Over thirty years ago, Monica Hadley and Jeffrey Smith began a journey that started not with products, but with a shared belief: fragrance has the power to change how we feel, how we live, and how we connect with others.

From their earliest days, they weren’t just creating diffusers or oils—they were solving problems. They saw wax warmers that left a mess, car fresheners that looked cheap and artificial, and fragrance options that felt like afterthoughts. They believed scent deserved more respect, more beauty, and more innovation.

Their first brands, Belle Aroma® and Drive Time®, grew out of this philosophy. Each line became a vehicle for them to test their vision—bringing fragrance into homes and cars in ways that were not only functional but meaningful. They innovated with new technologies, secured patents, and built a reputation as designers who could make fragrance not just convenient, but part of life’s rituals.

But the real turning point came when they asked themselves why. Why keep innovating? Why push against an industry that was content with cheap wax and dangling trees? The answer was clear: they wanted to bring fragrance directly to people—not hidden behind store shelves, not lost in private-label contracts, but accessible, personal, and beautiful.

That’s why they launched The Gift of Scent—their direct-to-consumer home. More than an online shop, it’s their way of curating fragrance for real people, without the middlemen. It’s about giving someone the freedom to discover a diffuser that fits their style, or a car freshener that feels like an extension of their personality, or a boutique oil that turns a living room into a sanctuary.

For Monica and Jeffrey, The Gift of Scent is their “why” in action. It’s the culmination of decades of design, experimentation, and listening to what people actually want: fragrance that’s mess-free, refillable, and tailored to their lives.

As Monica has said, their business has always been about community—the support of their neighbors, their customers, and the people who believed in their vision. As Jeffrey put it, their future is about building on that connection: creating products that feel personal, that feel crafted, that feel like a gift every single time someone opens a package. 

Today, The Gift of Scent isn’t just a store. It’s Monica and Jeffrey’s invitation: to elevate your world, to make fragrance easy, beautiful, and uniquely yours.