With temperatures dropping rapidly, it's safe to say that we've crossed into winter. It's always at this point that I'm tempted to shake up my perfume rotation. Dark, frosty mornings in London usually have me reaching for enveloping scents, rather than my usual woody accords—but this year, I've been drawn towards a rather unexpected note: papyrus.
It's essentially the "clean girl" note of autumnal and wintery fragrances, explains Miller Harris' Senior Creative Brand Marketing Manager, Sarah-Jayne Archer. "Papyrus is an aromatic, woody and subtly spicy note drawn from the plant’s fibrous roots, evoking parchment, cool air and sun-bleached reeds. Its elegant, atmospheric profile makes it a standout for autumn: airy yet warm, earthy without heaviness and effortlessly sophisticated. Papyrus lends a textured backbone to seasonal favourites such as saffron, cardamom, amber and leather, adding clarity and quiet depth. It feels modern, niche and richly textural."
I've been so taken by this cosy, moreish note that I've tried every papryus scent I could lay my hands on. Some lean woody, with spicy facets, and others are straight up reminiscent of libraries and the pages of your most beloved novel. Read on for my personal favourites.
L'Eau Papier is as literal a transcription of the "paper" note as you can get. It's immediately enveloping and cocooning, thanks to the combination of white musk and clean sesame. Later, lumious mimosa shines through, mingling with blonde wood and rice steam. On some people, this smells like butter popcorn, or rice fresh out of the cooker—but to me, it feels like I've just stuck my head in an old book, or have put ink to paper for the first time in ages.
Byredo's Bois Obscur takes the quintessential smells of festive cheer and elevates them threefold. It opens with spicy saffron and fresh bursts of eucalyptus, underneath which smoky papyrus stirs. It's aromatic, dry and deeply sensual thanks to the addition of mineral amber, patchouli, labdanum and sandalwood. While the papyrus note is less pronounced here, it adds a lovely warming feel, reminiscent of the plumes from a wood burner.
All of Maison Crivelli's scents are a marvel of storytelling, and Papyrus Moléculaire goes granular—aiming to evoke an encounter with tattooed women, smoking cigarillos and weaving papyrus leaves. It may sound like a reach, but that’s exactly what a spritz of this scent conjures up for me. It's milky, woody, and the powdery scent of papyrus is muddled with wispy trails of tobacco. It’s rebellious, but gorgeously restrained.
Oud Silk Mood uses a grounding base of papyrus to conjure up the feeling of raw silk, which is at once airy and steamy. It opens floral with Bulgarian rose, chamomile and bergamot, but develops into something much more complex with the addition of guaiac wood and hedione—two very moreish notes that will have you sniffing your wrists for hours on end. The paper note at the end is balanced with the depth of agarwood oud, making it the perfect scent for a decadent evening out.
Molecule 01 may be my most worn fragrance, thanks to its universality. Centred solely around Iso E Super, it's like velvet on the skin, and almost weightless—like the rustle of paper. So yes, while this may not be a "papyrus" scent in its truest form, there is something in it that reminds me explicitly of the purity of a black sheet of parchment. Indeed, the brand states that its cedar-tinged warmth can conjure up "the airy stillness of a room lined with books."
While Dior’s Bois d’Argent doesn’t have an explicit papyrus note, this unisex fragrance evokes the act of putting ink to parchment, with refined woody notes, alongside myrrh, musk and iris. Even after a few hours of wearing this, I feel swaddled in its warming, powdery accords—it's the platonic ideal of a winter scent, for me.
