3 smart tricks fragrance experts use to make an artificial Christmas tree smell like the real thing

As wonderful as fake Christmas trees are being reusable and all, there is one way in which a real tree has the upper hand and that is its natural scent that is largely associated with the festive period. But luckily for you, there are ways how to make an artificial Christmas tree smell real so that you don’t miss out on the authentic olfactory experience.

Indeed, there are ways to harness the power of the best home fragrance to scent your best artificial Christmas tree and trick your guests into thinking you’ve got a real one, just freshly chopped. 

And what’s even better is that these tricks come recommended by experts. So take a page (or three) from the pros’ book and immerse your tree and your home in the scent of fir, cedar, and spruce.

How to make an artificial christmas tree smell real

Now that we know how to make a home smell great for Christmas just like fragrance experts do, it’s time to learn how to best go about scenting your fake Christmas tree to smell just like (or close to) a real one. 

And we found three ways to do just that without using the somewhat obvious tools – the best Christmas candles or reed diffusers.

1. Room spray

Room sprays don’t need to be used just to mist the air in your home. The correctly scented sprays can be used to spritz things like an artificial Christmas tree to make it smell real. And for this purpose, our go-to is the Fir Tree Home Spray by The White Company.

‘Fir Tree is such a favourite of mine,’ says Chrissie Rucker, OBE, the founder of The White Company. ‘When we created it, we wanted to capture the essence of a crisp winter walk through fresh snow-clad pine trees with sunshine breaking through. It’s wonderfully fresh and herbal, yet beautifully warming and woody. A few quick spritzes on a faux tree or wreath and it will become instantly more authentic.’

2. Scented Christmas decorations

‘The best way to enhance the fragrance of your artificial Christmas tree to smell like a real one is to use ornaments or mists that are specially scented for this purpose,’ advises Ben Wightman, product expert at Christmas Tree World. ‘Whether you're in the mood for pine, balsam fir, cinnamon, or cedar, you can choose any scent that smells like Christmas to you.’

As you are most likely going to hang ornaments on your tree, why not make them scented and kill two birds with one stone? And there are several different kinds you can invest in. Whether that’s Etsy’s soy wax decorations infused with essential oils and set with dried botanicals or the ScentSicles thin paper tubes from John Lewis perfumed with a scent of balsam fir and juniper berries. 

Or if you’re a fan of the Fir Tree scent by The White Company but would prefer something other than a room spray, then the ceramic bells which are to be scented and hung on the tree might be a better solution for you.

3. Electric diffuser

While even some of the best reed diffusers are not quite strong enough to make enough of an impact (even though it depends on the room and diffuser size), electric diffusers certainly are. Which is why this machine continuously dispelling a scented mist at a push of a button might be the better choice.

If you already own one, then all you need is the right essential oil like the Aroma Energy Christmas Mountain from Amazon. But if you don’t, we couldn't recommend it enough for making your home smell nice all year round, not just Christmas.

We wish you a nice (and real) smelling Christmas!