Fervororge

Summer is the season of salt: the tang of the ocean on your skin, biting into a hot dog at the local fair, salt around the rim of an ice-cold margarita, sweating in the sun. Whether it’s the aroma of a day at the beach, the invigorating scent of a crisp, clear morning by the sea, or a zesty cocktail, salt instantly conjures visions of hot days and cool, refreshing water. Just thinking of a salty fragrance instantly calms and soothes your senses, doesn’t it? Spritzing one on in the height of summer is like diving into a crystal-clear pool, then letting the sun dry you off, or applying aloe gel straight from the refrigerator to hot, sunburned skin.

If you find yourself craving fresh, light, salty fragrances once the humidity rises, it could be that longing for a cool ocean breeze. And while table salt doesn’t have a smell, sea salt has a subtle minerality that makes it a welcome addition to fragrance; plus, perfumers can also create the idea of salt with other notes. “Salt isn’t an ingredient we bottle, but more so an impression created through an accord, a balance of notes that give you a mineral sensation,” says Eauso Vert co-founder Faye Harris Wood. “What makes it so compelling in summer fragrances is its connection to our bodies’ natural response to heat, and how refreshing it can be. Salt notes can capture that refreshing quality that make you feel instantly cooled and alive, like the feeling of ocean air or water, while there’s something inherently human and sensual about the light salt of sweat on warm skin.”

Sounds refreshing? Ahead, our favorite salt-forward fragrances to get in on the trend this summer.

The Realistic One: Skylar Salt Air

Skylar’s Salt Air is a blend of watery floral top notes with driftwood, sea salt, and seaweed adding olfactory realism to the mix. This would be ideal on a hot summer day, but it would be equally good in the dead of winter when you’re craving warmth and water.

The Woodsy One: Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt

Jo Malone’s Wood Sage & Sea Salt blends ambrette, sea salt, and sage for a light, yet woody take on marine scents, as though you’re walking along the beach on a chilly morning in early September.

The Coastal Grandma One: Being Frenshe Salty

Ashley Tisdale’s Being Frenshe line includes Salty, a musky sea salt and sandalwood blend; it’s available in both a close-to-the-skin body fragrance oil and a hair and linen mist, just in case you have a Hamptons house in need of some refreshing. (Linen sheets would suffice too.)

The Sunny One: Phlur Solar Power

Phlur’s Solar Power is as beachy as its name suggests, with a sandy, salty warmth that glows like hot, sunkissed skin.

The Tropical One: Ellis Brooklyn Salt

Ellis Brooklyn’s beachy floral Salt is more floral than it is salty, with lush, romantic tiare flower notes to convey a humid tropical getaway, even if you’re just sitting at your desk on a Monday afternoon.

The Intriguing One: Orebella Salted Muse

Bella Hadid’s Orebella Salted Muse pairs sea salt with pink pepper, cardamom, and ginger atop a woody base for an interesting, complex concoction—a little spicy, a little sexy, but still fresh and light enough for summertime wear.

The Salty Floral One: Glossier You Fleur

Glossier added salt notes to their latest You flanker, You Fleur, to give the floral scent a chic minerality and airiness. Ylang ylang, osmanthus, and apricot add creamy brightness atop the signature You base of ambroxan.

The Summer Cocktail One: Eauso Vert’s Salvia Salvia

For that “icy-cold cocktail after a long, lazy day in the sun” feeling, try Eauso Vert’s Salvia Salvia. The light, summery scent has a sea salt accord that Harris Wood says “transforms everything around it,” making the herbal notes of sage pop and adding extra texture and dimension to the fragrance. “It creates a skin-scent effect where the perfume seems to meld with your natural chemistry… mimicking the way skin naturally becomes more fragrant and alive in summer.”

The Salty Gourmand: Juliette Has a Gun Vanilla Vibes

Just like a dusting of sea salt elevates the flavor of vanilla ice cream, gourmand-adjacent scents have also added a sprinkle of salt, like Juliette Has a Gun’s Vanilla Vibes. Instead of a sticky-sweet take on vanilla, which can easily feel heavy and syrupy, the addition of sea salt and sandalwood give it depth and dimension.

The Salted Strawberry One: Hilde Soliani Fraaagola Saalaaaata

Hilde Soliani’s salted strawberry fragrance Fraaagola Saalaaaata uses salt to temper the sweetness of ripe strawberry, though make no mistake—Fraaagola Saalaaata is certainly sweet, with a childhood lipgloss vibe that sends you straight back to the 2000s. Turns out salt isn’t just an essential in the kitchen; it totally shines in your fragrance collection too!