There has always been something very modern about Vyrao. The perfumes are well made, the bottles are beautiful and the branding is unusually coherent. Founder Yasmin Sewell understood from the beginning that Vyrao was selling more than fragrance. It was selling ritual, emotion and, increasingly, the idea that scent might have measurable effects on how we feel. Its newest fragrance, Ever 11, pushes that idea further than any of its predecessors.
Sewell founded Vyrao in 2021 after a long career in fashion. Australian-born and London-based, she opened an influential Soho boutique in the 1990s before working at Browns, Liberty and later Farfetch, developing a reputation for spotting emerging talent including Christopher Kane and J.W. Anderson. At the same time, she had spent years studying Reiki and other holistic practices. Vyrao became the meeting point between those two worlds.
The original fragrances were created with British perfumer Lyn Harris and built around ideas such as liberation, courage, self-love and transformation rather than conventional fragrance categories. Vyrao even places a small Herkimer diamond crystal inside its 50ml bottles. The brand later began working with IFF and perfumer Meabh McCurtin on what it calls “neuroscents,” incorporating IFF’s Science of Wellness research into its perfumes.
Investors clearly saw potential in the concept. Estée Lauder Companies’ New Incubation Ventures took a minority stake in Vyrao in 2023, and the following year LVMH-backed private equity firm L Catterton led another funding round, with Manzanita Capital and Estée Lauder also participating.
Now the brand may be approaching another turning point. In August 2026, Cosmetics Business, citing The Business of Fashion, reported that Vyrao was nearing a possible sale, with Manzanita Capital and Waldencast, the company behind Milk Makeup, reportedly in discussions. No sale has been announced, but the timing makes the arrival of Vyrao’s eleventh fragrance especially interesting.
Can a Perfume Increase Your Self-Esteem by 97 Percent?
This is where Ever 11 gets particularly interesting. Vyrao describes it as a perfume for “supercharging your confidence” and says its neuroscience-backed ingredients have been shown to enhance self-esteem by 97 percent, as measured through IFF’s proprietary Science of Wellness program.
There is legitimate science behind the broader idea that odor can influence mood and emotional response. IFF has been researching fragrance and emotion for more than four decades, including consumer perception, neuroscience, physiological responses and its long-running Mood Mapping methodology. Research by an IFF scientist describing the company’s methods for measuring fragrance and mood was published in Chemical Senses as far back as 2005.
What I have difficulty with is the leap from that research to the claim being made here. I could not find publicly available information explaining the specific Ever 11 test: how many people participated, what the control was, how self-esteem was defined, what the baseline measurement was or exactly what a “97 percent” enhancement represents.
I believe fragrance can influence mood, memory and even how we carry ourselves. But saying that a perfume can enhance self-esteem by 97 percent is an entirely different claim. Without transparent methodology, I do not buy it. The number is too precise, too dramatic and too poorly explained to be meaningful. This is where credible scent science starts to look like marketing dressed up as science.
So, What Does Ever 11 Actually Smell Like?
Fortunately, Ever 11 does not need a neuroscience claim to make its case. Meabh McCurtin builds the fragrance around black cherry and pink pepper CO2, with rose and peony at the heart and a much darker base of leather, vanilla bean CO2 extract, Peru balsam, tonka bean absolute, cypriol and patchouli.
On my skin, it is a full-on cherry bomb. The opening is dark, sweet and immediately assertive, with none of the restraint of a sheer or delicate cherry fragrance. It projects, and the black cherry makes its presence known from the first spray.
The rose and peony soften the edges, but I never experience Ever 11 as a floral perfume. As it develops, the base takes over. Leather, vanilla, balsamic sweetness, tonka and patchouli make the cherry warmer, deeper and considerably more sensual. This is where the fragrance becomes most appealing to me.
The drydown, however, brings a very familiar contemporary amber-wood effect. It is strong and persistent on my skin, and it is probably the one thing that keeps Ever 11 from feeling entirely distinctive. The published ingredient list includes tetramethyl acetyloctahydronaphthalenes, the woody-amber material associated with Iso E Super, which may partly explain the smooth, diffusive woodiness I recognize.
Familiar does not mean badly done. Ever 11 is polished, substantial and extremely easy to wear. I like it very much, particularly as an evening fragrance. This is made for autumn, dinner, date night, or any occasion when you want something rich, sexy and noticeable. The sweetness is seductive, while the leather and woods give the cherry enough weight and depth to keep the whole thing feeling grown-up.
Vyrao Knows What It Is Doing
Whatever one thinks about crystals, energy amplification or a 97 percent increase in self-esteem, Vyrao is a very well-built modern perfume brand. The fragrances are well made, the packaging is excellent, the identity is clear, and Sewell understands exactly how to position them.
I also like the pricing structure. Ever 11 comes in 10ml, 30ml and 50ml, which feels refreshingly sensible in a market where $300 bottles are becoming increasingly common.
You do not have to buy into every part of Vyrao’s philosophy to appreciate what the brand does well. Ever 11 may not raise my self-esteem by 97 percent, but it is polished, sexy, memorable and exactly the kind of perfume I want to wear out at night. Most importantly, it makes me want to wear it again.
Elevated Classics Classification
Ownership: Investor-backed, Founder-directed
Perfumery and Production: Outsourced to external perfumers and fragrance houses
Positioning: Contemporary neo-niche / wellness-led fragrance
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