While cuffing season isn’t as classically recognized a natural phenomenon as, say, mercury retrograde, there’s some truth to the energy that drives single people to couple up between October and early March. Cold weather naturally drives us to search out warmth, and companionship (and cuddles) is a great way to get it.
This cuffing season, trade the handcuffs (you’re not supposed to rub your wrists post-spritz anyway) for a lingering perfume that leaves your lover thinking of you long after you’ve left the room. From pheromone-forward choices that put you at the center of the scent to old romantic standbys and a pick that honors the overlap of cherry and cuffing seasons, there’s something for everyone. Keep scrolling to find—and lock down—your perfect match.
The Pheromone-Forward One: Glossier You Rêve
Glossier’s fragrance family—the original You and newcomers Doux and Rêve—were all crafted to combine with your skin’s pH and pheromones to create a custom-to-you scent. That’s the formula for an ideal cuffing season scent, by the way. Why would you not want someone to crave a fragrance that only you can create? French for “dream,” You Rêve was “designed to capture a rush of you” with a vanilla buttercream top note, plum butter, toasted almond, powdery Iris, and creamy white sandalwood heart, and that signature ambrette and ambrox base.
The Sparks Are Flying One: Tom Ford Electric Cherry
Electric Cherry is described by Tom Ford as “at once effervescent and playful… a scent that captures the early, flirtatious stages of a romance.” While its biggest sell is the Morello cherry notes, you’ll also find ginger, jasmine sambac, spicy peppercorn, and an alluring musk via ambrettolide. A couple of other great Tom Ford picks? The new Rose Exposed, Vanilla Sex, and Santal Blush, which Byrdie editor in chief Hallie Gould previously called “inherently sexy in a makeout-by-the-fire kind of way.”
The Grandma-Approved One: Modern Vanilla Jane Parfum Oil
Ideal situation: your partner loves your family, and vice versa. If they love this fragrance, which was inspired by founder Erika Kuhn’s grandmother, Jane, there’s a good chance it’ll all work out for the best. Green and gorgeous, this oil (shake before applying!) is a meet-the-family tea party of white flowers, spice, fresh cut grass, antique wood notes, sunny tobacco, buttery musk, and creamy sandalwood. Has your cool grandma ever walked you through an old box of photos, sharing stories of lovers past? Those are the memories you’re living now; your own grandkids will love that story someday.
The One to Go Steady With: Cartier Declaration
Ready to declare your love? Cartier can help—they’ve been doing it for a while. An extremely long-lasting, emotional scent made for “expressing the things that matter,” Declaration was introduced in 1998 and boasts notes of orange, cardamom, and green tea—it starts out fresh before with that citrus brightness before the greenness begins to emerge. What’s more? The bottle’s shoulders round out to form a heart.
The Buy Yourself Flowers One: Vyrao Georgette
Vyrao knows that fragrance plays a powerful role in wellbeing. And if you’re going to fall in love… you better love yourself first! Developed to help you hone in your own self-adoration, Georgette features Turkish rose oil for self-love and enlightenment, violet leaf absolute for self-expression, sandalwood and patchouli for grounding, and guaiac wood for energy clearing, all wrapped up in pink pepper and black tobacco.
The One That (Almost) Got Away: Arquiste Peau
There’s a love story here, and it’s a sad love story. (Which isn’t to say yours will be! But if it is, there’s always next year.) Arquiste’s Peau calls us back to cuffing season in AD 134, where Roman Emperor Hadrian sat thinking of his lost over, Antinoös. A scent to keep close to your heart (or the nape of your neck), Peau features top notes of musk, ambergris, and clary sage, heart notes of white pepper and coriander, and a woody base of amber and labdanum.
The Sweet One: Perfumeland La La Love
This is your first date in a fragrance. And my, what a good date it was. That’s why you’re cuffed!!! “I crafted a fragrance that weaves a sensuous blend of notes, evoking the raw and animalistic with the decadent while embracing the naive, the romantic, and the comforting,” explained master perfumer Constance George-Picot when describing La La Love. This opulent gourmand features notes of sandalwood, saffron, musk, vanilla absolute, cognac, smoked amber, and Peruvian balsam.
The One That Plays Well With Others: Ranger Station Two Trick Pony
When she smelled Two Trick Pony for the first time, my little sister said it smells like butterflies in your stomach after a first date. How sweet is that? An incredibly versatile choice, this baby includes base notes of amber, ambroxan, woods, and musk that work together to form an elegant and long-lasting aroma that’s simple in the best way. Wear it on its own or allow it to compliment another of your favorite scents. Your bae’s, perhaps?
The Sultry One: Phlur Soft Spot
A sultry little fragrance, Phlur’s Soft Spot is a skin scent with notes of bergamot, jasmine petals, waterlily, vanilla orchid, amber, sandalwood, and musk. Just like your skin, its soft and delicate to the point you just want to cuddle up with it. Whoever gets to hold your hand—and sniff your wrist when they charmingly kiss it goodnight like they’re in a Victorian romance novel—is so lucky.
The Romantic One: Gabar No. 01 Float
This summer, when the weather is a little nicer, you and your love are going to sit by a lake and thank the universe that something, somewhere brought you two together. Maybe it was this perfume? Then, you’re going to jump in, yell for a second because it’s cold, decide it’s actually quite nice, and float happily for the rest of the afternoon. Inspired by the still waters of Myanmar’s Inle Lake, Gabar’s lush 01 Float is a romantic, edgy floral with top notes of lemongrass, basil, and bergamot, heart notes of jasmine, violet leaf, gardenia, and neroli, and base notes of amber, white musk, and tobacco absolute. It’s one that can carry you into the warmer season, with the added late bonus of providing scent memory from those special early days.
The Adventurous One: Ode Ona Everjet
Ungendered and extremely gorgeous, French brand Ode Ona’s fragrances embrace both individuality *and* inclusivity—as any good relationship should. It’s about me, it’s about you, but mostly it’s about us. Leather-forward, this invigorating scent also features top notes of lemon and mandarin, heart notes of velvet leather, lavender, and mimosa, and base notes of cocoa, olibanum oil, and labdanum resinoid. Your date is picking you up on their motorcycle soon and you’re wearing the worn-in leather jacket they complimented at the bar. Forget cuffing season—this might just be the start of the rest of your life.