Best Summer Colognes For Men: Top 5 Fragrances For Hot & Sunny Days On The Beach

What Links A Cologne To A Season?

Through the power of association, olfactory memory can liken a specific smell with a memory or experience. This tangible imagery is an aspect that makes fragrances both attractive and desirible.

As memories can often be bound to  a place or a time, it’s not surprising that they can also be associated with seasons. Furthermore, both memory and smell can be quite potent, which can lead them to provoke certain emotions.

Therefore, a gifted perfumer will endeavour to draw out these emotional responses. This is achieved by developing a fragrance to which the wearer and his or her entourage can easily relate.

Our individual experiences and environments can also affect the way we associate aromas with such seasons. However, nature can be something of a unifying constant, which can bring us together.

How Do You Define A Summer Fragrance?

If you were to sit back and reminisce, how would you describe summer? Of course, your geographical location may play a role in this. However, many people will imagine the classic sea, sand and sun ideal.

In terms of smell, we could often conjure imagery of sun tan lotion, cool waves, hot sand as well as seawood or moist wood drying under the sun. Alternatively, we could consider more inland locations and think about fresh fruit, drying herbs, cool rocks and freshly-cut grass.

Common Summertime Notes

Therefore, it’s not surprising that many summer fragrances will evoke these notions with tangible and vivid aromas. A particularly common note is calone, a synthetic aldehyde that smell both cool and fresh.

As you may have noticed in the list above, the majority feature this note and may well have it as an ingredient. Although it’s artificial, it’s particularly evocative of cool ocean waves as well as sun cream.

At its most effective, calone is often paired with similar aromas. The sea-breeze sentiment is usually extended by adding ambergris, which is a type of musk extracted from whales. Today, its use is prohibited. However, perfumers have discovered ambroxide as a synthetic alternative.

Overall, ambergris is a note that can be likened to a fresh and oceanic white musk. Sometimes it’s associated with pipe tobacco or even earth. Nevertheless, it offers a potent summertime odour.

Likewise, aromatics and fruit are a particularly popular choice. Sage, mint and basil are quite common and some fruits such as pineapple and melon are constantly gaining traction. After all, even if you don’t relate them to fresh fruit, you may enjoy them in a summertime cocktail.

Finally, fresh woody tones are often quite effective when incorporated in summer fragrances. The most common of these is oak moss, which is similar to freshly-cut grass. Another frequent choice is cedar, which when paired with calone can make a particularly fresh note.

What Next?

If you liked perusing our selection of the best summertime colognes, don’t forget that you can also see what we suggest for other seasons. Just jump back to the top to see what we offer in our other guides. Alternatively, see all our other fragrance resources including these:

• How To Apply Fragrances
• What Are Fragrance Families?
• A Brief History Of Fragrances
• Latest Men’s Fragrance Reviews