Smoke, Skin & Scent: A Personal Journey Into Neurocosmetics

Skincare, for me, has never just been about the surface.

It’s about memory. Scent. Ritual. The way something feels on your skin and what it stirs inside you. That invisible thread between body and emotion. And over time, I’ve come to understand that smoke—something I’ve always been drawn to—is deeply connected to that thread.

Not just for its scent, but for where it takes me.

I grew up with the crackle and glow of open fires, their earthy scent soaking into woollen jumpers and winter air. I remember the heady presence of frankincense burned during quiet church services—how it clung to the stone walls and created a kind of stillness that’s hard to describe but impossible to forget.

Now I live in Lewes, a place where the tradition of fire is alive and well. Every year, the town is wrapped in the smoke of Bonfire Night—a ritual that’s part protest, part celebration, part collective memory. Fire and smoke are woven into the rhythms of this place, and they continue to shape how I think about comfort, care, and connection.

Smoke as Ancestral Language

There’s something primal about it, isn’t there?
The scent of burning wood, the flicker of flame—it taps into our ancestral connection with fire and earth. For thousands of years, we’ve gathered around fires: for warmth, for food, for safety, for ceremony.

That connection still lives in us. It’s written into our nervous system. Smoke reminds us we’re safe. That we’re home. That we can exhale.

It’s that instinct—the emotional pull of scent, touch, and memory—that led me to explore something called neurocosmetics.

What Are Neurocosmetics?

I know it sounds like science-fiction beauty jargon, but neurocosmetics are actually a very human idea:
They’re skincare products designed to work not just on your skin, but on your nervous system.

Our skin is full of nerve endings and receptors. It’s a sensory organ that talks directly to the brain—sending signals about stress, inflammation, temperature, and emotion. When you’re anxious, your skin knows. When your skin is soothed, your whole body responds.

Recent studies show that certain ingredients—like plant-based peptides, calming botanicals, and scent molecules—can interact with these pathways. They help regulate our skin’s stress response, ease sensitivity, and even improve mood.

A 2025 review in the Journal of Biotechnology describes the skin as a neuroendocrine organ, constantly in dialogue with the nervous system (Rocha-Filho et al., 2025). In simple terms: what you put on your skin can shift how you feel inside.

Where Menteath Comes In

That’s what inspired me to create Menteath Smoke Infused Skincare & Scent.

This brand grew out of my own rituals—sitting by the fire, breathing in church incense, walking through the smoke-filled streets of Lewes in early November. I wanted to bottle that feeling. To create skincare that’s grounded, sensory, and emotionally intelligent.

Each Menteath product is infused with:

• Botanical smokes – like birch tar, guaiac wood, and vetiver—evoking hearth, earth, and sacred stillness

• Neuroactive plant extracts – calming compounds that speak to the skin’s sensory system

• Scented memory – designed not just to smell beautiful, but to feel grounding, safe, and familiar

This isn’t skincare you rush through. It’s something to lean into.
A ritual. A return. A recalibration.

Healing, Then and Now

In many ways, Menteath is about coming home—to the body, to memory, to a sense of care we’ve maybe forgotten.

It’s inspired by how humans have always used smoke as medicine—to clear, to comfort, to mark beginnings and ends. From ancient purification rituals to fireside storytelling, smoke is a sensory signal of something meaningful.

Today, I believe we still need that.
Skincare can be more than a routine—it can be a daily act of grounding, where the scent of woodsmoke or frankincense taps into something deeper. A moment to exhale, reconnect, and soften.

So the next time you apply a Menteath balm or mist, take your time. Breathe it in.
Let it settle not just on your skin, but through your whole system.

Because this is more than skincare.

It’s memory, medicine, and a moment of return.

With warmth,

Felicity Stuart-Menteath
Founder, Menteath Smoke Infused Skincare & Scent