By the Fireplace

Maison Margiela · 2015

The scent people want when they ask for something that smells like a wood fire and mulled spice.

By the Fireplace opens with clove and pink pepper over a smoky guaiac wood, meant to recall a fire rather than an actual campfire. It softens into a sweet vanilla and balsam base, so the smoke stays cosy rather than acrid, which made it a reliable answer for anyone hunting a cold-weather scent that leans gourmand rather than austere.

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4 independent alternatives below · from $10

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From independent houses

Ranked by how much they share with By the Fireplace. The notes in common are listed under each bottle. Prices and stock come from the makers’ own shops.

Attar Lao Oud
Bortnikoff
- Pink Pepper
- Magnolia
- Beeswax
- Cinnamon
- +11
$125Attar
Shares guaiac wood, peru balsam, pink pepper and vanilla, with cinnamon in the heart. It leans oud and birch tar rather than an open fire, and comes as an oil-based attar.
Shared notes
The Watcher
Wylde Ivy
$38Parfum
Shares clove and vanilla against a base of smoldering woods and birch wood ash, drier and more ash-forward than the mulled-spice sweetness of the original.
Shared notes
- Clove
- Vanilla
Witch of the Wilds
AOE Perfumery
- Champaca
- Blackberry
- Oakmoss
- Amber
- +5
$10Oil
Shares vanilla, clove and smoke, but adds blackberry and oakmoss, giving it a damper, mossier edge than the fireplace's cosy sweetness.
Shared notes
Sold out
Nutcracker
Ghoulish Goods
$26Oil
Shares vanilla, smoke and clove, built around roasted chestnut and caramelized sugar rather than guaiac wood, a sweeter, more candied fire.
Shared notes

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These are independent suggestions based on shared notes and accords, not copies or dupes. Undernotes is not affiliated with Maison Margiela; the name is used only to describe a smell. No link here is paid.

Attar Lao Oud

The Watcher

Witch of the Wilds

Nutcracker