The 14 Best Woody Colognes for Men 2025 – Best Woody Fragrances
<p class=”body-text”>While staying true to wood-derived scents, many of the best woody colognes are layered with notes that bring out other fragrances. There are woody fragrances that are spicy, woody fragrances that are earthy, woody fragrances that are aquatic. Really, there’s a woody fragrance for <em>every </em>taste, day or night, fruity or floral, or plain and simple. If you don’t know where to start or you’re just looking to find your next favorite scent, you’ve come to the right place—we’ve curated 14 of the very best woody fragrances right here.<em></em> It’s time to smell like a better you.</p>” data-next-head/>
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chanel
Best Overall Woody Cologne
Tom Ford Oud Wood
This one is a classic, with earthy notes of rare oud wood, sandalwood, and Chinese pepper. If you’re new to the woody fragrance side, it’s a simple starter; if you’re a seasoned pro, then you already know and love it.
This is a more minimal scent that calls to the sea rather than the earth. Still evoking nature, though, the scent is rooted in minerals, with notes of ambrette seeds, sage, and sea salt.
Fragrance Family
Woody, fresh
Notes
Sea salt, sage, grapefruit, ambrette, seaweed
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Trendiest Woody Cologne
Le Labo Santal 33 Eau de Parfum
Surely, you’ve seen—if not tried—Santal 33. The unisex fragrance appeals to almost every nose, with a rich, spicy scent that has warm notes of cardamom, violet accord, iris, and ambrox, and a base of cedarwood, sandalwood, and leather.
Fragrance Family
Woody, fresh
Notes
Sandalwood, leather, papyrus, Virginia cedar, violet, cardamom, iris, amber
Best Designer Woody Cologne
Chanel Bleu de Chanel
Chanel bottles the woodiness of the earth in a refined, elegant way. This scent is fresh and masculine, with aromatic cedar and New Caledonian sandalwood.
Fragrance Family
Woody, fresh
Notes
Grapefruit, lemon, mint, pink pepper, ginger, nutmeg, jasmine, Iso E Super, incense, vetiver, cedar, sandalwood, patchouli, labdanum, white musk
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Best Earthy Woody Cologne
Burberry Hero Eau de Parfum
Be the hero. In this tale, he smells like conquered woods: cedarwood, pine needle, and benzoin.
Fragrance Family
Woody, spicy
Notes
Pine needles, olibanum, benzoin, incense, Atlas cedar, Himalayan cedar, Virginia cedar
Best Nostalgic Woody Cologne
Maison Margiela Replica ‘By the Fireplace’
Maison Margiela captures the sweet, comfortable woodiness that comes from lying by the fire, warmth on your face. A memory in a bottle, this scent has decadent, rich notes of clove oil, chestnut accord, and vanilla accord, making it sweet and earthy.
Bold, sensual, and mysterious, this is the woody cologne for the man who wants something unexpected. Burnt wood and caramelized sugar characterize the scent, which is deliciously warm and spicy.
First you smell the floral orange blossom and crisp bergamot, but within seconds the rich, woody base of this modern fragrance takes over. It’s a smooth, multifaceted scent that’s familiar (you know, the woods), but somehow entirely new—and the perfect everyday wear.
Best Warm Woody Cologne
Kilian Sacred Wood Eau de Parfum
This warm cologne celebrates sandalwood in a major way. One of the most iconic woods in men’s perfumery, sandalwood can be smooth, earthy, smokey, spicy—and this fragrance is all those things and more. Punched up with notes of ambrette seed and other woods like balsam and cedar, this deeply seductive juice is woody on all levels.
Wood notes can be reinterpreted (and re-reinterpreted) a thousand different ways. Case in point: this men’s scent that’s inspired by (you guessed it!) rain. It’s not aquatic in the traditional sense, though. The base note of smooth guaiac wood helps to ground this scent into something more wearable than, say, just the scent of rain. It’s surprisingly fresh and decidedly masculine.
Fragrance Family
Woody, amber
Notes
Green tea, orange, white lotus, musk, guaiac wood, amber
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Best Exotic Woody Cologne
DIPTYQUE Eau Nabati Eau de Parfum
Inspired by a walk through an imaginary desert garden (think: the Garden of Eden), this exotic scent leans on notes of balsam to mimic the trees that protect the other rich flora of the garden. There’s a lot going on here—sweet immortelle, crisp petitgrain and bergamot, warm sunlit amber—but what lingers on your skin is an earthy woodiness that’s impossible to ignore.
Fragrance Family
Woody, amber
Notes
Immortelle, palm tree, bergamot, Peru balsam, amber, cedar, petitgrain
Best Niche Woody Cologne
Arquiste A Grove By The Sea
Inspired by islands in the Adriatic Sea, this cologne is a unique take on a woody aquatic. Not watery in the traditional sense, it’s more about the idea of an island. Woods like Mediterranean pine tree and cypress are intertwined with fig, wild herbs, olive oil, and pine needles. The effect is subtle yet deeply layered, just like walking through an island forest.
Perhaps one of the most overtly sexy fragrances on this list, this heady combination of woods, Turkish rose, jasmine, and oud is all about nighttime. It’s the type of scent you wear to an intimate dinner party under the stars, not necessarily a rager (though it would fit in there, too). It’s bold and sensual, but not overly aggressive, and mixes with the scent of your skin to develop a unique quality that keeps everyone around you wanting more.
Michael Malul American Novelist Esquire Fragrance Eau de Parfum
What makes this woody cologne so good for day is that it’s not too woody. Top notes of bergamot, juniper and wild mint give it a crisp, fresh quality and there is an herbaceousness from the clary sage and basil. At the base, leather lends a smoothness to the woody notes of cedarwood, moss and pine. The woodiness is unmistakeable once it dries down on your skin, but even then the leather shines though to give it a more subtle quality that’s ideal for daytime.