Summertime requires a lighter perfume. As much as I love my Flowerbomb and Casmir and KenzoAmour, they can be a little overwhelming on a hot day. It’s terrible, really, given the number of warm, heavy scents I own, so I’ve been trying to add some lighter perfumes to my collection. On the plus side, I do still wear the warm scents for night-time events (applied sparingly) or on days where I’ll be inside a heavily air-conditioned location.

But, here are five perfumes I do love to wear during the summer, in no particular order.

1. Believe by Britney Spears. Again, I can’t Believe (ha! ha!) I’m admitting to wearing a Britney fragrance in a public forum, but oh well. The perfume is pretty and nice for summer. The patchouli keeps it from devolving into a sticky, fruity mess, and the fruits keep it light and pleasant for a hot day.

2. Carlos Santana for Women. This is a perfume is one of my favorites year-round. It’s fruity, but has some lovely chocolate and sandalwood base notes that add some interest. Somehow this one just screams summer to me – the fruits and slightly tropical appeal, but with the warmth of the base notes. “Man it’s a hot one…”

3. Anything citrus. I have several to chose from, including I Love Love from Moschino, Citrus Verbena from L’Occitane, Ralph Rocks from Ralph Lauren, and the super long-lasting Satsuma perfume oil from The Body Shop. Citrus and summer just go together, don’t they? Lemon, grapefruit, orange… they make you feel cooler on a hot day. Except for the Citrus Verbena, the ones listed here have okay staying power too.

4. Rose & Reine by L’Occitane and Rose Essentielle by Bulgari. There is something eternally summery about roses. Rose & Reine avoids any old-lady cliches by adding berry and apricot notes to heart of roses. Rose Essentielle does seem a little old-ladyish, but I don’t care. It has a note (it’s probably the violet, other violet scents evoke this same reaction) that strongly reminds me of something from my childhood. I can never put my finger on it – it was probably something silly like one of those scented dolls that were so popular in the 80’s. Anyway, both these scents definitely hit my “favorites for summer” hot list.

5. Blu Mediterraneo – Mandorlo Di Sicilia from Acqua di Parma. This is a new one for me, since I bought it only a few weeks ago. It’s one of the few sweet gourmand scents I actually want to wear on a hot day, because it also has some cool citrus notes thrown in (orange and bergamot). It’s so yummy and good, I just love it.

Honorable mention: Fresh’s Sugar scents are great for summer, being very citrusy and clean.

One Response to “5 Things: Summer Perfume”

1. Claire’s Beauty » 5 Things Summer Perfume 2009 Edition says:

   January 1, 2010 at 10:36 pm

   [...] year I wrote a 5 Things Summer Perfume, with some of my favorite summer fragrances. I still recommend all those perfumes for summer, and [...]