Can this perfume really make you more attractive?

Vyrao’s new fragrances, Ludatrix and Ludeaux, promise to deliver on what has always been the beauty industry’s number one commodity—enhanced attractiveness—with a novel approach.

Blending neuroscientific research and alternative healing philosophies, the brand has developed fragrances it claims can enhance feelings of flirtation and seduction (Ludeaux), passion and arousal (Ludatrix).

Can Vyrao’s two new fragrances make you more attractive?

They are the tenth and eleven perfumes to join the Vyrao catalog, which includes scents that have all been designed to ‘amplify your energetic field’ with ingredients known for their therapeutic benefits and bottles that each contain a Herkimer diamond ‘charged’ by the brand’s in-house energist, Louise Mita, to magnify the fragrance’s particular intention.

When founder Yasmin Sewell launched Vyrao in 2021, she knew this out of the box thinking could make the brand divisive; but she built her career on hitting on trends before they became trends (she stocked then-emerging designers like Rick Owens in the Soho store she opened at 19 years old and championed young designers like Chistopher Kane as a buyer for Browns) and Vyrao is no exception. The post-Covid years saw an increased interest in functional fragrances and openness to alternative wellness practices, both of which Vyrao delivered on.

Its quick success led to investment from LVMH-backed private equity firm L Catterton and a partnership with International Flavours and Fragrances (IFF), the global company that works with brands like Frédéric Malle, Yves Saint Laurent, and more. The partnership helped make Vyrao’s approach more palatable to sceptics (as Sewell told Wallpaper* in a past interview, ‘not everyone’s as comfortable in the esoteric as I am’). It also introduced the brand to IFF’s Science of Wellness program, which uses MRI scans to understand how different smells activate particular emotions.

For Ludatrix and Ludeaux, IFF perfumer Meabh Mc Curtin used those findings to formulate a ‘sensual base’ for the scents from the heart of musk and ambrox, both of which are shown to trigger receptors connected with sensuality and self-esteem. She then blended that base with a latex accord, an element drawn from Sewell’s first inspiration for the fragrances.

‘Initially I wanted to turn the colour pink into a scent and at the same time that came to my mind I was having custom latex made with Atsuko Kudo,’ says Sewell, referring to the legendary London-based brand known for its couture latex creations. ‘I was inspired by the fabric in certain colours: pink, red, certain fleshy tones, and of course, the smell of that fabric. Latex is an insane material, it holds your body in a way that is so empowering. So it all sort of came together, I decided to bring latex into the scent and really go there.’

That blend of the ‘sensual accord’ and latex accord forms the backbone of both fragrances, but from there Mc Curtin tweaked them to conjure different emotions.

For Ludatrix, Mc Curtin ‘really wanted to capture that balance of feeling empowered and irresistibly attractive.’ To do so, she combined the musk-ambroxan-latex base with a ‘lipstick accord’ made from rose that acts like ‘that finishing touch that instantly makes you feel confident and sexy, like slipping on your favorite shade before a night out.’ The result is a heady scent that blends soft rose with a spicy touch of sichuan pepper.

Ludeaux, on the other hand, is a slightly more subtle fragrance. To create it, Mc Curtin blended the base with a juicy, playful peach note. For her, ‘that burst of brightness and creaminess, further enhanced by Osmanthus Absolute LMR and Tonka Bean absolute, is what gives the fragrance its confidence and charm, it makes you feel approachable, yet unforgettable.'

So just how successful are these scents in achieving their intended goal? Taking Ludatrix and Ludeaux for a test run didn’t garner me any new love interests, but it did generate a lot of questions about what I was wearing. Both scents are compellingly unusual, their blend of delicate florals with rubbery latex and a particularly heady musk creates scents that are both comfortingly familiar and subversively synthetic. Neuroscience and holistic healing aside, these scents garner attention if only because, like most attractive things, they are strange and pleasurable for reasons that are ultimately hard to define.

vyrao.com

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