Here's a guide to coniferous fragrances that you never asked for. I really love coniferous, smoky, incense-y resinous kinds of fragrances and I've tried a few, so I thought I'd share my notes on some of the ones I've tried so far. The idea of fragrances being seasonal has never fully clicked with me, but many of these would be worn by most in the colder months (I'm wearing them year-round though). I'm not the best reviewer and I'm aware that some of these descriptions and impressions are inconsistent, but most of these are what I've jotted down in the past few years. I've rated each fragrance out of 10, for which 5/10 means that it's a good fragrance. Not amazing, not bad, not exceptionally unique, but good. This takes into account the scent itself, as well as its performance; price isn't a factor of the rating. I'm still trying to find that 10/10 scent though, coniferous or otherwise. If you have other coniferous fragrances to recommend or discuss, please feel free to share.
| Fragrance | Description | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Alkemia - Falling Stars at Winter Solstice | A quiet snow-covered road through the forest on a clear night. Falling Stars at Winter Solstice is a beautiful soft Christmas pine and myrrh with a touch of smoke. It's a bit on the feminine side, but anyone could pull this off. Being oil-based, the projection and longevity aren't fantastic, but fortunately it is not expensive. There are a handful of other coniferous Alkemia scents that are great, this one is my favorite. | 7.5/10 |
| Annick Goutal - Nuit Etoilee | A cool fall night, not very cold and with the lingering mint freshness on a fleeting summer breeze. Almost more minty than pine, Nuit Etoilee is a calm, beautiful meditative scent. The citrus and mint wane in the first half hour, giving way to a soft pine and resin. Also Feminine leaning, but again anyone could pull this off. Longevity is decent, but it doesn't really project much after 2 hours or so. | 6/10 |
| Apoteker Tepe - The Holy Mountain | A transcendental hike to a remote Himalayan Monastery. The Holy Mountain features balsam fir, incense, labdanum, and guaiac wood. This one is very dry and medicinal, and while incense is listed as a note it comes across as more of a peat woodsmoke. The labdanum makes this one vaguely remind me of L'air du Desert Marocain in the drydown. Longevity and projection are decent, this one will project for around 4 hours on my skin. | 9/10 |
| Bottega Veneta - Pour Homme | This one seems to be a pine and leather hybrid modeled after some of the old powerhouse scents like Tsar and Quorum. The opening is harsh and a bit synthetic, but in the drydown the Canadian fir and Juniper become dominant and it's botanical and pleasant. Around 2 hours of projection, 4 hours of longevity. I like this one better than the extreme version, still not my favorite. | 4/10 |
| Caron - Yatagan | Intense animalic, oakmossy pine. It was released in the late seventies though I feel it manages to maintain some semblance of modernity. Very masculine. This is a weird one to me, and I do like it, but the oakmoss can be a bit much. Lasts all day. | 5/10 |
| Comme des Garçons - Hinoki | I'd like to think that this is how a Japanese forest might smell. Hinoki is a green camphorous yet medicinal kind of pine. I'm not familiar with the smell of Hinoki wood itself, but the fragrances is reminiscent of a wooden sauna. Hinoki is beautiful, but it lacks any kind of longevity and projection. Aesop's Hwyl is nearly identical, though it doesn't last much longer. | 7/10 |
| Comme des Garçons - Sugi | Photo-realistic juniper, sharply green and intense, like the smell of good gin. The pine and pepper help to round it out. It's a wonderful smell for a few minutes but is completely gone within an hour. | 6/10 |
| Comme des Garçons - Series 3 Incense: Zagorsk | The smell of Russian monasteries placed in endless snowy Russian planes, the odor of light birch and dark pine tree woods, and northern red forest fruits.The main notes of Zagorsk are frankincense, pine, pimento, violet, cedar, iris, Hinoki and birch. This is a light scent, a very clean pine and incense. It was inspired by Orthodox Christianity and I think the incense is a good representation of churchy incense, though I'm not sure how the conifers come into play with that theme. Lasts most of the day, projection is barely above the skin. | 7/10 |
| Dasein - Winter | A deeply drifted mountain pass at the edge of the treeline after the passing of a light snow flurry. Winter is a blend of blue spruce, forest pine, cardamom and lavender. It maybe just that my nose is being conditioned by the name of fragrance, but this one really comes across as a chilly-smelling fragrance. It's almost gourmand-like in it's sweetness, the lavender being quite different from other lavender that I've come across in fragrance, and the spruce providing a deepness. Longevity for 5 or 6 hours, and decent projection. | 9/10 |
| Dasein - Winter Nights | The scent of sitting around a campfire in the mountains in the middle of winter. Heavy, natural, cozy, beautiful. Similar to Winter, but now the pine has been burned and replaced by smoke. Winter Nights is an appropriate name because it lasts for nights on end, and if you spray this black elixir on your clothes the scent may not come out. | 9.5/10 |
| DS & Durga - El Cosmico | An ethereal transportive scent, a forest of stunted pinyon pines giving way to red canyon walls and sage brush desert. El Cosmico is a very dry creosote, khella and pine scent, just extremely different than anything else I've smelled. It's simultaneously dry, and fairly sweet as well. Lasts most of the day and projects a fair amount of that time. | 8/10 |
| Euphorium Brooklyn - Wald | The opening is a fantastic explosion of soil, smoke, resin, fir and fungi, like laying on the forest floor after a light rain. As much as I love the opening however, it settles down into a musky vetiver and soil, which I find to be less interesting. It is fairly similar to Olympic Orchid's Olympic Rainforest, which I would probably choose based on the price difference. Wald lasts all day on my skin, though the projection is fairly soft, a foot or two at most. | 7/10 |
| Guerlain - Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice | Hot cider and fresh Christmas tree. Winter Delice contains notes of fir, pine, resin, opoponax, and vanille. It stays sweet throughout without being a gourmand, and gets sweeter in the drydown. It reminds me if a less smoky version of Arso by Profumum Roma. The longevity is around 6 hours, and the projection is soft, though this is a new acquisition and I have only worn it once. | 7/10 |
| Hendley - Fume | A midday forest bonfire, in a clearing surrounded by springtime wild grasses. The closest fragrance to Slumberhouse's Norne that I've smelled, though it is much less heavy and more focused on smoke. Sits fairly close to the skin, lasts all day. | 8.5/10 |
| Imaginary Authors - Cape Heartache | An old-growth forest, that for some reason I've brought the strawberry lip balm of my childhood into? The fragrance features fir, pine, hemlock, vanilla, and strawberry notes. I don't love the strawberry in this one, but after it fades in the opening, the pine-heavy drydown is fantastic. Lasts all day and projects most of it. | 7/10 |
| Ineke - Idyllwild | A sunny mountain clearing complete with rhubarb, wildflowers and a gurgling stream. Idyllwild contains pine, but it's not really a major player, I just think this is a lovely fragrance. Unfortunately it becomes a skin scent almost immediately. | 6.5/10 |
| Maison Margiela - Soul of the Forest | The pine comes across as somewhat synthetic, though it's still a pleasant linear scent. | 5/10 |
| Olympic Orchids - Olympic Rainforest | A dark loamy forest rife with moss and fresh dew. This scent has a kind of mustiness to it that also brings to mind a vintage bookstore. Olympic Rainforest has notes of cedar, fern, rhododendron, mushrooms, oakmoss, black spruce, and balsam fir. I don't like oakmoss in large doses, but this fragrance blends it so well that I can't help but like the scent. Lasts all day and softly projects for most of it. | 7/10 |
| Olympic Orchids - Woodcut | A cozy glowing hearth in an alpine lodge, you're curled nearby with a steaming caramel drink. Woodcut features notes of cedar, oak, pine and the burnt-sugar caramel aroma of warm-fresh-cut wood. The caramel and wood combo is quite addictive and unique. Lasts most of the day and has moderate projection. | 8/10 |
| Profumum Roma - Arso | A sap-encrusted pine log, smoldering in the remains of a dying fire. Arso is a powerful, beautiful scent with notes of incense, leather, Virginia cedar and pine, though resin is the dominant note to my nose. Leather is listed as a note, but I can't detect it. It's mostly linear, but no complaints here. Longevity and projection are all-day and enormous. | 9/10 |
| Ralph Lauren - Polo (Green) | Pine, leather and a bit of tobacco, this one is a classic for a reason. It's classy and lasts a long time. My dad used to wear this one though, I doubt I'd wear it much myself. | 6/10 |
| Serge Lutens - Fille en Aiguilles | A freshly-cut Christmas wreath surrounded by the candied fruit and baked goods of holiday preparations. Fille en Aiguilles includes pine needles, vetiver, bay leaf, spices, fruit and incense, though the pine needles are mostly gone after 30 minutes or so. I don't care for the drydown of stewed fruit so much, which is a shame because the opening is one of the most phenomenal out of any coniferous fragrance I've smelled. Longevity is only a couple hours at best, doesn't project very much. | 6.5/10 |
| Slumberhouse - Norne | The primordial heart of Mirkwood forest, heavy, dank, and a bit scary. Norne is pretty simple in terms of notes, which are listed as fog-caked needle, lichen, moss, hemlock, incense. In the vial it is a thick, sticky dark green liquid. It's a fairly realistic fir scent, but I would say it's more the idealized scent of fir, what I think of when I imagine fir. I love this scent but I can't see myself wearing it very often. Legendary longevity, and the projection is moderate to heavy. | 9/10 |
| Solstice Scents - Russian Caravan | A whistling tea kettle being made over the fire after a night of camping. Notes are amber, smoked black tea, leather, pine resin, smoke, and black currant. This is a really nice indie scent in EDP concentration, the black tea and leather accords really work well together in the drydown. Lasts around 3 hours, projection is fairly low. | 7/10 |
| Solstice Scents - Smoky Mountain Mallow | Marshmallows toasting on an open campfire. Notes are wood smoke, amber resin, lapsang souchong, guaiac wood, labdanum, nutmeg, and marshmallow. Smoky Mountain Mallow reminds me of a spicier version of By The Fireplace by Maison Mergiela. It's a very cozy scent that would be perfect on a chilly night. It is available as an oil, and being such the projection is low, though it lasts most of the day. | 6.5/10 |
| Tom Ford - Vert Encens | An almost gourmand evergreen incense, this is one of my favorites from Tom Ford. There is definitely a vintage vibe to this one despite being released fairly recently and a kind of almost staleness in the opening, but that dissipates quickly. Very festive and classy fragrance. | 7/10 |
| Vagabond Prince - Enchanted Forest | A juicy black currant bush surrounded by a springtime evergreen forest. It also reminds me of the smell of opening a fruit rollup or a bag of gummy bears. Enchanted Forest is a very jammy and sweet scent with notes of blackcurrant, honeysuckle, opoponax, oakmoss, fir balsam, and cedar. | 8/10 |
My favorites so far:
5) Norne
4) Arso
3) Winter
2) The Holy Mountain
Winter Nights
Apologies if you're viewing on mobile, the table may not load correctly on third-party apps.
Edit: here is a link to a google sheets page with the table, if you're having trouble seeing it.
Edit 2: Added CDG Incense Zagrosk and fixed the listing for Fume
I know this is an older post but hopefully you see this! Winter sounds fantastic to me, but I've read that it has a pretty potent cardamom component as well. Do you find the cardamom note to be pretty strong? I'm not a big fan of it in fragrances and that would probably keep me from wearing it. Other than that it sounds like exactly what I'd want.
Hmm, I would say the lavender and pine are much more prominent than the cardamom. I finished off my sample of it a while back though and actually was about to order a bottle in the next few weeks, so I can definitely follow up with you after wearing it again if you want.
Interesting. I think I’ll have to go ahead and snag a sample, it just sucks paying like $6 shipping on a $7 item. Again it sounds great but I’m pretty sensitive to cardamom-love it as a flavor but hate smelling like it. Fragrantica reviews are sort of all over the place, of course. Some people say it’s barely noticeable, others say it’s a huge part of the scent.
What a great resource - in love with Norne and Enchanted Forest, really liking Cape Heartache and Soul of the Forest, and now very curious about Arso and Winter
Glad you liked it! I'm in the process of expanding it right now as the spreadsheet reflects, I might post it again in November or so. I'd recommend Fume by Hendley as the most similar to Norne, but with a bit more campfire, or maybe Prakt by Svensk if you like Enchanted Forest. Arso and Winter are both lovely, and I would check out Winter Nights too!
How about La Curie Incendo?
I get straight smoke from this one. Not that it's bad, but I just don't pick up on many other notes. Alkemia makes a scent called Ydalir that is similar but a bit more complex, I would recommend it over Incendo.
Hmm, thanks.
Have you tried Tom Ford Bois Marocain?
No, but this is one that I've really been wanting to try. There was a split recently over on the fragsplits sub that I'm kicking myself for not getting in on when it happened. Have you tried it?
Nope; just stumbled upon it on Fragrantica and wondered if you knew.
I recently wrote a request asking for a solid pine fragrance (I even made a reference to wanting to smell like Mirkwood). This is extra gravy, thank you for taking the time to write this up.
If you ever get the chance definitely try Aramis New West. It’s a sort of proto-aquatic from 1988 that has a metallic, Southern California pine opening to it that I adore. It’s a calone-heavy coniferous freshy.
I haven't tried this but something I'm interested in is Greylocke by Phlur - the only notes listed are pine tree and apple tree. This is a new-ish brand I recently noticed on Sephora's (US) website. As I said, haven't tried yet but very intrigued and will probably order their sample set from Sephora.
You're welcome, I love this genre of fragrance and I'm happy to share, hopefully you find something you like here. Thanks for the rec, I'm definitely going to check out New West, as this list is lacking on the fresher side of things.
Norne has been on my list for quite a while. I’m saving it as a special “gift” for myself for one of these days.
I actually just got Yatagan a few days ago. I like it but I find the pine note to be muted and not particularly the main player. I expected something more like an old-growth forest.
You’re very welcome, I hope you like New West!
Great thread. Saving this. Thanks.
You're welcome, anything in particular you're interested in trying?
I almost blinded Winter Nights thanks to this thread. I backed it down to a sample though. ;)
Thank you so very much for this detailed and thorough write-up! I've been searching for a new fragrance for my upcoming wedding, and I wanted something a bit forest-y and cold weather without being aggressively Christmas or air freshener. I'm thinking Daesin Winter might be the ticket.
I'm glad you found a it helpful, and I think Winter would be a perfect choice.
Lovely guide, well-organised and comprehensive; thanks for this! What haven't you smelled that you're most looking forward to trying?
Thanks! There's still quite a few I'm trying to get my hands on, the next few acquisitions will likely be Tonnerre by BeauFort London, a few different CB I hate perfume's, 26 Tenebrae by l'Artisan Perfumer, and Charcoal by Perfumer H.
I've never given coniferous woods much though, so thanks again for introducing me to this whole new world. It does indeed paint a very pretty picture in my head. Out of curiosity, what are you looking for in your 10/10 fragrance?
That's a good question and I don't know if I really have a great answer. To me it would be a non-linear scent that I absolutely love every phase of, and last all day with modest projection. For coniferous scents, it would probably look something like Dasein's Winter Nights crossed with the green Christmas wreath opening of Fille en Aiguilles. A part of me kind of hopes that I never find it though.
A part of me kind of hopes that I never find it though.
So you'll keep on looking for perfection and never settle?
Yes. I really enjoy researching fragrances, testing them, making notes and comparing them so honestly I don't know if I'd ever stop even if I found the perfect fragrance.
No problem, did anything stick out to you from the list?
Yes, that I have not ventured into this side of the fragrance world at all. I am going to make it a point to smell your top two next time I am at the department store. I love Christmas and the tree scents, gotta check it out.
welp just blind bought winter nights. it's on sale at twisted lily right now for anyone else interested.
I too bought a full bottle a few days ago, you made the right call haha. 88$ for 50 ml of some of the longest lasting juice is a steal.
My husband and I share both Cape Heartache and Fille en Aiguilles.
Both are so nice. If I found a fragrance that smelled like the first fifteen minutes of FeA but for 8 hours I think my search would be over haha.
Neat writeup on a profile that I enjoy. I'll check some of these out.
It's loading as a table but the first two colunmns (the middle one the most) are so wide I can't relate the rating back to the fragrance. Maybe a narrower column width and text wrap?
I'm guessing you're on mobile? Most of the mobile clients are just really fucking bad at rendering tables. I don't think there's much OP can do about that.
It looks fine on desktop and the official app but not another I use, I'll add a link to the Google doc that I pulled the table off of.
wow, this is amazing, I'm currently obsessed with the idea of both gin-fresh and deep-woods, slightly sappy conifer scents. Based on this, Winter looks like what I most need to try. El Cosmico looks really good, too, and with my fondness for classic masculines, my sleeping on Yatagan for so long is a travesty. Alkemia Mesnee d'Hellequin is what really piqued my interest in pine, but I'm also not partial to the wear of oils. If Sonoma Scent Studios ever reopens, keep an eye out for WInter Woods and Forest Walk. I've only tried the former but it is a wonderful rich, smoky birch forest fragrance, and the quality of every scent I've tried from them is incomparable for the price. Thanks again, this was really great.
You're welcome! I'm with you on Alkemia, Mesnee is nice, as well as Woods on a Snowy Evening, Stag Moon, and Among the Pines, but yeah oils aren't my favorite. I've been looking for those SSS scents as well as Fireplace/Intense, I just really need them to reopen haha.
El Cosmico is amazing, and you might also like Mississippi Medicine and Freetrapper from DS & Durga.
Hopefully you find what you're looking for!
Have you tried Olympic Orchids Blackbird? Definitely some pine forest goodness in that one too!
I have a sample of this one, and I really like it so far. It reminds me a bit of Enchanted Forest's Vagabond prince, except this one is more jammy. I really appreciate how Olympic orchids is good about keeping their samples cheap.
Yep! The fragrances on this list feature some kind of coniferous notes such as pine, spruce, fir, and juniper if you can classify it as such.
Nice write-up. The Holy Mountain sounds intriguing.
It is great. Unfortunately the Apoteker Tepe line is discontinued now, but I think you can still get samples on Twisted Lily.
I just want to say that table is beautiful!
Which one of these would you consider the most feminine/unisex? Or which would you recommend to a woman who wants to smell like a forest?
I've worn Fille en Aiguilles and loved it, then ran into a woman who recognized it immediately and said it was her signature scent. I've since realized that Feminite du Bois is my preferred "lace panties in the woods" scent, but FeA reminds me so much of a former lover that I keep a decant around!
I would go with Dasein's Winter, it leans a tad feminine and is really just a gogeous scent. I'm partial to Smoky fragrances so I opted for a bottle of Winter Nights instead, but both are amazing.
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