The Fragrances That Never Fail to Lift Our Spirits

January has a way of feeling longer than any other month. The festivities have long faded, with the credit card bill the only lingering reminder of joy gone by. Daylight is scarce, and the year ahead can feel both wide open and strangely overwhelming. While fragrance isn’t a cure for these harder moments, there’s something quietly powerful about the small rituals that bring comfort, lift and familiarity. A simple pritz can shift your mood, evoke warmth, or simply remind you that brighter days are ahead.

From fresh, sparkling notes to soft, grounding musks, these are the joyful, uplifting scents the Marie Claire team turns to when they need a little light in the darker weeks.

Sunil Makan, Editor

"Let’s be honest: it’s bleak out there. Cold, dark, wet. I’m not one for wishing time away, but the good news is that the days are lengthening and the road to spring will soon be in sight. Until then, we do what we can to lift our spirits. For me, few things deliver instant gratification more than a generous spritz of fragrance—ideally neuro-based, and ideally layered.

I’ve been layering scent for years, often several at once. At the moment, The Nue Co is firmly in rotation (they’re particularly good for this). Functional Fragrance—one of the brand’s originals—is quite literally designed to make you feel better. Us is more of a skin scent: familiar, comforting, but elevated. Think your skin, only better—warmed with ambrofix, softened by orris, grounded by moss. It’s intimate, calming, very much a nuzzle-into-the-neck kind of scent.

Then there’s The Nue Co’s Nostalgia collection, which harnesses perfumery and neuroscience to create an instant sense of comfort. Otherwhere is nostalgia done properly: creamy caramel, soothing sandalwood and a flicker of cardamom—spiky, but warm. Hug-like, without being cloying."

"Vyrao, meanwhile, is happiness in bottle form. I love the whole range, but I keep reaching for Magnetic 70—a spicy, sexy scent created for “attraction and protection”. Its notes are said to encourage positivity, grounding and illumination. Scoff if you must, but one spritz and there’s a distinct glow-from-within effect that’s hard to deny."

"It would be remiss not to mention MOODS. There’s aromatherapy—and then there’s MOODS. A genuinely game-changing brand that reframes scent through wellbeing, each of the eight fragrances is designed with a specific emotional benefit in mind. I move between Euphoric, Genius and Chill depending on the day: herbaceous, uplifting, and explicitly engineered to banish the blues. The fact that they also smell excellent is a very welcome bonus. Liberation application—strongly advised."

Lottie Winter, Beauty Director

"I instinctively reach for one of two fragrances when I’m feeling low or the day feels a little bleak. The first is Idle by Romilly Wilde—a scent I discovered almost ten years ago, and fell for instantly. It opens with a refreshing burst of juniper berry and soft jasmine, before unfolding into a brighter, more complex heart of cardamom and citrus peel. The musky, mossy base brings a quiet sense of comfort and familiarity that strikes the perfect balance between brightness and grounding—one that never fails to shift my mood."

"Then there’s Histoire D’Orangers, another long-standing favourite. Its blend of orange blossom, neroli and musk captures the glow of late afternoon sun on a summer’s day, just as evening begins to cool the air. Both scents are so beautifully composed, they act as small reminders that moments of beauty and joy are always within reach."

Nessa Humayun, Beauty Editor

"Escentric Molecules’ Escentric 01 is unlike anything I’ve ever smelt before; it doesn’t shout, but evokes more feeling than some of the “loudest” fragrances I’ve smelled. inexplicably cocooning, mysterious, and so moreish, it’s centred around woody Iso E Super, a molecule that was created in 1973. Complimentary notes include lime peel and pink pepper, which leads into green jasmine and orris, with base notes of balsamic and musk. It’s sparky and immediately uplifting—this is the scent I spritz if I’m in a funk, or if I’m not sure what to wear; it makes everything better, and completes any look."

Katie Thomas, Senior Beauty Editor

"Whenever I need cheering, I reach straight for Cartier Baiser Volé—a fresh lily scent that has been my constant pick me up for years. In my early 20s, I finished university and moved to London with some of my best school chums and during this time we all wore this powdery floral perfume. It started with just one of us, then two, until eventually the velvety white flower scent enticed us all. It's magic lies in the way it makes you feel when you wear it—you smell expensive, sophisticated and powerful (everything we wanted to be), but in a really pretty and subtle way. It isn't overpowering, it's quiet and modest. Whenever I need an uplifting boost, I think back to when we all lived together in a shared house, smelling of Basier Volé, and how much joy those years gave me. A couple of spritzes and I'm right back there."