Three things keep coming up in this season’s autumn perfumes. Spiced gourmands are softer and milkier than in previous years. Iris is turning up in a lot of new launches. Fruit is being paired with coffee and darker notes instead of more sugar.
Start with what you already wear
If citrus got you through summer, look for it over something woody. STORIES Nº.01 opens on bergamot, grapefruit and green fig, then cedarwood, jasmine, heliotrope and English tea take over before sandalwood, amber, vetiver and tonka come through. It’s still bright, just heavier than anything you wore in July.
Nº.01 Eau de Parfum
£170 (100ml) | STORIES
Key notes: bergamot, fig, English tea, cedarwood, tonka
Swap rose for tuberose
Max Mara’s new Le Parfum arrived this September for the house’s 75th anniversary, inspired by the 101801 coat, so the timing is good. Fabrice Pellegrin and Marie Salamagne used two tuberoses, a fresh one from Grasse and a creamy Guatemalan absolute, over vanilla, sandalwood and cedarwood. It’s creamy, and the woods keep it in check.
Le Parfum Eau de Parfum
£144 (100ml) | Max Mara
Key notes: tuberose, vanilla, sandalwood, cedarwood
Powder instead of sugar
L’Entropiste Blanc Sada is milky rice powder and iris, inspired by a geisha’s makeup, with a little lychee and a green thread of straw and tatami. It smells like a freshly opened compact. People will only notice it up close.
Blanc Sada Eau de Parfum
£260 (100ml) | L’Entropiste
Key notes: rice powder, iris, lychee, straw
Or go straight for spice
Commodity’s new Spice was inspired by the ritual of making chai. Perfumer Christelle Laprade started with saffron, surrounded it with allspice, cardamom and nutmeg, then softened it with cinnamon sugar, condensed milk, tonka and sandalwood. It’s the most classically autumnal bottle here, and like every Commodity scent it comes in three strengths: Personal, Expressive and Bold.
Spice Expressive Eau de Parfum
€160 (100ml) | Commodity
Key notes: saffron, allspice, cinnamon sugar, tonka, sandalwood
Sweet, with coffee
Strawberry isn’t an obvious autumn note. In Black Opium Pink Glaze, YSL puts it over the line’s jasmine, black coffee and vanilla, and the coffee stops it turning sugary. Wear it for drinks, when your everyday woods can have the night off.
Black Opium Pink Glaze Eau de Parfum
£76 (30ml) | YSL Beauty
Key notes: strawberry, jasmine, coffee, vanilla
Save the richest for evenings
Miller Harris gave perfumer Mathieu Nardin one passage from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night as the brief for Scherzo. Tangerine and boozy davana open onto dark rose, peony and narcissus, then patchouli, oud and vanilla. It’s the most dressed-up bottle here.
Scherzo Eau de Parfum
£125 (50ml) | Miller Harris
Key notes: tangerine, davana, rose, oud, vanilla
Keep one fresh
Not everything has to get heavier. Jean-Claude Ellena’s Un Jardin sur le Nil, inspired by the island gardens of Aswan, is green mango, lotus and sycamore with a little incense underneath. Reach for it on mild October afternoons and overheated trains.
Un Jardin sur le Nil Eau de Toilette
£122 (100ml) | Hermès
Key notes: green mango, lotus, sycamore, incense
