What’s Your Feng Shui Element? Find Out With The Harmonist + Possibly Change Your Life

VOGUE called and asked if I’d be interested in experiencing The Harmonist, a maison de parfum on Melrose Place. Let’s first back up: VOGUE CALLED! Yes, that was a good moment. Let it sink in. I did. My first question: What exactly is a maison de parfum? Find out below +  take a quiz to find out your Feng Shui element. It could potentially change your life — it did mine. Really!

As you know, I’ve been interested in self-improvement and wellness and have generally become much more open-minded to unexpected things that can enhance one’s life. From the Myers-Briggs personality test and the Enneagram personality test to The Miracle Morning and ASMR brain orgasms, it’s been fascinating to learn not only more aspects of my personality and others, but how alternative techniques might lead to a better life.

So when I found out that the The Harmonist philosophy is rooted in feng shui, I was intrigued. And yes, I realize how LA and woowoo this might sound. But spoiler alert: Consider me a convert!

But first, how jaw-droppingly gorgeous is this store? Not only is it beautiful, in glossy black and white, but it’s designed with the five elements in mind: earth, metal, water, wood, and fire.

This gorgeous malachite is said to absorb negative energy. I half-jokingly asked if I could lay my body down on it.

It should be said that a visit to The Harmonist is an experience. The best way to describe it is like going to a very chic fragrance astrologer. The environment is so beautiful and calming. We arrived after battling crazy LA traffic and once we stepped inside, the energy was so soothing.

The first step is to the olfactoriums, where you get to inhale the amazing scents, which are housed in these beautiful orbs.

I was instantly enchanted with the Sacred Water and Guiding Water elixirs. Those two scents put me instantly at ease, yet were refreshing and inspiring at the same time.

Truth be told, I’m actually not a huge fragrance person because most fragrances are too overpowering or feel false to me, if that makes sense (likely because they are made with terrible chemicals). These are all crafted from rare botanic oils and natural ingredients that are sustainably sourced from around the world.

The next step in the experience is discovering your birth element. You can do this in person at The Harmonist or find your element on their website here.

You’ll need to know your birthdate, time of birth and place of birth to determine which of the five elements you are.

It turns out I am a Yin Metal (coincidence that I was wearing metal earrings…maybe, maybe not?).

They actually have mood boards that visually describe each element and on mine were pink roses that looked identical to the ones I had carried in my bag. Seriously!

The philosophy is that different scents can enhance different aspects of your life, from love to creativity to success. It’s the mix between what your birth element is and what you desire that determines the fragrance that is best suited to achieving that goal.

The fragrances I loved the most  — Sacred Water and Guiding Water — are said to enhance my creativity, which I am all about.

And while I’m not an ocean girl, my favorite place to be is usually in a bath tub or floating on my swannie in the pool. That’s when all of my best ideas come to me!

Fred Baby found out his element as well (Yang Earth), and what’s fun and interesting is that as a Metal, Earth is my wisdom (i.e., he is my wisdom), and for him as an Earth, Metal is his creativity (i.e. I am his creativity). These are pretty much the exact roles we play in each other’s lives.

I couldn’t help but think this would be a very unique Valentine’s Day gift. It’s an experience you get to do together and one you’ll think of every time you inhale the fragrance.

Speaking of, isn’t scent memory such an incredible thing? Fascinating how you can be instantly transported back to a moment from your past from a particular scent.

Now, as for why this experience was so life-changing for me? It was the first time I was out and about again in the “real world” (wait, is LA the real world?), after what was a pretty intense year.

Clearly everyone won’t have that exact experience, but for me this was such a shifting moment, one where I not just felt like my old self again, but where I felt like my new self. To say the new normal seems a cliché, but as you grow and evolve and learn from challenges, you become a different (and hopefully better) version of yourself.

Since this happened as I was literally inhaling scents, at a place that seeks to enhance your harmony, now every time I inhale these beautiful fragrances, I feel alive, refreshed, calm and inspired again.

Can a fragrance change your life?

Maybe.

After we returned home, I was decorating with the elixir bottles and candle and inhaling their scents. I found myself brimming with ideas and enthusiasm and literally exclaimed to Fred Baby: “Watch out world, I’m back!”

If that’s not life-changing, I don’t know what is.

You can learn more and shop on The Harmonist’s website here, if you’d like.

Take the quiz to discover your element here.

I’d love to know yours. Comment below or share on Instagram!

Fred Moser Photography

SHOP THE POST:

The Harmonist Sacred Water elixir c/o | The Harmonist Guiding Water elixir c/o | The Harmonist Desired Earth candle c/o | Suite One platter | Richard Avedon book

WEARING:

 Staud jumpsuit | similar J.Crew white button-down shirt | similar J.Crew earrings | Hats by Olivia La Docle Vita hat c/o | French Baskets round wicker bag | similar kate spade glitter heels c/o

Created in partnership with The Harmonist and Vogue. 

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