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In 2026, luxury doesn’t shout; it whispers. It’s not expensive brands and private jets. It’s taking the time to make your omelette with crème fraîche and maybe gifting yourself some cashmere loungewear. It’s buying the good butter at the grocery store. And winter’s biggest fragrance trends are an ode to those everyday luxuries.
We’re looking for ways to treat ourselves and self-soothe this season. The American Psychiatric Association's annual mental health poll revealed that we’re all dealing with anxiety—current events, bills and expenses, and loneliness are among the top stressors.
“I think (there’s) a broader desire for comfort and reassurance,” says Delphine Jelk, a Paris-based perfumer and creative director of fragrance for Guerlain. “We live in an incredibly fast-paced world, and fragrance can offer a small moment of intimacy. Something warm and almost cocooning that you can wrap yourself in.”
But not just any comfort. Luxury perfume is seeing a 123.7% increase in popularity year-over-year, according to data from Spate, a market research platform. But a recent EY survey revealed that while 62% of respondents ranked quality among their purchase drivers, only 26% look for logo presence. We want the experience of luxury, but quiet luxury. Fulfillment, not wealth-signaling.
“There is a real desire for sophisticated simplicity,” Jelk says. “A return to what is essential, but always with elegance. I think fragrance reflects the same desire: creations that feel more essential and immediately understandable, but still have sophistication, depth, and emotion.”
That means finding healing moments that feel elevated. Think: Gourmands that go the extra mile to feel truly gourmet (not homemade brownies but flaky, buttery, croissant accords that you’d find in an upscale bakery). Smoky incense is still a source of meditative calm and comfort, but it’s made more transparent and wearable this season by pairing it with florals or creamier woods—more like a sunrise yoga class than an old-school church. Nature-inspired notes balance the crisp smell of wintry greens with the warmth of aged woods. Musks imitate the feeling of a luxe fabric, soft and skin-like, as a fresh set of Frette bedsheets. And pink pepper notes give heavier scents a little energy to keep us going through the dark days of winter.
There’s never been a better time to treat yourself. Ahead, the experts break down the biggest winter fragrance trends.
Winter forest notes
Every season, we inch a little closer to off-the-grid-living. Call it tech fatigue or simply a forest-inspired “wilderkind” trend taking off, but retreating to a Frank Lloyd Wright house in the woods where you can spend your mornings quietly meandering through nature and your evenings on an Adirondack chair under the stars would almost certainly heal us all.
It’s for our own good to get a breath of fresh air. Several recent studies have revealed the tremendous health benefits of being exposed to the scents of nature. The smell of forest fir and mushroom is tied to an increase in mental and physical relaxation and therefore lower cortisol, along with lower blood pressure. Mother Nature has always had our back.
An increased interest in touching grass has extended to fragrance. Online searches for petrichor fragrances have surged by 94.4% since last year, and there’s been a 243.8% year-over-year increase in searches for “woody perfume,” according to Spate. “People are worn out by the digital world, surveillance, and chaos of the present day,” says Chicago-based perfumer and founder of Pearfat Parfum, Alie Kiral. “These kinds of smells are a reminder that ultimately, we’re just floating on a big rock in space.”
Of course, come winter, the great outdoors smells a little different. Instead of budding greens, wild berries, and sunny solar notes, a winter forest has a crispness to it. “Aromatic woods and greens,” says New York City–based Jon Bresler, founder of LAFCO, a perfume and home fragrance brand. “Think cedar, pine, fir, cypress, eucalyptus, rosemary, juniper, and moss. These materials can be used to create the sensation of being outdoors in winter; the coolness of the air.”
Richard Saint-Ford, a Los Angeles–based perfumer and founder of Iggywoo, also anticipates seeing a demand for fragrances that mimic a winter landscape. “I think people are starting to understand that winter fragrance doesn't automatically have to mean warm, heavy, or sweet. There's something incredibly beautiful about amplifying the environment you're already in,” he says. “Embracing the cold rather than trying to fight it with sweetness.”
Mineral or airy accords can create that feeling of cold air hitting your skin, Saint-Ford says. Guerlain’s L’Heure Bleue and Liis’s Forest Sounds both feature ozonic accords to create that fresh, cold air effect.
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Pine, fir, eucalyptus, and rosemary—what Bresler refers to as “cold greens”—add a sharp note to fragrance that helps firmly place it in winter. He points to FFern Winter 26’s use of eucalyptus, basil, fir, moss, cedar, and vetiver—sharpened by lemon and peppermint—as a combination that creates “a sense of a cold landscape rather than a traditional holiday fragrance.”
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Winter 26
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Byronic Hero
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Finding a fragrance that balances winter greens with deeper notes like moss, aromatic herbs, or aged woods like sandalwood, oud, and patchouli is key to evoking “winter forest” instead of “Christmas tree.” Serviette’s Byronic Hero features a fir balsam note at the heart, deepened by oud and patchouli. LAFCO’s Fireside Light opens with fir balsam before settling into a smokier patchouli and guaiacwood base, and Dirty Hinoki by Heretic opens with wintry pine, thyme, and nutmeg notes, offset by rich cedar and resinous frankincense.
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Winter foraging can also be a touchstone to deepen colder notes. Kiral recommends Nassomato Micodeliro, which features a strong mushroom accord with spearmint as an invigorating wintry top note.
Bakery gourmands
Imagine, if you will, a winter in Paris. You’d have your morning café crème in your pied-à-terre, then bundle up before hitting your neighborhood bakery for a pastry. When you open the shop door, a waft of that warm, cozy air would smell less like a Dunkin’ (no disrespect) and more high-end, artisanal, and textural.
“This is the season's most literal comfort language: bready, buttery, faintly toasted accords,” says Arnaud Guggenbuhl, global head of marketing, insights, and image for Givaudan, a fragrance ingredient manufacturer. Gourmands aren’t sugary sweet this season; they’re rich. “Winter turns a dial back toward warmth, but a smarter warmth.”
Look for toasted or honey elements that enrich otherwise ordinary bakery ingredients, like the roasted macadamia in Sol de Janeiro Cheirosa 62 Intense or honeyed orange flower beneath pistachio, cardamom, and praline in Clean Reserve Pistachio Addiction. Jeniece Trizzino, vice president of innovation and product at Scentbird and Drift, also likes a chewy, milky note in her bakery-inspired gourmands, like the mochi in DedCool Mochi Milk or Nette Mochi Banane.
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Mochi Milk
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Creamy, milky fragrances can also evoke that warm, high-end bakery environment. Traditionally created with vanilla or tonka, nuttier milks and creams elevate a Nilla wafer to a fresh madeleine. Anti Kleopatra features a smooth almond milk top note laced with cinnamon and jasmine. And airy chantilly and almond flower notes (as opposed to heavy buttercream frosting of seasons past) make Oscar de la Renta New York Rendezvous smell like a fresh financier.
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Transparent incense
Incense has never been a wallflower. You know when it enters the room. Despite its cultural use as a meditative or spiritual aid, the deep, smoky scent can be a polarizing party guest. But as we seek softer comforts and yearn to be closer to our witchier, more spiritual selves, an incense that whispers is in order. We want the comfort, but with a much softer touch.
And perfumers are seeing a move to quieter scents. “The mood has shifted from ‘notice me across the room’ to ‘recognize me up close,’” says Guggenbuhl. “A fragrance you wear to say, quite simply: ‘I'm here, come closer.’”
Andreas Wilhelm, a Zurich-based perfumer, agrees that the pendulum has swung to lighter tastes that caress instead of punch. “After years of powerful projection that could sometimes feel almost intrusive, people seem to be rediscovering the appeal of a more personal scent,” he says.
That, combined with a cultural desire for better mental health and well-being, has brought incense, in particular, forward this winter. “There’s a broader interest in ritual and decompression,” Bresler says. A 2025 report by McKinsey revealed that 42% of Gen Z and millennial respondents in the US are prioritizing mindfulness, and a recent Scientific Reports study revealed that practicing meditation has increased steadily over the last 20 years and shows no signs of slowing.
So while mindfulness and meditation are appealing concepts right now, a heavier, darker scent to aid your spiritual transcendence might not be. Instead, winter’s incense notes are “lighter and more modern,” Bresler says. “It doesn’t have to be dense or overtly religious” to still inspire a sense of calm.
“Incense is moving somewhere interesting,” Saint-Ford agrees. “We've traditionally made incense fragrances very dark, smoky, and ceremonial. I'm more interested in incense being used almost transparently—frankincense, elemi and resins with air, citrus, florals or pale woods around them.” The goal is warmth and atmosphere without creating a cloud around yourself. “For winter, that's really compelling because it feels intimate rather than oppressive.”
Fulton & Roark Cathedral of Ruins opens with a floral rose and fresh green cypress before settling into a smoldering frankincense, and Amouage Overture 41 softens its deep blend of frankincense, benzoin, and patchouli with geranium, cinnamon, rose, and warm sandalwood. Both Kiral and Wilhelm recommend Maya Njie Aethi Opum, which uses thiouraye, a sweeter resin, in concert with vanilla, coffee, and papyrus.
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Overture 41
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An even lighter interpretation, Perfumehead 1360, layers grapefruit, pepper, and vetiver on top of a base of gurjum, a quieter resin than frankincense or myrrh. Victoria Beckham Hotel Portofino buries an incense base note in basil, bergamot, and fig, so that it simply deepens those brighter notes, like you lightly toasted them in your Mediterranean kitchen. And Ormonde Jayne Tolu lifts frankincense and amber with juniper berry, orange blossom, and tonka top notes.
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Cozy fabrics
There’s sitting by the fire, and then there’s sitting by the fire in your Aspen ski chalet under a cashmere blanket. And while our budgets may be restrictive, a fragrance that emulates the luxury of the softest, coziest fabrics is the next best thing this winter. “Cashmere, suede, velvet, cotton, and skin musks are increasingly shaping fragrance language, mirroring the broader fashion shift toward tactility and second-skin textures,” Guggenbuhl says.
The appeal isn’t just comfort and warmth—although that’s certainly part of it—but also sheerness and closeness. “Winter 2026 reframes luxury as emotional precision. This year, warmth is built through intimacy instead,” Guggenbuhl says. It’s quiet luxury, but for fragrance. Not in-your-face logos and couture runways, just the pleasures of real, quality linen sheets, a sleek, buttery leather tote, or high-end woolen gloves. Pinterest searches have reflected this shift: They’re seeing an uptick in sheer, cozy fragrance for winter, with more than a 287% increase in “skin scent” searches, a note often used to evoke cashmere or cotton.
“Perfumers are becoming increasingly interested in reconstructing sensations and materials rather than just flowers, fruits, and foods,” Saint-Ford says, so expect to see notes and accords that mimic quality fabrics like cashmere, wool, and linen.
But what exactly do these fabrics smell like? Trizzino points to a molecule called cashmeran, a note used to mimic wool and cashmere that was developed in the 1970s by International Flavors and Fragrance, an ingredient manufacturer. “It does not smell like cashmere so much as it smells like the feeling of cashmere, which is a strange and useful thing for a material to do.”
“Cashmeran gives you that cashmere and worn-fabric feeling, so you are essentially wearing texture and then styling a fragrance on top of it,” she adds. So the surrounding notes greatly affect the time and place of the cashmere. Almond, cream, and vanilla give the cashmere top note in Phlur Cashmere Skin an almost gourmand touch—like you were wearing a cashmere sweater while baking banana bread at your home in the Berkshires. Bath & Body Works Cashmere Amber pairs cashmere musk with amber to give a deep, warm, sitting-by-the-fire feeling. And, if you’re longing for spring, Memo Paris Odeon Rosebud tinges its cashmeran base with fresh rose, peony, and freesia accord.
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Linen, on the other hand, has a cleaner touch. The addition of mineral musks (those transparent skin scents we’re seeing trend on Pinterest) can help steer a fragrance toward a fresh linen feeling, adds Bresler.
“Linen is a different construction and a much more established one,” says Trizzino. “Perfumers call it a fantasy accord because there is no linen extract. You build it from white musks for the softness, light aldehydes for the air-dried brightness, and a transparent ozonic note for the sense of outdoors.” She recommends Maison Margiela Replica Lazy Sunday Morning, which uses clean-smelling aldehydes as an approximation of linen, and settles into white musk and iris, “which is itself the most textile-like natural in perfumery, powdery and dry, like fabric.” Guggenbuhl likes Carolina Herrera Cedar Chic, which features a similar top profile, with a creamy cedarwood finish.
L’Epoque Parfums Inner Child and Baruti Hot Cotton both open with more literal interpretations (linen accord and a hot iron accord, respectively) before moving from fresh-pressed laundry to second-skin musk.
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Pink pepper
With daylight getting harder and harder to come by, we fight the urge to hibernate until March. But we have jobs and chores and other responsibilities (things grizzly bears do not concern themselves with), so an olfactory pick-me-up will have to keep us energized.
If you feel like you’re seeing more pink pepper in fragrance this season, it’s likely been added very strategically. “It gives an impact at first smell, and nowadays, with such a crowded market, it is important that fragrances impress consumers right from the first spray,” explains Emma, the perfumer student behind the social media account @perfumerism. Usually a top note, pink pepper is “spicy and peppery, sparkling, with slight tea-like or floral notes.”
Pink pepper “is a dried berry, similar in profile to black pepper but with more floral undertones,” Emma says. “Where black pepper is aromatic and dusty, pink pepper is more citrusy, sparkling, and fruity. It is versatile, light, and bright.” And actually, not at all the same plant as a black peppercorn.
“I usually have a vial of pink pepper and Timur pepper absolutes on my worktable and smell it most days for an immediate lift,” says Linda Pilkington, London-based perfumer and founder of Ormonde Jayne. “It’s unexpected, with a citrus grapefruit-like quality, completely different from a pepper that you would cook with.”
It’s perfect to help lighten heavier winter ingredients (like incense, vanilla, or rich spices). “It is not a spice that adds weight; it is a spice that adds light,” says Trizzino, like in Nishane Hold Me Closer, where it lifts notes of resinous frankincense and opoponax (a variety of myrrh), or in Ex Nihilo Bois D’Hiver, in counterpoint to woody notes like cedarwood, sandalwood, and patchouli. Pink peppercorn in Byredo Havana Tonka softens a more serious profile; rum and tobacco are more wearable with the sparkly topper. It can also keep vanilla from skewing too rich and dessert-like: Cirqadian’s Brain Stems uses pink pepper in concert with citrusy bergamot to brighten an amber and vanilla base.
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Hold Me Closer
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Bois D’Hiver
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Havana Tonka
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Brain Stems
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“The citrus facets in pink pepper also play well with soft, musky fragrances,” Emma says. Contrapposto’s Musc Petille combines pink pepper with bitter orange to complement a sheer musk base and warm, musky ambrette seeds. And Studio Particulier What We Do Is Secret’s newest fragrance, layers pink pepper berries on top of powdery orris, deep suede, and soft skin musk.
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Meet the experts
LargeChevron
- Jon Bresler is a New York City–based perfumer and founder of LAFCO.
- Emma is the perfumer student behind the account @perfumerism.
- Arnaud Guggenbuhl is the global head of marketing, insights, and image for Givaudan.
- Delphine Jelk is a Paris-based perfumer and creative director of fragrance for Guerlain.
- Alie Kiral is a perfumer in Chicago and founder of Pearfat Parfum.
- Linda Pilkington is a London-based perfumer and founder of Ormonde Jayne.
- Richard Saint-Ford is a perfumer in Los Angeles and founder of Iggywoo.
- Jeniece Trizzino is vice president of innovation and product for Scentbird and Drift.
- Andreas Wilhelm is a Zurich-based perfumer.
Read more about the latest trends:
- The Top Winter Hair Trends of 2026 Are Major Power Moves
- Fragrance Is All About Escapism in 2026
- Peony Perfumes Aren't Just for Spring Anymore
