Our roundup of the best grooming products with stimulating scents to help lift your spirits during every step of your morning routine.

Why is life so exhausting? Why? When we spend most of the livelong day sitting in front of the computer, or on a subway, train or bus, how is it that it’s still almost impossible to haul one’s weary carcass out of bed each morning, no matter how early you retire the night before? What happened to the youthful energy that, as children, made us effortlessly rise with the sun, keenly embarking on a search for obnoxiously loud cartoons and precious things to break? How can sending a bunch of emails and figuring out how to work the video conferencing thing tire us out this much? Unfortunately, MR PORTER is not capable of providing the answers to all of the above existential questions. What we can supply, however, is a series of choice recommendations on grooming products that, once you finally emerge from under the duvet (20 minutes later than you meant to), will help to stoke the engines of your freshly conscious being. Scroll down to discover what such sage advice looks like.

If you’ve ever been to theatre and found yourself nodding off halfway through act one (that is, if you’ve ever been to the theatre at all), you’ll be aware that popping a stick of peppermint gum in your mouth often does the trick of keeping you from snoring when you should be applauding. This is because even a whiff of peppermint, according to various sources (including a notable study conducted at the University of Cincinnati in the 1990s), has the ability to aid concentration and alertness. Now, imagine if, rather than a whiff, you lathered peppermint all through your hair, and scrubbed it all over your body – a process made eminently possible by the above peppermint-scented products from Malin + Goetz. We think the word you’re looking for is “zing!”.

Citrus notes are among the most invigorating that you’ll find in the fragrance world, so if you’re feeling particularly sluggish in the morning, opt for products that are packed full of them, such as Perricone MD’s citrus facial wash. In addition to smelling fresh and get-up-and-go-ish, this gentle cleanser contains vitamin C ester and DMAE, both of which help to improve skin tone, elasticity and generally make you look that little bit younger. For an extra bit of pep under the armpits, we recommend this deodorant from Baxter of California, a clear, light, solid gel that won’t stain your clothes and has a pleasant citrus and musk scent.

Those crucial moments before you finally step out the door and face the world – what more can you do? Well, for one, pile on another brain-activating scent, in the form of Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Amyris Homme. As well as containing citrus top notes, it also has a dash of rosemary – a herb traditionally used to aid memory retention and improve your mood. Finally, to give yourself a fresh, dewy, hydrated feeling, give yourself a spritz of Lavett & Chin’s coconut moisturising mist. This not only provides a barrier against all the dirt and pollution of the morning commute, it contains several humectant ingredients, which help the skin to retain moisture. In fact, this is one you might want to take with you to the office – after all, there’s still another 12 or so hours of the day left, and you might need another pick-me-up.