When Vyrao launched at MECCA, Australian Grazia met founder Yasmin Sewell to discuss salons, signature scents and scent for wellbeing. Read the highlights, below.

GRAZIA: Was wellness always something you’d been passionate about?
YS: Throughout my fashion career, I was always doing things to learn about health, wellness and healing. I’ve trained in different forms of energetic healing, I was meditating when I was 20, I’ve run meditation retreats, trained in Ayurveda – I was just always reading books, learning and studying [healing]. I thought it might have been a project for when I was older – but it began earlier than I anticipated, in 2019, with Vyrao.

GRAZIA: What sparked the idea for Vyrao?
YS: I started to think about my connection with scent and how much it alters the way we feel – it shifts mood, emotions, it can transport you like time travel. It’s powerful. When you inhale, there’s a brief moment that you experience a spark of happiness, protection, self love, or liberation – it alters everything in your body.

GRAZIA: So there are five scents – talk us through them.
YS:  I Am Verdant is very, very green, luscious, beautiful and alive. It’s got bergamot, cyclamen, frankincense, iris absolute and orange flower. We chose every ingredient based on what it can do for your emotions. If you’ve had a bit of a shitty a couple of days and just want to spray something to start new, it’s a good one for that.

YS: Free 00 is the one that’s about feeling liberation and sensuality, it’s like a summer holiday. If you like summery scents, this one is the most fresh and light. It’s got a bit of vanilla and jasmine, lemon, mandarin, orange flower, sandalwood and waterlily. It’s also the most universally loved from the range because it’s delicious, almost like a lemon cake. But it’s sexy..

YS: Then there’s Witchy Woo, which is about courage and creativity. It’s much richer and earthier than the others, it’s the deepest and probably the most complex scent. It’s empowering scent, and quite magical if you ask me. It’s beautiful on the skin and I’m very drawn to it – I seem to wear it the most. A lot of great creatives love this scent. 

YS: All the scents are androgynous, but Magnetic 70 is the most masculine, because it’s woody and there are no florals. It’s vetiver, cedarwood, frankincense, angelica seed, juniper wood and elemi, for attraction – it’s about attracting good things to you. It’s very spiritual and when I wear it, it feels like having an orb of protection around me. It’s very powerful, I just adore wearing it.

YS: The last one is Georgette, which is the most personal one to me. I named it after my grandmother. I wanted to create a rose scent that was a little bit more androgynous. I was thinking about man-woman, boy-girl, strength and softness, so it’s Turkish rose mixed with black tobacco and a bit of guaiac wood with violet leaf, but it’s still classic and beautiful. It’s about soft love, people say it really opens their hearts. You can also mix and layer the scents, which is so fun, but this one is the most precious in my mind. 

GRAZIA: So what’s next for Vyrao?
YS: I can’t talk about it yet, but something really major is coming later on this year – we’re going into different categories, all with wellbeing at the heart and benefits to make you feel a bit better.

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