88. Grounding Scents for Fall – Fragrances to Recenter

👋 Hi fragrance friend,

Last time, I wrote about fragrance as a kind of portal — how certain scents seem to shift the air around us, opening quiet doors to memory or presence. This week, I’ve been reflecting on something different: the grounding aspect of perfume, how it can ground us in the flow of daily life.

On Grounding Scents

Some fragrances have gravitas. A soft ribbon of patchouli can deepen the breath. An amber nuance can settle the heart after hours of rushing. Even the quiet sweetness of vanilla can offer calm, reminding us to slow down and find our center. These aren’t perfumes that demand attention — they’re companions, quietly supportive, bringing us back to presence when the world pulls us in many directions.

I find comfort in these grounding notes, and I imagine many of us have one or two scents we lean on for that sense of presence. They don’t just change the atmosphere — they reconnect us to something essential that often goes missing in our hectic lives.

Zouzou by Celine — just enough patchouli and benzoin to be grounding and comforting.

Oud Cadenza by Maison Crivelli — dates and spices, grounded in mysterious oud.

Havana Gold by Dries Van Noten – licorice and anise on a base of tobacco and suede.

Fragrances rarely fit neatly into a single box; grounding or atmospheric is just one way to describe their shifting nature in our lives. Scents are fluid—able to comfort, inspire, or stir emotion depending on how they meet us in a given moment. They can soothe one day and transport the next, unfolding like a story that changes with time, mood, and memory, becoming part of our emotional landscape.