The divine feminine cannot be surfaced through ChatGPT. In a world driven by algorithms, AI, and countless screens, who could blame you if you wanted to retreat into the woods and get in touch with your ancestral power?
Unfortunately, going off-grid and making potions full-time is not feasible for most of us, but the next best thing might be to transport ourselves via scent. Herbal, earthy, mossy, smoky, and witchy fragrances are exactly what the doctor ordered this fall and may be the perfect way to indulge in the practice.
It is fall, so witches are having their expected annual moment. Practical Magic 2 has renewed our interest in apothecaries and herbalism (Flamingo Estate’s monthly subscription box is dedicated to the “Everyday Alchemy” of the movie, packed with oracle cards, oversized matches for your altars, and various herbal elixirs).
American Horror Story will be resurrecting its beloved Coven this month. Plus, a slew of new witches will follow: Carrie-Ann Fisher in Yaga, a trio of school-aged witches in Coven Academy, and the animated movie Hexed.
In fashion, Gabriela Hearst’s spring-summer collection was themed around the tarot's Major Arcana, Elie Saab focused on gothic romanticism, and “goth bride” became the It girl’s preferred aesthetic for their wedding day (see: Gabriette, Tish Weinstock, and Emma Roberts).
But our recent call to the mystical goes beyond the season. Pinterest’s Hobbies and Trend report for 2026 reveals that our interests have turned from digital to more natural, intuitive practices.
Searches on Pinterest for “herbal apothecary” are up 595% over last year, and “learn astrology” is up 733%. Searches on the platform for “moon water ritual,” “witchcraft crystals,” and “foraging basket” have also seen notable growth on the platform.
According to Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, DC, that conducts polls on social issues and public opinion, 30% of Americans consult tarot cards and 43% of women believe in astrology. We have, undoubtedly, become more culturally interested in the metaphysical.
“There is an almost instinctual desire to slow down, touch the earth, grow something, burn something, make something with our hands, listen to our intuition, and create rituals that belong to us,” says Los Angeles-based perfumer Douglas Little, who founded Heretic Parfum around the concept of magical herbalism and ritual. “I don't think people are suddenly deciding that witches are cool.
I think people are recognizing something within that archetype that modern life has starved them of.”
Fragrance has always been a little witchy to begin with, so it’s a natural outlet for this desire. To start, the bottles have always looked like pretty little holders of potions.
And for thousands of years, as far back as ancient Greece and Rome, scent has been tied to ancient rituals, potions, salves, and herbal remedies. The word “perfume” is derived from “per fumum”—“from smoke”—a wafting symbol of carrying prayers to the gods.
In America, Florida Water, a citrusy eau de cologne created in 1808 (that you can still purchase cheaply from Amazon or Walgreens), has been used in Southern spiritual practices for as long as it’s been around.
Our modern fragrance proclivities have also primed us for this witchy moment. “As people become more engrossed in the world of fragrance, they’re looking for fragrances that do more than simply smell good.
They crave connection, resonance, and escape,” says Mathilde Bijaoui, a Paris-based perfumer. We’re more open to scents that challenge us or evoke memories and places.
Searches for petrichor fragrances have surged this year—a marker of us seeking more authentic fragrance experiences. “There’s also a growing desire for individuality in fragrance,” adds Alina Gliwinska, a UK-based perfumer for Lush Cosmetics.
“People don’t necessarily want to smell conventionally ‘pretty.’ They want their fragrance to express a mood, personality, or identity.”
If you want to get in touch with your witchy side but lack the patience for altar-building and conjuring, fragrance is an excellent place to start. But what makes a fragrance witchy?
“For me, it isn’t really a fragrance category; it’s a feeling,” says Los Angeles perfumer and founder of Iggywoo, Richard Saint-Ford. “It’s something earthy, mysterious, slightly strange, and seductive.
Think crushed herbs, incense burning, damp forest floors, smoke, dark fruits, and old woods. It should feel like you’ve stepped into a world, rather than simply sprayed on a perfume.”
Herbal notes are an excellent beginner’s foray into witchy fragrance. Like you own an apothecary in a small Massachusetts town à la Sandra Bullock.
Bijaoui recommends Black Karak by Borntostandout for its spiced tea notes. (Tea has long been used in divination, and coffee grounds in spell-casting or rituals.) Black Karak opens with milky karak, cardamom, and coffee on first sniff, and dries down to earthy black tea and saffron.
Penhaligon’s The Bewitching Yasmine also features that ritualistic coffee note.
Perfumer Molly Brennan, founder of House of Sacred Scents, likes Syd Botanica’s Earth Star, which features notes of nutmeg, elderflower, and osmanthus tea anchored by porcini and moss. “When I first smelled this perfume, I literally thought ‘earthing,’” she says.
“I felt myself rooting and connecting down into the soil.” Atelier Des Ors Lune Feline features witchy herbs, cinnamon, and cardamom (very apropos for fall), and Alloy Studio Hypnotic Nectar uses rosemary for a fresh, spicy opening (and protection in witchy circles, planted by a garden gate per the Owens sisters), and basil at the finish.
Quaint, small-town life in New England is for the kitchen witch. But if you prefer the idea of foraging barefoot in the forest, a fragrance featuring woods, moss, and earth will transport you. “Earthy, almost decaying notes such as patchouli, vetiver, and oakmoss can add depth and evoke the feeling of a forest floor,” says Gliwinska. “These materials naturally have depth and character, creating that mysterious, earthy quality.”
Heretic’s Häxan (Swedish for “the witch”) opens with osmanthus and features an oakmoss accord at the heart. The scent has inspired their Nocturnal Rituals, a body-care line that includes lunar cycle rituals for proper use.
Andrea Maack’s Coven also features an oakmoss heart with a resinous galbanum and rich clove base. Pearfat Only a Witch Cat opens with refreshing shiso leaf and climbing vines before finding its way to coriander and, interestingly, a creepy eyeball accord, which the brand explains was achieved through a combination of musks: calone, which smells cold and wet, cosmone, which smells a bit like a hairbrush—oily and skin-like, and ethylene brassylate, which has a very glassy, sheer, clean smell.
“This is very much a 'fantasy' accord where I've used texture and vibe to create a sort of slimy, cold, bodily effect,” explains the brand's perfumer, Alie Kiral.
Patchouli is a deep, earthy-smelling herb that you’d find growing on the forest floor and is often used to give fragrance some weight and maturity. Vyrao Witchy Woo and Lush Lord of Misrule are both grounded by patchouli with ground pepper notes to add a little spice and levity.
If the forest isn’t remote enough for all of your moonlit dancing, try a witchy cave. Zoologist Bat is inspired by a “tropical, loamy cave,” with nectarous fruits like pink guava and passion fruit at the top, drying down to hay, mossy stone, leather, and teak.
In that vein, if fruits are appealing, stick to darker varieties like plum, pomegranate, or black cherry. Iggywoo Cherry Love Extreme and Nest Indigo both feature dark fruits (cherry and fig, respectively) made earthier by clove or tea notes.
Ex Nihilo’s Demon Dancer also uses fruit to a forest forager’s effect: Notes of black currant and rhubarb meet fresh peppermint and a spicy, woody base.
Resins and smoke or incense are also common notes in the witchy category. Resins and dried saps like frankincense and myrrh have long been used ceremoniously, and the burning of incense and wood is used to cleanse spaces.
A well-balanced fragrance will have those notes to counterbalance brighter ingredients. “[They] often work in concert with warm spices like black and pink pepper, clove, ginger, and cardamom, juicy fruits, and sensuous florals like jasmine, tuberose, and ylang-ylang,” says Brennan.
“If you put smoke, oud, patchouli, incense, and heavy resins together without any light, it can become suffocating quite quickly,” agrees Saint-Ford. “I’d rather take something dark and disrupt it with something unexpected—a juicy fruit, an unusual floral, brightness, or a skin-like musk. Mystery needs space around it.”
Brennan’s own House of Sacred Scents Liquid Altar, meant to be used as an intention oil before practice or simply as a calming scent, features frankincense and myrrh with brighter notes of lavender and blue lotus to keep it wearable. Reine de Saba Myrrhe Delicieuse opens with the witchy apothecary vibe via pink pepper, cardamom, and saffron before settling into resinous myrrh, verdant pimento pepper, and vanilla for a touch of lightness.
Bijaoui says the fragrance makes “myrrh feel warm, luminous, and ceremonial.” The new Amouage Decision 42 has notes of both frankincense and myrrh, in addition to other witchy ingredients like rectified pine tar, sandalwood, and patchouli, all well-balanced by bergamot, cinnamon, and vanilla.
For incense notes, Bijaoui’s own Free Yourself Numinous opens with bergamot and coffee (“to introduce tension,” she says) before finding its way to incense, patchouli, cocoa, and tonka (“to create warmth and sensuality” without reducing the fragrance to a conventional, sweet gourmand). Sage and Salt’s Sacred Ember is inspired by the spiritual use of smoke across cultures and features depth from incense, patchouli, and tobacco flower, with a warm, woody palo santo at drydown.
And Diptique Lunamaris balances deep incense with pink peppercorn and rockrose.
Meet the experts
Mathilde Bijaoui is a Paris-based perfumer.
Molly Brennan is a San Francisco-based perfumer and founder of House of Sacred Scents.
Alina Gliwinska is a UK-based perfumer for Lush Cosmetics.
Richard Saint-Ford is a Los Angeles-based perfumer and founder of Iggywoo.
Douglas Little is a Los Angeles-based perfumer and founder of Heretic Parfum.
Love fragrance? Keep reading:
Peony Perfumes Aren’t Just for Spring Anymore
Tomatoes Are This Summer’s Most Unexpected Fragrance Trend
A Trip Inside the World’s Largest Collection of Jumbo Perfume Bottles
Diet Coke Is the Strangest (and Fizziest) Summer Fragrance Trend