Vyrao’s new summer perfume, Sun Rae, is happiness in a bottle, and we don’t just mean that metaphorically. It is the seventh fragrance from the brand, which launched in 2021 with five scents designed to conjure positive vibes.
It might sound nebulous, but company founder Yasmin Sewell (formerly a brand and retail consultant working with the likes of Browns, Acne, The Row, and JW Anderson) has always had a clear-eyed vision for Vyrao. While working as a buyer, Sewell studied various forms of alternative healing, including reiki and integrative quantum medicine (a practice founded by choreographer-turned-healer Louise Mita that combines Traditional Chinese Medicine techniques, Qi Gong, anatomical studies, and quantum theory to ‘unblock' bad energies). Vyrao is Sewell’s attempt to channel those practices into something that can be used every day.
‘The fragrances are designed as playful mood boosters, a way of integrating positive energy into everyday life,' she told us when Vyrao launched. ‘Scent is emotional, it evokes powerful feelings, vivid memories, it energises the spirit and awakens the mind.’
To achieve that end, each bottle of Vyrao perfume contains crystals of Herkimer ‘diamond’ (a kind of quartz thought to amplify spiritual energy) that have been ‘energised’ by Mita. The scents themselves are crafted from herbs and plants with particular healing qualities.
For Sun Rae, the primary ingredient is turmeric, used in Ayurvedic medicine for its anti-inflammatory and strengthening properties. It is the first time turmeric has ever been used at such a high concentration in a perfume, and it gives Sun Rae a distinct edge, what its perfumer, Meabh McCurtin, calls ‘a bouquet of roots’. Those turmeric accords are paired with ginger to stimulate feelings of warmth, vetiver to calm the nervous system and lemon to cleanse and uplift. The result is an earthy fragrance pierced by sharp, bright notes, much like the scent of skin after a day on the beach, when the crispness of the sea, the dustiness of the sand and the heat of the sun combine to create a warm, musky smell that is distinctly ‘summer’.
Lest you think this all sounds a little too esoteric, Sun Rae’s purported ability to promote feelings of contentment and self-confidence has a basis in science. The final formula was developed in collaboration with International Flavors & Fragrances’ proprietary Science of Wellness programme, which combines 40 years of mood-mapping and scent-emotion research with modern neuroscience and artificial intelligence synergies to verify the impact of scent on our emotional wellbeing.
In Sewell's view, the perfume represents an added bit of happiness to your daily routine that can have a wider impact. ‘I’m always surprised how people will say, “I was so stressed last week, now I have a cold, my glands are up”,‘ she says. ‘But they never say, “I had the most joyous week. I laughed the whole time and now I feel really well”. But it’s totally true. The positive has more impact than the negative.’
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