Salt, Sun & Spray: 5 Scents for Seaside Dreamers
Salt in a fragrance?! No, the world hasn’t gone mad (at least not in this case), salty fragrances really are a thing; and the addition of a salty note goes beyond adding an almost savoury twang to a composition. These salty additions (and yes, even seaweed in some!) now act as a sort of scented seasoning. Think of them as setting the sea-spray sparkling, weaving a briny breeze and minerally magicking intrigue…
We’ve gathered some of our favourite ‘salty sea-breeze’ scents for you to spritz, inhale, and be transported coastwise: whether you yearn for windswept snogs on Brighton’s pier, languorous lolls on Mediterranean shores, or a balmy escapade to tropical sands. Each of these salt-infused scents flutters its own flag above the waves. So, unfurl your beach towel and prepare to be whisked seaside (but without the sand in your sandwiches, and with zero chance of rain, hurrah!)
Boadicea the Victorious Aqua Sapphire
Salty waves break tantalisingly over tropical pineapple and rum in this sparkling ode to the ocean, swirling saffron’s golden warmth into the boozy zephyr. That signature Boadicean bravura unfurls as seaweed breezes in with classic Rose de Mai, salty and ever-so-seductive. Musk flirts in the undertow and cypriol, amber woods and moss smoulder like embers after a midnight beach bonfire. It’s a sapphire flash – part 90s ozonic fizz, part beach-bar cocktail – that never loses its veil of marine mystery. One spritz, and suddenly you’re skipping stones in the surf, salt on lips, hair ablaze with sun. Blissful!
From £69.50 for 10ml pure parfum boadiceaperfume.com
Roger & Gallet Vanille Soleil
A Mediterranean daydream in a bottle. Vanilla – but fret ye not, it’s defininitely NOT the cupcake kind. Here, salted air tangles with Madagascar vanilla, brightened by jasmine and ylang-ylang’s floral flurries. Tonka bean and amber bring the gilded warmth of sun-drenched skin, while a saline breeze lifts everything into a lighter, languid sphere. Imagine vanilla, taken for a tango on the tiles of a sun-baked riviera, her petticoat fluttering above rhythmic sandal-beats, as behind, the sea croons a breezy refrain. Joyfully balmy and far less sweet than you’d expect, it’s an echo of laughter bobbing across the waves.
£39 for 100ml eau de toilette escentual.com
Thomas de Monaco Sol Salgado
The romance of salt and sun, gloriously bottled to enjoy whenever the mood strikes. Sol Salgado opens on linden blossom and mimosa, evoking golden serenity, soft as cotton flower. A heartbeat later, the tide turns: salt and ambergris roll in, tinged with heliotrope’s almond aura; sandalwood and skin musks drift and swirl, as smoked vanilla smoulders in the background. If beach holidays always seem to end too soon (or you never get to go on one!) this is the endless summer you’ve craved – a sensual evocation of gold on sun-warmed skin and the shimmering magic hour when the sultry breeze turns every moment cinematic.
£230 for 50ml extrait de parfum lessenteurs.com
The Merchant of Venice Gold Regatta
Take to the laguna for a Venetian regatta, bracing salt air and pageantry galore. Gold Regatta launches with the unique savour of red algae and prickly pear – fruity yet evoking a froth of briny spray. Helichrysum and salty woods conjure the warm, aromatic tang of Mediterranean facades and secret canals. Amber and vanilla lace the dry down, which lingers on skin like golden sunlight shimmering on water. It’s the romance and pride of Venice transformed into an aquatic, salty-woody fantasy, making every day wear feel a little bit legendary.
£220 for 100ml eau de parfum escentual.com
Sarah Baker Atlante
A mythic tidepool in a bottle: sparkling yuzu and graceful orris shimmy through tangled seaweed and wet rocks dusted with natural ambergris. Atlante is the sort of scent mermaids might splash on before a moonlit soiree with a salty sailor – saline, mineral, and tantalisingly fresh. Lily of the valley, pink pepper, and a drift of seashells complete the journey, while cedar and driftwood anchor the waves. Glimmering with tidepool minerality and bracing sparkle, Atlante leaves you blinking at the beauty of the shore – where every pebble hides a story, and every breeze is scented with adventure.
£145 for 50ml extrait de parfum in our Shop
Each of the fragrances described here is a magically perfumed passport, and now your only choice needs to be which seaside you want to be beside in fragrant form…
Written by Suzy Nightingale