Fall is my favorite season, but it’s also the most challenging time of year in New England. The perfect weather lasts only a few weeks, and then the sun sets at 4:30 pm, the temperature drops, and winter sometimes arrives before we even celebrate Thanksgiving. But hey, it’s also the time of year when I can indulge in my love for cold-weather scents and let them enjoy even a little daylight. Here are my top five scents that I absolutely cannot live without, in no particular order.
5. Louis Vuitton – Ombre Nomade
Listen, I get it, I’ve written about this one a few times, but it stands alone in a crowded room just waiting to be acknowledged and if you haven’t already, you need to jump on this one this season. I’ve given this a 9.4/10 in my most recent blog and with absolutely good reason too. It’s SO powerful, three sprays will take you into the next couple of days and that’s something that I can attest to through experience. If you go gung-ho and spray like a beast you will absolutely fill the room and potentially choke out everyone in it. I think the only time I’d say go heavy is if you’re outdoors and someone can take a couple steps back if the need to. Other than that, it’s filled with oud, incense, rose, raspberry, saffron, amberwood, birch, benzoin and geranium. I don’t think I could ever let this fragrance go and it will always be in my collection. Can’t recommend this one enough, if you haven’t already…get one right here…today.
4. Givenchy – Gentleman Society Extreme
I believe I had the original Gentleman Society in my top five fragrances of 2023 as well as my 5 New Fragrances to Start 2023, but this one is different so I can write about it again. The original and the extreme version are way too similar to write about their differences, it’s more about their similarities. It’s another case of “this designer created a fragrance, then spit out another one, and another one, put a different concentration label on it, called it a day”. I will say though, the Extreme version is the one that you didn’t know you wanted but actually did. I owned the original Gentleman Society and sold it to get the Extreme version and man I’m glad I did. This one out-performs the original by a mile without question and it definitely gets a lot of compliments. Not only does it last longer but projects even better than the last one. The notes are nutmeg, peppermint, clary sage, coffee, orris root, French narcissus, Madagascar vetiver, Haitian vetiver, regular vetiver, Madagascar vanilla, Australian sandalwood and Himalayan cedar. Not quite sure why there’s three types of vetivers in here but whatever it is, it works. If you haven’t tried this one yet, you can grab one here and I definitely recommend this one for sure.
3. Tom Ford – Oud Wood Parfum
My first bottle of Oud Wood EDP was one of my first “expensive” fragrance purchases. Bought it off eBay (don’t judge), and it was one of my absolute favorites. But the scent alone wasn’t what I was truly after. The scent is perfect in my opinion, but what made it a tough sell for me was longevity. I’ve said this many times – if you ask me to pay north of $300 for a fragrance, it needs to last 6 to 8 hours minimum, no questions asked and no excuses. You can’t tell me that a $19 bottle of Nautica Voyage will last me 10+ hours but a $300+ bottle of Oud Wood will only last me 4 or 5 hours. That was where I had to let it go. I couldn’t see myself carrying around this bottle in my pocket to re-up every few hours and make sure it was still present on my skin. That all changed with the Parfum version that just came out this year. Take ALL of the good stuff about Oud Wood and make it last until the sun goes down. Notes are cardamom, pink pepper, rosemary, sandalwood, oud, patchouli, vetiver, vanilla, tonka and amber. My love for Oud Wood is forever re-kindled with this new fragrance. It’s dark, it’s sweet, it’s woody and it’s perfect in my opinion. Give this one a try but try the original one as well and see if you can tell where I’m coming from. It’s just so good.
2. Maison Martin Margiela– By the Fireplace
The Replica line is a line that I really think is slept on and I think it’s mostly because they’re not really cheap and also, they are I think all EDT concentrations, which everyone knows usually means they aren’t good performers. But…there are a few sleepers in this line and By the Fireplace is definitely one of them. I grabbed a decant of this one and tried it out and I have to say, if you live up north where it’s cold and you rely on cold-weather fragrances, and you grew up around fireplaces or campfires, you’ll get it. You just know what I’m talking about. It’s comfort in a bottle. As soon as it hits your nose it takes you back and reminds you of better times with good people around the fire. I used to go camping as a pre-teen and this fragrance really brings me back to those times at the campsite sitting around the campfire with my family and friends and enjoying life. That’s what Replica aims to do with this line, and they nail it every time. The notes here are cloves, pink pepper, orange blossom, chestnut, guaiac wood, juniper, vanilla, Peru balsam, and cashmeran. Give this one a try for yourself and, if you like it, there are other great cold weather fragrances from this house worthy of trying as well.
1. Goldfield & Banks – Purple Suede
I can’t remember when I first smelled this one but obviously it was good enough to order a full bottle and sit in my collection. This is a fragrance from a house in Australia that uses local ingredients to produce niche-quality fragrances at reasonable prices. Reasonable meaning that you can probably get two 100ml bottles for cheaper than a 50ml bottle of Tom Ford Oud Wood Parfum. Don’t think that the lesser price means lesser fragrance because it does not. This fragrance is one that I’ve worn multiple times and people around me just can’t stop talking about it and none of the comments are negative. It’s a leather-based fragrance and I’ll be honest, I gave up Tom Ford Ombre Leather and kept this in my collection instead, so that should say how good this is. Leather, lavender, pink pepper, leatherwood, hyssop, coriander, cashmeran, oud, amber, patchouli, civet, and oakmoss are the notes for this fragrance. Civet is a musk scent and in all my years I’ve never heard of leatherwood but whatever it is makes up for a really great cold weather fragrance. If you haven’t tried anything from Goldfield & Banks, here’s your chance. Their fragrances are really unique and there’s something there for everyone.
Final Thoughts
There you have it! My top five cold weather fragrances right now. These five are in my active rotation, as I write this blog and while I have more cold weather fragrances in my arsenal, these are the ones that turn most heads and I’m curious to see if you’ve tried them yet or what your thoughts are on them. Leave your comments below on what your favorite cold weather fragrance is. As always, I’ll catch you guys in the next one. Peace!
