“Well, the frost is on the pumpkin and the hay is in the barn..” That means it’s time to talk about the Best Perfumes for Fall 2012!
It’s that time of year where the leaves are turning (at least for us Northern Hem folks – Portia, Down Under, will have to fake it! 😀 ). As I type this it’s a chilly 38F – a bit early for those nipply temps – and we’re scheduled for an uptick in the weather – but it’s funny how even a short burst of colder weather sparks that urge to start battening down the hatches and migrate inward. Suddenly, hot cinnamon rolls and coffee sound like a grand idea! (Resist, Anita! RESIST!)…and the cooler, shortening days make getting up at 5:30a…well, let’s just say that snuggly duvet feels mighty good!
As the season turns, so do most of our perfume choices. So, without further ado, here are the Posse’s choices for Best Perfumes for Fall:
Tom sez his Best Perfumes for Fall is :
Opus Oils M’Eau Joe No. 3: it their “Hollywood Whisky Fragrance” and it smoky, warm, with and almost “chewy”, and now that it’s actually cool enough I can really give myself a good healthy spritz.The Fabulous Portia (who is going to teach me (and me – Patty) how to wear EYELASHES!)
Here are 3 Best Perfumes for Fall for you. I’ve given you Cheap. Middle and R.U.F.Joking?
Halle by Halle Berry: Such a great value Oriental that opens fresh green citrus, then goes through flowers, ends up spice and wood. I get some chocolate too but it’s just me. Lasts for hours and has well priced body lotion that I adore and use regularly alone or to layer.
Oud Ispahan by DIOR: Delicate, spicy, vintage Ispahan rose and Oudh done so elegantly and melded seamlessly into a magic potion for those cooling days of autumn. Lovely sillage and soft but insistent scent bubble that will bring the boys to the yard to taste your milkshakes.
Bottega Veneta Parfum: In the R U F Joking range Bottega Veneta Parfum in the Baccarat bottle is a soft super luxury leather and not-sweet-fruit fragrance that only you and your closest intimates will know you are wearing. Selfish perfumery that lasts for hours and hours and huffs up your top and surprises you till you go to bed. The people that are lucky enough to get this close will be glad they did.
March picks her best perfumes for fall: This is the time of year I switch to my old favorites — like Worth Courtesan, which Luca Turin dissed pretty hard and I don’t care. I bought it in Edinburgh and it reminds me of chilly air, hilly streets, and gorgeous young men in kilts. Really, what more does one need? Also I’ve been wearing the heck out of my Fendi Asja, the sadly discontinued (?) scent which is both office-appropriate and reminds me of apple cider and warm, dusty radiators, and I mean that as a total compliment. Speaking of which, since I’m a shameless scent slut, if anyone has a bottle of Asja at home, unloved and unwanted, I’d love to buy it.
Miss Ann’s Picks for Best perfumes for Fall:
Byredo Gypsy Water — As in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this one is just right.
Just the right mix of lemon, bergamot, pine, incense and vanilla, all keeping each other in the perfect balance, and light enough not to be offensive. It’s cuddly-comforting without being too sweet or cloying; it strikes me as one of those
Just the right mix of lemon, bergamot, pine, incense and vanilla, all keeping each other in the perfect balance, and light enough not to be offensive. It’s cuddly-comforting without being too sweet or cloying; it strikes me as one of those
scents that fall into the “your skin but better” category. I only wish it wore a little longer — this would be great supplemented by its matching body lotion or cream, if and when I’m ever back in the dough.
Faberge Imperial — Here is a rediscovered gem: a love of mine from some 16 years ago, which I’ll be posting about in
the very near future. This gorgeous floral, smooth as silk with its whisper of carnation, smells like just the thing
for dressing up and going out to dinner during the cool evenings of autumn.
Amouage Interlude Woman — This elusive chameleon, with its underpinning of incense shot through with bursts
of kiwi, marigold and lots more, has been amazing in the summer heat,
so I can hardly wait to see what tricks it has up its sleeve in the chill of fall. My prediction: Simply magical!
so I can hardly wait to see what tricks it has up its sleeve in the chill of fall. My prediction: Simply magical!
Musette’s Best Perfumes for Fall:
I was going to bore you guy to flinders with my regular Autumn rotation but I (and you, dear Posse) have lucked out! because the weather has been glorious so I can wear different scents!!! After a freakishly hot Summer we plunged into insanely cold temps (38F? Wth?) – but now it’s back to a picture-perfect Autumn, just like that photo up there. Warm enough, still, for bare legs most daytimes…but carry a sweater, just in case. Snuggling under the duvet at night. A pinch of cinnamon on my morning toast. And…ambers. I recovered from the terror of the Nazgul and found some Big Love for ambers. Mona di Orio’s Les Nombres d’Or Ambre is heading the list. Amazing notes: Atlas cedar, ylang-ylang, benzoin, Tolu balm, amber and vanilla. I’ve been rolling around in this for the past week or so and it just keeps getting better! It’s also the perfect weather for ambergris – wearing Profumi di Firenzi Ambra Grisea is the olfactory equivalent of a hillside walk along the Brittany coast in Autumn. Of course, there is the vaunted, perfect Amouage Epic, from head to toe. It’s a very comforting and grounding scent for me and makes me feel cozy and safe, like I’m in my favorite cashmere jacket. Guerlain Encens Mythique d’Orient. My New Love. Jasmine, roses, incense. It’s a fabbo-weird combination of bright/sparkling and warm/spicy, with that Guerlain refinement that is always welcome – at least in my perfume collection. I see myself wearing this all Autumn long.
Don’t faint. But I’m NOT wearing leathers right now. It’s harvest season and I can barely blink without sneezing. Every single one of my leathers is like a rasp to my eyesockets. Can you believe it? Cuir de Russie parfum? ZAP! Vintage Diorling? BAM! Cuir Ottoman? POW! I guess I’ll just have to wait until December – and wear them at bedtime.
Patty’s best Perfumes for Fall –
I’m gonna hafta shut my damn windows this week! I’m not happy. Waking up cold and snuggling into blankets with the doggies in the morning until the temps start creeping up to 80 has been so wonderful – the fall is everything I want in weather. I don’t want to shut my windows, and I really do not want to see a freaking
snowflake
in the week’s weather forecast.
.And if you look at this week’s weather forecast for Denver, there is a snowflake
On Saturday
October 6.
I just wanted to point that horrific bit of craptivity out.
But nevertheless, I dig into my perfume closet and pull out my favorite fall perfumes that do not like snow in early October either – Amouage Lyric Woman for a not too uncurrent scent I love to wear every fall since it came out. Caron Nuit de Noel and Caron Parfum Sacre are two of my best older’ish perfumes for fall for probably the last 5+ years – they just are everything fall is about – woody, warm, and you can pick up the EDT or EDP versions of both of them for less than a quarter of a tank of gas. For the best perfume for Fall 2012 of new releases, I’m still waiting for it, but I’m predicting it will be one of the Kilian In the Garden of Good and Evil thingies. I could be wrong! And L’Artisan Seville a l’Aube is in a serious rotation still and always, I’m having a major Orange Blossom fixation in 2012!
For more fabulous Best Perfumes for Fall Picks, dash over to Grain de Musc, Now Smell This, Bois de Jasmin and Perfume Smellin’ Things
Favorite cool weather scents (my favorite time of year of course): Serge Lutens Fille En Aiguilles or 5 O’Clock au Gingembre, Annick Goutal Ambre Fetiche, Perles De Lalique, By Kilian Straight To Heaven. Thanks for the chance, can’t wait to check out some of the above mentioned scents too!!! xx
looooove Nuit de Noel. But I think of it more as a winter perfume! 🙂
I think Une Rose Chypree is a GREAT fall perfume. Anything with bay reads to me as fall, including Jo Malone’s new Blackberry and Bay.
What delightful choices of Fall fragrances and I plan on trying a couple!
I also enjoy Tresor, for anytime of the year…
Many thanks, Cindi
whew, I’m glad the deadline is noonish mountain time and not EDT. Well, this fall I haven’t been wearing my usual incenses, like Avignon and Encens Flamboyant. Fall is usually the heart of my incense-wafting period. This year there haven’t been many crisp days, more like damp and drippy and chilly. I find myself reaching for Frapin 1270, Cadjmere, and especially my tiny decant of Parfum Sacre which will be empty soon if we don’t get any crisp days.
I work in a children’s library. In the fall I do a lot of “read-alouds” with books about apples, falling autumn leaves, and pumpkins. Sometimes I wear a combination of Brandy and Burning Leaves from CB I Hate Perfume. The children say they can smell the apples and the leaves! And I get to feel like I am out walking in an orchard!
Because fall is main season for perfume, there is always the fun of exploring new releases while dragging out your scarves and cashmeres and such. I also reserve trying out vintage perfumes for fall – very exciting. Of course, I do have a slew of fall faves…Chanel Sycomore, AG Encens Flamboyant, Bois des Isles, Tea for Two, Field Notes from Paris, to name a few. Lovely post! And thanks for the draw!!!!!
Organza Indecense, Cuir de Lancome, L’Occitane Amber and I’Pairie (? sp), and various musk oils that I wouldn’t dream of wearing when it is warm.
What a great post! OJ Tolu, Woman and Ta’if are all back in rotation. As are DK Gold, Habanita, and Bottega Veneta (which has never been out of rotation!). Thank you for the draw!
Fall makes me want smoky and rosy scents. Don’t know why.. The ones I tend to enjoy are rich and just too much in the summer, such as Miller Harris Fueilles de Tabac, Andy Tauer’s Incense Rose and Keiko Mecheri Oliban. Two new scents for me — Frederic Malle’s Portrait of a Lady and Miller Harris Rose en Noir — are fitting in well with fall.
I’m now planning to sample a few of the suggestions here, like Oud Ispahan by DIOR , Caron Nuit de Noel and Parfum Sacre — Jeepers! When will I stop buying fragrances! 🙂
Great picks for fall–even though it felt like winter this morning!! I wear my Andy Tauer Incense Extreme all year long, but it feels especially right when there is a nip in air. I also start to trot out my dark rose collection–chief among them Malle’s Une Rose and Amouage Lyric Woman.
I really love chypres for fall. Both the old fashioned, mossy variety or more modern ones such as Andy Tauers Un Rose Chypree. L’Artisan Dzing! is another favourite, and, as several other commenters already have mentioned, Tea for Two.
Where I live winter is a full 6 months long, so many of the fall perfumes everyone listed I keep for my winter stash when I need their comfort: Coromandel, Parfum Sacre, Ambre Fétiche, Black Cashmere, Winter Woods et al.
For fall I find myself craving things that evoke the wonderful golden sunshine and the golden leaves that are a part of fall: Jour Ensolleilé and Golden Cattleya are right up at the top. And for some odd reason, the lemmings are going full bore after a relatively quiet summer. Just sampled some Like This, as well as the Olfactive Studio line, and I’ve got four loud lemmings clamoring for attention.
Les Nombres d’Or Vetyver by Mona d’Orio is hitting the spot these days, as well as the indie classic Cepes and Tuberose by Aftelier. Soon, it will be cold enough to bring out the beast- Ajmal AA Ghazelle… but not quite yet. Thanks for the draw!
Thanks, so much for the cooky reviews ( which I love) on the vanilla perfumes, I have jotted down the most interesting ones and look forward to smelling them all. I already own Jo Malone & Tom Ford but Im looking for something more intense, hopefully I’ll find it with your help.
Odds of winning, not good! But I like top ten lists.
For fall, Like This. Also SDV. Also Borneo. Also Pure Oud.
Thanks for the giveaway, Musette!
Uh oh, I guess I should be careful about tempting the snowflake gods too soon! I’ve already pulled out the vintage Rive Gauche extrait, Dk Gold edp, and my Kelly Caleche edp that I wear (mostly)year round. Really looking forward to wearing Theorema, Ta’if, SM Rose Absolute, and my vintage Je Reviens, Shalimar, and Magie Noir extraits.
My choices may not be as sophisticated as some but DKNY Be Delicious and Marc Jacobs Daisy remind me of fall!
Another one with the Coromandel love. Still just a little too warm out, but when it hits coat and scarf weather it is just perfect. The scent feels like a cashmere sweater or scarf. Fall always starts me coat hunting, right now I am looking for a bright yellow or lapis blue peacoat. It gets sooo gray and dreary in Seattle during the winter, a bright pop of color is essential (especially when combined with my orange scarf and purse)!
Thank you for the drawing!
It’s still really hot/humid here (Florida), but I can hardly wait for cooler weather so I can pull out Cuir de Lancome, Cuir Ottoman, Tolu, SSS Winter Woods and Sienna Musk, pretty much all of my fragrance wardrobe.
Oh how I love these draws and special articles about seasons and perfumes! In my case I deeply love Fille en aiguilles since it combines many of the things I expect from this dying time. Incense, pine and cookies is just what I hanker after when leaves fall. I also like the fact that I start using my amber based scents which throughout summer are in the back of my drawer. Especially Ambre Precieux and (I agree with JIrish on this) a few Tauer… I go generally for L’air du desert marocain.
Thanks a lot for the draw and thanks for your site, I love it!
Andy Tauer’s L’air du Desert Marocain(although it’s a year round favorite!) and Incense Rose-Histories de Parfums 1740-Eau d’Italie Paestum Rose and Sienne l’Hiver-Le Labo Rose 31-Frederic Malle Une Rose…Thanks for the draw!
It is still in the high 80’s here in Dallas, but hopefully come November I can get out
Luten’s Miel de Bois and MKK.
Mmm, fall! I love autumn and we didn’t even have a really hot summer, until the beginning of this past week where it got into the high 90s. I love Armani Sensi even though it got bashed in Turin’s book. I love Bottega Veneta in the EdP. I wasn’t even aware it was available in Parfum until Portia pointed it out. I can live without the Murano glass bottle. On the BV website there is a cute travel bottle with a woven strap. That I want! Other fall favorites are Mitsouko, Cuir de Russie, Bois des Iles and Amouage Lyric Woman.
I love Fall, and as luck would have it, our first seriously chilly day has arrived just in time for my birthday! Ormonde Woman (always), Tocca’s Collete, Hove”s Diverti – all will be in serious rotation. Now to figure out what to wear out to dinner tonight…hmmm…
I’m a newbie. So I am just looking forward to giving some of the heavier OJ scents a whirl. I’ve been saving OJ woman for a cool day, since Orris Noir kind of gave me a headache in earl September. Thanks for this list! Lots to learn…
I am in total LOVE with Mona d’O’s Vanille , Amber and also Oud! I was given a coffret and I am deliriously happy going through them <3 All will rock this Fall.
Andy Tauer L’air du desert morocain, Ormonde woman, Guerlain Bois d’Armenie and Vero Kern Onda Edp are all in heavy rotation.
I loved the Bottega Veneta from the get go, so the parfum form sounds right up my alley. Like This is a great choice for fall, I’m also looking forward to the deep and heavy scents I just can’t deal with in high summer – ambers, incenses, and spice markets in the souk.
Some of my favorites for fall: Cuir de Lancome, Tabac Aurea, Agent Provocateur, Nu, Belle en Rykiel.
Going in to the rotation this year because I just procured bottles: Theorema, Midnight in Paris, Sensuous.
I love this season. It’s finally frosty here in Southwest Scotland. Our Rowan trees are laden with red berries, which apparently is an ominous sign of a very long cold bitter winter ahead. Snow’s pretty and fun for all of 5 minutes as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve been on a bit of an incense kick this week with 28 La Pausa, and this morning I tested a little UFO on one wrist and Avignon on the other. UFO wins hands down! I’ve just brought out some SIP Fire & Cream to play with and I’m thinking this is FB worthy, delicious! This will be perfect for our Bonfire Night celebrations. I really wish that Like This didn’t turn out to be a big ol’ nasty cumin-fest on me, it smells amazing but on my skin it turns feral!
Hope this isn’t a double post as my browser does not play nicely with your website…
Love my Tea for Two even though my hubby can’t stand it! Halle Berry is one of my cheap thrills. Forgot about Idole de Lubin and just might have to wear some tonight after work.
My favorite pick is – aside form the brilliant Hermes Ambre Narguile which I practically live in during all of Winter – Florascent Ylang! I love that; very woody on me, quite straight-forward ylang-ylang which is also great for layering.
My favorite fall fragrance is Chantecaille Kalimantan. I’ve been waiting for months to bring her back out again. I also like Chanel Coromandel. My husband’s favorite on me right now is DK Cashmere Mist, which I’m not so crazy about, so it’s a war of the wills when he asks for it!
This is purely hypothetical due to the complete lack of any fall like temperatures here (I grew up in New England so, I really miss fall!) but, to me fall is Interlude Man because the smokiness reminds me of the first fires we would have in our wood burning stove every fall. I also like Hermes Ambre Narguile – it is a little sweet but, still so fall like with the amber – kind of apple pie-ish.
Apparently I am going through a Kurkdjian phase right now, both niche and mainstream. I just recently discovered Silver Shadow and initially dismissed it but then smelled it on a female friend and fell in love with the sillage. Bought it. Sporting it as my autumn frag this year! WOO HOO!
Fall perfumes that I love…Shalimar is always like a warm cozy sweater. I love Kilian Straight to Heaven..the boozy sweetness makes me smile when the weather is cool. Fall is my absolute favourite season!
My fall favorites are Donna Karan’s “Cashmere Mist” & Bvlgari’s “Jasmin Noir.”
My fall favorites: Onda, Mito, Cuir de Russie, Coromandel, Equistrius
I just love these “Best of” posts!
Personally, it has been a great year for new releases and I have continued to wear my new loves–the Guerlain Desert Trio, Amouage Beloved, Oud Ispahan–through the cooler weather when we’ve gotten it. I’ve also broken out the Jubilation 25, Cuir Beluga, SDV, Ginistet Botrytis, Maharinih (I think I’ve decided I’d like that one better as a room spray but it’s definitely autumny) and oh, the beautiful new Ramon Monegal, Ambre di Luna is quite a beauty for Autumn, too!
Hi March…I have a bottle of Asja that you’re welcome to (smells like pickle juice on me 🙁 )
let me know if you’re interested my email’s cmeis2000 at hotmail dot com
fall is rather short lived here so I start looking at my winter fragrances- Myhrre Ardente, Ambre Sultan and De Profundis
still Like This gets most of my atention these days
thanks a lot for the draw
I’m weird; this is when I break out my pretty-much-vintage sample of Clinique Wrappings, Aromatics Elixir, my pretty-much-vintage EL White Linen travel sized sprays, Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum, and my samples of Opium and whichever Poison flanker was in the dark blue bottle and supposedly had rose and patch in it. I also occasionally spritz on some BBW Twilight Woods or Brown Sugar and Fig, as the hubs loves those two on me. I have recently acquired a sample of what I think is one of the Angel flankers (it was unlabeled and the SA didn’t know the name or the concentration, all I know is that it’s a blue liquid and smells like Angel, but very liquory sweet on top… this sample was decanted into a tiny plastic Lancome foundation sample bottle with a twist top by whoever was too lazy to label it, and found by me all by its lonesome little self, so I asked the SA about it and whether I could take it) and am applying the teensiest drop of it on top of some Demeter Patchouli… the combo works alarmingly well on me now that it’s not 90+ F outside, and turns into a lovely patchouli a few hours in. I need to break out my fall/winter stash and start digging, there’s stuff I haven’t worn for years that I have the sudden urge to wear… in fact, I’ve forgotten some of it!
NP
Hey NP<
Totally love Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum. I wish I had thought of it too. Excellent fall choice!
Portia xx
I love this time of year even despite the fact that I have cold urticaria, which can get pretty miserable. I have so many Fall/Winter perfumes – maybe because I need a little extra coziness in chilly conditions. I’ll be wearing wearing Pacifica Tibetan Mountain Temple, BK Amber Oud, Back to Black and Cruel Intentions, JM Dark Amber and Ginger Lily, Ambre Narguile, Idole du Lubin (EDP), and Une Rose to name a few.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Opium in vintage version, Angel Innocent, Shalimar vintage, Ginestet Botrytis – I like rich boozy and warm scents in autumn. Thanks for the drawing!
I love JPG Classique for fall even though it’s supposedly more suited for winter 😀
I just discovered vintage Caron Parfum Sacre. Love. I’ve been rationing my sample, but really how does a single drop of liquid expand into one of the most glorious scents evah!
Today, I had the most wicked craving for Habanita and yesterday it was Jicky. But lately, I have been wearing Chanel’s Sycomore.
Here in Oz it is spring so I am rotating my bottles on the shelf…
The ambers got a big airing this winter, Annick Goutal Ambre Fetish for instant comfort and warmth, Mona di Orio, and I also find a lingering sense of amber in Cuir Ottoman.
Just bought the large size Tea for Two (she said smugly). But I think I shall continue to wear this even in the summer…the tea factor keeps it from getting cloying.
Am lemming the Bottega Veneta…
YAY Jackie!! Bottega Veneta is beyond amazing. really good in spring too.
Portia xx
My fall rotation includes Lonestar Memories, Cuir de Lancome, Bottega Veneta, Barbara Bui, Natori, Omnia, and Organza Indecence. I’m looking forward to trying my Amouage samples in cooler weather, too. Thanks for the draw!
My favorites in fall are Habanita, Jolie Madame, Parfum Sacre and Rykiel Woman. All warm and snuggly in our usual cold rain. It’s still hot in the afternoons here…. we haven’t had a real rain for more than 8 weeks.. very unusual in the Pacific Northwet.