Quick & easy: your favorite comfort scent for winter?
Note: image is Wooden Eye [cropped] by delphaber at flickr; some rights reserved.
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I would say that mine winter comfort scent is Prada Amber pour Homme. I love the way it smells when it’s cold outside. Totally different story comparing to wearing it indoors (even in winter)
I don’t think of that Prada as a comfort scent usually, but you’re right!
As we’re speaking about Prada – I could really use your help guys!
I’m planning to buy Prada Amber pour Homme Intense. This fragrance is not available in Poland, but I managed to find a great deal for it online. As it’s not available here I wasn’t able to sample it.
I read tons of reviews of PAPHI, I love Prada fragrances and I’m sure I’ll love this one too. I’m ready to blind-buy it.
So I’m calling to you, all Prada lovers, who had a chance to try Amber Homme Intense! Please tell me your opinions on it, so that I can be 100% certain of buying it!
My reaction to this one was that it was a very soft amber with a powdery drydown with some strong similarities to the original John Varvatos scent for men.
Did you like it? I love the original Prada Man for it’s powdery feeling
I liked it better than the original, but not enough to buy a bottle.
Hi Lucasai! Personally, I really like the Intense – it’s probably one of my favourites in the many I’ve tried this year. But, I’m not really a big fan of the original, so I’m not sure if my recommendation will be of any help to you! To me it smells a little darker, a little deeper and little more complicated (lots of ‘littles’ there!). A few people in close proximity to me wearing it have all liked it but weirdly enough, they thought it was very similar to Old Spice!
thanks RossM for saying that, every opinion counts when it comes to blind-buying.
I’m in need for a new fragrance and if it won’t be PAPHI I’ve got no idea what fragrance I’d chose. I need something darker, spicier, a little heavier. This Prada seems to be great for me.
I’m running off 2 fragrances (DKNY: men 2009 and red delicious men) and want to replace them with something new. I don’t want similarities to these – I decided to buy potion from dsquared2 and still thinking about Prada (or sth else if not Prada)
My winter comfort scents are AG Sabels (my SOTD), EL Sensuous Noir, Bal a Versailles and Caron Nuit de Noel.
I must give that caron a try. I own Un Homme de Caron, this can be also called winter comfort scent, don’t you think?
Pour un Homme is a year round comfort scent, I would say!
Can’t disagree with you. Vanilla & lavender are very comforting
I agree Pour un Homme is lovely in any season!
Test Nuit de Noel as it is quite different – to me it has a warm nutty opening with powder and ylang ylang followed by a cuddly velvet drydown of amber that lasts forever.
Prada Intense and Barbara Bui Le Parfum
Yay to Prada! I’m a lover of their fragrances, especially male ones
Nice picks.
I love comfort scents! My current favorites are Sensuous & Sensuous Noir, Coromandel, Vanigli del Madagascar, Safran Troublant and Orchidee Vanille.
*vaniglia* del madagascar
I love the marshmallowey goodness of Vaniglia. I purchased it during a vanilla phase along with Omnia Madera which my son promptly told me smelled like Snickerdoodles – and it does. I have a lot of gourmand fragrances but I think Madera is the one that smells most like a specific food.
I always forget about Safran Troublant!
Unfortunately, I have a difficult time with comfort scents – they are almost always too sweet for me. Vetiver Tonka – that’s as far as it gets for me… love that scent though!
Me too 🙂
I tried Vetiver Tonka at your suggestion, Robin, and I love it. Thanks!
Oh good!
Ambre Narguile is my go to cosy comfort scent in the winter. Coromandel is good too.
Oh and Jeux de Peau too is both comforting and fun!
I’m wearing Ambre Narguile today!
I might wear it tomorrow, I’m in vintage Mitsouko EDT today. Wasn’t planning on it but I felt a real craving this morning. It never seems like I choose to wear it, it feels more like getting summoned 😀
Agree — and sometimes I adore it, other times it is really too sweet for me.
I love Ambre Narguile in winter!
Amber Narguile and Coromandel are two of my favourite fragrances ever. I went through two 15ml AN and received a big bottle last year as a gift and it’s just a little over half full. My Coromandel is less than half full. It never gets very cold down here so I spray them on my pillows or wear them to bed when they’re just too much to wear in the heat.
OJ Tolu comes to life for me in the cold weather and I find L by Lolita Lempicka (the pure parfum) comforting on frosty days.
L is one of my picks as well!
I feel like I’m posting a string of “me too” responses before I can even work my way down to listing my own. Count me in on the L love. I ordered a back-up bottle online and I think it was counterfeit. The bottle was wrong, the juice was clear, and part of the label on the bottom of the bottle had been cut out. I contacted the seller and they promptly sent another one but the atomizer was broken off. Someday I’ll have to try to pry the top off and decant it into something else.
Wow, that is bad luck. I also got a back-up bottle and the juice was a different colour (clear as well) and the scent different (fresher, airy, less dense). I’m not sure if this difference is because the current L has been reformulated, or if you suggest maybe it is a knockoff, or if my older bottle of L “turned” for the better. I swear it has gotten darker/more depth since I’ve had it. I swapped the backup away, in any case.
This is worrisome. It’s something I definitely want a backup of eventually; hope I can find one that matches what I’ve got.
EL Sensuous also gets a vote from me. Sometimes I want a sweet, sugary amber like Flowerbomb. Ava Luxe Tao also gets a heavy rotation – it starts out incense-y and moves through warm woods, ending with a sort of gourmand Egyptian musk. It’s a difficult line to sample, but if you get the chance I recommend trying Tao.
It does sound really nice.
EL Sensuous (+flankers) seem to be getting a lot of love, and I’m there, too!
I also like Kenzo Amour, especially layered on Givenchy Ange ou Demon Le Secret body lotion (from my gift set last holiday season). The two are cuddly and a little spicy together! (Whoa, that sounds more, uh, personal than I meant it too! HA!)
But I’ve got to be honest, I’m not sure that many of my scents WOULDN’T be comforting to me! Maybe the Chanel No. 9 edp sample I have. . .too assertive? Otherwise, scents I love, I find comforting!
Chanel no. 19, that is!
This is interesting…I love No. 19 edp too, but I always think of it more as a spring/summer fragrance. I wonder why? I’ll have to think about this.
It’s a warm weather scent for me, too.
Scents that you really love are nearly always comforting, I agree. Although I do associate comfort fragrances more with the gourmands and light orientals.
Good point! There are definitely some scents that I reach for when I’m feeling particularly tired or drained or otherwise blah, but really, I don’t shell out for perfumes that don’t somehow enhance the average day.
Nicolai’s New York and Chanel’s Bois des Iles. Both beautiful and very comforting during the cold weather.
Ah, Bois des Isles! I bet that’s lovely.
Marjorie Rose: It’s a stunner. If you’re a sandalwood fan, it’s a must-try. After first, I was put off by the blast of aldehydes in the top..but I was patient and rewarded with a spectacular, smooth and milky sandalwood finish.
Yeah, I’m definitely in the “wait for aldehydes to fade” camp. I’ve actually got a very small sample of Bois des Iles (excuse the superfluous “s” in my above post!). I haven’t re-sniffed it since warmer weather, however. I did like the heart and base, so I will need to dig it back out to try in winter.
Oh, it’s definitely better in cold weather! It and the Cuir de Russie are two of my winter standards.
I generally can’t tolerate aldehydes with the exception of Cuir de Russie and Bois des Iles. I’ve only tried the EdT but would love to get my hands on a bottle of extrait.
Love, love PdN’s New York. It hums so peacefully on your skin.
yes, and amazingly it still hums several hours later, just as nicely.
New York is so good – I know PdN markets it to men, but I wear it all winter.
I’m thinking of asking for Bois de Iles in parfum for the holidays but have only been able to try edt (and I love it!) Worth it for a blind gift?
One of my favorites in Winter is Viva la Juicy, but happen to be wearing Paris Balenciaga – even in the snow today.
Snow, ack!!
Hm, I always classified Viva as a “summery” perfume in my head. I will have to give this a shot in the winter. Might try it tomorrow!
Snow here in MN, too, and more than expected. Bleh.
Looking forward to hearing about some new comfort scents! My love for Kenzo Amour led me to Kenzo’s Sensual Rice MMM, which is my go-to wintertime bedtime scent.
Do know if they sell that anywhere in the US?
I’ve never seen it anywhere, but Kenzo’s online USA site does sell it:
http://www.kenzousa.com/bodycare/bodycare-byline-sensual
thanks!
ggsunnyside how does it compare to KA?
It’s like the sweet rice pudding parts of KA with none of the flowery or woody parts. It’s an EDT-type concentration so it’s lighter and doesn’t last as long. I find it very sweet, perfect for bedtime or when I’m sick.
Okay, first off, that (KSR) sounds amazing and thank you for rec, I definitely want to try it! Secondly, when I followed Robin’s link and found out that it was actually called “Sensual Rice MMM” I lol’d. I thought you were just expressing your enjoyment of it.
Now I’m LOLing! I assumed it was a lotion and the MMM was an abbreviation for something like, M___ moisturizing milk or something silly like that.
Yes, the name is totally absurd on several levels — first the “sensual rice” part, then the MMM, then the fact that Kenzo calls it a “perfumed beneficial water”…it’s definitely like a translation gone very, very wrong….
Habanita, DSH Jitterbug, CdG Avignon, Jacomo #08, Pacifica Tibetan Mountain Temple at bedtime, Rochas Absolu for knocking around the house on weekends. (However, Avignon and TMT are less cold-weather-contingent than the others. I haven’t had #08 for that long, but I imagine I’ll still wear it in summer — or rather, in what passes for summer in the Bay Area. I miss having four well-defined seasons, but I do enjoy being able to wear my cold-weather favorites year-round.)
My assortment of Youth Dew products (perfume, bath oil, body cream, and powder) also sees a lot of use in colder weather.
Oh, yes, Youth Dew is great in colder weather.
If you lived in the South Bay or inland East Bay you would definitely NOT be wearing cold-weather faves all year around – unless you like Youth Dew in 100 degrees! San Francisco and the foggy coast, on the other hand, can use cozy comfort scents most of the year.
Youth Dew was one of my mother’s favorite scents, but I’m not voluptuous enough to carry it off.
I love Youth Dew and Youth Dew Amber Nude. I was at Saks to purchase Youth Dew body cream and dusting powder and they acted like I was in a time warp or something. I layered the body cream with a drop of Shalimar extrait (another “powdery old lady” fragrance) and received several compliments on it.
The Nazgul aka Ambre Narguile is a perfect winter scent, another favorite is OJ Tolu, OJ Woman should also work in winter I think. Unlike many perfumistas I actually like Shalimar PI and plan to wear it now that the colder weather has belatedly arrived. Puredistance I would also fit the cold although it’s more smooth and elegant than comforting.
An old time goodie, Casmir by Chopard. There isn’t anything better with a few cashmere layers on top of this one.
Casmir is lovely!
I was just thinking that. Found that in collegeandcan still get it. I have Amouage Lyric and it doesn’t last 10 minutes. I have it almost under all my fragrances and the room is cool and dark. I don’t know what happened, it’s brand new. When it first came I was in love. But put it in the back for special occasions considering the price tag. Help?
Wow. That’s a drag about Lyric. It lasts forever on me. Maybe you could try contacting them? Did you order it directly from them or through another seller? Is there anything unusual about the bottle or the box? Maybe it was improperly stored before it got to you?
funny, I only need comfort scents during winter, rest of the year I’m fine : )
my favourite nowadays is Emeraude, it is like hugging mom (not because she ever cared about perfumes, but the feeling of hugging her)
Coromandel is second and also for this purpose I use Dzongkha and Passage d’Enfer
I would really like to have some more, so very happy for this topic and would love to try your suggestions my friends : ))))
Coromandel is a great choice. I find patchouli comforting in general. Nice nostalgic thought about your mom 🙂
Oh yes Emeraude is a wonderful comfort scent – always makes me happy and I like the image of you drew of hugging your mother:)
Interesting point about needing comfort scents only in winter. I suppose for me, that’s because comfort scents = ambers, gourmands, and orientals. With very few exceptions, those don’t do well in summer here. So what you said made me think: what do I reach for when I need a scent to get me through a tough day in the summer? I realized that I reach for my collection of fig scents: Ava Luxe Fig Leaf & Johri, Ninfeo Mio, PG Jardin de Kerylos, etc.
Love Emeraude!
I do find myself wanting comfort scents in warmer weather, but they’re nearly always things that remind me of my childhood. Annick Goutal Petite Cherie comes to mind as a summer comfort scent.
True for me too — don’t need anything like a comfort scent in summer. Hot weather is comfort enough!
Agree!
We should change houses sometime. 😉
The a/c is running right now and my son has never seen snow. He recently took a school trip to Heifer International in Arkansas and they slept in huts in the Global Village and we had a hard time convincing him he really did need to take all the wool socks we bought for him. And long pants.
I know just what you mean, Julia!
I hope your son had a great experience at the Global Village. Heifer is a wonderful organization.
Yes! His school takes the Freshman class every year and our older children both enjoyed it. All three of them came back with a changed understanding of global citizenship and the difference they can make when they work as a team. The Sophmore team recently raised the money to purchase a landmine sniffing dog.
Many people have already received their holiday catalogue and more information on giving or visiting can be found at heifer.org.
DSH Inner Sanctum is my HG dark rose and one of my favorite winter comfort scents, along with Les Nereides Imperial Opoponax & Patchouli Antique. For something sweeter, CJScents Vanilla Autumn Nights and Barbara Bui fit the bill. Oh, and Lann Aell (pardon my spelling.) I require lots of comforting choices to get through our long cold winters! You all are giving me lots of ideas, thanks 🙂
That’s a DSH that I’m not familiar with (although I’m sure there are several others). I prefer my roses “dark” so I’ll have to check it out. Thanks!
Dzing! smells so good in cold weather (mind you, in warm too), along with Heure Exquise, L’Occitane Immortelle de corse, and L’Eau d’Hiver! They make winters really special!
Heure Exquise is stunning and very comforting and reassuring. I wear it year round actually. Also have a bottle of the dry body oil.
I haven’t yet tried the Occitane, but like the other two you mention.
yes, Heure Exquise, the exceptional hour, turns every hour to exceptional!
That’s another one, like its sibling Chanel No. 19, that I think of as a warm weather scent. Interesting how we all react so differently.
I’m with you on that, Boo. Any of the galbanum scents are warm weather scents for me. Maybe I need to experiment….
yes, Chanel 19 is greener, so I agree more appropriate for warm weather!
I forgot about the L’O Immortelle fragrance. I’m putting that on my to try list now.
Kevin’s review on Immortelle was spot on!
Oh I have lots of comfort scents:
Laura Mercier Amber Passion Velvet/Minuit Enchantee
Kenzo Amour
Praline Santal
Tobacco Vanille by T. Ford
Bois des Iles
Montale’s Chocolate Greedy (for really really cold days)
Traversee du Bosphoro
Myrrhiad (a new one I love)
Parfum Sacre by Caron (probably the “new” version, sadly)
Bal a Versailles (my mom’s perfume)
And, like above comments, any scent I love, at that moment, is a reminder of how great and beautiful life is.
Aha, I just got a sample of Myrrhiad – really looking forward to trying it!
I hope you love it as I do! It reminds me a bit of Traversee du Bosphoro, but less sweet. It’s wonderful. Great on a cold, bitter day like we’re having out here in WY.
Oh dear… now I really have to try that one! I’ve been trying to ignore it, but a less sweet version of something I already like is always welcome.
Love TdB, but it is a candied leather, so a similar but less sweet scent would be welcome in the rotation!
Bulgari Black for me. It’s safe…but edgy.
Like a supermarket pumpkin carving kit?
I love the usual Guerlain suspects this time of the year – SDV, Attrape Coeur, L’Heure Bleue, but I also particularly enjoy SSS Incense Pure and have recently added Mecca Balsam to the list.
L’Heure Bleue is lovely in the winter, great choice!
I agree! I always associate LHB with soft wool sweaters (an association left over from high school!), although sometimes the anise actually reads a bit cool to me.
I was going to say Via del Profumo Mecca Balsam and SSS Tabac Aurea.
Almost scent twins! I love the smell of TA on others, but my skin blows up the musk too much. Unfortunately, I’m not a musk fan. 🙁
I wonder if that’s my issue with it too? Yet you don’t have that problem w/CdB, and I had a similar reaction to both of them.
Laurie says there’s no musk in CdB. You might object to her labdanum, which is prevalent in both.
I’m sure different people smell musks very differently – LT confirmed that when I asked the question in the recent LT/TS Q&A opportunity (he said the same was true of aquatic and woody notes). A little anosmia or hyperosmia here and there can really alter the balance of a perfume, I believe.
Maybe someday we’ll be able to test for anosmia/hyperosmia and order customized versions. I want Guerlain Vetiver pour Elle with one-tenth of the modern musk and Timbuktu with one-tenth of the cumin-celery note. 🙂
I agree! Wouldn’t that be great??? So many perfumes that started off swoon-worthy for me, bit the dust as the strong musk base took over.
I love Mecca Balsam but I get dry cleaning chemicals from Tabac Aurea. I’m quite upset about it. I don’t know if the perfume changed or if my perception of it did. I have noticed that some things smell different to me after chemotherapy. I am better able to tolerate aldehydes (at least Bois des Iles and Cuir de Russie) but I’m anosmic to most musks. They don’t even register until about Musc Rav levels.
Somewhere in The Guide, LT notes that musks are large molecules on the border of human perception, with many people anosmic to one or another. I think he said perfumers tend to use a mix of musks to counter that.
There’s a MPG called Iris Bleu Gris that The Non-Blond loves. Maybe it’s just that my bottle is reformulated, but to me it smells nice, but like most of it is just out of range – like higher notes are out of range of my hearing these days.
Thanks for the info! Is the ability to detect larger molecules related to age like hearing and vision? My mother in law had a neurological event in which she lost her sense of smell a few years before she developed Alzheimer’s disease. Actually it turned out to be extreme senile dementia, not Alzheimer’s, but I’ve always wondered if it was related.
I think Prada Candy is just out of my range – I can barely detect it after the alcohol burns off. I get a flash of the root beer note Robin mentioned but then I can only make out a vague warm-ish scent. I thought I knew and liked benzoin but maybe the “Cocktail of musks” in the middle is drowning out the “Benjoin overdose”
in the base? I’ve tried it several times and people seem to like it on me, but I wear perfume for my own enjoyment and it’s no good if I can’t smell it.
That’s an interesting question. There’ve been comments here indicating that ability to smell also wanes with age, but I don’t remember ever reading anything about whether particular notes are more vulnerable. One more reason to not to live for the day with one’s perfume collection! 😉
Im going to be enjoying Comme Des Garcons Jaisalmer and Guerlain L’Instant PH.
Well, I’m wearing Lonestar Memories right now, and finding it pretty comforting. When I want to feel bullet-proof I wear Fireside Intense, but I’m not sure that’s the same as comforting. Both are smokey scents, but Lonestar Memories is cuddly to me, probably because of the amber and resins in it.
Curling up with a book in a warm house on a cold night – Femme Jolie. Having to go out to work (or walk the dog) on a freezing day – EL Amber Ylang Ylang or JM Pomegranate Noir – both are fabulous in the cold. Needing to feel together – Prada Infusion D’Iris or Eau Ambree. Needing energy – OJ Osmanthus or Cristalle, or a blast of Mandarin Basilic.
Oh BTW a shout out to Brits – QVC uk now stock L’Artisan Parfumeur, handy for those who don’t live near good shopping.
Love your breakdowns, and I agree about the Pradas making one feel just so competent!
It’s hard for me to narrow it to a favorite, since comfort scents are my thing! I’m wearing Ambre Narguile today, which I love in winter. Also Bois Farine, Vanille Noire du Mexique, Eau de Charlotte, LD Tendre Madeleine, even Daphne I consider a comfort scent (esp. the drydown), Crazylibellule Vanille Macarons, usually bring out the Lolita Lempickas in winter too (the original and Eau Minuit or whatever it’s called, and L) … I could go on and on!
Lolita Lempicka Eau de Minuit has a hilarious (in my opinion) bottle this year. Juice is the standard Minuit I believe, unlike last year’s.
Haven’t seen it! Will have to look for it.
If that’s the one w/the black leather leaves… I LOVE that bottle! 😀 Can’t stand the juice though, so am out of luck.
That’s the one!
I adore Bois Farine. I bought a decant when I first became interested in perfume and thought of it as sort of a novelty rather than something I really wanted to wear. I pulled out all of my L’AP samples and decants a few months ago when I was deciding how to use a gift certificate and fell in love with it.
I often wonder how other people perceive some of the “weirder” fragrances in my collection that I’ve grown to love.
Isn’t it the best?! I do wonder how others perceive it, too, though — I will admit I’ve never gotten any compliments on it, and my sister thinks it smells like rotten peanuts. (I get much more wood shavings/cookie dough from it.)
I did get complements from a grocer 🙂 he said I smelled very *fresh* ! Another grocer commented when I wore Loukhoum “you smell good enough to eat” ha ha ha…
I have a lovely winter line up that warms me up even on those -40 days.
– lolita lempicka
– un Boise vanille
– Chergui
– ambre sultan
– black cashmere
And I’ve found Kate Walsh’s boyfriend is quite lovely for a bedtime fragrance as of late.
I almost look forward to winter so I can wear these lovely treasures.
You too, with -40 degrees to look forward to? You mentioned several that I meant to put on my list as well: Un Bois Vanille, Black Cashmere and another one. Stay warm!!
I love Chergui and luckily for me it wears very well in warm weather, too.
I think Boyfriend makes a pretty good budget substitute for UBV, actually.
Oh, so many! Certain types of scent are instant comfort to me – gourmands, particularly.
Spiritueuse Double Vanille
Havana Vanille
Tabac Aurea
Ava Luxe Cafe Noir
Coromandel
CJ Scents Gingerbread Amber
Theorema
Pacifica Tibetan Mountain Temple
PdN Maharanih
Kenzo Jungle l’Elephant
Winter Delice
L’air du Desert Marocain
Ah, also very fond of Theoema, Tabac Aurea and L’Air du Desert Marocain. And when it’s REALLY cold, I love PG Coze, which is a similar idea to Coromandel.
Yum! Good list 🙂
Compared to living in practically Siberia for a few years, Texas feels very warm to me. It’s still t-shirt and shorts weather here. When the weather does dip under 70 degrees I have curled up under the sheets with Ambre Naguile, Shalimar PI, or 31 Rue Cambon. However today is just muggy and damp and I have on L’Feu d”Issey, which ironically is still sold in Siberia.
Seriously?? That’s almost worth going to Siberia for.
Favorite comfort scent is SL Chene. Not the typical gourmand, but there is something about it. Other faves are Organza Indecence, SDV, Ambre Narguile, Coromandel and Vanille Noire du Mexique
Can’t believe Organza Indecence did not get a mention until this far down the page!
I wonder of all the L’Artisan bottles, which one I will choose to make me warm and cozy-do they have one?
I consider Bois Farine, L’Eau du Navigateur, La Vanilia, and even Traversee du Bosphore comfort scents. Jour de Fete too, but I’m pretty sure it’s discontinued.
My comfort scents are cadjmere and Aomassai….then it’s cuddle under a duvet time! 😉
I think my comfort scent from PG would be Crime Exotique. And yes to the duvet 🙂
I have a couple of samples of Kalimantan which I feel is perfect for grey dreary days especially whenit is raining or snowing. The benzoin overdose just makes me happy and will last through any storm. For less extreme misery I like Lollia Relax–honey/vanilla/lavender and floral yumminess
I’ve been ill recently and it’s effected my sinuses, and although I’ve been able to smell, things smell different. It’s also been getting colder, so I’ve been reaching for Bois Farine. It feels gourmand and homely, it’s not sexy or fancy, or fresh’n’zingy. Just right for mooching around in my pyjamas.
I find Champaca from Ormonde Jayne to be a wonderful comfort scent when I am working from home – it feels sophisticated and intriguing, but is low-key and so easy to wear.
If I’m going out for a relaxed dinner with close friends, I would reach for a comfort scent like Bulgari Black or Dzongkha. They are perfect for informal, relaxed evening wear and won’t overwhelm fellow diners!
My favourite summer comfort scents are Passage D’Enfer and Santa Maria Novella’s Zagara. Playful, joyful, bright and easy.
Love Bois Farine — you’ve inspired me to wear it tomorrow!
My brother and I used to wear twin fragrances in the winter – Lenel, his and hers. Now Lenel has morphed into de Roeschiele. As far as we can tell, only the male fragrance still exists. I used to love that scent and loved it that we had complementary scents. Now I order it for him from a distributor in Texas.
I also love Jicky in the winter – it’s just great in the snow.
I have not heard of those!
In addition to Mecca Balsam, Tabac Aurea and Coze, I’m very fond of Parfum Sacre as winter comfort scents.
Vtg Emeraude, Parfum Sacre, Shalimar Light, Dolce Vita parfum, and Alahine.
Oh, and I forgot! I just picked up a 10ml (15ml? can’t ‘member) Jovan Musk for Women for the whopping price of $3. That’s another comfort scent – it smells like a hug from my mom…
I always intend to look for some DV on ebay – someday I’ll remember!
Night Magic by Avon because it is the perfume my mom wore when I was little 🙂
Oh, I remember Night Magic!
My all-time comfort scent is CSP’s Lait Sucree.
Either… Chanel Pour Monsieur, AMen Pure Coffee or Jean paul Gaultier Le Male….
L’Eau d’Hiver, Organza Indecence, Tea for Two. Jo Malone Sweet Milk
Yay for OI 🙂
It’s not heading for winter where I live, so part of me mentally summoned up winter comforters, and another part: summer soothers:
Winter: – seconding Bulgari Black. It’s so good, it just always makes me feel better (strangely, don’t wear it that often)
– seconding/thirding/fourthing? Coromandel – all is OK with the world when I smell this wondrous
Summer: – Guerlain’s AA Rosa Magnifica – like a big voluptuous mama hugging and enveloping everyone and everything in sight
– Guerlain’s Meteorites – candy, but sophisticated
– Presciptives Calyx – for being so in control and classy, yet friendly
Hmm, I forgot about Black, thanks for the mention. I do really like it and rarely wear it but it is a wonderful winter scent.
I alternate my bottles of Ambre Narguile, Douce Amere, Shalimar, Thierry Mugler Pure Malt. However, every now and then, I use a light, citrus aromatic like Cartier Declaration Cologne to break the monotony.
Cuir de Russie. It never lets me down when I’m feeling a little chilly inside or out.
Good one, and one I forgot to mention!
Rapple, I thought your comfort scents were spot on!
🙂
This morning it’s gray and rainy, and I reached for Incense Kyoto. Boy, wouldn’t I love to be inside a cedar sauna right now…
For vanilla, L de Lolita, Bvlgari Black (I can see it’s getting a lot of love!), L’eau The One.
For chocolate, Bergamot Truffle (it’s also kind of nutty, as a bonus).
For, “Because I like it so much it is comforting”, Prada Amber (Prada is also feeling the love today!) and No. 5
And finally, my latest obsession, Toyko Milk’s Kabuki. I think I od’d on aldehydes and have been craving citrus as the possible antidote, and Kabuki has a pretty sugared grapefruit topnote which hits the spot and is followed by a cozy, vanillic, cookie-like drydown which can stand up to the weather. It’s delicious.
I’ll have to look for Kabuki, that sounds fun.
I’m another Texan so it’s not really “winter” here, in fact it hit 78 today here in Houston. But for the gray days and the chill that may come, I love Diptyque’s Tam Dao, especially to spray on my sheets and pillowcases. I find it very calming and love the incense-sandalwood combination. It’s not too severe and churchy, just meditative. In fact this reminds me, I need a new bottle, and soon!
Practically my entire wardrobe is comfort! It’s hard to choose just a few….. Lots of nice suggestions today!
Not a bad way to build a wardrobe!
Hmmm… for cold weather comfort, ambers and vanillas are the ones I turn to most. A few favorites: L’Artisan Havana Vanille, Atelier Vanille Insensee, Ava Luxe Madeline, Montale Blue Amber, MPG Ambre Precieux, PG L’Oiseau de Nuit, Micallef Note Ambree.
Madeline has always interested me; if she does a sale in the next few months, it might be a blind buy for me.
I did that last year, and I used it so much that I need a new little bottle. It’s very good!
love to layer in winter so I go to Ambre Narguile base with Poivre Samarcande on top; Eau d’Hermes is a great base, so is LeLabo Oud27; solo notes for me are Jicky (the perfume) and Hypnotic Poison always makes me feel I’m ready for the fireplace!
ummm teint de neige, attrape, bois de isle
good ideas, just adding some of the muskier ones: MKK, absolue pour le soir, felanilla..
I’m wearing Cologne pour le Soir today. I adore the light honeyed rose. Absolue pour le Soir is a cumin nightmare on me.
I’m not really one for comfort scents in general – most of my faves are on the crisp, bouncy, vivid side, rather than the pillowy, simple and soft. But there are always those days…Dior Hypnotic Poison is one I reach for when I need some brain-dead nose candy that satifies my sweet tooth without putting me in a sugar coma. And I’ll third (fourth?) Bulgari Black. It only ever seems to work for me when it’s blustery cold and overcast outside, and then I’ll end up wearing it for a week straight because everything else in my collection just seems “wrong”. It’s comforting yet remote, muted and squirrelly rather than chipper and cheerful, with an air of intelligence and admirable restraint. Black is one of those that I don’t wear all that often, but if I didn’t have any on hand I’d feel like a chicken with its head cut off.
Brain dead nose candy! Yeah, everybody needs at least a little bit of something that fits in that category.
Yep! Great phrase.
oh one more santa maria novella muschio oro
Ambre Narguile from Hermes and Timbuktu from L’Artisan are very nice and comforting for me in winter …
At the moment, my favorite comfort scent is Incensed by Smell Bent. That or Creed’s Tabarome 🙂
I’ll chime in on comfort scents Bal a Versailles edp, Barbara Bui, EL Sensuous, Smell Bent Incensed, Prada L’eau Ambree & pretty much any amber. I’m always hanging out at the ambery,woody,resiny, incensey end of the spectrum.
Just two that haven’t been mentioned – and which work for me: N.R. ‘For Her’ (I like the rollerball). This is a softly sweet, almost clean white musk, but it has this somewhat worn in feel to it that I find calming. Its a very personal scent (the rollerball has less sillage).
The other I like is Etat L.dO’s Divine Enfant. This one reminds me of childhood!
For Her is a good one, though for me more a wallpaper scent than a comfort one. It is snuggly, though, now you mention it.
Cold weather comfort: SDV (esp layered w/Bois de Paradis), Sycomore, Bois des Iles, Cuir de Russie, Ambre Russe, Traversee du Bosphore, Micallef Gaiac and Black Sea, M7, Tea for Two, Bois de Turquie, Lubin Idole, L’Eau d’Hiver, Midnight in Paris, and perhaps the pinnacle of them all, Egoiste. Love many incense and leather scents in the cold, too, but don’t think of them as comfort scents.
Oh, and I forgot Like This and Noel au Balcon.
I thought Like This would be mentioned more! I am surprised to only find it all the way down here
Still Teint de Neige, after all these years.
My all purpose comfort scent is Shalimar, along with most of the Guerlain line-up. I’ve been wearing some of my heavier vanilla fragrances like SDV and Note Vanille as well as my beloved Amber Narguile. I mentioned Cologne pour le Soir upthread and I’ve been craving more honey scented fragrances lately. Note Vanille has a nice honey note, and I have L’O Honey-Lemon and Honey-Vanilla, and I also like EL Sensuous honeyed goodness. I would really like some suggestions for other honey scents to try. Thanks!
Tokyo Milk’s Honey and the Moon, Yves Rocher Orange Blossom Honey, and Garden Botanika Honey Citrus are some of my favorites. The GB because it is exactly the scent of the honey butter my grandmother made.
I forgot I even had Honey and the Moon. I need to pull that out again. It seems to have been pushed to the back of the shelf.
hey julia, the new l’occitane imortelle has honey, comfort with a touch of “odd, strange” kind of like a brief pause to waken the brain!
oh and soir de lune has honey, but i dont find that frag comforting!
I definitely need to sniff the L’O immortelle fragrance. Thanks.
You can find the two MAC honey frags on e-bay. they were both very nice, imo. Montale’s Sweet Oriental Dream has a lovely honey note, but it is sweet!
I didn’t know I could still find the MAC scents. Somebody sent me samples of them right after they came out but they were already sold out and I thought I would never see them again! Yay!
I’m not a big fan of it, but on me Love, Chloe is major honey.
I also get a big honey note from SSS Vintage Rose.
Inspired by all of you and bored with Bandit, I went in search of a new comfort scent yesterday and came away with some surprises. Initially Acqua di Parma’s Gelsomino was swoon-worthy on me, but it sank to old-lady-powder-room within 15 minutes. Since I love the cedar in Tiempe Passate, I gave SL Cedre a shot. It was shriekingly loud and pungent for close to an hour, but I withstood the urge to scrub and it evolved wonderfully for close to 24 hours. Still not sure it’s FB for me. Recently have given away too many scents that “seemed like a good idea at the time!”
You might like Aqua Allegoria Jasminora if AdP Gelsomino was a no.
Thanks for a great idea – Guerlain usually works on me. AdP and I only seem to get along in the Blue Mediterreano series.
I have so many! YR Neonatura Cocoon, Parfum Sacre, Nuit de Noel, Aimez Moi, PG Ilang Ivoihibe, Borneo 1834, AG Ambre Fetiche, Vol de Nuit, and Anne Pliska for starters.
I always forget about Anne Pliska and I really like it. Have you tried the parfum? I’m very curious about it.
Ooh, no, I haven’t. Must sample. Thank you.
It’s a relative bargain, I guess. Lucky has it for $68 for .25oz. Tiny, but a pretty bottle.
Lately I overdosed on sweetness in perfume, so I keep turning to Miyako by Annayake for comfort. The frankincense is very calming, and its mellower than something like Avignon. But I also love some that were mentioned above, including Coromandel and OJ Tolu.
hi Julia – re honey recommendation – do you know L’Occitane’s Eau de Miel? The talk and thoughts of comfort made me reach for it yesterday. It has the comforting snuggly quality of a nursery scent, then suddenly surprises with that back-of-the-throat sharp scratch that eating pure raw honey can give
I didn’t know about that one. Another reason to visit my L’O store. Thanks!
usually, the cool weather is my signal to go oriental, Shalimar above all, with Queen by Queen Latifah and Ralph Hot as standbys. Of all things, though, I am sticking with the tropical tuberose/frangipani confection that is Mayotte. I bought it this summer, and was disappointed that it barely registered on me. On fabric was another matter. My sheets and jammies get a spritz that lasts days. It is all buttery sweetness with no edges, and maybe the tropical association keeps me warm.
my comfort in winter is provided by Samsara, Classique by JPG EDP, Alien, Lady Caron – mostly in fall though, Kenzo Jungle Elephant and sth I haven’t got, yet, Dioressence;-)
I didn’t post on this over the weekend because I thought I had too many comfort scents to name one. However, last night before going to bed I sprayed Chanel #5 on myself. When I woke up this morning, I realized that Chanel #5 has been my main comfort scent since I was 20 years old–not just in winter but all year round. It dawned on my that I don’t wear it that often during the day, but tend to wear quite a lot before bedtime.
Sorry for the typos in my previous post, but I am writing this at work and have to do it very quickly!
Chêne – Serge Lutens
Ambre Sultan – Serge Lutens
Ambre Russe – Parfum d’Empire
Sweet Oriental Dream – Montale
Winter Delice – Guerlain
Teint de Neige – Lorenzo Villoresi