinely support mood regulation as part of a broader approach to how you take care of yourself. Anchoring a calm, positive ritual to a specific fragrance trains the nervous system over time. It is a small thing that adds up.
WHERE IS FOX & WOLF BASED?
FOX & WOLF is a luxury home fragrance brand based in Orihuela Costa on the Costa Blanca, Spain. We won Best Luxury Candles in Spain in 2021. Everything is hand-poured in small batches, and we have a physical boutique at Flamenca Beach Centro Comercial as well as our online store at myfoxandwolf.com.
WHAT IS THE GARDEN HOURS COLLECTION?
The Garden Hours is a two-fragrance spring collection from FOX & WOLF. LA BOU is the daylight fragrance, fresh green jasmine, gardenia, and tuberose over violet musk. DEKU is the evening fragrance, warm oriental orchid, sweet heart jasmine, wild white rose, and ylang-ylang. Two sides of the same spring garden.
Ryan Fox is the Commercial Director and co-founder of FOX & WOLF. He trained as an integrative therapist and spent over ten years working with clients across person-centred, CBT, and solution-focused approaches before co-founding FOX & WOLF with his partner Scott.
