April 14, 2025 |
In a cultural climate where wellness is increasingly commodified and self-care can sometimes feel like a performative sport, a new player has emerged – sensory-forward, science-backed and stunningly intuitive. Enter Moods, the brainchild of Gregory Allen and Daniel Smith, two former beauty executives that together form a dream team with deep roots in scientific beauty, branding and functional fragrance. Less sensational, more grounded. Less incense-in-a-yurt, more limbic system precision. Moods isn’t here to play around. It’s here to change how we feel – physically, emotionally and neurologically.
“We were feeling increasingly disconnected,” says Smith, Moods’ co-founder. “From ourselves, from our senses – in a world that is only getting louder. Moods began as a personal response to that. We wanted to reimagine aromatherapy as something intuitive, elevated and rooted in real emotion. With stress, overstimulation and burnout at an all-time high, the timing felt not just right, but necessary.” Unlike the haze of vague wellness rituals flooding our feeds, Moods is rooted in rigour. Think essential oil blends validated by the largest aroma-focused clinical study ever, conducted in partnership with the University of Northumbria. If this sounds like aromatherapy gone academic, that’s exactly what it is.
“As wellness becomes more integrated and intelligent, Moods exists at that intersection – of neuroscience, beauty and self-connection,” says Smith.
“Moods is not about incense or pseudoscience,” adds Allen. “it is about clarity, focus, grounding, connection. And it is backed by the largest aroma-focused clinical trial to date (which we conducted with our blends). We are here to bring credibility, functionality and aesthetic relevance to a category that has long been underestimated, but couldn’t be more necessary for modern afflictions.”
The premise is simple, the execution elegant: eight mood-specific blends (or what it dubs ‘Mind-Altering Essences’) designed for real life, from boardroom stress to post-workout recharge. Each formula – Charisma, Chill, Genius, Hustle, Euphoric, Fit, Frisky and Found – targets a specific emotional state and is delivered via chic rollerballs and atmospheric mists. They are moods we move through every day, made tactile. “We were not interested in vague wellness promises; we wanted to meet people exactly where they are,” says Smith. “And help them shift – physically and emotionally – in moments that matter.”
So how do you bottle confidence or clarity? For Moods, it’s part instinct, part algorithm. The brand reverse-engineered its blends by mapping emotional states from “activation to calm, connection to clarity” according to Allen, then asked neuroscientists how scent could reliably influence that spectrum. Each blend contains eight essential oils selected not for trendiness, but for proven effect on the limbic system – the brain’s memory and emotional command centre – according to Allen. How? “We used advanced neuroimaging, biomarkers and behavioural testing to measure things like focus, reaction time and emotional regulation,” he says, adding, “Synthetic fragrance, while lovely, only affects memory – which is why scent can so often be nostalgic. It can remind you of joy, but doesn’t physiologically incite it. We can.” The result? Charisma lowers stress hormones by 25 per cent and heart rate spikes by the same, helping with social anxiety. Genius ramps up mental processing speeds by 12 per cent while reducing fatigue and increasing alertness both by 25 per cent. Chill restores calm 40 per cent faster, reducing stress up to 25 per cent and lowering blood pressure by 10 per cent. These aren’t just feel-good numbers – they’re clinically proven.
What sets Moods apart isn’t just the science, but the way it wears it. This is a brand fluent in aesthetic function. Allen explains that the tactile, sculptural glass bottles invite touch therapy. Meanwhile, the bespoke 60 minute complementary healing hertz soundscapes – available on Spotify – add an auditory dimension to the ritual. The colour-coded packaging isn’t just pretty either; it serves as a self-diagnostic tool. Each element is purposeful, sensory and elevates the experience to something truly transformative.
Everything had to earn its place too, according to Allen. “[We had to] cut anything that did not serve the core purpose of helping our customers. [We asked] is it necessary? Is it useful? Does it better our customers’ lives?” That mindset echoes across the range. There’s no esoteric naming here – each blend says what it does (Found for grounding, Frisky for vitality) and does what it says. It’s all very self-aware, almost radical in its clarity.
The brand’s positioning in the wellness landscape is also refreshingly nuanced. “We see Moods as part of a new wave of emotional care. It is not about escapism, it is about empowerment.” Smith says. It’s a new wave where you don’t check out of your life, but check into your body. It’s wellness not as indulgence, but as a toolkit. As Allen puts it: “We see aromatherapy not as an old world ritual (it is 6000 years old – the original medicine) but as a modern utility; something as essential as a good serum or a strong coffee.”
In an $8.8 billion USD essential oils market that’s rapidly growing and skewing younger, Moods feels particularly zeitgeisty. It taps into our collective craving for control and calm, but does so without preaching or posturing. There’s no promise to ‘fix your life’ – just to help you move through it with a little more ease and a lot more feeling.
“I often say nothing can last without social purpose,” says Allen. “Ours is clear: to help people with their mindset, mental health, mood. Be a small part of making their day more positive. We needed to be able to look our customers in the face and know that we are delivering that. On top of that, it was just a personal mission to prove that aromatherapy works. Daniel worked under the founders of AA and knew it to be true, but wanted to prove it. Scent is powerful, but it is often treated as subjective. We wanted to prove – not just feel – that it works. Our study showed meaningful improvements in focus, calm, clarity. And more importantly, it helped us optimise the blends to deliver real outcomes. Science did not restrict us – it deepened the magic.”
So what’s next for Moods? Spa integration is on the horizon, but for now the founders are focused on something simpler: resonance. “We’re excited for people to start feeling the difference, to start building rituals that are less about routine and more about emotional resonance,” says Smith. In other words, Moods is here to help you feel again – in a world that seems to be trying its best to numb us.
So go ahead. Swipe on a little Hustle. Mist some Chill before a meeting. Light up your limbic system. Because this isn’t your mother’s aromatherapy; this is modern mood medicine.
Photography courtesy of Moods.
