In the United States, we’re at the gateway of the season of Way Too Much Food and Booze. I’m not going to suggest you lay off the pumpkin pie or look the other way when the office manager waves the company credit card and suggests you all go out for a holiday drink. That’s your business. But if you decide you need a break, yet still want to smell like a party, here are five boozy scents to consider, paired with the outings at which you might wear them:
Liquides Imaginaires Dom Rosa: Best worn when a friend suggests you meet up at the bar at a fancy, wreath-decked hotel for a glass of wine. Dom Rosa is from Liquides Imaginaires' Eaux Sanguines trilogy and was inspired by Dom Perignon Rosé. I’d peg it for a fruitier wine than that — maybe even veering to tropical cocktail territory — but I heartily agree on “pink.” Dom Rosa is cheerful and delicious, and its woody-incense base keeps it on the classy side of wine cooler, but just barely. (Notes include champagne, pomelo, pear, rose, clove, frankincense, woods, cedar, vetiver and lignum vitae).
Nasomatto Baraonda: Wear this when you’re invited to a party by the neighbor who just got back from Antigua with a bottle of rum and a recipe for toddies. Baraonda smells like a mouth-burning sip of rum aged in oak barrels. It has a brown sugar sweetness that eases up after a few minutes and quiets, but it’s fairly linear and simple. Rum and wood. If this were actual booze, I’d fear a wicked hangover. Take the Baraonda instead. (No notes listed.)
Profumum Fumidus: This one will get you through drinks with your father-in-law at his club, especially if your drinks are taken next to a fireplace that smokes a bit. Fumidus is a stiff potion of woodsmoke without the fire, and scotch whisky without the bandaid-like scent of peat. This one is also fairly linear: woodsmoke, smoke, and more smoke, but none of the heat of the fire that Serge Lutens Chêne, another boozy fragrance, holds. (Notes include essence of distilled scotch, vetiver and birch bark.)
Xerjoff Richwood: Dinner is over, and the host brings out a tray of glasses of Madeira. You’d rather not partake. To envision Richwood, imagine sipping sweet, aged Madeira in a sandalwood forest at dusk with rose petals stuck to your feet. That sounds better than a digestif after another rich meal any day, and Richwood lasts even longer than a star restaurant’s most expensive tasting menu. (Notes include Mysore sandalwood, citrus accord, rose and patchouli.)
Lubin Gin Fizz: Your girlfriends are in revolt. No more gut-busting dinner parties. They’ve dragged you to happy hour for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. You turn down a gin and tonic and opt for Gin Fizz’s effervescent burst of citrus and juniper. It’s invigorating, but not overly assertive after its first few minutes. As you hug your friends goodbye, they’ll say, “You smell so fresh and, um, un-Christmas-like.” Mission accomplished. (Notes include bergamot, lemon, mandarin, juniper berry, iris, galbanum, orange blossom, rose absolute, jasmine, lily, benzoin, vetiver, oakmoss and white musk.)
Happy almost-Holidays, everyone! Don’t forget that seltzer water with a few shakes of bitters and a lemon twist is a great alternative to liquor if you can’t find the right perfume substitute.
This list barely skims the boozy perfume possibilities. What are your favorites?
Note: top image is One is not enough, two is too many. [background extended] by Ken Johnson at flickr; some rights reserved.
What a fun post, Angela, and perfectly timed! I bought a bottle of champagne not an hour ago for the traditional mimosas at the family T’giving Day dinner.
Hmm… boozy perfumes. My bottle of SDV is long gone (I miss it dreadfully and am thiiiis close to replacing it) and that had a great boozy note. I do have YSL Champagne but to my nose it bears no resemblance to anything alcoholic.
Don’t the “holidays” start the day after Halloween??
Enjoy yours!
If YSL were a cocktail, it would probably be a champagne cocktail with a squeeze of nectarine juice. SDV is a great boozy scent! That reminds me that the Frapin line is practically all boozy stuff.
And enjoy your holidays, too!
Lubin Gin Fizz sounds right up my alley right about now. Especially since I am on some strong medications and can’t partake in any alcohol . Heck, if I can’t beat em’, at least I can smell like them. LOL!
Liquides Imaginaires Dom Rosa sounds nice too. But, Lubin sounds like I would get more bang for my buck.
Gin Fizz is easy to wear, and to me that’s its biggest recommendation. It makes a refreshing summer scent, too.
I hope the medications do their work well and quickly!
Thanks! Me too!
My favorite winey, boozy scent was the short-lived Kors by Michael Kors. I still think it was his best scent. It was rich full-bodied red wine scent.
Just to show you how decrepit my brain is, for some reason I had the idea Kors was a gardenia scent. I must be confusing it with something else!
Your brain is fine. The gardenia one is called Michael, Michael Kors. ( it might be tuberose) it’s still available.
Thank you!
What a great pre-holiday ramp up post Angela! Love Gin Fizz too. My fav boozy scent is AC Gold Leather. The first time I tried Gold Leather was to a company Christmas dinner. After I heavily applied and got in the elevator, I realized that I smelled like I had already started the party in my hotel room….whoops. Rookie mistake, I know????????
What kind of booze does Gold Leather smell like? I bet you were a hit at the company party!
Rum and spiced wine, from the plum notes. Have to admit, I felt very self conscious hugging the boss and his wife ????????
Very festive!
It smelled like whiskey and cognac on me. Love at first sniff!
I was thinking Gold Leather as I read. My husband likes it so I just got him a bottle. It’s great but both boozy and LOUD!
Could work, for the right party!
When I got the 30 piece discovery set from Atelier Gold Leather is the one I really thought I would love…but didn’t ….it was just odd and very potent…I passed it on to a family member who is a beginner perfumista…if she returns it I will try it again :)…..I like to be open in my perfume experiences and a second or third round might turn me around to liking it……
I can’t even tell you how many times that has been true for me! I think something is meh, or maybe I actively dislike it, and a year later I can’t get enough of it.
You’ve inspired me to try to find my Gin Fizz sample.
I’ll add Queen and Ambre Russe to the list.
True story: Several years ago when I had just received my bottle of Ambre Russe, I sprayed what I thought was a conservative spritz or three. Went to work at my job in city government and was working away when the police chief came into my office to ask me a question. He looked at me funny, hemmed and hawed, and finally whispered: “Have you been ….. drinking?” I had to have him sniff my wrist before I could convince him that no, not at 8:30 in the morning!
Hahaha!
That’s hilarious! I considered Ambre Russe for this post, in fact!
Great story! My favourite boozy scents are Ambre Russie and Laudano Nero.
I haven’t even heard of Laudano Nero. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for it.
Angela, email me at lasto4ka5 in the laaand of geemail dawt com with your address and I’ll send you a sample.
I’ll be in touch!
Fun list! I also love how Frederic Malle Angeliques Sous La Pluie has a gin & tonic opening
I love how that scent goes from cool to warm. It’s one of my favorites for spring.
Now I crave it. It will be my SOTD tomorrow if I can find the sample vial
I’ll get mine out, too!
The J. Crew/Arquiste perfumes (Nos. 31 & 57 I believe) are nice boozy scents. I haven’t worn them yet this season (they only work for me in cold weather) so I can’t remember which is which, but my favorite is the one that smells of roses and red wine.
I haven’t sampled any of those, and I’m trying to bone up on my Arquiste! Thanks for the heads up. Roses and red wine sounds very nice.
Fun post with some lovely mentions! Unfortunately, when I think of perfumes that smell like booze, the one that always comes to mind is not one that I particularly like…does anyone remember Design by Paul Sebastian? It’s not so much that it smells like alcohol, per se, it’s even more specific than that…I’ll be darned if it doesn’t smell, to me, EXACTLY like that weird, sickly sweet smell that one exudes the morning after imbibing a few too many cocktails. I still see it in stores occasionally, if you come across it, try it and tell me if it isn’t a dead ringer for that distinctive, slightly sickening alcohol breath/booze coming out of pores smell!
That sounds AWFUL! Ick. I won’t be able to tell you if it smells like the day after, because I’m staying far away from it….
Yep, to my nose it is pretty revolting…I remember, however, that it had a solid fan base in the late 80’s/early 90’s, so clearly other people must not pick up what I do in it!
It’s tough, though. Once you get an idea about what something smells like, it’s really hard to shake it!
I try not to wear boozy scents to work because of possible unexpected encounters in the elevator. I work in a headquarters building and the CEO sometimes takes the same elevators as mere mortals.
Boozy scents I like include:
Guerlain SDV
By Kilian Single Malt
By Kilian Apple Brandy
Atelier Cologne Cedrat Enivrant
I have to find my sample of Gin Fizz! It sounds like a lot of fun!
I remember that you have to play it cool at work *sigh*. It looks like you have some good options for post-work time, though!
LOVE Cedrat Enivrant and would not have thought of it as booze but hajusuuri you are absolutely right!
So that’s the second Atelier that’s boozy that I hadn’t suspected–I obviously need to get to know this line better.
Botrytis? Too obvious? I have fallen out of like with the perfume, but still enjoy a sip of the ‘noble rot’ now and then if it is served very cold.
No such thing as too obvious–thank you for posting it! (And now I’m thirsty.)
Frapin 1697 Absolu de Parfum smells like cognac and creme brulee. MMMMMMMMMMMM!
Now I’m thirsty AND hungry!
I adore Frapin’s 1270. Nothing but stewed pineapple and cognac and I’m one that really doesn’t like fruit in perfume. In 1270’s case, it works. 1697 is similar to 1270 but a toned down version.
It sounds like a boozy pineapple upside down cake!
I love this one too!
I did not think I loved a boozy fragrance until hajusuuri reminded me of Cedrat Enivrant. And then it got me thinking of Pacifica’s Avalon Juniper (long discontinued) which is still in my collection…grapefruit, heliotrope and juniper berries….must be the last note which reminds me of booze……
The Pacifica scents are so often overlooked, but they’re nice basic scents, especially for the price!
I love me some Dom Rosa. ????
How about Viktoria Minya Hedonist that smells of rum?
They didn’t call it Hedonist for nothing! I’ll go find my sample….
Baraonda is so so so good.
And obviates the need for a hot toddy on a cold evening!
Guerlain’s Homme is based on the mojito.
I had no idea! Thank you for chiming in with that.
What a fun post
My favorite is Ambre Russe – I imagine it worn while curled up in a cozy leather chair before a fire, after a loud dinner at a crowded restaurant. The old Bulgari Blu Notte for women smelled like dark chocolate and iced vodka but then it was changed to amp up a tenacious musk base and finally discontinued, boo.
I can picture it so well from your description! I need a cozy leather chair and fireplace now.
Me too!