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.
- LizabeCo Autumn Nights Parfum Oil - In the deepening twilight of fall, when the world seems to hold its breath, Autumn Nights beckons with an allure both haunting and beautiful. The scent begins with the bittersweet warmth of cinnamon and cloves, their spicy embrace reminiscent of crackling bonfires under blood-orange skies. There’s an ancient, almost forgotten sweetness to the fragrance, like the last apples of the season. The heart of this perfume is the dark, whispering presence of cedarwood, its earthy, smoky notes winding like a forgotten path through the woods. Yet, amidst the wood and spice, there’s something ethereal—an ephemeral note of sandalwood that swirls like a ghost’s lingering touch. The fragrance grows more intimate with each passing moment, a reminder that autumn is a season both of life and of loss. As the midnight hour draws near, the scent lingers, an echo of something that once was—a bittersweet remembrance of love, loss, and the eternal dance between the living and the dead. Autumn Nights is not merely a fragrance; it is a passage—a doorway to the quiet, gothic beauty of a world where the dead walk again, if only for thirty-one nights.
- Lunar Life Apothecary Ruins of a Garden Perfume Oil - From the Whispers of the Harvest Collection, step into a world where pumpkins grow wild amidst tangled herbs and fallen leaves, and the air is filled with the faint sweetness of anise hyssop and the earthy aroma of damp soil. This scent evokes the quiet magic of a place untouched by time—where the vibrant life of the past lingers in the shadows of overgrown paths and crumbling walls. With top notes of pumpkin flesh and anise hyssop; middle notes of dried herbs and autumn leaves; and base notes of moss and damp earth.
- Obscura Hortus Ochre and Fire Perfume Oil - Cozy, sweet, with a touch of the outside autumn breeze, tree branches scraping at a sunshine flooded window. A faint ghosting of wildflowers and a hint of balsam dance atop heady patchouli and the sweet scent of wood. Clove, caramel and jasmine create a warm, inviting feeling, like being wrapped in your favorite sweater protected from a cold wind.
- Possets Dancing With The Sprites In The Fall Rain Perfume Oil - A fabulously dry and sophisticated take on fallen leaves, wet days and overcast autumn skies. There is a hint of mushroom musk and the ozone/water scent of dank air. Overall there is a huge resemblance to lavender but it is not lavender. As a huge wood hides its secrets from you, this blend is a morpher for sure.
- Siren Song Elixirs Samhain Perfume Oil - Inspired by the Gaelic celebration of Samhain, the fall festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the dark winter. Rich spices of cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove mixed with newly harvested fall pumpkins creates the familial scent of home-cooked pumpkin pies. Top notes of vanilla and creamy marshmallow fluff create a decadent sweetness that is enriched with the warm burning sensation of midnight bonfires, roasting marshmallows and oak-cured bourbon that you can almost taste upon your tongue with one sniff. Forget pumpkin spice lattes! Get drunk upon the dark pumpkin spiced sweetness of Samhain. With key notes of pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, toasted marshmallow, bourbon, bonfire and black leather.
