Colder weather may make us instinctively nuzzle into warm, ambery scents, but as the temperature dips I’m all for steering into the skid with herbaceous, frosty, invigorating scents that somehow smell cold. Tom Ford Soleil Neige (£69 for 10ml) was inspired by snow and made for this mood. If I were someone for whom a skiing holiday was even a remote ambition (I am certainly not), I would wear this crisp, airy but downright sexy vanilla musk to counteract the misery of padded clothing and sunburn.
Gin holds as little appeal for me as skiing, and yet I also inexplicably love Penhaligon’s Juniper Sling (£85 for 30ml), which manages to filter out the boozy whiff of Gordon’s and tonic while retaining its bracing botanical punch. This is refined and wearable on a cold day and sits as comfortably over casual knits and jeans as it would in a more formal, professional setting.
Cold doesn’t always mean wet, of course, but autumn invariably brings plenty of both – and no one conveys a sense of rain-soaked British landscape like perfumer Lyn Harris. Her Perfumer H Rain Wood fragrance combines notes of angelica (the classic “rain note”), more of that vibrant juniper, sappy woods and patchouli leaves that give the whole thing a rich, almost peaty, base. It is perfectly balanced – a delicate watercolour of a rugged setting, and among my most worn scents of the past few autumns.
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That said, it’s £190 for 100ml, so you may prefer to try Harris’s Sea Moss creation for the clothing brand Sunspel, which is £80 for 50ml, also very beautiful and has a similarly elemental spirit. Bibbi’s Swimming Pool (€120/about £105 for 30ml) is tremendous fun. Instantly cooling and enlivening in a sticky summer, crisp and appropriate in cold weather, this fizzy, herbal, mentholated scent is enough to clear your sinuses. Think outdoor pool at a posh Hungarian spa, rather than communal foot dip at the municipal baths. There’s no screechy chlorine here, but there is a cold, head-clearing vibrance – a sort of olfactory plunge pool – and it’s a joy.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Aqua Media Cologne Forte (£115 for 35ml) is flat-out freezing. This is sparkling citrus iced tea, but with a gentle musk and delayed puff of powder that gives it a more nuzzly, less clippy quality, which makes it more intimate.
All of the above are marketed as gender neutral, should you still need a marketeer’s permission to smell however you like.
