Discover the Relaxing Scent of Keys Soulcare: Sage and Oat Milk
Keys Soulcare creates more than skincare rituals. The brand births and nurtures self-care practices encompassing all five senses — with scent playing a pivotal role.
The subtle, comforting sage + oat milk combination you’ll find in a number of Keys Soulcare skincare and body offerings was carefully crafted to take you on a journey through scent.
Shop the entire collection of sage + oat milk offerings, and read on to discover the story behind the scent.
How Keys Soulcare Got its Signature Scent
The team at Takasago, leaders in crafting fragrances for products from cosmetics to perfumes, partnered with our Goddess In Chief Alicia Keys on precisely which soothing notes should take center stage in our soul-serving offerings.
Fourth-generation perfumer Catherine Selig is a senior perfumer at Takasago, who played a major role in bringing the Keys Soulcare olfactory experiences to life.
“My great grandfather was a master perfumer. He had his own atelier in Switzerland and was creating fragrance, including for some royal families in Europe. At 10 years old, I got this book about fragrance and was very excited. That’s how it really started. With that, I decided to be the fourth generation perfumer in the family.”
Benefits of Sage + Oat Milk Scent Combination
When Alicia Keys first smelled the sage and oat milk scent, she remarked, “That’s me in a bottle.”
The signature scent you’ll find in the Keys Soulcare collection — from the luscious 65-hour burn time of our best-selling candle to the everyday luxury found in mere drops of our Sacred Body Oil — is all about nurturing.
Together, sage and oat milk create a relaxing, calming scent that envelops the spirit with a sense of safety. This duo invites you to return to center, connect with your inner child, and discover moments of calm in even your busiest days.
What Does Sage Smell Like?
Sage is a warm, earthy, and herbal scent with woody undertones. The spiritual act of burning sage means the scent can also evoke a smokiness. In that way, sage feels both calming and purifying at once. The scent of sage is restorative, allowing a moment of renewal and mindfulness.
“Sage is something that I use often in my life — if I’m going to a new place or I’m in a new room and my energy is all over the place, I’ll light some sage,” says Alicia.
This metaphorical connection to purification made it the perfect, subtle scent to accompany the Golden Face Cleanser with Manuka Honey, which physically cleanses the skin of traces of makeup or impurities. Together, they create an energetic moment of cleansing that goes beyond skin deep.
Catherine elaborated: “We chose sage because it’s one of the most powerful ingredients for protection and spirituality. Combining them, for me, was a form of protection for our inner child.”
What does Oat Milk Smell Like?
Oat milk adds a subtle sweetness and gourmand to the olfactory profile, marrying with the warm sage to create a bright, welcoming quality. Oat milk feels familiar and comforting; it’s mild with nutty undertones that evoke coziness and calm.
According to Catherine, “Oat milk doesn’t have [geographical and cultural] borders, so it translates no matter where you are in the world.”
Why Create a Calm and Relaxing Wellness Ritual?
Scent is an extremely personal and emotional practice, a principle that Catherine lives and breathes.
“At the heart of the project is everyone finding their moment to practice self-care. It’s so easy with work and everything else going on that you forget to nurture yourself because you’re nurturing everybody.”
Creating your own relaxing wellness ritual should prioritize the sensory experiences that matter most to you, whether that’s discovering your own signature scent, or enjoying quiet moments of reflection while meditating with a candle.
When asked what she wants people to feel when they light our Sage + Oat Milk Candle or love on their body with every application of the subtly scented Sacred Body Lotion, Catherine said:
“I would love them to feel peace, happiness, and positivity, and be able to find balance and centering. It’s so easy to get out of balance, so I’d want for them to be able to find a moment for themselves and be grounded again when they use the products. And recharge for the next day.”
FAQs about Scent and Wellness
How do I use scent in a meditation or mindfulness practice?
Approach it step by step. Start with candles, because of the beautiful smell and light — they can get you to a more calm and receptive state of mind. You can begin by taking just five minutes for yourself, meditating with a candle, or applying your favorite skincare or body product.
Beauty is much more about how you feel and your emotions than how you look — it’s about taking a moment to understand who you are.
How does fragrance affect mood and emotion?
Scent is connected to 75% of our day’s emotions, and fragrance can evoke memories. According to research, humans recall smells with 65% accuracy after an entire year. Of the five senses, scent is the most linked to memory and emotion.
What effect does scent have on memory?
As a master perfumer, Catherine is a strong believer in the impact of scent on memory and emotion. She says scent and music use a shared language with words like “notes” and “chords” used to describe fragrance and scent.
“Music and olfaction (sense of smell) tap into the same part of the brain, so there’s an instant connection in working with a musician like Alicia [Keys]. And both can move you to a different state of mind. With a song, you can remember the time when you listened to it, who you were with, and what you were feeling — it’s exactly the same for fragrance.”
What scents bring back positive memories for you? How do you incorporate scent into your daily rituals? We’d love to hear your scent stories!
SPIRIT
MIND
BODY