The Anatomy of a Seasonal Holiday Fragrance: How We’re Lured by Scents of Dessert and Nostalgia

Isn’t it wild how one little whiff of something—whether it’s a brand-new shampoo or a random hand soap in an office bathroom—can take you back in an instant? I’ll be minding my own business and get hit with a familiar-yet-vague smell, and suddenly, I’ve time-traveled back to the early aughts, clutching a caramel Frappuccino and asking a Sephora sales associate where to find Jessica Simpson’s Dessert Beauty line. I’m forever fascinated by the power of scent, even as a beauty editor who frequently writes about perfumes. I feel that seasonal scents, in particular, tend to evoke nostalgia on an almost supernatural level.

Science refers to this phenomenon as scent-triggered nostalgia, and fragrance brands know exactly how to exploit it lovingly. Starting in the fall and continuing into the holiday season, an abundance of perfumes and body lotions dripping with notes of vanilla, pumpkin, caramel, gingerbread, and warm apple pie begin popping up everywhere. Every whiff of these gourmand notes tends to stir up a familiar, comforting feeling that makes you want to wrap yourself up in the scent and binge-watch Gilmore Girls. The question is, How exactly do fragrance and beauty brands create these scents in the first place?

Bath & Body Works has long been synonymous with seasonal fragrances, and every year, loyal customers and fans await its fall and holiday lineup. As expected, it’s a massive undertaking to bring the brand’s iconic fragrances to life, so the brand partners with renowned perfumers and fragrance houses. Patty Hidalgo, a perfumer at International Flavors & Fragrances, is one of Bath & Body Works’ longtime collaborators. She has created an incredible 130 fragrances (!) for the company over the years, including Strawberry Pound Cake and Champagne Toast. When it comes to creating a dessert-themed fragrance, Hidalgo describes a process that mixes collaboration, headspace technology, and hands-on inspiration.

“Not only is there the visual inspiration or just looking at the recipe—that’s super important as well—but you have to taste it because taste and smell are so related,” she tells Who What Wear. She explains how perfumers often work with flavorists to nail down the scent, particularly when it comes to gourmands. “They can help me capture the authenticity of something like a graham cracker,” she says. “The odor between the spices, the texture, the crispiness… It might be something that, from a perfumer standpoint, I might not have thought of or something that I might not use often.”

Lush is another brand whose seasonal offerings have a cult-like following among customers. Emma Vincent, an in-house perfumer for Lush, is behind fan favorites like Turmeric Latte and says she finds inspiration via recipes and experiences she’s had during her travels.

One of her more recent creations was the instantly popular Chelsea Morning perfume, a gourmand fragrance inspired by the Joni Mitchell song of the same name. One of the lyrics reads, “The sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses,” which is where Vincent started mapping out the scent. “I was thinking, ‘How would I go about creating butterscotch?’ I used fenugreek, which was quite sticky and resinous. I also used vanilla absolute and tonka and lemon myrtle for the brightness,” she says. “I was trying to replicate this bright beam of sun through the perfume.”

At Kayali, desserts are a major part of the fragrance brand’s DNA. Founder Mona Kattan says that her creative process usually starts with a mood or a memory rather than a season. “For Yum Pistachio Gelato 33, I wanted to create an ode to my favorite dessert—pistachio gelato! The inspiration came from a girls’ trip to Rome with my sister, Alya, back in 2014, where I had pistachio gelato for the first time,” she says.

The brand’s newest launch—Yum Boujee Marshmallow, which has notes of strawberry, pink marshmallow, and whipped vanilla—was inspired by the sweet “Marshmallow” nickname given to Kattan by her husband.

Alie Kiral says that nearly all of the perfumes in Pearfat Parfum’s collection start with a story rather than a specific scent. Instead of starting with traditional holiday motifs, she’ll find inspiration elsewhere—like the mythical Italian witch La Befana for her sold-out holiday release of the same name and David Cronenberg films for her fall scent Be Very Afraid.

When Kiral does work with a gourmand note, she’ll try to contrast it with something unexpected. “The most obvious example of this in my work is my perfume I Broke My Own Heart, which has cocoa and vanilla but also has seaweed absolute,” she explains. “I wanted something salty and deep to contrast the more typically delicious-smelling notes I was utilizing.”

More of My Favorite Scents to Try This Holiday Season