Woman-Owned | Neuroscience-Backed | Made in Grasse, France | Sold at Credo Beauty & Luxury Spas
Caftari—named after the Sanskrit word "Caftari" meaning "to pause"—was born from founder Shreya Aggarwal's deeply personal struggle with anxiety and insomnia during the summer of 2022. Having emigrated from India to the United States at age 8, Shreya grew up surrounded by fragrance, with her earliest childhood memories linked to specific scent notes like her mother's rose-scented hair oil and her father's perfumed talc powder. While working as a fragrance buyer for Dermstore and The Hut Group's luxury e-commerce properties, Shreya always envisioned creating her own fragrance brand—but it wasn't until her own mental health challenges forced her to pause and reassess that she discovered the radical shift fragrance could create when incorporated into intentional daily routines. Witnessing firsthand how specific scents helped her sleep better and manage stress, Shreya recognized a gap in the market: beautifully designed, results-driven, neuroscience-backed fragrance products created specifically to address mental health and wellbeing in our high-cortisol world.
Launched in November 2023, Caftari bridges the ancient wisdom of aromatherapy with cutting-edge neuroscience to create what the brand calls "neuroscents"—fragrances scientifically designed to provide neurological benefits by linking essential oils to specific neurotransmitters and brain waves. Working with Columbia-educated neurologists and MIT neuroscience lecturer Dr. Tara Swart, Caftari develops proprietary fragrance blends in Grasse, France—the perfume capital of the world—using only clean ingredients free of parabens, phthalates, sulfates, and petroleum by-products. Each candle features a high concentration of natural essential oils (10ml per candle) paired with a sustainable soy-coconut wax blend, cotton wicks, and elegant textured bisque ceramic vessels that are reusable long after the candle burns. Every fragrance formula undergoes rigorous consumer testing with focus groups, and claims are validated only when 80% of participants experience the intended wellness effect—ensuring that Caftari's promises of stress relief, energy, happiness, meditation, and deep sleep are backed by real science, not marketing hype.
What sets Caftari apart is its design-first approach that makes wellness both luxurious and accessible. Each candle vessel is engraved with custom brainwave patterns representing how that specific scent influences neurochemistry—a subtle detail that references the science while creating packaging stunning enough to display on any nightstand or bathroom counter. Founder Shreya's background as a buyer taught her that Caftari's customer—the trendsetting early adopter who already invests in luxury candles from Diptyque or Byredo—isn't looking for behavioral change but rather something new that delivers both indulgence and function. From Elixir (featuring bergamot, lemon, and orange to release endorphins and promote energy), to Dolce Far Niente (rose essential oil to boost serotonin and happiness), to Nirvana (oudh, patchouli, and amber for meditation), to Nidra (carefully designed to cue the brain for restorative sleep), each scent creates daily moments of mindfulness designed to modulate brain waves and usher in moments of bliss, relief, and deep relaxation.
Sustainability is at the forefront of Caftari's mission, with 100% recycled packaging and eco-friendly reusable ceramic vessels designed to reduce the brand's carbon footprint. The brand also gives back, donating a portion of sales to the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), because Shreya believes mental wellness extends beyond the individual to the community. Featured at Credo Beauty, Equinox Hotels, Four Seasons resorts, and luxury spas across the country, Caftari is more than a candle brand—it's a wellness movement for a generation seeking science-backed solutions to modern stress, proving that taking a pause isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. As Shreya says, "This is my passion and what I want to continue to bring to the world in a long-term way."
