Is this love potion the way to spice up your sex life?

Contrary to modern thinking, it has nothing to do with frilly knickers or taping the football. Instead,it's all about smell.

One whiff of Elisabeth's powerful secret potion of essential oils and men are rendered helpless with desire.

The concept of using essential oils to stimulate, arouse and generally perk up the parts other women fail to reach is documented in Elisabeth's new book, Releasing Aphrodite.

It covers everything from the legend of the Greek godess of love to scented body lotions that will boost your confidence and room fragrances to "ignite the sparks of passion".

The chapter headings range from the risque (Enter Smiling) to the blatant (She Gives Him The Unexpected).

Other chapters are comprised entirely of song titles (Fly Me To The Moon, Can't Get No Satisfaction and the particularly appropriate Get Down Tonight).

Born in New York, Elizabeth was the editor of the American Cancer Society's Journal for Physicians before meeting her husband Joe, getting married and moving to Brighton.

After the initial culture shock ("I didn't know a good cookie from a bad cookie I didn't know what a Bakewell tart was"), she took up homeopathy and became fascinated by the power of fragrance.

She set up her company Fragrant Veil Perfumes in 2004 and published two books, each dedicated to the power of scent.

She now lives in a Georgian five-storey house in Hove overlooking the seafront which is one of the few in Brighton never to have been converted into flats.

Somewhat surprisingly, there is no overbearing waft of incense inside and her living room isn't laden with candles or oil burners.

But it is beautifully decorated and there isn't a thing out of place.

Elisabeth is the perfect host, relaxed, easy going and willing to talk freely on any subject. Any subject that is, except her age.

"I don't see why it's important," she says, in her distinguishable American drawl.

"By telling you my age, I'll be categorising myself. Pick any age."

Ignoring the rather lame protestations that it's newspaper policy, she still refuses to budge.

"I am a woman of a certain age and certain experience. I don't see why I should say my age. Just make one up."

She pauses before adding: "If you pick one over 60 you're dead."

Despite getting the hump about her age and talking about "love" and "the importance of loving" like only an American can, Elisabeth has an infectious laugh and is extremely good company.

Perched on the sofa with a bronze statue of a young deer at her feet, she says: "I wanted to write a book about how women can enjoy their lives more fully. Sensuality to me isn't something that involves a nude lying on a sofa. It's the capacity to stop still and use your senses, to smell the fragrance in the air she inhales deeply, to feel the fire and to touch this lovely velvet fabric she strokes the sofa.

"It is feeling all that life has to give back to us, which is a very beautiful thing."

Her book offers a whole host of ideas on how to boost your love life, from room fragrances to aromatic baths, scented body lotions and sensual massages. Elisabeth says she wanted to make it light-hearted and fun as well as educational, and she has a habit of dropping quotes into the conversation whenever she can. .

"Theodore Zeldin said passion mixed with playfulness is utterly irresistible, and that's the idea I have tried to present," she says.

Elisabeth got the inspiration to write the book after she was struck down with a serious infection and was laid up in bed for months.

It was, she notes, "a lifechanging experience".

She was so poorly she practiced multiplication tables to keep her brain going and recalls: "I couldn't be pretty, witty or wise but I suddenly found myself really capable of feeling love.

"Like the Beatles said, love is all you need'. I wanted to be more loving, to love myself more, to love life more as well as that special person. And that's where the book began."

Having been married to her husband Joe for the past 18 years, Elisabeth hasn't been in a position to test her oils on hordes of hunky young men.

The lucky recipient all along has been Joe, who seems fairly bemused by the whole business.

So how powerful are these oils exactly?

"I think the oils have tremendous powers," says Elisabeth.

"You only have to look at the perfume industry to see all the fragrances are based around seduction and romance.

"We have our own natural smells and these smells are primal to what attracts you to people. But on top of that, we have this added capacity to extract fragrance and seduce.

"Cleopatra is said to have drenched the sails of her barge in the essential oil of jasmine, so when the sun hit them the scent of jasmine wafted off as part of her seduction of Marc Anthony. I think a woman who takes time to do such a subtle thing and genuinely desires to give a man a pleasurable moment as well as the gift of herself has a huge recipe for success. Cleopatra thought it would work. I think it works."

She acknowledges there has to be a place and time for seduction you can't be burning jasmine if you've just had a big full-on row but Elisabeth believes the desire to burn them is almost as powerful as the oils themselves.

So how do we know if the oils are actually working?

Are there any subtle signs to look out for? Pointing north for instance?

Elisabeth leans forward. I lean back. "How do you feel right now, Ruth?"

"Fairly relaxed."

"Are you paying attention to what I'm saying?"

"Yes."

"Then it is working. I'm burning lemon, which is a very zesty scent, and rosemary one of the best and most powerful oils for creating a relaxed atmosphere, focusing the mind and providing mental clarity. I have also added a drop of geranium because I wanted us to be very upbeat and feel good inside. It's a wonderful stimulant. Its subtlety is part of its beauty."

Half scared, half impressed, I ask her whether she thinks the oils are powerful enough to seduce any man.

How easy is it to seduce a stranger, for example?

"Very easy. I've not found it a problem, have you?

You have to stimulate his curiosity, excite his imagination, you have to intrigue, play and flirt to get him interested.

"If a man walked into the room and I was burning a seriously sexy scent such as jasmine and black pepper, he'd definitely start getting twitchy, probably without knowing why."

If there is one thing Elisabeth is adamant about it's that the oils must be used subtly without your partner knowing what you're up to.

There is obviously an element of deceit involved.

Is it about luring men into having thoughts they may not otherwise have had? Elisabeth disagrees.

"There is a mystique about it a romance we're missing today.

"I'm all for women not waiting by the telephone but there's something enticing about doing things in a more mysterious way. I wear mascara. Do you?"

I'm just about to answer but she carries on. "I colour my hair. Do you?"

"I"

"I wear a push-up bra at times but I don't think it's deceit. It's considered adornment. I wouldn't want to deceive anyone. However, that's not to say there's anything wrong with leading someone astray with a wink. There are no handcuffs involved."

Is there a danger a man might become slightly over amorous if you put too much in the pot?

Elisabeth shrieks with laughter, claiming there is no such thing as "over-amorous".

"Some recipes are terrific for getting him a bit more revitalised you can do the full-on knock his socks off' or you can do a kind of lazy Sunday morning, where you're lying in bed with a cup of coffee and Sunday paper. While some of the scents will make him very mellow, others will make him a little perkier."

Elisabeth is keen to stress she is a happily married woman and the oils shouldn't just be limited to "erotic purposes".

They can also be used to create a harmonious atmosphere in the home if you're entertaining friends or hosting a dinner party.

"Some people may assume I mean erotic love when I mention the word love', but I'm also talking about love in terms of connecting with other human beings," she says.

So what advice would she offer someone who's other half is sceptical about using massage oils?

Elisabeth launches straight into a military plan of action and it's clearly not the first time she's been asked for advice on someone's love-life.

"First I'd run a bath and sprinkle in a secret blend of essential oils to help him lose his inhibitions. Then I'd give him a hand or foot massage. I don't know a human being who'd turn down a foot massage. Do you?"

"They are lovely things, you don't have to be a masseuse to do them just hold his hand.

"I had a friend who wanted her husband to be more spontaneous and eventually he agreed to be more so every Wednesday night. It didn't sound very spontaneous to me."

Having once been a respected editor in the field of medicine in the States, does Elisabeth now see herself as the expert in the art of seducing men?

"I see myself as a woman who's trying to get somewhere and take other people to the same place with me because it's a good place to be," she replies.

"It's a place where I am a more loving woman, a place where I consciously stop and smell the roses and make love a priority of the day."

Elisabeth doesn't buy the argument that if the romance is real there is no need for an oil burner to set the heart racing.

Her response to people who argue it's just another cynical marketing ploy to get us to spend money is: "Hats off to them. I'm sure love conquers all and that's beautiful.

But I think passion changes over time.

It's like the first time you have a Haagen Daz ice cream, it tastes a lot different if you're eating them all the time.

"I think it's perfectly legitimate for a couple not to use any sort of aphrodisiac, it's just a question of who you are and what you choose to do."

While Aphrodite may have brought her love to Earth's green and flourishing land, Elisabeth believes she is doing her bit by nudging disenchanted females down to Boots to buy essential oils, seduce the man of their dreams and reap the rewards.

Where's Eros when you need him ruth.addicott@theargus.co.uk

• Releasing Aphrodite costs £9.99 is available in bookshops nationwide, on line via www.amazon.co.uk or from www.fragrantveil.com, which offers free P&P and a free sample of the bath blend Pure Pleasure