There’s a tree outside my bedroom window, and one morning this week, I noticed more leaves below it, fallen and crunching, than on the branches itself. That wintry shedding—plus the bodegas crowding their floral displays with miniature firs and red-ribboned wreaths—is all the signal I need to shift into embracing the holiday spirit.
In addition to pulling out my big scarves and discovering which mittens somehow lost their partners, I like to celebrate the season by swapping out the fragrances on my vanity (and, thus, my wrists). Around the holidays, I like to follow the usual themes, with scents that either feel evocative of holiday treats, Christmas trees, a crackling fire, or even nostalgia for the years gone by.
Here are some of the best scents to inspire you to do the same and get you into the holiday spirit.
Sugar & Spice
Finding a gourmand for winter that isn’t sickly sweet with caramel can be tricky. While coconut, fig, and citrus blend perfectly with summer sunscreen, a great holiday gourmand should be fresh, cozy, and not in competition with the literal treats baking in the oven.
Jo Malone is a go-to for anything balanced. Blackberry & Bay is fresh with fruit juice but brought down to earth with soft woods and mellow, piney bay leaves. Wondering what bay leaves even smell like? Forget the stale, crumbling leaves in your spice cabinet: Fresh bay is camphoraceous and nearly medicinal. Think eucalyptus, rosemary, and thyme, with a bit of forest floor thrown in for good measure.
A more literal and delicious gourmand perfect for the holidays is Sweetly Known by Kerosene. Maple syrup, burnt sugar, and vanilla make up the palette of this niche fragrance. Cocoa and musk form a wearable and cozy base.
One of my all-time favorite scents is, to me, Christmas in a bottle. Tauer’s L’Air du Desert Marocain opens with citric notes, spicy coriander, and homey fresh lavender, with birch, amber, and cedar creating a Christmas tree effect after a few sniffs.
Get Spruced Up
Speaking of Christmas in a bottle…. There are a limited number of months where one can really get away with smelling like a Christmas tree.
Forest from Rook is an aptly named scent that will have you smelling like you came home from working on the Christmas tree farm. It’s piney, with soft cedar, heady cannabis, and a little kick of black pepper. The gentle spices and musks keep Forest from tobacco territory, and this is a nice, woody option for someone who wants to try the category without going too lumberjack.
Diptyque’s Orpheon is a more classic structure, with powder and jasmine lending a floral, feminine side to the opening notes of juniper and cedar.
For something more bold and unexpected, try L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Fou d’Absinthe. Inspired by the image of a frosty glass of absinthe drunk in the wild, wooded Pyrenees, Fou d’Absinthe is a vision of a spicy, piney winter. Star anise, wormwood, and clove kick off the scent with funky spiciness, giving way to a pure, frosted forest floor.
Let It Glow
Replica By The Fireplace, from Maison Margiela, is a modern classic. As the name suggests (or, rather, specifies), this scent is meant to evoke the feeling of resting at the hearth. Indeed, there’s a cozy warmth here, starting with roasted sweet chestnuts, toasted vanilla, and pink peppercorns, then onto festive clove-studded oranges and crackling logs.
Another scent from Rook, this time their eponymous fragrance, is a moodier, damper take on the smoky firewood category. Rook is thick with tobacco, smoke, and leather, making it less cheery and more chimney. If you spurn light woods like cedar and don’t want even a lick of greenery, Rook is a daring and intense take on the smoldering woody scent.
Vilhelm Parfumerie might be one of the most consistent parfumeries around, and To My Father is a festive, romantic, and wearable option for the holiday season. To My Father has a bit of whiskey, a bit of wood, and a bit of amber—and all the notes come together for a truly lovely and comfortable wintertime fragrance. It’s great for treating yourself and scenting that cozy new sweater or a decently safe bet for a giftable bottle.
Nostalgia Ultra
Black Friday sales often lead to wistful scrolls through the J. Crew homepage (anyone else?), which in turn, leads to wistful remembrances of being at the mall as a teenager in the suburbs in the early 2000s. While I wouldn’t exactly wish to go back to those days, there is something to be said for the mall scents that colored every high school party-packed minivan back then.
If you’re interested in peeking down memory lane, a couple of all-grown-up analogs for your teenage favorites might help ignite holiday-time nostalgia. Fleur de Louis from Arquiste (currently sold out) is a mature (but still playful) interpretation of the citrus-powder-amber trifecta we all loved in Calvin Klein’s CK One. While the latter can feel a bit monotonous or beginner to some, Fleur de Louis is bright, refreshing, and easygoing.
Remember waiting in line at Gap and spritzing their tall perfume bottles? If you loved the easy citrus-floral notes of Dream, Prada’s Paradoxe (and this year’s doubled-down Paradoxe Intense) upgrades those notes with musk, amber, and jasmine. For fans of Heaven, Gap’s green and clean girl-next-door scent, by/rosie jane’s Leila Lou, is a fresh, easy, and happy-making upgrade.