Escape to the Ocean With One of These Aquatic Perfumes
The notes? Breezy sea air, salty skin, and dewy florals.
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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.
If you wanna smell like the ocean, bottled, look toward the below aquatic perfumes, tested and reviewed by Cosmo editors. 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 my picks.
One Cosmo editor says: “This smells like a rocky beach, not a sandy one. It’s not tropical or packed with coconut and banana. Instead, it’s a waterfall surrounded by greenery that flows into fresh water. All the dewy greens (hyacinth, lotus blossom, orris, neroli, and oakmoss) pair with a water accord for a chic marine scent.”—BETH GILLETTE, BEAUTY EDITOR
| Notes | Water accord, hyacinth, bergamot, dewy greens, lotus blossom, orris, neroli, blue amber, oakmoss, musk |
One Cosmo editor says: “I’ve quickly become obsessed with all of Lore’s perfumes (did you know that the caps of the bottles double as a cute candlestick holder?!), but I’ve specifically been spritzing Sublimity on repeat. It’s a fruity and musky scent that’s been getting me through the trenches of winter in NYC." —JASMINE HYMAN, ASSISTANT BEAUTY EDITOR
| Notes | Coconut nectar, ylang ylang, sea salt |
One Cosmo editor 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 cozy 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.”—BG
| Notes | Bergamot, jasmine, rice, milk, tiare, water, ambrox super |
One Cosmo editor 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 evoke 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.”—BG
| Notes | Lemon, mint, water jasmine, brown sugar, cedar, labdanum |
One Cosmo editor says: “I wake up every morning and guzzle a glass of ice-cold water, and this perfume smells exactly like that. With cucumber and lotus flower, this scent is really reminiscent of a jug of spa water at a chic hotel. Clean musk and violet leaves add a smooth base too that stops it from smelling too one-note.”—BG
| Notes | Cucumber, lotus flower, violet leaves, clean musk, cedarwood |
One Cosmo editor 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, crystalized moss, and resin really add this watery quality that turns this into a beautiful, summery scent.”—BG
| Notes | Jasmine, blue lotus, bergamot, rose petals, crystallized moss, silky mukss, cedarwood, patchouli, balsam resin |
One Cosmo editor says: “Saling Day smells like the ocean, full stop. It’s not beachy or sandy. It’s really realistic to sailing on the ocean: feeling the breeze whizz past your face, splashes of the sea on your skin. It’s a bottled day on the water.”—BG
| Notes | Aquatic accord, coriander, red seaweed essence |
One Cosmo editor 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 favorite. It's so fun to experience a completely fresh take on a beach scent."—JAYNE LEMIRE, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
| Notes | Sea salt, sage, grapefruit |
Why trust Cosmopolitan?
Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan with eight years of experience researching, writing, and editing hair, makeup, nail, and fragrance stories.
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.
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