The Best Fragrance Notes for the Spooky Season Scenting
It's finally October, which means Halloween is just around the corner. If you're anything like us, that means more than just thinking about what costume you'll be wearing on Oct. 31, including how to step into fall with style.
Curating your spooky season vibe also means wearing the right fragrances to set the mood. Sure, you can probably get away with wearing your year-long favorites, but we prefer to lean into the season with notes befitting the time of the year. If you're not sure where to start, we have some suggestions for you below.
Candy Apple
We've never actually eaten a candy apple, but that doesn't stop us from associating them—and their luscious fragrance—with the Halloween season. We appreciate the complexity that lies with its notes, combining a tart juiciness from the apple with either a buttery caramel or sugary-sweet candy fragrance. It's balanced and fun without being a pure fruit scent.
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Cinnamon
We love stepping into certain supermarkets in the fall and immediately getting a whiff of the new cinnamon-scented decor. It immediately draws us into the season, feeling spicy and warm against the chill outside. Some of our favorite Halloween candies are also packed with cinnamon heat, and while they can be uncommon, cinnamon notes can also be lovely in cozy gourmand fragrances.
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Also read about: How to Wear a Taylor Swift-Inspired 'English Teacher' Aesthetic This Fall
Jasmine
You might not immediately associate florals with autumn and Halloween, but the right dark and moody flower scents can curate precisely the mysterious and witchy vibe you're going for. It's sweet and delicately perfumery, and we're especially fans of night-blooming jasmine and its nocturnal connotations.
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Pumpkin
We hate to be obvious, but pumpkin really is a quintessential scent, not just for Halloween, but autumn overall. There's an earthy sweetness to the pumpkin itself, through we do prefer spiced varieties incorporating notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, plus the comforting scent of vanilla and brown sugar. We don't care if it's basic—we love smelling like a pumpkin spice latte.
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Red Berries
Obviously, no one wants to wear a real "blood" fragrance, but we've seen plenty options with blood in the name that instead highlight the richness of red berries, and they're always intoxicating. These fruity fragrances are extra luscious, usually with deep musky notes or flower fragrances for balance, and honestly, we want to smell like them all year long.
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Also read about: The Best Group Halloween Costume Ideas for 2025
Smoke and Fog
There's something extra spooky and mysterious about Halloween fog and smoke, and they also make for invigorating, rugged scent notes. They convey a coolness, usually incorporating incense notes to create a cool, creamy aromatic herbal effect.
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Woods
Halloween and spooky tales in the woods have always gone hand in hand, which is perhaps why we associated haunted forests—and their scent—with the holiday. Woodsy scents are typically earthy, warm and rich, with different notes depending on the type of wood, and they can be combined with other fragrances to bring even more character to whatever spooky woods setting you've been conjuring in your head.
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Thinking ahead to winter? Click HERE to discover our favorite wintery fragrances notes for the chilly season.