Let Scented Candles Set the Mood for Someone Special

There are a lot of things you can do to set the stage for a romantic evening or afternoon with someone special. You can dim the lighting, set out your finest china, and cook a delicious gourmet meal. You can play soft, romantic music and pick out a funny movie to bond over later in the evening or afternoon. You can also set out scented candles for the added touch to your romantic atmosphere.

The scent and color of your selected candles should correspond in some manner to the romantic environment you are planning. For instance, if you set a vase of red roses in the center of the table, you could choose a rose scented candle. If you are creating a bright, sunny environment for an afternoon of fun, you could choose a yellow candle with a sweet scent.

If you know your loved one’s favorite color, you could go with candle arrangements featuring candles, flowers, and stones in that color. Include complimentary colored candles to create a more elaborate table setting that will set the mood and draw the attention of your special someone to the table.

Candles can also be used to sweeten up the bedroom, bathroom, and even an outdoor patio or deck for this special encounter. You can sit in comfortable chairs and enjoy the glow of the flickering candlelight while taking in the fresh air from a screened porch or back deck. Add your loved one’s favorite drink, a little hand-holding, and hours of entertaining conversation.

Before you set off to add candles to your must-have list of supplies for an upcoming romantic get together, take these final tips for creating a kissable environment for someone special:

1. Position candles of different heights and widths in close arrangement to add impact.

2. Place smaller candles inside glass globes or decorative holders to ensure they do not tip over and look beautiful.

3. Do not place candles near drapes, the edges of tables, or in other positions that may cause a fire while your attention is directed toward your loved one.

4. Coordinate scents throughout your home so you do not have competing scents from room to room.

Take these tips and put together a beautiful evening or afternoon that your loved one will never forget.

Beyond the Candles: Behind the Smell

As you light up your scented candle, lay back and relax, you might have wonder at times what is it in our human brain that makes us smell, causes us to like or dislike certain scents, and seems to encourage our general attitude towards our olfactory environments? In other words, what does it really mean to be able to smell?

In the top part of our nasal passages, there are two yellow-tinted patches hosting about five or six million tiny cells, combined. These are our smell receptors, and the number of cells is directly related to the acuteness of our smell. For example, sniffing expert animals, such as dogs, have about 44x more of these “smell-cells.” And although we cannot begin to compare to our canine friends in this regard, sense of smell is an integral aspect of our daily existence.

Inside of our brains, each smell input is registered and processed at two different levels, in two specific centers. Even before the olfactory sensation enters our cerebral cortex, prompting our cognitive recognition of the smell, the limbic system of our brain is engaged and stimulated. The limbic system is the seat of the rawest of human emotion.

In everyday terms, this means that even before you are able to recognize that you smell something, and decide on what that smell is, the fact is that your body has already emotionally reacted to the sensation. In turn, this primary emotional reaction is going to affect the thought processes involved at the higher cortex levels of perception, influencing the thoughts of pleasantness and unpleasantness.

However, the positive and negative perceptions of smell are not entirely emotional-based. Familiarity plays a very important role in whether we find certain smells pleasant or unpleasant. In many studies, people labeled smells as pleasant, when they were able to readily recognize the source of the smell.

Finally, not all smells are created equal, and nor are all “smellers.” Women tend to significantly outperform men in scent acuteness and sensitivity. Also, we know that sense of smell deteriorates with age, beginning as early as late teens. Yet, there is also good news, which is that practice makes perfect even when it comes to smelling. Through continual stimulation, we can both improve our sense of smell and also prevent its decline with age.

So, let’s keep the scented candles burning and give our brains a good workout.