One of the things I undoubtedly love most about fall are its smells. Crisp leaves crunching beneath your feet, wood fires burning in the evening, pumpkin pie in the oven, hot cider brewing. Even just thinking about them now immediately transports me to a magically warm, cozy place.
Much like I swap out my sandals and dresses for sweaters and boots come autumn, I also like to switch out my fragrances for scents that capture the feeling of the season. Warm, spicy notes, woodsy undertones, and a little bit of sweetness immediately put me in a fall mindset.
Today I thought I'd share three autumn-appropriate perfumes I've been obsessing over in the last couple of weeks, all of which are in super travel friendly sizes!
As much as I love the look of an elegant perfume bottle sitting on my dresser, I almost always pick up a rollerball or purse spray before I invest in the full size. First of all, fragrances are expensive. If you like to switch up your scent from day to day, buying travel-sized versions of your favorite perfumes will definitely save you some money.
Also, I've had the experience more than once of being totally obsessed with a scent for a few weeks, and then slowly wearing it less and less. I hate the idea of spending all that money for something that just ends up being bedroom decor, or that goes off before I can finish it. If I can make my way through an entire rollerball of a fragrance and find myself still wanting to wear it, I know the full size will be a solid investment. And, even if you decide to buy a bottle before your mini is through, it never hurts to have a travel-friendly version of your favorite fragrance to keep in your purse!
After a recent declutter of my perfume collection, these three rollerballs are definitely the top contenders for things I'd like to own in full size. They're all amazing in different ways, and have just the right sexy-yet-cozy feel for fall.
YSL Black Opium // Travel Spray (10 ml), $27
I remember when I first smelled this perfume. It was around the holidays last year, and it was the first thing I put on my Christmas wish list. To me, Black Opium is a sexy, feminine, let-me-rock-a-little-black-dress kind of fragrance. You get a little bit of sweetness from notes of vanilla and coffee accord, and notes of cedar wood and patchouli for depth and richness. Something about the way this perfume is balanced makes it addictively dark and sensual without being too heavy. Basically, I'm obsessed. Truthfully I would rock this fragrance year-round, but if you're someone who gravitates toward really light, floral scents for spring and summer, this might be a nice change for fall.
0.2 Meet Your Destiny //Travel Spray (7.5 ml), $40
So many people get angry about fragrance samples in their Birchboxes, but if it means stumbling upon a perfume I can fall head-over-heels in love with, I totally don't mind. That was my experience with 0.2. I'd never heard of this brand before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Fortunately it ended up being one of those hidden gems that hooked me from the first spritz.
Now, one of the things that surprised me the most is that 0.2 is a unisex fragrance. I'm a very girly girl, and I've often found that unisex fragrances end up smelling way too masculine when mixed with my body chemistry. But this was totally not the case with 0.2. The mix of notes in this fragrance are really interesting - Italian Bergamont and Spearmint, White Amber, French Vanilla, and Oakmoss to name a few. The end result is a bit of a paradox: fresh and yet musky, sweet and yet earthy. It's the kind of thing that doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense on paper, and yet when you actually put it on and let it mix with your body chemistry, some kind of magic happens. To me this is my perfect everyday kind of scent. It's incredibly alluring without being overly fancy or elegant. Think of the way you feel when you're wearing your favorite pair of jeans - sexy, but still casual and down-to-earth.
If you're curious to see what 0.2 smells like in person, you can find it at select Anthropologie stores!
Elizabeth & James Nirvana Bourbon // Rollerball (0.34 oz), $25
This perfume is the latest addition to my fragrance collection and the addiction is real. I first heard Kathleen Lights talking about how she bought this perfume for her recent trip to New York and I was curious to check it out the next time I stopped by Sephora. Needless to say, one whiff and I found myself putting the rollerball in my basket.
Nirvana Bourbon is the quintessential fall fragrance for me. It's really deep and warm with lots of woody and musky undertones. It's that kind of scent that toes the line between being masculine and feminine, which I suppose makes sense given the entire concept behind Elizabeth and James. It's got the best of what smells like a sexy man, mixed in with some top notes of vanilla and tuberose. This is definitely a more mature, sophisticated fragrance that might not be for everyone, but I seriously can't get enough.
Above all else in the beauty world, I think perfume is perhaps the most personal. We each have our own unique body chemistry that reacts with the different extracts within a fragrance, making a perfume smell a little bit different on each person it touches. Plus, scents evoke different memories and ideas to each of us, and we all may gravitate toward different things.
If you're a fan of warm, amber, musky fragrances, I think these three scents are definitely worth checking out. If you're not sure, head over to your local Sephora and give them a spritz! Sometimes you might be surprised at what you end up liking.
What are your favorite fall fragrances?
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