Spring Fragrance Wardrobe, 2025
a peek at what is now in my rotation after the change in seasons
Traditionally, I’ve always preferred the fall and winter for a variety of reasons, including wearing richer fragrances. I have a strong love for dense ambers, resins, etc. However, the past year I’ve been making a big effort to branch out and look for things that are lighter and more suitable for the weather and the Texas heat!
My collection is always in flux these days, especially as I’ve been falling in love with a lot of independent brands recently, so I do expect this list to be different next year. It will be fun to look back and see what changes a year from now!
While this post will be wholly focused on fragrances, I’m going to do a bit of a rapid fire since I have a fair amount to go through. I will do them in loose groups of somewhat similarish picks, so some of the categories here might be a bit of a stretch (so be a little forgiving with it)!
Incense/Amber
Relique d’Amour - Oriza L. Legrand: A bright lily/pine incense. Has a cold/crisp quality to it that I really love. It wears fairly light and doesn’t last terribly long, but I don’t particuarly care.
Casbah - Robert Piguet: An interesting take on incense that is a little bit woody and green (likely the vetiver). I don’t really find this one ‘churchy’ since I have far more straight church incenses (think: Avignon, LAVS, Cardinal, etc). Where Relique d’Amour is a bright sunny day, Casbah is an incense for a rainy spring afternoon.
Squid - Zoologist: I was on the fence about Squid when I smelled it initially, but picked up a travel size to wear a bit more. I’ve since fallen in love with it. Aquatics never really resonate with me or work well on my skin, but the inky incense base to this one makes for a darker, more mysterious take on the genre without being ‘heavy.’ Think: deep undersea vs beachy.
No. 101 - Fischersund: Surprise! Another weird aquatic (if you want to call it that, I suppose). This one is inspired by the short Icelandic summers, featuring herbal notes, some light floral touches, pine, incense, and ‘rain and snow.’ It’s somehow fresh, yet also somewhat dark and industrial. Very unique from an underrated house.
L’air du Desert Morocain - Andy Tauer: My first true niche fragrance, and will forever hold a special place in my heart. While most ambers tend to be dense and almost sticky with resins, the dry spiciness of LaDDM makes it wearable year-round, in my opinion. It actually takes on a totally different flavor in the baking heat of late spring and summer.
Citrus & Florals
Bergamote 22 - Le Labo: I have to admit I’m not the biggest Le Labo fan. I find their fragrances to be a little boring and quite overpriced. Gaiac 10 is my favorite from the house, but I cannot justify the pricing on it at all. Bergamote 22 is a close second, however. It’s fairly straight forward woody bergamot. It’s super inoffensive and an easy reach when going out in the heat.
Bohemian Lime - Goldfield & Banks: Similar to Bergamote 22, this is a woody citrus that does quite well in oppressive heat. Even more of a crowd pleaser than Bergamote 22 (for me), but with that it can come off fairly generic. That doesn’t make it bad (clearly, my bottle is almost empty). This one leans a little woodier than the Le Labo, and the lime note is a little bit more tart, so it’s different enough for me to justify both.
Baraonda - Nasomatto: While the opening can smell like freshly poured whisky, at its core, this one is pretty heavy on the rose. I’ve never particularly cared for rose notes in fragrances so my love for this one took me by surprise. Must be extremely careful spraying this as it can easily choke people out. I usually put it on at least an hour before going anywhere to let it dissipate a bit!
Narcisse Taiji - Atelier Materi: Another floral? Yep. This sample ended up in a bag of with something I purchased a while back (just got thrown in — I didn’t ask for it!) and I never would have picked this to sample myself as I usually avoid white florals like this like the plague. However, this green, somewhat spicy floral really stuck with me. After going through the entire sample and even getting a second just to be sure, I ended up picking up the bottle. While this will be a rare reach, some days I just want to feel like I’m laying in a field of flowers…
Other
L’homme Sage - Divine: Unassuming and wildly underrated. This is a classic chypre that I am absolutely in love with. It is complex and sophisticated, yet light and well balanced. While more of a traditionally masculine scent profile, I personally think this is very much unisex. Highly recommend giving this one a sniff (though the urge to gatekeep it a bit is high)!
Faunus - LaCurie: Probably my favorite hay-forward fragrance. This is a nice blend of hay, cedar, and the tiniest bit of oud that reminds me of an old barn warmed from the sun. Incendo from the house is also a favorite, though more of a fall/winter option.
Mantes la Jolie - Astier de Villatte: This was a love at first sniff for me — a BURST of fresh mint and basil that is so incredibly realistic it is like smelling my hands after grabbing fresh herbs from the garden. Incredible! It does not last terribly long on me (many of the fresh herbal fragrances don’t) but reapplication is oh so easy! I don’t think I will ever be without this one as long as it’s made.
Kairos - Anatole Lebreton: A really beautiful combination of orange blossom, almond, and vanilla. It is lightly floral, very almond forward, and has that little bit of sweetness that makes it almost milky, straddling the line with being just ever so slightly gourmand. Quite beautiful!
Vetiverissimo - Fzotic: I have a bit of a conflicted relationship with vetiver. I’ve smelled quite a few vetiver focused fragrances and I have just had trouble with getting fully on board. Prior to Vetiverissimo, I had Vetiver Extraordinaire which is also pretty fantastic, but I always felt very middle-of-the-road about it and didn’t end up reaching for it much. After going through the discovery sets from Fzotic, Vetiverissimo was one of the two that I ended up exhausting the samples with (Lampblack being the other). The blend here is quite nice — it’s green without being too brash, yet has nice depth and earthiness without being too bitter.
That’s pretty much it! I do have a few other brighter incenses that I could maybe rotate in, but I don’t anticipate reaching for them quite as often right now. Having 14 different options is quite enough!
What are some fragrances you will be reaching for as the weather warms up (or for those in the southern hemisphere, as it cools down)?
I’m just getting into vetiver myself, and have been enjoying Diptyque’s Vetyverio Eau de Parfum, which features a really sophisticated rose note; I’m also working through a decant of Chanel Sycamore which is a really sophisticated take on the earthy vetiver note.