10 Best Christmas Perfumes for Men

Ten Christmas perfumes for men, grouped by the notes that smell like the season: incense, tobacco and vanilla, warm spice, and chestnut and wood. If you want a cologne for the whole cold season rather than for December, our best winter perfumes for men covers that; this page is only about Christmas.

What makes a cologne smell like Christmas? Mostly the notes. Frankincense is the oldest of them. As the New York Botanical Garden explains, it is the dried resin of Boswellia trees, myrrh comes from Commiphora trees, and both travelled as gifts with the Magi. Add the kitchen (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg), the fire (chestnut, wood smoke) and the evening after dinner (vanilla, rum, tobacco), and you have the whole season in a bottle.

Incense Colognes

1. Amouage Jubilation XXV Man: Best Frankincense

Candles, a cold church and the smell of the censer. This is the most literal frankincense on the page.

What the house says. Amouage lists labdanum, coriander, orange, davana, frankincense and blackberry on top, and a base of patchouli, opoponax, myrrh, cedarwood, musk, moss, ambergris, oud and immortelle. Frankincense on top and myrrh in the base: two of the three gifts in one bottle. It is an eau de parfum.

2. Chanel Coromandel: Best Soft Incense

The same incense, but at a candlelit table rather than in a church. Benzoin makes it round and sweet.

What the house says. Chanel calls Coromandel Eau de Parfum "an intensely ambery fragrance with notes of patchouli, frankincense and benzoin". It sits in Les Exclusifs de Chanel and the house page names no gender. For more incense and resin, see the resinous family.

3. Hugo Boss Boss Bottled Elixir: Best Easy Incense

The easiest incense on the page: dry, woody and familiar, good for the office party as much as the church.

What the house says. Authorised retailer listings for this parfum intense give incense and cardamom on top, vetiver and patchouli in the heart, and cedarwood and labdanum in the base.

Tobacco and Vanilla Colognes

4. Kilian Smoking Hot: Best Apple and Tobacco

Baked apple, cinnamon and slow smoke. It smells like the dessert and the fire at once.

What the house says. Kilian writes that "a round Apple Hookah flavour blends with warm Cinnamon Bark essence" and that "notes of fire-cured Kentucky Tobacco absolute emerge", over Bourbon vanilla and patchouli. It sits in the house's The Smokes collection and is an eau de parfum.

5. Dior Tobacolor: Best Honeyed Tobacco

Tobacco cured in honey, with fruit around it. Softer and less smoky than Smoking Hot.

What the house says. Dior describes Tobacolor as an ambery gourmand eau de parfum whose tobacco unfolds "between fruity and honeyed accents". It is unisex in La Collection Privée Christian Dior. Dior does not publish a full note list for it.

Warm Spice Colognes

6. Dior Sauvage Elixir: Best Warm Spice

The kitchen spices without the sugar. Cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom over lavender and wood.

What the house says. Retailer listings for Sauvage Elixir give grapefruit, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom on top, lavender in the heart, and licorice, sandalwood, amber, patchouli and vetiver in the base. It is a high concentration of Sauvage, which is why the base notes lead. More spice picks live in the spicy family.

7. Emporio Armani Stronger With You Intensely: Best for Family Dinners

The sweetest pick here: Christmas pudding energy, safe for the whole family table.

What the house says. Armani's description pairs lavender with "sweet toffee caramel and cinnamon" in the heart and ends on suede, vanilla and amber. Retailer listings add pink pepper, juniper and violet on top. It is an eau de parfum.

8. Azzaro The Most Wanted: Best Sweet Spice

Cardamom from the spice jar, toffee from the sweet tin. Warm, simple and easy to like.

What the house says. Authorised retailer listings for The Most Wanted Eau de Parfum Intense give three notes: cardamom, a toffee accord and amberwood.

Chestnut and Wood Colognes

9. Maison Margiela Replica By the Fireplace: Best Roasted Chestnut

The name says it. Clove, chestnut and a little smoke, the closest thing on the page to a December evening at home.

What the house says. Maison Margiela lists pink pepper, orange flower and clove oil on top, a chestnut accord, gaiac wood oil and cade oil in the heart, and a vanilla accord, Peru balsam and cashmeran in the base. The house calls the family woody ambery and recreates the chestnut with "a blend of chestnut notes and red berries oil". It is an eau de toilette and unisex, the lightest concentration on this page; EDP vs EDT vs parfum explains what that means.

10. Emporio Armani Stronger With You Absolutely: Best Boozy Chestnut

Chestnut again, but glazed and boozy. Where By the Fireplace is smoky, this one is sweet.

What the house says. Armani's retail copy describes "glazed chestnut boosted by an addictive rum accord". Retailer listings give rum, elemi and bergamot on top, lavender and davana in the heart, and chestnut, Madagascar vanilla, cedar and patchouli in the base. It is an eau de parfum.

Comparison Table

Which Christmas Cologne Should You Buy First?

Start with the note you already like. If you love the smell of a church at Christmas, try Jubilation XXV or Coromandel. If you prefer the kitchen, try Stronger With You Intensely or Sauvage Elixir. If it is the fire, By the Fireplace. The two Armani bottles, The Most Wanted and Boss Bottled Elixir are the easiest on the budget; Jubilation XXV, Coromandel, Smoking Hot and Tobacolor are the splurges.

Find Your Match in the Fragnatique App

The Fragnatique app asks which notes you like and when you wear perfume, then matches you from the answers, so you can test whether incense or chestnut is really your Christmas note before buying a bottle. If you are buying for someone else, our perfume gift guide answers whether perfume is a good gift at all. For the women's side of the season, see the best Christmas perfumes for women; for autumn, fall colognes for men. And the perfume finder starts from your own taste.