If Your Tree Smells Better Than Your Wrist, We Need To Talk

If your tree smells better than your wrist, we need to talk. Holiday air should be a swirl of spice, light, and a little mischief. Hanukkah flickers to life this weekend and I’m in full winter perfume mode.

Today’s scent is Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles. It’s pine needles crushed under a heel and warmed by candied resin, a perfect fireside aura that never turns into potpourri. The cinnamon is cheeky, the smoke is elegant, and the drydown is a balsam kiss. If December had a pulse, this would be it.

Holiday food is my other love language. I’ve been grating potatoes for latkes and finishing them with smoked salt and a flick of orange zest. The kitchen smells like vanilla sugar, hot oil, and nutmeg. It dovetails beautifully with Hermès Ambre Narguilé on my scarf and Diptyque Eau Duelle on my wrists. If you think vanilla is boring, Eau Duelle’s dry spice will change your mind.

I made one perfume resolution for 2025. No blind buys and finish my decants before I chase another full bottle. Reader, I nearly made it. Then a tiny sample of Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady ambushed me at a party and I remembered why rose and patchouli are still the drama. I’m not sorry.

The bottle I’m itching to buy next is Chanel Coromandel. That plush patchouli wrapped in cocoa and incense hits the sweet spot between opulence and good manners. It’s party satin with combat boots hidden under the hem. If I don’t pick it up this month, it will haunt me into January.

Something wonderful. I stumbled on a minuscule vintage splash of Guerlain Shalimar at a dusty antique shop. The bergamot is whisper-soft, the vanilla is smoky silk, and wearing it felt like opening a music box that still plays perfectly.

If you’re hunting for winter winners:

• Hermès Ambre Narguilé - apple, tobacco, and amber that hug without smothering.
• Diptyque Eau Duelle - dry vanilla with a traveler’s soul.
• Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille - dessert-table swagger in a bottle.
• Party wildcard. Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady if you like your entrances noticed.

Light the candles, slice the cake, spray generously. December is short and skin is warm.