Top Perfume Picks For Fall

“Anne reveled in the world of color about her.
"Oh, Marilla," she exclaimed one Saturday morning, coming dancing in with her arms full of gorgeous boughs, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it? Look at these maple branches. Don't they give you a thrill--several thrills?” 

                                                                           ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Fall is perfect and clear September days, the first hint of change in the air,  piles of dried leaves burning in October, and long nights of hot chocolate and cashmere in November while freezing rain is pouring down outside. While it's easy to get caught-up in the melancholy of shorter days and semi-dead backyards, fall is also a new beginning. The Jewish New Year usually starts in mid-to-late September. The celebration of the holiday, Rosh Ha'shanah, brings families together to a table laden with seasonal fruit and various symbols of prosperity and joy for the coming year, such as honey and pomegranates (there's also gefilte fish, but let's not go there). Perfumes that go with the holiday are rich and honeyed, fruity and juicy, and utterly delightful.
My choices:
Serge Lutens Bois et Fruits, Serge Lutens Miel de Bois (you knew it was coming), Roxana Illuminated Perfume To Bee, DSH Mahjoun and Nourouz.

"Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple.”

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

There's a delicious contrast between that first chill in the air and the warmth of the colors starting to emerge, the delight in the first hot cider of the season you have at a random cafe you entered on a late weekend afternoon to escape the wind. Season change always makes me feel a sense of anticipation and excitement, and fall is no different, at least in the beginning.
My perfume picks:
Serge Lutens Rousse for that golden cider I'm already craving, CB I Hate Perfume Cedarwood Tea because it melds hot tea and fresh air, and Chanel No.19 for the crisp air

September is also the start of the school year, which I got to experience both as a student and as a teacher. The smell of school supplies: pencil shavings and plastic is the same whatever your role is. Every year I remember my first pencil case, a flimsy plastic thing with a magnetic closure and most important: it featured Moomins. The case didn't survive the first term, but I still remember the way it smelled with all the pencils and crayons inside. I think I want a new one.

“Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”

― Nora Ephron, You've Got Mail

This one is funny to me, because one of the biggest perfume disagreements between the Husband and me is about pencil shavings note. I adore it while he smells the dairy farm of his youth. Just about any perfume that's heavy on cedar takes me there,  but my top picks are:
Anat Fritz by Anat Fritz, Olivier Durbano Amethyst, and Memo Latin Quarter.


“November is usually such a disagreeable month...as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it. This year is growing old gracefully...just like a stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and wrinkles. We've had lovely days and delicious twilights.” 

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

November could have been a lot worse if it weren't for my birthday and Thanksgiving. So instead of "weeping and fretting" I'd rather celebrate.I think this year I'll go with Amouage: Lyric Man or Opus VI.

For more perfume picks for fall please visit Bois de Jasmin  *** Grain de Musc  *** Now Smell This ***Perfume Posse.


Art: Anne Barber-Shams "Pomegranate Tree of Life", from her "Art Exhibit for Middle East Peace: Paintings and Odes", a 2012 project created to build bridges between Jews, Christians and Muslims through art. It was inspired by the almost 700 years in Andalusia, Spain, when the co-mingling of the three cultures produced and preserved literature, architecture, art, music, philosophy, science and medicine.