We all can get a nostalgic flashback when we smell the scents of autumn (leaves, campfire smoke, damp earth, mushrooms, cooked marshmallows, apple cider, pumpkin, cinnamon, etc.). Words like cozy, crackling, crisp and crunchy describe the season. It turns out there's a scientific reason that people have a smell inextricably linked to the season in their head: it's a confluence of chemistry, biology and psychology that can trigger different emotions like anxiety, sadness or excitement depending on your personal collection of memories associated with the time of year.
"In summer, we have just more of a mixture of scent and sort of a wide blend of scent ... we smell a lot more of everything around us," said Rachel Herz, a neuroscientist and author of The Scent of Desire. "When it gets cooler and drier, specific scents tend to stand out more — we're able to kind of pull out the scent of leaves, the scent of bark, the scent of grass in more distinct ways."
Beyond the man-made and commercial scents of pumpkin spice and apple pie, autumn has its own, much more natural smell. It’s the musty, earthy smell of dying and decomposing leaves blended with wet earth and maybe a bit of smoke from burning leaves. The dominant earthy smells are largely the product of plants hunkering down for the winter. Fallen leaves begin to decay and the sugars and organic compounds in the leaf break down, creating the classic musky-sweet smell of a leaf pile. Maple leaves, for example, have high contents of sugars and when decaying they release a pleasantly sweet, almost syrup-like scent.
You will receive a 1/2ml sample (1ml sample vial filled half full) of each of the fragrances in this sampler.
- BPAL La Touissant Perfume Oil - La Toussaint is a scent for All Saints' Day featuring notes of falling leaves, crushed maple, bouquets of bright chrysanthemum, frankincense, white chamomile, and pale, dry wood bark.
- Moonlight Cove Finery Autumnal Forest Perfume Oil - A limited edition described as: The sun begins its descent below the horizon in the late afternoon, and turns to a mystical, glowing last breath bursting through the trees. Evergreens become a shadowed backdrop to the rich, vibrant rust and auburn-painted leaves upon the darkened branches of tall maples and oaks. Cones drop and leaves fall to gather on the ground, while cool mists and gentle rains lull the forest into its Autumn repose as winter grows nearer. Cool, black pine and woody cedars, and the musty decay of fallen, crumbling leaves. Moss-covered, damp bark and the fading green of summer passed. Rain-drenched roots and the perfume of dark, nutty conifers and their ambery resin, mingle with the scent of the rain-drizzled forest floor. A somewhat softer, earthy forest scent without the sharper, more pungent 'piney' notes.
- Obscura Hortus We’ll Be Younger in the Morning (Hocus Pocus) Perfume Oil - The perfumer's favorite donut will always be the cruller because it is literal perfection in the form of a flaky delicious pastry, but its close runner up is the always-magical apple cider donut. This perfume smells like apple cider donuts, sweet ginger and a perfect autumn latte. Notes of caramel, clove, and cream also swirl in this magical brew fit for an autumn witch.
- Pineward Katabatic Parfum Extrait - Pineward perfumes capture abandoned alpine farmsteads, boreal bracken and briars, frost-laden and fog-blanketed firs, loam-covered logs, prickles of pine, thickly thicketed thistles, rotting rooted carpets, morel mushroom mycelium, sap encrusted spruces and misty, murky, mossy, forests. Katabatic features notes of ruby cypress, camphor, birch leaf, cinnamon, cloves, bitter almond, red fir, cedarwood, sandalwood, orris root, dragon's blood resin and oakmoss. Swirling eddies of the frigid north wind, the driving gale that sweeps away dying vestiges of summer and boldly heralds the arrival of an early fall. A bracing, biting blend of birch breeze, spiced cypress, woods and mosses. This emulation of autumnal air currents may sting the nose upon first application, use wisely.
- The Little Book Eater Fall Festival Perfume Oil - Inspired by the delight of fall festivals. The perfect combination for jack o' lantern displays, hayrides, apple-flavored everything, and spending time with family and friends, A sweet, spicy and earthy blend of apple cider, cinnamon, fried donut, sugar, citrus and a hint of hay.
