I recently attended an online work meeting that opened with an “icebreaker” question: what’s your favorite comfort food? I enjoyed hearing the responses, which included some sweet-and-starchy favorites but a few spicy and savory treats, too. The idea of “comfort,” just like most things, can vary and shift. I’d say the same thing about “comfort scents” — I definitely have a few vanilla-based favorites that make me feel like I’m tucked into a fluffy blanket, but lately I’ve also been reaching for fragrances that offer other olfactory routes to calm and security. Here are just a few that I’ve recently encountered or re-encountered.

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Couverture d’Hiver: This is DSH’s latest Holiday edition, which takes “a foresty hillside covered in snow” as a starting point and segues from a whiff of brisk winter air, with hints of petrichor and pine, into a cozy white-cocoa-and-musk skin scent…

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