It’s no secret that I absolutely love Jo Malone scents.
I obsess over them.
Their colognes… mixing and matching them with reckless abandon according to my ever-evolving whims.
Their candles… lighting them whenever I’m desperate for a real mood boost.
Their limited edition collections… swooning over every innovative collection year after year.
Even their lotions and other products have been my go-tos for YEARS.
What can I say? I’m hopelessly addicted. 
But this holiday season Jo Malone may have trumped all of their limited edition scents. EVER.
This holiday season they decided to do something a little different. Something I only hinted at in last week’s post…
Jo Malone developed their very first Christmas scent!
They’ve always issued beautiful, holiday-inspired scents in the past (I always buy a Pine & Eucalpytus candle to light around Christmas time) but this is the first year Jo Malone has actually produced a wearable cologne for the season…
Meet Orange Bitters. A tart, rich, amber-infused scent filled with warm tingly goodness bottled into a cologne.
It’s what one can only describe as the perfect holiday scent.
Naturally when I first heard rumors back in July I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a bottle. And when it finally arrived at my doorstop in October I practically ripped open the package right there in the street.
Aesthetically I absolutely marveled at the opulent gilded (yet not cliché) packaging — a chic, harlequin print inspired by the fun side of this festive season is hard to resist. And such a uniquely stunning contrast to so many other special limited edition bottles from Jo Malone.
But ohhhh just wait until you SMELL it!
Immediately after spraying it you sense the orange and warm-amber notes. As it dries down it develops a rich sophisticated note that reminds me very much of the Jo Malone cologne that’s been my go-to holiday scent since 2011… Pomegranate Noir!
Together they make one of the merriest cologne parings I could have ever dreamed of.
And somehow entirely without the overplayed notes of pine, clove, and vanilla bean plaguing so many other holiday-inspired scents. Would you expect anything less from a cologne company that’s issued an entire collection of colognes inspired by great periods in British history?
Pomegranate Noir and Orange Bitters were just made to go together. Pomegranate Noir immediately adds a zingy spiciness to the Orange Bitters scent that’s seductive, sinful, and mysterious. It’s an entrancing combination.
A combination somehow more beautiful than their bottles.
And since I love playing “chemist” with my Jo Malone scents, I’m beyond thrilled to finally have a Christmas cologne combination to experiment and layer with after so many loyal years of only Pomegranate Noir. It feels like such a natural evolution of what I’ve come to view as my traditional holiday season perfume.
While the Orange Bitters cologne appears to currently be sold out EVERYWHERE (not surprising — people know a good thing when they smell it), I have high-hopes that the cologne will become available again soon before the end of the holiday season. And I promise to update this post the moment I see it restocked!
And for now at least there are so many other great Jo Malone holiday favorites to indulge in (including the beautifully packaged Orange Bitters Candle!):
