Fervororge

The Summer I Turned Pretty is obviously a great show based on even greater books. And yet, I have a feeling we’ll forever think of this period in our lives as the summer we met Ellis Brooklyn’s Vanilla Salt fragrance, as opposed to the summer we found out if it was worth being Team Conrad all along.

The series and scent will forever be linked in my head, at least. While I haven’t had the opportunity to romp around Cape Cod this summer (I wish, I had peach ice cream there once that I think about regularly), I’m getting my East coast “salt air and the rust on your door” fill from weekly TSITP episodes and—more importantly, because it’s a little closer to home—my fragrance cabinet.

Ahead, discover everything there is to know about Ellis Brooklyn’s new sweet-and-salty, East coast seaside-inspired vanilla perfume, which launches August 24.

The Inspiration

Bee Shapiro, founder and CEO of Ellis Brooklyn, has been living in Greenwich, Connecticut for a few years. She wanted to create a scent that reflected the “luxurious ease” of the area she calls home.

“Vanilla Salt is very much coastal Connecticut—classic in the sense that vanilla is, but also elevated and layered and complex enough that it smells unique and expensive,” she tells Byrdie.

This fragrance isn’t screaming for attention. Instead, “it exudes chic confidence.” To put it in layman/onlinegirl’s terms, it’s quiet luxury. If the scent—which features watery notes, musk, vanilla, and white florals—was an outfit, it would be “your perfect little boucle tweed jacket in warm and light tones.”

When someone wears Vanilla Salt, Shapiro wants them to feel “East Coast grace.” “Think Connecticut, Newport, Nantucket,” she says. “For most of us, fragrance is a splurge. Vanilla Salt is intentionally created to feel both modern and timeless.”

The Scent

Currently, there’s a strong salt-mineral trend going on in the fragrance world. Everyone is also passionate about vanillas. Interesting vanillas, at least.

“Vanilla Salt brings the best of both worlds together—the addictive warmth of vanilla with the fresh, textural edge of salt,” Ellis Brooklyn perfumer Adriana Medina explains. “I wanted to create a fragrance that was both contrasted and addictive. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth; I’m more of a salty-craving kind of girl. Salt, for me, made perfect sense after [Ellis Brooklyn’s original salt fragrance, Salt Eau de Parfum].” Thus, she paired just a dash of salt with a warm, addictive vanilla— the combination is “unexpected, delicious, and impossible to forget.”

At the top of the perfume, you’ll find mineral accord, that sea salt accord, and a touch of desert water. The heart comes through with jasmine petals, ylang-ylang, and whipped cream before it dries down to notes of Madagascar vanilla, luminous musk, and blonde woods.

“I wanted the fragrance to feel like an escape—to instantly transport the wearer to a place they love to be. I live by the water and cherish the summer season, so I drew inspiration from my two favorite places: the tranquil beauty of the Hudson and the endless horizon of the ocean,” she adds. “Vanilla Salt, to me, is like a flowing summer to fall dress—light, airy, and effortless. It’s made for warm weather and bright sunshine, capturing the easy elegance of summer days and a nice transition to the fall.”