This Summer’s Fragrance Trends Bottle Up Sunshine (2025)

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Aah, the familiar smells of summer: The tropical, coconut-y scent of sunscreen and after-sun lotions. The smoky haze of hamburgers sizzling on the barbecue. The sweet, earthy aroma after a late August rainstorm. This summer’s biggest fragrance trends capture the scents of the season, with some more unexpected than others. “People seem to be craving big, bold fragrances that make a statement, even in warmer weather,” says Franco Wright, cofounder of retailers Luckyscent.com and Scentbar. “On the other hand, skin scents are still very much in demand.”

Unexpected tropical fruits and transparent white floral notes dominate summer’s buzziest fragrance launches. “It's going to be a fruit and flowers kind of summer,” says Bee Shapiro, founder of Ellis Brooklyn. “Solar scents are lovely, but I think the wave of sunscreen-inspired fragrances has waned.” When it comes to skin scents, salty accords breathe fresh, mineral-y air into the category, while icy eucalyptus and hot Sichuan pepper spice things up for those who prefer green and earthy eaux.

Unsurprisingly, gourmands aren’t going anywhere. “Social media commentators are predicting a move away from gourmands, but as far as sales and interest at our stores go, we certainly haven't seen that yet,” says Wright. What brands are doing is adapting edible-inspired scents for the hotter weather, developing perfumes “with less of the weight and warmth that makes us associate the category with fall and winter,” says Arielle Weinberg, founder of Arielle Shoshana.

Perfumers are also taking inspiration from nostalgic summer treats like ice cream and Italian aperitivi. “It’s a really interesting time in fragrance because customers have this entire world of fragrances at their fingertips and there’s this hunger to seek out newness and novelty,” says Jeniece Trizzino, vice president of innovation and physical product at Scentbird. Ahead, discover all the newness and novelty you’ll be smelling everywhere this summer.

Meet the experts:

• Franco Wright is cofounder of Luckyscent.com and Scent Bar in LA and New York City.

• Bee Shapiro is the founder of New York-based fragrance brand Ellis Brooklyn.

• Arielle Weinberg is the founder of the Arielle Shoshana store and perfume brand in Washington DC.

• Jeniece Trizzino is the vice president of innovation and physical product and fragrance subscription service Scentbird New York.

• Nicole Mancini is a principal perfumer at DSM-Firmenich in New York City.

• Ines Guien is the vice president of operations at Dossier Perfumes in New York City.

• Dora Baghriche is a principal perfumer at DSM-Firmenich in Paris.

• Carine Certain Boin is a New York City-based perfumer at Givaudan.

• Ezra-Lloyd Jackson is a London-based perfumer and founder of fragrance brand We Are Deya.

Be Ready To Smell Like Bananas

We’ll spare you the cringeworthy early-aughts song lyrics and give it to you straight: Banana-inspired scents are summer’s biggest perfume trend. Searches across Google and TikTok are up by 46.8% from last year, according to Spate data. “Banana is still a relatively new note in fine fragrance, which makes it exciting,” says Nicole Mancini, principal perfumer at DSM-Firmenich. “It’s being reimagined as something modern, fresh, and unexpectedly elegant.”

Banana can make for a great base note, explains Ines Guien, vice president of operations at Dossier. “Paired with deeper, spicier notes like rum and ginger, it is transformed into something perfect for day or night.” Nanatopia by Borntostandout, for example, is a shockingly seductive scent that mixes a banana bread accord with caramel and rum.

Nanatopia Eau de Parfum

$210.00, Revolve

Hakuna Matata Eau de Parfum

$210.00, 27 87

Let’s not forget the fragrances that smell like straight-up bananas, such as 27 87 Perfume’s new Hakuna Matata eau de parfum. The scent features a sugared honey note that, on first spritz, smells akin to those hard banana candies from the ’90s. However, the white flowers quickly take over and soften out the cheery fragrance.

White flowers are combined with banana in Kayali’s Maui in a Bottle Sweet Banana for a gourmand take on a tropical summer fragrance. And Marc Jacobs Daisy Wild Eau So Intense uses a banana blossom accord for a sparklier, less-foodie approach to the trend.

Maui in a Bottle Sweet Banana | 37 Eau de Parfum

$32.00, Sephora

Daisy Wild Eau So Intense Eau de Parfum

$160.00, Nordstrom

Perfumes Are Adding a Pinch of Salt

Once reserved for aquatic and marine fragrances, salt is being sprinkled across many olfactive categories this summer, including skin scents (like Ellis Brooklyn Salt), florals (LoveShackFancy Love on the Beach and Glossier Fleur), woody blends (Issey Miyake Le Sel d’Issey), and spicy perfumes (Réservation Parfums Riviera Californienne). “Salt has become an incredibly versatile ingredient in fragrances,” says Mancini. “It brings a touch of freshness and a mineral quality that can enhance other notes.”

Salt Eau de Parfum

$115.00, Amazon

You Fleur Eau de Parfum

$78.00, Sephora

According to the perfumers we spoke to, salt grounds a fragrance, meaning it infuses any eau with an earthy, airy quality. It’s one of the reasons perfumer Dora Baghriche added it to Glossier Fleur. “A flower isn’t just its petals,” she says. “You can smell it in the air and in the ground.” Bringing the mineral salt accord into the equation adds that earthiness and airiness, while also softening the scents’ floral notes.

Salt accords are also being used as skin enhancers since they replicate the slightly salty smell of our skin when we sweat, explains Baghriche. Fleur, which features salt, Ambrox, and musks, can be best described as a floral skin scent. Eau So Vert Salvia Salvia, on the other hand, is a classic aquatic fougère but uses a similar salt-musk combination, in this case to capture the scent of skin after a lazy afternoon dip in the ocean.

Riviera Californienne

$280.00, Violet Grey

Le Sel d’Issey Eau de Toilette

$130.00, Macy's

Salvia Salvia Eau de Parfum

$185.00, FWRD

Gourmands Take On a Summery Twist

The season’s yummiest fragrance trend—sunny, summery gourmands—is all about capturing the smells of our favorite warm-weather treats, whether that’s soft serve from the local ice cream stand or a refreshing Aperol spritz on the beach in Ravello. “This trend aligns with the edible and comforting appeal of gourmands, but aims for something more vibrant and refreshing,” says Mancini. “By introducing ice cream and spritz-like elements, the fragrances feel playful and celebratory—perfect for the season.”

Ice cream-inspired scents like Juliette Has a Gun Miami Shake and d’Annam Matcha Soft Serve incorporate sweet, delicious vanilla—still immensely popular with customers—with sparkly citrus fruits, juicy berries, or earthy tea notes for scents that are delicious yet delicate. In some cases, brands are swapping vanilla for coconut milk to add creamy, sugary warmth. Clean Classic Tropical Escape, which combines the note with pineapple for a lightweight gourmand, is reminiscent of a poolside piña colada.

Miami Shake Eau de Parfum

$150.00, Sephora

Matcha Soft Serve Eau de Parfum

$160.00, d’Annam

Clean Classic Tropical Escape

$68.00, Ulta Beauty

Not every summer gourmand has a milky, vanilla-y quality. Maison Margiela Replica Never-Ending Summer combines its zesty spritz accord with cardamom and nutmeg, while Nautica Rose Island has a bright lemon sorbet accord supported by florals, citrus fruits, and marine notes for a scent that makes your mouth water and your mind imagine a cool breeze coming from the sea.

Replica Never-Ending Summer Eau de Toilette

$165.00, Sephora

Rose Island Eau De Parfum

$35.00, Amazon

White Florals Re-Enter the Chat

White floral fragrances are as quintessential to summer as a pair of flip-flops, but this year, there’s a shift in the category. Lighter and airier, perfumers are adapting white floral perfumes for today’s fragrance lovers, who prefer “florals that feel more transparent and modern, not overly traditional and intense,” says Mancini.

Classic white floral notes are often creamy, opulent, rich, and sometimes animalic. That’s because many of them contain a powerful molecule called indole, which gives white floral notes their dizzying quality (and gives some people headaches). With this new crop of white floral scents, many perfumers are reducing the amount of indole or removing it entirely. “[Doing so] makes white florals smell bright, luminous, and airy—more like how they smell in the garden,” adds Givaudan perfumer Carine Certain Boin.

This summer, perfumers are also playing with different combinations of sheer white florals and musk. “People are still actively looking for second-skin-like fragrances,” says Trizzino, but adds that musk (the basis of most skin scents) can be difficult to smell for a lot of people. The wide variety of musk molecules and the fact that they’re used in lots of fragrances can lead to musk “anosmia,” or the partial or complete loss of smell toward a certain scent. “One way to give these [musk] scents strength and staying power is by adding these really gentle white floral notes.”

There are some new white floral-musk fragrances to reach for this summer: Noyz Detour leans more juicy, topping off white florals and skin musk with mandarin and apple blossom. Estée Lauder’s latest Bronze Goddess scent features a fig note that adds a green dimension to the iconic summer eau, while niche French fragrance brand Ode Ona’s Eden Bond is unlike any white floral we’ve ever smelled. Gingery, peppery notes cut through the white floral heart and ambrox-laced base for a unique scent that, when you close your eyes, brings to mind the smell of your skin—sun-warmed and freshly washed—as you lay on the crisp cotton sheets of your beachfront hotel (can you tell that we’re really in need of a summer vacation?).

Detour Eau de Parfum

$85.00, Revolve

Bronze Goddess Aegea Eau de Parfum

$90.00, Nordstrom

Eden Bond Eau de Parfum

$160.00, Ode Ona

Cool Down With Eucalyptus Scents

Summer’s fragrance trends aren’t all fruits, florals, and frozen treats. Experts expect to see a rise in green and aquatic scents inspired by nature—music to the ears of fragrance lovers who prefer herbal- and earthier-smelling eau de parfums. There’s one green note that’s popping up again and again in launches for this summer: crisp, clean, camphoraceous eucalyptus.

Mancini says eucalyptus, a note that’s been used in perfumery for a long time, “brings an instant cooling sensation you can smell right away.” She adds that it blends beautifully with other herbal notes like lavender or mint to enhance its calming, natural scent (Arielle Shoshanna Tuesday is a good example of this combination).

Tuesday Eau de Parfum

$175.00, Arielle Shoshana

Eucalyptus 20 Eau de Parfum

$235.00, Nordstrom

If you’ve smelled pure eucalyptus oil, then you also know it can smell medicinal. To soften the note and to make it more wearable, Mancini explains that perfumers usually balance it with warm, grounding notes like sandalwood, cedar, leather, or amber. This is the case with Le Labo’s latest launch, Eucalyptus 20, which starts out sharp and spicy, then mingles with your skin to become musky, woody, and a touch smoky, bringing to mind the smells of a hot summer hike in the sun.

Many of the most recent eucalyptus-based scents also bring florals into the mix. Ffern Spring 25 works in daffodil and ylang ylang notes, while DS & Durga Big Sur Eucalyptus has magnolia at its heart.

Spring 25 Organic Eau de Parfum

$129.00, Ffern

Big Sur Eucalyptus Eau de Parfum

$210.00, D.S. & Durga (1.7 Oz)

Sichuan Peppers Are Spicing Scents Up

The woody category is heating up as perfumers play with Sichuan pepper. “Sichuan pepper blends a distinctive spiciness with fresh, citrusy notes and a unique metallic tingle,” says Mancini.

The best Sichuan pepper extracts are created using Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE), a process that involves extracting the scent from the dried Sichuan berries. (I was today years old when I found out that Sichuan peppers aren’t peppers but berries from the prickly ash tree.) It’s a method that helps preserve Sichuan’s vibrant character, resulting in a note that “brightens and elevates everything from citrusy to woody to floral accords,” Mancini adds.

Gabar’s Nagar Min scent includes Sichuan pepper, which acts as “the spine” of the opening fragrance notes, explains perfumer Ezra-Lloyd Jackson. The note complements the sweetness of the cherry blossom, acts as a bridge to the rosewood heart, and then dissipates to allow the woody base to come through. “Sichuan was great to work with because of its multifaceted character,” he explains.

Iconic for Men Eau de Parfum

$78.00, Amazon

Chrome United Eau de Toilette

$80.00, Amazon

Scoville Eau de Parfum

$144.00, Obvious Parfums

A taste of Sichuan can be found in the brand-new Guess Iconic Man and classics like Azzaro Chrome United and Dior Sauvage. With Obvious Parfum’s Scoville, however, the note is taken to the extreme. Like the Last Dab of perfume, it combines Sichuan with chili pepper and black pepper for an obviously fiery fragrance. “This trend ties into the popularity of raw, authentic fruits and vegetables done in overt ways,” says Trizzino, referring to the surge of tomato-inspired scents that launched last year. “Depending on the brand, these notes give a hint of greenness or can really be pushed so [the perfume] smells exactly like the fruit or vegetable, which adds a bit of intrigue or novelty to a fragrance and gets people talking.”

We’re Experiencing a Classical Revival

Fragrance in 2025 is all about newness and novelty: new olfactive molecules, fresh takes on classic olfactive categories, and unique accords (like pizza and pancakes). But a resurgence of classic scents—primarily among Gen Z consumers—has been bubbling up lately. From iconic perfumes of the ’90s and early aughts to traditional notes that many of us associate with our grandmothers (at least those of us who were born after the advent of the iPod), Gen Z and Gen Alpha are starting to wear fragrances that people haven’t talked about in ages, says Trizzino.

Though we know that all fragrances are technically genderless, when it comes to this particular trend, there does seem to be a gender divide. At Luckyscent.com and ScentBird, Wright has observed more teenage boy customers who look for “sporty” fragrances that were heavily marketed as “masculine scents” when they first launched. They’re discovering scents like Davidoff Cool Water and the original Polo that “represent being clean and fresh but also feeling powerful, which is what they’re really looking for,” adds Trizzino. “Since most brands have moved away from those types of scents, these fragrances feel so different from what’s currently on the market. But they’re new to this younger generation.”

Cool Water Eau de Toilette

$107.00, Amazon

Polo Eau de Toilette

$110.00, Macy's

For younger women, this classical revival is also manifesting in the resurgence of traditional floral notes. Not only rose, which we’ve reported on, but violet, lavender, and other powdery notes are also gaining popularity. “Brands used to try and bury these notes, but instead of hiding them as a supporting structure within the fragrance, they’re the star of the show and people are actively seeking them out,” says Trizzino.

Parfums de Marly’s success on #PerfumeTok may have a lot to do with this trend: The brand’s Best of Beauty Award-winning Delina, made rose cool again, and last year’s Palatine spotlights violet and lavandin.

But you see a lot of really interesting classic florals sprouting up for summer, a standout being Phlur’s Rose Whip. Perfume lovers and beauty editors are flipping out over this mysterious, spicy floral. “You wouldn’t find a leathery rose in the early aughts,” says senior editor Jesa Marie Calaor. “Rose Whip is a seductive and surprising take on the classic note.”

Palatine Eau de Parfum

$390.00, Nordstrom

Rose Whip Eau de Parfum

$99.00, Sephora

Expect a Tropical Twist on Fruity Fragrances

From fine fragrances to body sprays, tropical fruits are having a moment on beauty shelves and across Google and TikTok (according to Spate). Notes like lychee, yuzu, guava, and passion fruit are popping up in fragrances, from Shapiro’s new Ellis Brooklyn Guava Granita (banana, melon, and guava) and Oscar de la Renta’s Bella Soleil (mango and prickly pear) to Proem, U Beauty’s first foray into fragrance (lychee). Trizzino has nicknamed this recent batch of tropical fruit fragrances “hyperfruits,” saying they are “hyperrealistic, really intense, and mouthwatering, reflecting a movement toward more natural, juicy, and sophisticated fruity scents.”

Guava Granita Eau de Parfum

$115.00, Sephora

Bella Soleil Eau de Parfum

$114.00, Amazon

Proem Eau De Parfum

$198.00, Bluemercury

Many of these scents—especially in the case of the fruity and vanilla-y Guava Granita—smell good enough to drink, adds Weinberg. “Perfumers are updating the bold, flirtatious, daiquiri-esque fruity fragrances of the naughties for 2025's more global sensibilities.” Shapiro sees this season’s obsession with exotic fruity scents as yet another extension of the gourmand trend and a desire to feel comforted. As she puts it: “Tropical scents are the extrovert version of that, which is the desire to be seen, be noticed, and to convey joy.”

Read more about summer's biggest trends:

• This Summer’s Biggest Nail Color Trends Are All About Scaling Back

• This Summer’s Best Nail Art Trends Scream “The Beach Is That Way”

• The 9 Summer Pedicure Colors Everyone Will Be Wearing in 2025

Now, watch Paris Hilton's tour of her wellness and beauty spa.

Originally Appeared on Allure