With the summer holiday season starting to sizzle, it’s time to breathe deep and really feel the healing power of the sun on your skin, embracing the sensory essence of summer in all its forms.
Complete that summer holiday feeling with the perfect scent. Explore our 2023 summer edit along with the following top tips for making the most of your fragrances:
1. Work with the weather
These are the hot humid days when perfume smells richer, fuller and stronger. Every facet of a fragrance is revealed and enhanced by warm skin. Remember to balance your scent with the atmospheric pressure: work with the weather, and, as always, trust your instinct.
2. Start with some zest
Everyone associates summer with crisp cool citrus scents; like your staple summer outfit, they are invaluable, essential and always to be relied upon. For example, Frederic Malle’s Cologne Indelebile brings a tantalisingly musky angle, whilst Tom Daxon's Sicilian Wood introduces subtly lingering aromatic woody notes.
3. Make it yours
For more adventure this summer, why not try layering your fragrances to add a personal touch? For example, playing with the bold sea-salt note in Heeley's Note de Yuzu, or else the salt spliced with mint and lemon in Tom Daxon's Laconia. Try adding a spritz of these to the crisp orange-sorbet quality of Malle's Bigarade Concentree; or to give an extra kick to a pale delicate floral such as Sakura by Ormonde Jayne.
Layering is practical too, as it will help your perfume to last much longer.
4. Take layering beyond your perfume
To really make your fragrance combination go the distance, apply a scented lotion, cream or hair mist in addition to your signature scent for extra depth and richness. Alternatively, use body products only, for a subtly different interpretation of your favourite perfume. See our Bath & Body collection for a wide range of sumptuous accessories including hair and body oils.
5. Don't follow the crowd
Dare to be different! For example, heady perfumes can work wonderfully on sultry summer evenings, evoking lands where incense, orange and tuberose grow wild. Amber and ylang ylang can be great evening fragrances for July, as can gardenias, jasmine and magnolias. Frederic Malle’s Carnal Flower brings an olfactive explosion of alluring floral scent, whilst Bois du Portugal by Creed draws on aromatic woody notes to capture the fragrant tapestry of Iberian forests. The sweet fragrant notes of vanilla and rosemary in Sylvaine Delacourte's Virgile create a banquet for the senses. Alternatively, you may prefer the sensual vanilla-rose essence of Ambre Magique by Mizensir, or the muskier citrus amber notes of Pernoire’s Vitias.
6. Go lighter for the summer
With perfume, less is often more. Whatever type of scent you choose, trying spraying a little less to leave the suggestion of a delicious fragrance on your skin. The more sparing you are in the application, the more your nose and brain will have to chase the scent. Consequently, you will be able to smell it for much longer.
Likewise, choose a lighter summer version of your usual signature such as Love in White For Summer or the fruity yet aromatic Aventus Cologne.
7. Spray your clothes
Natural summer fabrics like cotton, linen, and silk can be wonderful conductors of fragrance. When the weather is hot, try spraying your garments with scent! Remember to do a small patch test first, and again, do not douse or soak in scent: a light spritz is perfect! Spray into the air and walk through a haze of perfume.
8. Treat yourself to an everlasting holiday
For total escapism, conjure up that tropical island feeling with deep, intriguing floral-fruity scents. Journey to lands of coconut palms, guava and white sand with Tales from Zanzibar, the sweet complex fragrance from Memoirs of a Perfume Collector. Or transport yourself with Naki, the effervescent new fragrance by Pernoire that blends sweet peach, passionfruit and almond blossom with sea breeze accords and rich, sweet white musk and vanilla. The perfect fragrances to make the summer last forever, if you want it to.
To add a splash of freshness whilst keeping it sweet, like sipping a cocktail on a sun-soaked terrace, Lovers in Pink by Cherigan evokes balmy Parisian nights. Nearer to home, lie back in a deckchair and enjoy the distinguished aromatic freshness of the British countryside with Town & Country, the exceptionally reimagined fragrance by Clive Christian.
Still not sure? Explore many of these scents through our specially curated summer discovery boxes for men and women. Each box contains 5 x 1.5 ml samples. In addition, when you purchase a Discovery Box you will receive 10% off your next full-size order, so you can complete your summer scent collection in style*.
*Limited to one box per customer whilst stocks last.
