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From cucumber water, to neroli and guava fruit, there’s a lot to love from this year’s rookie class of the best men’s summer fragrances.
This year’s best new summertime scents are especially unique for their notes roster. Rarely do we see cucumber water and even guava as pivotal punctuating notes. And this lineup squeezes the juice from some truly exceptional ingredients—so much so, that I think we’ll see some downstream impact (read: mimicry) from their presence. Here, then, are this year’s bestsummer colognes for men, featuring seven standout launches from this calendar year.
And for what it’s worth, they’re all terrific perennial scents, too, so if youw ant to radiate radiance year round… here’s a “for your consideration” list.
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Shop This Year's Top Summer Scents for Men
Horace Vetiver Primavera EDP
Buy from: Horace
Scent Family: Citrus Aromatic
Prominent Notes: Lemon, yuzu, mandarin, orange blossom, vetiver, geranium, frankincense, ambroxan, cashmeran,
Perfumer: Meabh McCurtin (IFF)
Yes, primavera implies spring, but it’s terrific year round, especially into summer. This is Horace’s second scent of the year, after the limited-edition, cigarette-like L’Etiquette.
And this one is much more refreshing, those citrus and orange blossom notes give it this sunny, ripe squeeze. It dries down so softly and so stately. I know this one has all of my editor peers buzzing, too. It is bright, it is brilliant.
This brand does not miss, and they do not charge a lot either. You can get Vetiver Primavera for under $75 in the states. I’d encourage you to explore their entire trio of core launches, including Oud Rose as well as &Horace. Horace is the brand to watch, in all men’s grooming categories.
Bianco Profumo Acqua Gardenia EDP
Buy from: Bianco Profumo
Scent Family: Fresh Floral Aquatic
Prominent Notes: Sicilian lemon, cucumber water, white gardenia, sandalwood, resin, musk
Perfumer: Christine Hassan (Givaudan)
Out of Chicago, Bianco Profumo just launched their fourth fragrance, and their fourth smash. Specifically, this one is a cucumber smash.It pairs the essence of cucumber water with gardenia florals, crisp lemon, and musk… it is truly an original, which I can say about everything launched by the label.
I know floral can be a polarizing category for some men, but Acqua Gardenia is the exact expression to change their mind. I throw around the word “fresh” a lot with fragrance, but this is the epitome of fresh, given all of those ingredients I mentioned.Buonisssimo!
L'Objet Blindfold EDP
Buy from: L’Objet
Scent Family: Musky Animalic
Prominent Notes: Musk, saffron, milk, suede, tobacco, patchouli, tonka bean, amber
Perfumer: Yann Vasnier (Givaudan)
Blindfold is L’Objet’s new musky, animalic skin scent, and it is one of my favorites of the year—it’s certainly the scent that I apply for most often lately. It’s one that wears brilliantly on a hot day, a cozy night, during a fancy event, or even while running errands.
This one feels intimate, like it’s something for you to enjoy smelling on yourself, or for those you invite closer. It’s a combo of musk, suede, saffron, patchouli, and even some milky notes.It’s a great signature scent, a perennial pick, but I’m enjoying it for summer, when I spend so much time outside in my thoughts. This is a terrific companion for walks, for beach sprawls, etc.
I also love that no two caps from L’Objet’s scents are the same. The paint cracks differently each time. Even when the juice runs out, you’ve got a beautiful paperweight or bookend.
Ormonde Jayne Vetiveria EDP
Buy from: Ormonde Jayne
Scent Family: Aromatic Fougère
Prominent Notes: Vetiver, lime, timur pepper, moss
The four key notes in Ormonde Jayne’s Vetiveria all stand out distinctively, and it makes this aromatic fougère one of the brand’s best launches of late.
You can throw all of the outdoorsy comparisons at this one, and they’d all be true… it’s a walk in the park, it’s a forest bath, it’s a summer picnic, it’s a day by the lake…There’s something about Vetiveria that feels high altitude to me, too, like it’s all of those outdoorsy activities, except maybe in the alps during summertime. It’s really rousing, really, full bodied enough to wear year round, but fresh enough to cast in summertime.
Arquiste Tropical EDP
Buy from: Arquiste
Scent Family: Fruity Floral
Prominent Notes: Frangipani, guava, lime, guava blossom, vanilla absolute, mahogany, amber
Perfumer: Rodrigo Flores-Roux (Givaudan)
In talking about Tropical, I want to first callback to last year’s summery launch from Arquiste, A Grove by the Sea. That scent is now a best seller for the brand, recalling a Croatian island summer in the Adriatic Sea.
Tropical is the perfect followup in a similar vein, only now we’re in inland Yucatan, in Mérida specifically. If you’ve ever been to Mérida, you’ll know it for its unassuming colonial street fronts—except for when you enter someone’s home, you experience this oasis, a paradise, with enormous trees and beautiful, colorful flowers, all of it the characteristic verdancy you find across the Yucatan. And it is hot there year round, so you know there’s a pool back there.
Tropical is a sendup to all of that, the guava tree, the bird of paradise flowers. It is juicy, it is humid. Above all, it is guava through and through. I’ve been calling it a paradisiac, since it just sends you to that paradise in your mind.
St Johns Caneel Cologne
Buy from: St Johns
Scent Family: Woody Spicy
Prominent Notes: Black pepper, rose, jasmine, hinoki cedar, ambergris, musk, sandalwood
St Johns is one of my favorite brands in perfumery, because they have a really simple brief to hit with each scent: It has to smell like some aspect of life on the island of Saint John in the Virgin Islands. Their scents Vetiver and Bay Rum are two of my all-time favorites, and the new Caneel gives them a run for the top spot.
Despite being woodsy and spicy, it’s not a strong scent at all. Quite the opposite; it’s a really subtle and beautifully understated scent. Think of it as date night in the Caribbean: You’re with your +1, they know you well. So you don’t need to impress them. After all, you’re wearing flip flops and a breezy button down.
But this is the scent that pairs well with that vibe, without trying to sell some island fantasy. It’s pragmatic enough to wear every day, for any occasion and in any corner of the country, but it’s stirring enough to satisfy the St Johns island-life brief.
Gucci The Alchemist’s Garden Fiori di Neroli EDP
Buy from: Gucci
Scent Family: Citrus Floral
Prominent Notes: Neroli, orange blossom, petitgrain, bergamot, green mandarin, Orcanox (powdery-musky), cereals, cedar
Perfumers: Mathieu Nardin and Julie Massé (MANE)
Fiori di Neroli launched at the very beginning of the year, in a trio of new Alchemist’s Garden scents from Gucci. And it is the standout of the group, for its namesake ingredient.
Full disclosure, neroli is my single favorite note in perfumery. For the uninitiated, it’s the oil you get from the bitter orange blossom, so it carries this duality of citrus and floral, and it suits everyone.This is one of the most pitch perfect nerolis, in my opinion. It softens your edges, so if you already have this calm presence, it will complement you nicely. Or, if you want to feel more relaxed or come off as more zenful, here’s your prescription.
It layers on some other floral-citrus notes too, with bergamot and green mandarin, petitgrain, orange blossom itself, and some synthetic musks as well.This one smells like a stress sabbatical, and for that, I say thank you to Gucci.
