Halloween through 5 perfume ingredients

What is it about Halloween that has made it so popular on our calendars? Mystery, a halo of fantasy, a pinch of superstition and high doses of sweets and fun. Today we take Halloween to the field of perfumery to surprise you with some ingredients of perfumes that are the protagonists of this day and that give rise to unique scents that we know will catch your attention… Are you ready for a scented "trick or treat"?

The pumpkin has become a star piece of autumn decoration and, of course, of Halloween. Its carved shell and hollow interior make it a perfect ghostly lamp to light up the evening of this night whose celebration has Celtic, Roman and Christian roots, a melting pot of cultures and traditions that have reached our days in the globalised Anglo-Saxon version known as Halloween (a contraction of All Hallow Eve). Although we owe candlelit pumpkins to the Irish who emigrated to America in 1840, as they can be traced back to the legend of "Jack o'lanterns", who outwitted the devil with his cunning and, when he died, was condemned to wander eternally with an ember that he placed in a turnip carved as a lantern, a vegetable that was replaced by pumpkins in North America.


Sweet and nutty, pumpkin is an autumnal olfactory note that can be enjoyed in Rabanne's unisex fragrance Fabulous Me by perfumer Alienor Massenet. The perfume is an ambery flavoured composition that plays with woods, the sweetness of pumpkin and the freshness of rhubarb.


And if you want to enjoy a truly autumnal atmosphere at home, Diptyque 's limited edition Citrouille candle - available from 11 November until the beginning of winter - will be the perfect companion for the darkest evenings, illuminated only by a romantic flame… Pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon and roasted chestnuts create a cosy and very tasty scented trail.

If there is one flower characteristic of All Saints' Day, it is the cempasúchil or Flor de Muerto. In this case we are transported to Mexico, where these flowers dye the altars bright orange. Also known as tagete or marigold, this flower was considered sacred by the Aztecs, who used them in funeral rituals so that the souls of the deceased could be guided back to their relatives.


With a delicate floral fragrance, today calendula is a common ingredient not only in perfumery, but also in cosmetics for its soothing and softening properties, ideal for sensitive skin.


We discover marigold in Jo Malone's fragrance, Jasmine Sambac & Marigold Cologne Intense, a feminine scent that takes on vivacity and freshness thanks to this flower that softens the intoxicating jasmine that occupies the central note and gives way to the warm benzoin resin, which creates an addictive trail in the final notes. The perfume is the work of perfumers Celine Roux and Mathilde Bijaoui.


We enter the realm of fantasy with Dreaming with Ghosts by Mark Buxton, a unisex perfume that evokes the unexpected beauty to be found on the dark side… Marigold and quince bring softness to the top notes before giving way to the intensity of leather, vetiver and vanilla.

The famous "Trick or treat" or "trick or treat" has finally conquered children all over the world, who have surrendered to the powerful attraction of candy. It is the sweetest and most endearing aspect of Halloween.


What can we say about candy in perfumery, a note typical of the so-called gourmand fragrances, which can take on different facets: from the memory of a simple candy from childhood to the sugary complexity of a delicate dessert. Although today we are familiar with sweet notes in perfumes, it was not until 1992 that the gourmand family was launched, taking on an entity of its own thanks to the overwhelming success of Mugler's Angel fragrance, a revolutionary score in its day that included a note of praline, underlined by a high dose of patchouli that made it tremendously addictive.


Explosive, excessive and sensual, don't be confused by its sweet appearance because Candy, created by Daniela Andrier for Prada, is a feminine fragrance with a lot of character and ultra-sensual. The perfume's motto, "more is more", translates into an olfactory pyramid that has been built on sweet edible notes: caramel accord, atalcadas, musk, vanilla and benzoin.


Conceived as time capsules that speak to future generations of what life on Earth was like, Nishane's Time Capsule Collection turns perfume into a fragrant language that compiles different experiences of humanity. Tero (Earth in Esperanto) is a tribute to our planet, unique in the universe. To develop this olfactory story, master perfumer Carlos Benaim uses salted caramel, black pepper, Sichuan pepper absolute, patchouli and cinnamon bark.

Aromatic, warm and mysterious*, incense is a highly prized ingredient in perfumery, as it adds depth and richness to compositions. Its fragrance is associated with *spirituality* because of its use in religious ceremonies and rituals where incense is burned to purify spaces, ward off negative energies and make offerings on altars.


"The search for the origins of incense is lost in the mists of time, companions of the history of humanity for four thousand years in Africa, Arabia, Mesopotamia and in the eastern Mediterranean", says Dominique Roques in the book El buscador de Esencias, where he details how the smoke of incense "is imposed on altars for sacrifices and tributes to the gods". Frankincense is a gum resin, a natural secretion extracted from trees that is ethically and environmentally friendly harvested in remote forests located mainly in North Africa, Somalia and Oman.


Mysterious and ambery, the Mystic Incense fragrance, part of The Merchant of Venice's Murano collection, is a sophisticated interpretation of incense that introduces a gourmand and woody accord through notes of cocoa, caramel, myrrh and cypress.


The name Passage D'Enfer Extrême (Passage to Hell), a fragrance by L'Artisan Parfumeur, refers to a traditional Chinese tale about the journey from life to death. The perfume develops this concept through a feeling of relaxation and calmness by using cold incense, not burning incense, which invites one to reach a state of contemplation. It is, therefore, an appropriate perfume for those who are just beginning to venture into the territory of oriental perfumes.

Sweet and ferrous notes recreate the scent of a hand wounded by a malicious rose… Etat Libre d'Orange delves into the floral character of the rose in Eau de Protection, a project created in collaboration with actress Rossy de Palma and perfumers Antoine Lie and Antoine Maisondieu. Black pepper, ginger and bergamot present a Bulgarian rose with prickling thorns, as an unprecedented blood chord reminds us.

Celebrating life from a tragic event such as death. This is the concept behind Byredo's De los Santos perfume. The perfume was born from the grief of Ben Gorham, founder of the brand, after losing his friend Virgil Abloh - creative director of Luis Vuitton and founder of Off-White - who died unexpectedly at the age of 41. "I wanted to create a way to celebrate my memories, honour the beauty of life and translate that into a fragrance", he explains.


Perfumer Jérôme Epinette collaborates with Byredo on this project in which he has selected the right raw materials to fuse Christian and Latin imagery around the aromas of funeral and All Saints ' Day rites with Gorham's South Asian olfactory heritage: clary sage, rockrose, ambroxan and Palo Santo recall ancestral rituals that comfort grieving souls and honour the departed.