The Scents of Christmas
Beautiful Christmas aromas create a wonderful festive atmosphere in your home, the right scents radiate warmth and remind us of childhood memories. Orla Van den Bergh of Max Benjamin shares some of her favourite scents for the season.
Scent is one of the most important pieces of the Christmas puzzle for our family each year, and for many others. It’s incredibly evocative and can conjure up so many memories and something we all love to do at Christmas is gather around the fire at home and talk about some of our favourite memories as a family, and scent is such a big part of that.
When many people think of Christmas they think of the smells of Christmas pudding, cake, fresh pine, wood burning, crisp mornings and much more. A huge aspect of what we do at Max Benjamin is to add fragrance to people’s homes and as part of that give them a scent to attach to memories. Scent is such a determining factor when it comes to memory recollection and we have designed festive scents that can really bring back the happiest of festive moments for people.
In the run up to Christmas we like to spend a lot of time together as a family, creating wreaths and floral displays foraged from our land here in Enniskerry, scent is a huge part of this. Baking is also something we love to do together and being able to spend quality time creating beautiful treats for the entire family to enjoy is one of my favourite festive pastimes.
Our much loved Clove & Cinnamon fragrance is always a big hit around Christmas, for me it always takes its spot in the entry hallway, as soon as you walk in the door you are greeted with the smell of Christmas – spicy, musky and warm. This is one of our longest and best selling fragrances and generations of Irish families will associate it with their Christmas holidays, buying one for their friends as a gift and a sneaky one for themselves! It is a warm comforting traditional Christmas fragrance that immediately sets the stage for the holidays of walks, log fires and plenty of family time. It works in so many spaces, warm cosy living rooms, guest bathrooms and kitchen come dining areas where you want to capture the scent of festive joy.
Our new and exciting White Christmas fragrance, debuted last year as part of a charity collaboration and will again be on sale with a charity aspect for 2021.
It comes in gorgeous gold trimmed packaging which is so giftable. Its fragrance contains more contemporary Christmas notes of orange, incense with a tone of sandalwood, perfect for my busy hallway and into the living room and kitchen. As it’s so fresh with festive notes and because it is so beautiful to look at it ties in really well with Christmas table décor. I will have it on my table amongst lots of fresh greenery, the gold trim will add a touch of luxury to any tablescape. It comes in a diffuser, room mist and traditional candle. The room mist is a recent product innovation from Max Benjamin and is great for a quick, but long lasting spritz of scent in any space.
Christmas day in Enniskerry is a true family collaboration. The host, different most years, cooks the turkey and roast potatoes and the rest arrives in a flurry of organised chaos before the meal giving us all time to enjoy a few hours, a walk in the woods followed by a few nibbles before we sit down to a gorgeous meal for 20 plus.
Family dogs are also included! With so much happening it’s always the evening I appreciate the most, sitting down with family after the meal, well sated and ready to settle in for a cosy evening surrounded by loved ones. For this I like to break out a new scent to set the mood for the evening, one I’m currently loving is our recently launched Italian Apothecary, which comes in diffuser, candle and room mist. The beautiful musky scent is truly romantic while also bringing warmth to a space, quickly becoming a personal favourite of mine. The signature label is a taupe colour so ties in really nicely in most neutral décor schemes.
We’re all partial to several leisurely walks around the Christmas period, it’s a great way to stretch your legs and also get in some steps after so much indulgence and there’s nothing like crisp winter air to clear your mind. With so many dogs in the family, I’m always thinking of ways to combat that pesky doggy scent. A great fragrance for the mud room / boot room where the dogs dry off after the long walk is our recently released Acqua Viva. The scent is crisp, punchy, fresh and uplifting.
New Year’s Eve is almost as important to our family as Christmas day itself. We enjoy family gatherings in general and the last night of the year is no exception.
For this I always try to bring a new scent to the table, literally! While all of your festive scents such as Clove & Cinnamon or White Christmas still very much work for this evening, I like to bring in something different. Dodici is an all-time bestseller for us, the slick black packaging is matched in style with substance in the masculine fragrance. Another great scent for this time of year, and coming into the new year, is my absolute all-time favourite, French Linen water. I burn it in my bathroom, have the fragrance in the car dispenser and also have the scented cards amongst the clothes in the wardrobe. It’s a beautifully clean scent, perfect for almost any space. I find my favourite thing about the festive period is making memories and scent is such a defining factor in that.
Seeing family and friends and lighting a candle cosied up by the fire to me is the perfect way to spend an evening around Christmas time.
For inspirational features on tablescapes and much more, visit.maxbenjamin.com.
Follow us on Instagram
