Can Moisturizer Make You Happy?

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

Imagine smoothing on a facial serum that can erase your worries as well as your wrinkles. Or spritzing a perfume and instantly feeling as though you could take on the world. No, this isn’t just self-care marketing mumbo jumbo. It may be the future.

A new wave of products, designed with input from neuroscientists and backed up by reams of data, has arrived—promising to change your mind, literally, with every use. While the link between how we feel and how we look is well established (if you’re happy and you know it, then you glow), the idea of shifting or manipulating emotions to manifest a better complexion seems radical. This is the essence of the sci-fi-sounding field of neurocosmetics, which is all about exploring textures, scents, and active ingredients that affect human biology in ways that extend far beyond the stratum corneum. At the forefront is Neuraé, a new brand from the founders of Sisley Paris that draws on 10 years of research for its suite of products, calibrated to address different kinds of “emotional aging.”

“Emotions and skin can no longer be separated,” says Jose Ginestar, director of research for Neuraé. “Aging makes a person lose his or her reference face. This creates a gap between image and personality and can cause a loss of self-esteem. For example, a very dynamic and happy woman can look sad because of the emotional footprint on her face through time.” The brilliance of the term “reference face” aside (mine is age 25), surely we all know this feeling, and how the aftereffects of anxious spells can linger on our features.

With the help of observations from cosmetic surgeons, Neuraé identified hallmarks of aging associated with specific emotions: stress creates lines on the forehead and a lack of muscle tone; fatigue gifts you with nose furrows and eye bags. Next, botanical ingredients were selected to remedy this collateral damage—including red indigo extract, which modulates excess cortisol and boosts endorphins to rebalance the skin, and alpine skullcap, which stimulates endorphins and GABA receptors to relax skin.

As for deleting the deleterious emotions themselves? Nothing has greater power in that capacity than scent. Again, aromatherapists have been telling us this for eons, but there is substantive evidence that scent affects how we feel. Now, with the help of brain exploration methods such as electroencephalography, which shows what parts of the brain light up in response to olfactory stimuli, this relationship can be determined with astounding accuracy. The Neuraé range folds four “neuro-fragrances” into its skincare formulas: Harmonie, Joie, Energie, and Sérénité, each of which, Ginestar says, “triggers the relevant emotional response without declining efficacy over time.”

Edeniste, the first luxury fragrance line to marry cutting-edge findings in olfactive science with sophisticated French perfumery, boasts six eaux de parfum, composed by renowned nose Aurélien Guichard, and six Lifeboost essences—Seduction, Love, Happiness, Dream, Relax, and Wellbeing—which can be layered to customize their benefits. This isn’t just aromatherapy 2.0. “It’s very complex,” says Edeniste founder Audrey Semeraro. “When you analyze the olfactive molecules of lavender, for example, some are relaxing and others are energizing,” but sophisticated extraction techniques can isolate only those that will chill you out. All of the eaux de parfum are infused with a patented Destress Accord that was evaluated for efficacy by measuring cortisol levels in users’ saliva, and the Lifeboost formulas have been tested by such methods as monitoring changes in heart rate and blood flow to the brain when the scents are sniffed.

For makeup maven Charlotte Tilbury, this synchronicity between nose and noggin is “a neglected superpower.” Her new collection of six perfumes is like a carousel of mood maximizers with which you can, as she sees it, “be the architect of your day.” With a signature OTT flourish, Tilbury harnessed the talents of some of the most esteemed perfumers in the business (including Anne Flipo and Dominique Ropion, the noses behind some of Frédéric Malle’s greatest hits) and utilized an AI algorithm created by global fragrance house IFF that identifies notes that boost different emotions. “I had been told I was crazy for thinking that fragrance could be used in this way, so when I found out that IFF had 40 years of neuroscience research, I was blown away,” she says. “I was like, ‘No one has ever asked you to use this to create perfumes that elicit love or joy?’ This is my life’s work. This is where magic and science meet!”

When Tilbury’s fragrances were consumer-tested, the feedback did not disappoint. Ninety-one percent of users agreed that Joyphoria, a solar blend of coconut water, tuberose, and jasmine, “enhanced feelings of happiness,” and 93 percent said Calm Bliss, a pretty aquatic scent with notes of lavandin and orange flower, summoned serenity. Among the rest of the collection, which includes eaux that spark love and energy and a feeling of empowerment, there is one that isn’t exactly an emotion but that Tilbury considers essential: More Sex.

“This is the biggest hit!” she declares, spraying the black pepper–spiked scent into the air like a room freshener. “We all need more sex. We are so tired. We live in a goddamn busy world, and we need this feeling of seduction.” There is, she points out, a halo effect of her mood-altering elixirs—and, by extension, of neurocosmetics as a whole. If they work, they aren’t just benefiting the person using them. “Who knows what might happen in your world,” Tilbury says, “because when you feel hot, you feel flirty, and flirty is fun. It’s not just about having sex. It’s about changing the environment around you. That brings happiness to everyone.”