The Autumn Fragrances Vogue Editors Keep Coming Back To

Windy autumnal days can be a nightmare to navigate. One upside? They’re a great way to share your fragrance with the world. And as breezes turn to gusts, there’s no better time to swap your sea-salted summer scent for something rich and warm. Think of all the classics: the woody smokiness of a crackling fire, the spicy gourmand of gingerbread, the churchy fug of incense.

Then there are the feelings you might want to conjure: the clean, cosy contentment of stepping out of a hot shower, perhaps, or the dizzying rush of a romance played out among the crunchy leaves of Hampstead Heath. Whatever the season has in store, six of British Vogue’s editors – and its foremost fragrance hounds – are lifting the lid on the scents carrying them from autumn into winter. Consider the perfumes below your invitation to follow suit.

Funmi Fetto, beauty & wellness director

I don't tend to change my fragrance according to the seasons. But I do have a wardrobe of fragrances that I layer – I switch them around depending on my mood. At the moment, I'm wearing Chanel Le Lion, which is a deeper, heavier fragrance. I guess one would say it’s a more typically wintry scent, but to be honest, I wear it all year round. I like to combine it with Givenchy’s L’Interdit, which is more sweet. They’re almost two extremes, and when they come together they work really well.

Daniel Rodgers, senior fashion news & features editor

For years, I sought out scents of tobacco, leather and incense – anything, basically, that would make me smell big and bad and broad. But perhaps realising that I am closer in vibe to, say, an 18th-century castrato – remember the meme that goes something like “Please wear cologne that matches your face! Got me turning round to madness”? – I’ve begun to gravitate towards the opposite end of the olfactory spectrum: talc, cold cream, the nape of a freshly washed neck. There’s something of that in Bon Parfumeur’s 301, steeped in dry, fresh cypress and cedar with the creamy, almost cosmetic softness of sandalwood and benzoin, all of which is warmed by the soft, spicy underglow of an amber accord that feels right for autumn.

Mahoro Seward, fashion & style editor

For about two years now, my go-to scent for the darker months has been Bottega Veneta's Déjà Minuit. The hint is in the name itself: it's dead-of-night sexiness distilled – warm, spicy, a little floral; imbued with a mystery that makes more or less anyone who catches a whiff want to know more about it, and a curious bite that makes them just a little confused as to why they do. It was love at first sniff for me – and I guess I wear it in the hopes that the right sort of the person feels the same when they smell it on me, too.

Jacqueline Kilikita, acting beauty & wellness editor

I’ve never been a whisky drinker, but Vanilla Scotch I can get on board with. In fact, it’s the only fragrance I’ve been wearing consistently since the temperature dropped. The initial spritz is a heavy-handed pour of whisky – woody and spicy – but a dash of vanilla and frangipane-esque tonka bean gives it a sweet, not saccharine, edge that makes it as moreish as a cocktail on the rocks. I love that the addition of amber lends a churchy, incense-like quality, meaning it lasts long into the next day on my coats and jackets, but it’s never overpowering. Instead, the dry-down is clean and comforting, like pulling on your favourite well-worn jumper. The special festive glass design is beautiful, too.

Nicole Holcroft-Emmess, visuals editor

I’ve just finished my second big bottle of Father Figure by Phlur. It’s such a comforting, woody skin scent, which I love for the winter months – a change from the sweet gourmand fragrances I tend to lean towards in summer. I get so many compliments on it whenever someone hugs me. The only awkward part is when they ask what I’m wearing and I have to say “Father Figure” – especially when the compliment comes from my own dad.

Kerry McDermott, digital director

I am weirdly sensitive to fragrance – increasingly I find some of the most popular (and expensive!) perfumes overpowering to the point of unpleasant. I steer clear of anything too floral or overwhelmingly sweet (I’d rather go without than go gourmand), gravitating instead towards clean, woody, even mannish scents that last, but in a tolerably subtle way. I’ve been loyal to Byredo for a few years now: Gypsy Water for summer, swapped out for the warmer, woodier Bal D’Afrique once winter hits.