Within a petal exists a cosmos of healing.
Australian-based brand Ayu was born from a shared love of Ayurvedic medicine, which founders Alanna Quin and Madeleine Whitter were drawn to study a few years ago.
Both experienced the healing potential of Ayurveda and through their travels together extensively in India, discovered a number of beautiful traditional distilleries along the way.
Learning the important role scent plays in Ayurveda, what began as one perfume blended to wear themselves led Alanna and Madeleine down the path of a fully curated beauty range which includes perfume oils, body oils, candles, incense and face mists.
How do you determine which scents to feature in your range?
It’s all a very intuitive and an organic process for us. We never plan out our product drops, it’s very much driven by travel and discovery - it’s quite an emotive thing for us. If Madeleine or I come across a scent note that we both love, it forms the seed of us working on a new scent.
Scent is now being seen more as an important part of wellness rituals - how does Ayu encourage this?
Scent is a really important aspect of Ayurveda, as it directly affects the limbic system and part of your brain that controls emotion and memory. It’s used as part of a holistic approach to balance the mind, body and spirit. When we’re forming our scents we are working with a number of different qualities of the scent to help balance out the Doshas (Vedic energies) of Vata, Pitta and Kapha, Vata scents will include grounding and calming notes such as amber, sandalwood and lavender. Pitta will opt for cooling notes such as rose and jasmine and Kapha will include scents that energise such as bright citrus notes of orange blossom, neroli and stimulating herbs and spices such as pepper and sage.
Why do you offer perfume oils rather than sprays?
We don’t use alcohol in our perfumes as the scent tends to fade as the alcohol evaporates quite quickly from the skin - it’s also very drying. We use a base of really emollient and nourishing oils such as jojoba, wheatgerm and Vitamin E. Along with this, we use sandalwood which acts as a natural fixative and helps to retain the scent on the skin for a longer period of time.
What are the benefits of the ceremony hair oil, and its key fragrance notes?
Ceremony hair oil has a blend of very nourishing and moisturising oils including fractionated coconut oil, jojoba and camellia oils, which hydrate the hair and provide strength and shine. It can be used in wet hair as a treatment or a few drops applied to dry hair to help with taming the fly-aways. I like to take mine to the beach in summer and apply it after I’ve been swimming, for extra nourishment and protection. The key fragrance notes are intoxicating florals of jasmine, magnolia and ylang-ylang, with hints of citrus and spice.
What are your personal go-to self-care rituals for the holiday season?
Baths are my indulgence - I love adding bath salts and a few drops of our perfume oils and just zoning out in peace while reading a good book. I also do daily abhyanga (self massage with oil) to help keep my skin moisturised during our hot summers.
This holiday season we've partnered with the Ayu to encourage a little self-care and ensure you include yourself amongst others you may be gifting.
The first 30 customers to purchase our Hair Activist or Power Activist Trio this weekend will receive a complimentary Ayu Ceremony Hair Oil.
*Offer valid for first 30 customers to purchase a 3-month supply of Aéde between Friday 10 - Sunday 12 December 2021
*Gift with purchase limited to one offer per customer
*Gift with purchase not valid on Aéde subscriptions
