Spritz your way to happiness

This is from the Daily Tribune (Manila) Perhaps this is a chance for some enterprising U.S. entrepreneur to market this in the U.S. Americans could remain smiley while losing their homes..


Spritz your way to happiness
By Maripet L. Poso, Staff Writer
01/30/2008
Throw out those Zoloft and Prozac; there’s a new antidepressant in town!
And you don’t need a doctor’s prescription for this one; you don’t even need to worry about side effects as the only proven aftermath is smelling nice and feeling good. And here’s the catch! Product can be consumed without any moderation whatsoever and at any time you want!
We’re talking about smiley perfume, a happiness-triggering slash the very first antidepressant perfume that’s become a cult scent in some parts of Europe and is starting to invade the Philippines.
“When we launched smiley in 2005, it was such an instant hit,” said Juan Cuadrado, area manager of Arthes, the French company behind Smiley, during the launch recently at Rustan’s Essenses, Makati. “The smiley concept defies the whole perfume industry notion down to the packaging,” added Cuadrado.
Designed by ora-ïto, a twentysomething French designer known as the “Prince of Design,” who has been behind many products of well-known brands like Louis Vuitton, Nike, Apple and Levi’s, to name a few, smiley’s packaging is hip, unisex, unique and blatantly nonconformist. It looks like a bottle of medicine so much that it blends beautifully in a medicine cabinet, especially the emergency smiley kit. It carries its signature smiley digital emoticon in (you guessed right) sunny yellow color.
If some fragrances capitalize on seduction, love and power, smiley simply wants to uplift one’s mood, so that everything else follows.
Taking its cue from the concept of the tangible benefits of aromatherapy, “smiley isolated the ingredients recognized for their stimulating capacities and assembled them for the fist time in a perfume.”
At first you get a whiff of the fresh top notes of bergamot, orange and pimento berry. Whether you like the scent or not, it will definitely capture your attention. Right after the the citrusy and somewhat spicy top notes start to fade, you get a hint of the divine pleasures emanating from the cocoa and praline curacao scents, the heart notes of smiley. Responsible for the happy therapy are phenylethylamine and theobromine substances that are found in cocoa. Phenylethylamine is said to help diffuse feelings of giddiness and euphoria, while theobromine has the same effects of stress-decreasing caffeine. Together, they set off a general feeling of happiness that chocolates similary give, without the calories!
Furthermore, bringing intensity to the fragrance would be the base notes. The relaxing hints of patchouli, myrrh and musk ultimately seal the deal with their soothing and calming effects, almost conducive to meditation.
Targetting the young and hip market of 20- to 30-year-olds, smiley’s unisex appeal crosses boundaries, raises skeptics’ brows and defies standards. Ultimately, however, it presents an exciting option to combat one of today’s generation’s number one killer disease, depression.
Maybe it’s not yet time to ditch the pills or another visit to the shrink, but a promise of happiness in every squirt? That’s something worth exploring.
Aside from eau de toilette and eau de parfum, smiley comes in full bath and body care line that includes body deodorant treatment, therapeutic bath (purifying milky pills with health spa side effects), all-in-one washing solution (total solution for body and hair), body rubbing friction (stimulating massage oils) and body gel.
Smiley is available at Rustans Essenses.