5+1 christmas inspired perfume

Christmas is just around the corner, so here is a small selection of 5+1 fragrances that feel right for the season. Scents shaped by holiday light, memory, and the strange combination of calm and chaos December brings.

It’s my personal pleasure that two of them come from my favorite perfumers, Jean-Claude Ellena and Thierry Wasser.

1. serge lutens - fille en aiguilles

Notes: pine needles, balsam fir, incense, dried fruits, spices, vetiver, bay leaf
Perfumer: Christopher Sheldrake

On the holiest night of the year, people move quietly toward a small church together for midnight mass. The crispy snow crunches under their boots in the dark. Tall, snow-covered, resinous pine branches brush their shoulders as they pass, carrying the deep scent of winter wood.

The light ahead feels ancient and sacral, something older than memory. Something that was always here with us. Incense already drifts through the cold air.

The sense of arrival that waits for you, and the reverent faith that comes with it.

2. hermès - hermessence ambre narguilé

Notes: caramel, vanilla, tonka bean, benzoin, tobacco, labdanum, coumarin, sesame, musk, white orchid
Perfumer: Jean-Claude Ellena

Caramel and tonka drift softly, like stepping into peace, that meets you before you even cross the doorstep. There are familiar faces, now with more wrinkles and grey hairs, familiar routines and dynamics that never change. And also the hard-to-swallow truth that some things do change.

Someone won’t be home this year. Someone coming home from far away. Someone isn’t there anymore, and you still feel the space they left behind.

A gentle homecoming, wrapped in gold. Something you understand without needing any explanation.

3. histoires de parfums – 1899 hemingway

Notes: juniper, black pepper, bergamot, cinnamon, iris, orange blossom, vanilla, amber, vetiver
Perfumer: Gerald Ghislain

Juniper and bright citrus open like the first sip of a G&T poured before dinner. Spices drift upward as the room slowly fills, conversations layering over each other.

It carries the personality of the man it’s named after, someone who believed that to understand Christmas, you need the memory of home. And someone dramatic enough to write:

”If my Valentine you won't be, I'll hang myself on your Christmas tree”

A scent for the in-between moment, when the night hasn’t revealed its direction yet. Anything can happen.

4. panettone – milano fragranze

Notes: ginger, mandarin, carrot seed, davana, rum, immortelle, marigold, vanilla, buckwheat
Perfumer: Mathilde Bijaoui

During the holiday season, sweetness has no limits. Here it glows, never heavy.

Ginger and mandarin rise like the first cut into a fresh panettone, the kitchen full of joy and festive light. A gourmand perfume that feels like a tribute to the Italian family ritual, just like their most anticipated holiday dessert.

A simple act that gathers everyone for a moment. Soft, kind and sharing: a small sweetness that ties families closer together.

5. etat libre d’orange - noel au balcon

Notes: honey, apricot, mandarin, cinnamon, orange blossom, chili pepper, caraway, labdanum, patchouli, musk
Perfumer: Antoine Maisondieu

Inside, everything is too warm, too bright, too close, crowded. Overstimulating. Someone steps outside to get some fresh air, letting the cold evening settle the noise.

Mandarin and cinnamon linger around them, the sweetness of homemade pastry mixing with exhaustion, irritation, and that familiar holiday anxiety.

Not everyone’s Christmas is gentle. Sometimes it’s arguments waiting under the tree, questions you don’t want to answer, expectations you never signed up for, love that comes with pressure. This scent understands the weight of it and accepts you without judgment.

5+1. guerlain - baiser de russie

Notes: pine needles, absinthe, plum, lemon, cranberry, jasmine, vanilla, tonka bean, musk, sandalwood
Perfumer: Thierry Wasser

Long forgotten, dreamlike flashes from a performance. Its beauty is timeless and preserved in ice.

A winter scene held in silence. Distant yet close enough to bring tears to your eyes. It will always be beautiful. Just like this video.