For decades, it’s been difficult to convince most models to do more than “drink a lot of water” when asked about their health routine. But on this front, Bella Hadid does not disappoint. Nearly eight million people on TikTok watched her throw down a handful of vitamins (chased by green juice, sea moss, and croissants) while displaying a dazzling array of vitality-testing crystals and a small selection of health food store-bought foods. Essential oils. If you go to enough hippie grocery stores, a distinct scent will start to form in the back of your nose as you watch her mix and match drops together on her wrist. Maybe it takes you to a certain place. Maybe it takes you to a specific time in your life. But it transports you and for Hadid, that’s the magic.
Today, the activist, model and perfumer launches Ôrebella, a non-alcoholic, unisex fragrance brand dedicated to unisex essential oils, in crystal-shaped vessels that bottle the scents of Hadid’s formative memories. Smell has long been studied as a mechanism for retrieving memories and emotional relationships. Biologically, this is because our olfactory system relays information to our brain’s limbic system (or the area of the brain that processes memories, emotion, and mood). Here, Hadid talks about how she started preparing different blends of essential oils for her family and friends, which eventually led her to found her new line; The memories that informed them. And the centerpiece of every healthy routine: making the perfect grilled cheese.
GQ: Tell me how essential oils became an essential part of your wellness routine.
Bella Hadid: It actually started when I was younger. I remember my parents loved oils and my history and ancestors were able to prepare different oils. I found out a couple of years ago that an uncle of mine was making essential oils and I found one of his bottles and it was a beautiful thing. In the middle of developing Ôrebella, it was like discovering that my ancestors loved it too, and my passion wasn’t just an individual passion; It was something that was rooted in my roots and my values, and that was a beautiful thing that made me want to move forward.
My family and I grew 2,600 lavender plants at home on the farm, so we always had all this oil, and I was obsessed with lavender oil. There is one scent that has a little bit of lavender in it. I became obsessed with creating these unique, different, slightly weird scents that I thought the market hadn’t seen yet — but at that point, I was just making them for myself.
Where do you get your essential oils?
I’m going to our health food store. I just started putting it together with glycerin and making these bases and then making different scents and then starting to make samples in my house. I was coming up with a lot of different things, and at some point I realized this might be special enough that I could share it with the world.
What were some of the early initial scent blends?
Well, the first one I ever made was like lemongrass, lavender, bergamot, black pepper, and a little ginger. This was the original scent I wore all the time. After that, I’ll start making things with more inviting blends like lavender and vanilla. At that point, my nose became more complicated. I was like, well, what if I did this with something that was at the complete other end of the spectrum? Like, let’s do something really sweet and then add something spicy, and then if you add something woody, it’ll make it a little more masculine – as a woman. It was important for me to have those days where I could be a little more masculine — bring to the table something different.
How did that feeling you wanted to press inspire your scents?
[The scent] Salted Muse is my most masculine fragrance. What I really wanted out of all of this was for people — at any age, at any walk of life, at any gender — to be able to wear it and be excited about it, and for it not to be super-feminine or super-masculine. It is suitable for anyone, anywhere who enjoys the scent and beauty of essential oils. The moment it hits your skin, it actually changes your pH and your pH is able to make it smell a little bit like you…it kind of becomes unique to you, to the wearer.
So Salted Muse evokes an emotion, what do other fragrances feel like – or is there a memory attached to it?
Blooming Fire is basically a nostalgic scent of the way I grew up, whether it was at the beach or with my family. You know, watching the sunset on the beach and everyone’s sitting together and I like to wrap myself up in a little jacket or a towel, and we’re still wet from getting out of the ocean and you’re still kind of smelling like your perfume. Like sunscreen.
At the time, there was this sun oil that my mom always used that had monoi in it, and I – just like my sister – loved Tahiti. She used to go out with her friends a lot when she was younger with our godparents. This is really for my sister and is an ode to how we grew up at the beach together, best friends. To me, that Tahitian monoi is just a very nostalgic scent.
What beaches take you to?
Really, it was like Santa Barbara, with the kids I grew up with and their parents barbecuing on the beach at Butterfly Beach in Santa Barbara. Then my parents, we grew up in Punta Mita and Puerto Fuerta, being in Mexico, being with the city kids. I would just like to walk on the beach and meet a group of kids. We never spoke the same language but just by being children and loving to be loved, as if we could communicate. I think it kind of goes back to that smell: being with the people you love and being at the beach.
How about another perfume?
Salted Muse kind of smells like the ocean, almost like when you’re stuck in a wave and the water goes up your nose and it’s a really awful feeling, but then the scent of the ocean is all over your face. This was really interesting because it has salt, pepper, olive tree, and lavender. Once again, I owe my heritage with the olive tree. You know, son of an Arab father, we put olive oil on everything. I really wanted to do something about it, and that was very important to me for Salted Muse.
Do any of the scents remind you of people in your life?
[Salted Muse] He reminds me of my uncle and grandfather, and that’s the interesting thing. Women love this, men love this – and I think that kind of aspect of sex is really cool. All of our fragrances are unisex too and I love the idea of layering them.
What was the reaction when you shared these scents with people around you?
Everyone so far loves them, and I hope they’re not lying to me. They love it. My sister is definitely a blooming fire. My mom loves salted moses. We’d all come over to my friends when I’d get new samples and try them, and I’d say, Don’t you think we should add this here?