‘Tis the Season! The days surrounding Christmas are often associated with cozy things like good food, fireplaces, warm sweaters, Harry Potter-marathons and more. For fragrance lovers, this is the time to pull out your most cozy, Christmas-appropriate fragrances. When I think about those, I mostly think about sweeter scents, spices, woods, but also some with a personal connection/nostalgia to previous Christmas days. Here are 15 perfumes that fit the cozy X-mas theme for me.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Grand Soir
This is the quintessential Christmas scent for me. It is a warm, sweet and spicy scent, but frankly, not the most cozy out there. I do think it fits Autumn and Winter weather very well, but I list Grand Soir mainly due to my personal history with it. I started to get seriously invested into (niche) perfumes in the Summer of 2019. By December of that year, I had a few fragrances, but was looking to buy some of my first ‘loves’ for Christmas. That ended up being Frederic Malle Portrait Of A Lady and this, Grand Soir. And that year, I wore Grand Soir during the Christmas days and family Christmas dinner. It became a tradition I’ve kept for the years following to wear it at least once during Christmas.

Jovoy Remember Me
Remember Me has always been a favorite of mine, but I finally added it to the collection in 2024; and I like it even more now that I have it. This is one of the coziest fragrances on the market for me. Quite gourmand, with a tea facet that makes it wear. Very versatile and one that I think would fit perfectly for the occassion.

Bon Parfumeur 502 – Iris Cartagena [#AD]
Now, I feel that Iris Cartagena is not as cozy as many people expect it to be, based on the notes. It’s not overly gourmand, it’s not the most easy going. Yet, it has those facets and what it brings to the table as a Christmas scent, is the forest. Iris Cartagena adds the rooty, earthy and forest-like qualities to an otherwise edible, chocolate core. Last year I would’ve listed D:SOL MMXVI Terram for this purpose, but Bon Parfumeur delivered one of my favorites of 2024 with 502.

The Different Company Majaina Sin
Majaina Sin is the embodiment of a (Christmas) fruit cake. Very sweet, with a lot of vanilla, a lot of spices, but a stronger hint of fruitiness than the other picks on the list. You get this citrussy orange blossom cutting through, to deliver a contrast to all the sweetness and spices.

One Day Seoul [#AD]
An absolute gem of a fragrance. Seoul is the concept of having a coffee, on a cold, snowy Winter’s day. It balances the subtle bitter and semi-sweet coffee, with vetiver, for some greener and more woody sides. It feels very understated compared to many coffee fragrances, more mature and calming. It’s a less-typical fragrance that makes me feel zen. Probably less of a fragrance that I’d pick to wear to Christmas dinner with the family, but more so to wear for myself on a cold morning.

Serge Lutens Arabie
Admittedly, I don’t know how well newer bottles of Arabie have retained this feeling, but my older batch Arabie is one of the first things I think about when I think about spices for Christmas. Very sweet, almost chewy resinous, I would say semi-gourmand, but mostly spicy. What sets this apart is the resinous and very oily texture; it almost feels like applying an attar. To me this is where spice meets comfort.

Amouage Santal Sohar
Speaking of attars… Santal Sohar is my favorite of all the (newer) Amouage attar offersings. Sandalwood and in this case, sweetened, honeyed sandalwood, lends itself perfectly for the attar form factor. This is about as cozy and smooth as it gets. If it weren’t for the high price-point, I would absolute love to own a bottle of this one day, in which case, I’ll make sure to wear it for Christmas.

Scents Of Wood Plum In Cognac [#AD]
A very popular release in recent years, and rightfully so. Plum In Cognac is one of the cozier scents in its class. Personally, I wear this more as a sweet tobacco in the same vein as Herod, than I do as a boozy or fruity scent. The difference with many similar fragrances is the lactonic, smooth wearing experience. Almost creamy, and definitely a crowd-pleaser.

Chabaud Lait Et Chocolat
I was thinking of a true gourmand to add to the list, and one that I hadn’t highlighted in lists before. Lait Et Chocolat is a super simple and super short-lived (at least the good part) fragrance, but the opening is among the most addictive ever. Smelling like straight up Nutella for a moment, growing milky and then giving me the urge to respray almost instantly. Which is exactly what you could / should do around the Holidays if you own this fragrance.

Byredo Seven Veils
A bit of a cop out, as this is discontinued and hard to find. It is however, one of the most lovable sweet and (soft) spicy scents. I think that Casamorati Bouquet Ideale is a decent compromise for Seven Veils, albeit that I prefer the latter.

OJAR Wood Whisper [#AD]
The notes may paint a very different picture, but Wood Whisper gives me a strong connection to the forest. But in a sweet way. It may have something to do with me the Wood Whisper fragrance mist version for quite a lot of hikes in the forest. Either way, this balances woods, some florals with a slight Baccarat Rouge-esque sweetness and when I think of the combination of (pine) trees and warm sweetness, Wood Whisper is a great fit.

Musicology Close To Midnight
When I think of cozy, one of my absolute favorites is Dior Bois D’Argent (or VCA Bois D’Iris), but I’ve listed those in lists before. A great, slightly more gourmand take on that DNA would be Close To Midnight for me. It’s like taking a drop of the labdanum-heavy Shalimar sweetness to the powdery vibe from Bois D’Argent. Often compared to Maison Violet Sketch, which I find to be more babypowder.

Strangers Parfumerie Comme Un Carrousel
Strangers has a couple of interesting potential Christmas picks, like one of my absolute favorites, Burning Ben. As with Burning Ben, Comme Un Carrousel would be a more daring pick and likely the one from this list that could offend some of your family members. Ashy tobacco and cough syrup come to mind, but also very Christmassy, with a prominent role for cinnamon and some booziness (reminding me glühwein). Somewhat similar to Der Duft Cinematic.

Veronique Gabai Sexy Garrigue [#AD]
Sexy Garrigue reminds me of a fruit stew, like spiced, stewed pears. But as the name suggests, in a sexy way? It’s like a more mature, darker fruit cake than Majaina Sin from earlier in the list. It comes across as boozy to my nose, in the way Moresque Contessa or Casamorati 1888 can do, but Sexy Garrigue is smoother and easier to pull off than those.

Versatile Croissant Cafe
Let’s close this list with another gourmand. Albeit, that Croissant Cafe is surprisingly woody as it dries down. That being said, the perfume oil concentration (with roll-on application) makes for such a smooth and soft wear. Croissant Cafe reminds me of a mix of Teo Cabanel Oh La La and Cafe Cabanel, but arguably even nicer to wear.