Halloween is the perfect excuse to transform the house without spending much. Everyone is clear about the visual side; almost nobody is about the olfactory one, and that is the one that makes the setting feel genuinely put together rather than stuck on with tape.
This guide goes step by step: first the decoration, then the scent.
Step 1: the visual side
Pumpkins
- Mini pumpkin garland: carve faces into small pumpkins and string them together to hang in a window or in the entrance.
- Pumpkin planter: hollow it out and use it as a seasonal pot or as a candle holder in the centre of the table.
Black and white
- Cobwebs and bats: cobwebbing in corners and door frames, cut-out bat silhouettes for the wall.
- Hanging ghosts: white fabric over a round object, hung from the ceiling so that it moves in the draught.
Light
- Battery candles: inside pumpkins, glass jars or lanterns. They give you the flicker without leaving a flame burning all night.
- Orange or purple LEDs: on banisters, windows and skirting boards.
Step 2: the scent
The eye gets used to the decoration in two minutes; the scent keeps working all night. These are the registers that work and how they translate into our catalogue:
- Pumpkin party, warm atmosphere: Cinnamon & Orange. It is the classic spiced citrus of autumn and the one guests recognise most easily.
- Mysterious atmosphere: the numbered Nº12 or Nº23, oriental and woody in register. They are the ones that give that dense, old-world feeling without turning sweet.
- Something greener and earthier: Fig, green and fruity over a woody base. A good option if the house already smells of pumpkin and food.
- After dinner and desserts: Cappuccino, for the final part of the night.
You can see them all in the fragrance catalogue.
How to spread it around the house
- Entrance: the most recognisable scent, at a slightly higher intensity. This is the moment of impact.
- Living room: medium, constant intensity, with a register you can spend hours in.
- Bathroom: a small programmed unit. With a full house it is the room that shows the most.
- Kitchen: nothing. It competes with the food and it always loses.
A home unit such as the PULSE (7 m²) covers a bathroom or a small hallway; for a large open living and dining room, the LUME reaches 100 m² and the FLOW 120 m². They work without water and without a flame, which with a house full of people and candles everywhere is no small detail.
Two things not to do
- Mixing two scents in adjoining rooms. The result is neither of them.
- Scenting on top of a bad smell. If the bin is full or the room smells stale, air it out and sort it first. Anything else only makes it worse.
If you want the less costume-heavy, more grown-up version of the same night, you will find it in Halloween without the pumpkin: the woody version.
