The Alkemia 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

by Sharra Lamoureaux November 30, 2024

This post highlights some of our best-loved seasonal offerings for your perusal and hopefully your (and your recipient's) delight. Need help selecting the perfect perfume? Check out our guide to choosing perfume perfumes with confidence. Feeling overwhelmed? Our guide to holiday gift shopping for the overwhelmed and/or indecisive can help you untangle the stress.

Alkemia Holiday Gift Ideas & Highlights of the Season

2024 Winter Wonderland Collection - $20-45 USD

Our newest perfume collection of winter flirtations and merriments is available as samples, extraits, and EDPs.

Cherie: A poetic romance of white cherries, golden saffron, vanilla orchid, neroli blossoms, nutmeg, coriander, cedarwood, guaiac wood, and ambergris incense.
Compliments of the Season: An elegant flirtation of jasmine and sensual cashmere courted by warm amber resin, mahogany wood, dried oakmoss, green balsam fir and a sprig of mistletoe.
Fallen Snow Angels: A paradox of crème de vanille and devilishly dark patchouli frolicking playfully amid a flurry of snowflakes and winter ice.
La Cheminée (The Fireplace): A cottage-cozy evening of sparkling spiced cider spiked with brandy and clove-studded lemon slices nesting with smokey vetiver, star anise, perique tobacco, honeycomb, tonka, soft woods, and a worn leather loveseat by the fireside.
Shine Bright My Desire: A glowing seduction of golden amber, star jasmine, pink lotus, and orchid swathed in patchouli boudoir incense ignited by passionate kisses of pink pepper, Ceylon cinnamon, ginger zest, and bright verbena.
Stardust: A luminous pearlescence of cream musk, winter-white amber, almond cookies, dried jasmine flowers, and white cacao with a snow-wind breath of cool ozone, fresh evergreen boughs, and a sprig of mistletoe.

Seasonal Festive Fragrances - $18-45 USD

A watercolor painting shows a cross section of a cabin shows the backs of two people cozing in front of a glowing warm fire and a decorated pine tree while outside there are mounds of snow. Overhead white reindeer shaped clouds cavort in the woodsmoke trails across a a frosty blue-gray sky.

The gift of a seasonal perfume has the power to awaken our deepest memories and create a joyful atmosphere of warmth and holiday magic.

Our collection of seasonal perfumes highlight the winter holiday season and weave a rich and varied sensory tapestry.

In perfumes like Dust of Snow and Ammil, the clean smell of freshly fallen snow mingles with elements like hemlock pine and musk to evoke nature's serenity. Perfumes like Magpie's Rhyme, Persian Tearoom, Smoke and Mirrors, and Encircling Flame bring us indoors where the air is filled with the sweet and spicy notes of lovingly prepared holiday treats and the woodsmoke from crackling fireplaces. The invigorating earthiness of forest trees in Ydalir, In a Northern Wood, and Falling Stars at Winter Solstice reminds us of the enduring beauty of nature amidst the colder months. Winter also calls for cozy, intimate scents like Winter Sanctuary, Bronze and Blaze, and Evening Song and invitingly warm romantic perfumes like our best-selling Enchantress, Virtue of Desire, and Silken Tent.

Customizable Gift Set - $38 USD (retail value $60)

While supplies last, we are offering a special Customizable Holiday Gift Set of selected seasonal perfumes. Each set of three comes in a small golden gift bag.

Alkemia Introductory Sample Set - $30

A vintage Victorian postcard with an abundant border of blue forget-me-not flowers has a single bluebird perched on the left while in the center, another bluebird swoops down with blue wings outspread, holding a letter sealed with a round red stamp in its beak. Bluebirds are often called 'bluebirds of happiness' because they are associated with being a harbinger of joy.

Our introductory sample set is a perfect way to introduce someone to Alkemia's offerings. The set includes samples of nine of our most beloved perfumes and a special postcard detailing scent notes and ideas for creatively using our perfumes to scent your world.

Themed Sample Sets - $20 USD

In a stylized painting, a woman with golden hair and a diaphanous gown smiles softly at a small green Christmas tree decorated with candles that illuminate each branch. The background of the painting is rich purple speckled with luminous golden stars

Premade sample sets are a fun and easy way to explore a variety of our perfumes, scent notes, and fragrance aesthetics. Build Your Own sample sets allow you to customize samples to fit your recipient's personality and interests, highlight a theme, or communicate a special message.

Gifting sample sets at a small group gathering provides an excellent opportunity for a "fragrance soirée," where guests can compare each other's samples and discuss their favorite scents.

Pheromone Alchemy C24 - $30 USD

A delicious Scandinavian yuletide feast is spread out as guests gather around a long candlelit table while a roaring fire fills the room with cheer and coziness

Know someone who dreads holiday parties or who is worried about being with their own or their partner's family for the holidays? C24 is a pheromone elixir to inspire comfort, intimacy, and warm feelings in others. It encourages deepened bonding/affection in existing relationships, catalyzes new friendships, and inspires greater social conviviality. For the more introverted or shy, it works as a "social rescue remedy" making connecting with people easier.

Perfume Fixative - $18-30 USD

A elegantly coiffed red haired, pale skinned 1920s woman loosely wrapped in a colorful dressing gown sits in front at a vanity table and sprays perfume on her arched neck from an old fashioned bulb pump perfume atomizer

Our exclusive perfume fixative ($18 USD) will enhance the longevity of any perfumes that are too ephemeral. Our fixative is now available in an alcohol-free spray format ($30 USD) that can work as a base layer for any EDP or cologne. Our limited edition Fixative Noir is a perfect gift for lovers of deep, incense, amber, or leathery perfumes.

Single Layering Notes - $20-45 USD

A set of single layering note perfumes either as a sample set ($20 USD) or in bottles ($20-$45 USD) will let your favorite perfume lover customize the perfumes in their fragrance wardrobe to match their moods or the seasons, experiment with making their own fragrance creations, rekindle romances with perfumes that have become boring, or add their favorite scent element. Single layering notes are also beloved by people who prefer simple, unfussy perfumes. Our newest single layering notes are Vanille and Tabac.

Special Reserves - $30-50 USD

An opulent still life painting in rich browns and golds features an open jewelry casket on a silver tray spilling over with shimmering pearl, diamond, and gold necklaces, brooches and other jewelry with rubies and sapphires. To the right a large pearl nautilus shell glows with soft silvery luminesce. In the background and on a central golden goblet are faintly depicted nude sculptural figures embracing.

For connoisseurs and people who delight in the finer things, bottles or samples of special reserves like dark-fruited Cherries of Night, glowing Ambre de Amour, intoxicating Club des Hashischins, or sultry The Love Thief make memorable gifts.

Sample Sets + Gift Cards: The Fail-Safe Formula for Secret Santa, Multi-recipient/Group Gift Situations, and Last Minute Gifts

A light skinned boy in brown clothes with a red scarf struggles to hold a big armload of red and white wrapped holiday presents while also trying to hold his white and brown spotted dog who has playfully wrapped its leash around the boy's legs.

If you're pressed for time and/or still uncertain about which perfume to choose, it's time to consider a fail-safe option: purchasing a premade sample set along with a gift card so the recipient can enjoy sampling and then select the perfume of their choice. This works well for group gifting situations (friend groups, workplace, siblings, Secret Santa, etc.) where you want to keep the gifts unique but also equitable.

"When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed."

- Maya Angelou

Wishing you blessings of the seasons and happy holidays

(whichever and however many you celebrate)!

-- Love from everyone at Alkemia Perfumes

Artworks:

Dreaming of Christmas by Charles Burchfield, 1947
Vintage 19th-century greeting card
Angel with Tree by Rafael Kirchner, 1901
Girl with Mantilla by Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje, c. late 19th century
Christmas Eve Dinner in Sweden by Carl Larsson, 1917
The Artist at Work by Fred Pegram, 1928
Circe by Beatrice Offor, 1911
Still Life with Jewelry by A. Pollack, 1907
Christmas 1920 by Norman Rockwell, 1920
Vintage New Year holiday card, c. 1900