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7 best aquatic perfumes that smell like a luxury coastal holiday and will get you so many compliments
Time to grab your cover-up and a beach read!
I spent my childhood landlocked in middle America, so an aquatic perfume was the next best thing to pretend I was amidst ocean air. Still to this day, even though I live a mere 45 minutes from the coast, I find myself craving watery, marine-like fragrances in the summertime. It’s the original version of a fresh and clean perfume. Before we had ambroxan and aldehydes for a cotton-y, crisp scent, there were dewy florals, salty accords, and airy musks to evoke the sea’s breeze.
So, if, like me, you wanna smell like the ocean, bottled, look toward the below aquatic perfumes, tested and reviewed by the Cosmo team. The key notes to keep an eye out for? Jasmine, sea salt, lotus, musk, citrus, and cedar – all of which keep the scent well-rounded and ozonic, not too briny (and never like a fish, of course). Some of the below conjure up the wind flowing past you on the shore, while others are like taking a dunk in the sea. No matter what style you’re looking for, keep scrolling for all of our picks.
Juliette has a Gun Vanilla Vibes Eau de Parfum 100ml
Juliette has a Gun Vanilla Vibes Eau de Parfum 100ml
One Cosmo staffer says, "If you can't be without a vanilla perfume even on a hot day (they can be a little stifling and overwhelming, let's be real), look no further. It's a little salty, a tad musky, and, like with most gourmand vanillas, a huge compliment getter."
| Notes | Salt, vanilla absolute, orchid, musk, tonka bean, sandalwood |
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Issey Miyake L'Eau d'Issey Eau de Parfum Spray 50ml
Issey Miyake L'Eau d'Issey Eau de Parfum Spray 50ml
One Cosmo staffer says, "Released in 1992, L'Eau d'Issey is proof that some things age like Carolyn Bessette's NYC apartment: not at all. It's peak 90s, yet somehow still feels like the future. This aquatic floral smells less like a person and more like an impossibly chic lifestyle – off-white walls, Sade on vinyl, and a single calla lily in a vial-like vase. It's unisex, unusual and entirely uninterested in being yummy. So, you won't smell edible, sexy or even pretty, but rather ~curated~. You own fewer things than everyone else, but better ones."
| Notes | Rose, lotus, lily, sun drenched flowers, precious woods |
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Glossier You Soie Eau de Parfum
One Cosmo staffer says, “This scent takes beachy in a different direction, something more airy and subdued. The milk and rice notes add a softness that’s not sweet. I’m so used to perfumes veering toward gourmand these days, using milk with vanilla and other sweet notes to cosy up a scent. But rice, combined with the O.G. DNA of Glossier You (aka ambroxan), adds a muskiness that completely pulls this out of sweet perfume territory. The florals here are creamy and solar, with absolutely zero dustiness. In fact, it smells a bit like clean laundry to me.”
| Notes | Bergamot, jasmine, rice, milk, tiare, water, ambrox super |
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Armani Beauty Acqua di Gioia Eau de Parfum
Armani Beauty Acqua di Gioia Eau de Parfum
One Cosmo staffer says, “'Clean girl perfumes' have been rebranded to laundry-like scents for the most part. But Acqua di Gioia—a marine, citrus fragrance—is the O.G. clean girl scent, IMO. The mix of watery jasmine and gardenia with lemon evokes a summer day on the Amalfi Coast. It’s really refreshing, so I always want to spritz it on in the dead of summer when I feel sticky and gross.”
| Notes | Lemon, mint, water jasmine, brown sugar, cedar, labdanum |
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Orebella Jasmine Blues Parfum
Orebella Jasmine Blues Parfum
One Cosmo staffer says, “At first sniff, I wasn’t sure about this perfume. It’s purely an aquatic floral: like a flower covered in dew. But then, assistant beauty editor and my deskmate Jasmine Hyman started spritzing it throughout the workday, and I slowly fell in love, requesting my own bottle shortly after. It’s undoubtedly jasmine: crisp, slightly herbal, a little musky, and very sparkly. But lotus, bergamot, crystalised moss, and resin really add this watery quality that turns this into a beautiful, summery scent.”
| Notes | Jasmine, blue lotus, bergamot, rose petals, crystallized moss, silky mukss, cedarwood, patchouli, balsam resin |
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Maison Margiela Replica Sailing Day Eau de Toilette Spray
Maison Margiela Replica Sailing Day Eau de Toilette Spray
One Cosmo staffer says, “Saling Day smells like the ocean, full stop. It’s not beachy or sandy. It’s really realistic to sail on the ocean: feeling the breeze whizz past your face, splashes of the sea on your skin. It’s a day on the water, bottled.”
| Notes | Aquatic accord, coriander, red seaweed essence |
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Jo Malone London Wood Sage & Sea Salt Cologne
Jo Malone London Wood Sage & Sea Salt Cologne
One Cosmo staffer says, "Like taking a walk by the ocean on a cloudy day while wearing a beautiful cream cable knit sweater. Jo Malone has so many beautiful fragrances, but I have to say, Wood Sage & Sea Salt may just be my favourite. It's so fun to experience a completely fresh take on a beach scent."
| Notes | Sea salt, sage, grapefruit |
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Why trust Cosmopolitan?
Lia Mappoura is the beauty writer at Cosmopolitan UK with over five years of experience researching, writing, and editing hair, makeup, nail, and fragrance stories. Oh, and in 2025, she was named The Rising Media Star at the Love Perfume Awards with The Perfume Shop, recognised for her outstanding digital fragrance content and for building genuine authority within the space. So, you could say she knows a thing or two about scent...
Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan US with eight years of experience researching, writing, and editing hair, makeup, nail, and fragrance stories.
Lead image credits:
Photographer Lindsay Ellary. Senior Fashion Editor Rebecca Jane Hill. Beauty Director Keeks Reid. Model Tehya Elam at Freedom Models. Makeup artist Deanna Melluso at Forward Artists using essence Cosmetics and Catrice Cosmetics. Hair stylist Erin Piper Herschleb at Tracey Mattingly. Global Editorial & Brand Director Chloe O'Brien. Bookings Director Sophie Leen. Fashion Assistant Angel Cordova-Todd. Photo Assistant Lexi Wimberly. Photo support Zarie Herman. Location Windjammer Landing Resort & Residences, Saint Lucia. @windjammerlanding. With thanks to Saint Lucia Tourism Authority
Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers skincare, makeup, hair, nails, and more across digital and print. She can generally be found in bright eyeshadow furiously typing her latest feature or hemming and hawing about a new product you "have to try." Prior to Cosmopolitan, she wrote and edited beauty content as an Editor at The Everygirl for four years. Follow her on Instagram for makeup selfies and a new hair 'do every few months.
Lia Mappoura (she/her) is the Beauty Writer at Cosmopolitan UK, with over four years of experience reporting across the brand's print, social, video and digital platforms. Lia covers everything from emerging trend analysis to viral celebrity hair and makeup moments, making her an expert at spotting the season’s next big beauty look (before it takes over social media feeds).
In 2025, she was named The Rising Media Star at the Love Perfume Awards with The Perfume Shop, recognised for her outstanding digital fragrance content and for building genuine authority within the space. She is passionate about challenging outdated beauty stereotypes, championing inclusive representation in beauty, and educating readers on the trends, products and conversations shaping the industry today. Follow her on Instagram or find her on LinkedIn.
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