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From raspberry ripple to limoncello, this is what your summer smells like
Prepare to be transported away with some very unusual perfume notes
Turning up to work smelling of limoncello is usually something more likely to get you reprimanded than complimented, but summer 2025 is rewriting the rules. This season’s new perfumes are centred around holiday-inspired notes that are as unexpected as they are attention-catching – in the very best way.
Take, for instance, the new Jo Loves fragrance: With Love From Como. Drawing inspiration from one of her favourite places in the world, fragrance guru Jo Malone CBE has sent out a postcode in perfume form, with each note chosen to evoke a glorious summer day on the shores of Italy’s most famous lake. Imagine sun-dappled citrus groves, and waterside trattorias serving herb-drizzled salads and, yes, limoncello spritzers, tinkling with ice-cubes.
(Just to be clear, With Love From Como doesn’t literally smell of limoncello, but it does have a crisp, tangy, citrus quality with a generous splash of feel-good. And it’s delicious.)
When we sprayed it in the GH office, noses immediately twitched, heads turned and a couple of people actually gasped out loud. ‘Oh wow, what is that? It’s gorgeous! It’s making me want to go on holiday,’ seemed to be the general consensus.
Luckily for anyone seeking a holiday in a perfume bottle, this summer’s new fragrances are offering a whole bucket list of destinations to work through: the Seychelles, Santorini, Egypt, Brazil, Capri, and Miami to name but a few.
Kayali has particularly racked up the perfumery air miles this summer by translating not one but four destinations into scents: Capri, the Maldives, Marrakesh and Hawaii. The latter scent, Maui In A Bottle, taps into another surprising summer perfume trend: banana, with more than one fragrance house unpeeling the fruit’s soft, tropical charm.
Whipped cream, coconut water, blue lotus, desert rose and wild strawberries are among some of the other more exotic notes to be discovered in this season’s wanderlust blends.
Whichever holiday scent you land on, it can unquestionably bring joy to your summer, according to Celine Roux, global head of fragrance at Jo Malone London. She believes that having one signature scent for every summer can capture the memories we make and create a scented ‘time capsule’ to return to in the future.
‘If you wear the same scent every day and every night during the summer, you’ll link your memories to that. Smelling it will always take you back to that place in a fraction of a second,’ Celine tells GH. ‘What we always try to do is to bring a smile when you smell our fragrance, so it takes you to a happy place.’
That happy place doesn't even need to be far from home, she says. This summer, Jo Malone London has a playful new summer launch, Raspberry Ripple, which promises to take you back to childhood seaside adventures, with fingers covered in sticky ice-cream. ‘It’s a smile in a bottle. From the moment you spray this fragrance, there is no way you won't have a smile on your face.” says Celine. It's a good one for this time of the year. It reminds me of the English summer, eating ice-cream by the seaside, regardless of the weather.’
Ready to be transported? Here are the very best new summer scents in beauty’s Arrivals hall.
Best summer mood perfumes
A joyful tribute to summer’s sweetest moments, this joyful scent is a ripple of mouthwatering, juicy and tart raspberries and redcurrants. Meanwhile, the base note of white musk lends a sophisticated, clean finish.
For a scent that carries you from sunrise to sunset, BDK Parfums’ Impadia is equal parts elegant and comforting. It opens with sparkling bergamot, mandarin and ginger, blooms into warm floral rose notes, and settles into a creamy, warm gourmand base of vanilla, praline and Akigalawood.
Meet DS & Durga’s latest launch—just in time for Wimbledon. It opens with the scent of freshly cut grass, lobs a high note of rosemary, and lands softly with a clean, breezy base of white cotton and yellow hedge flowers.
Bursting with citrus and calling to sun-drenched Californian orchards, this fresh arrival is so juicy it begs to be squeezed rather than sprayed.
Inspired by a perfect day on Lake Como this crisp, evocative mix of basil and zingy citrus speaks of al fresco waterside lunches and the first limencello of the day. Invitation to George Clooney’s lakeside home not included, sadly.
Kayali has used summer’s trending note of banana to create the ultimate summer smoothie, blending it with coconut cream in this Hawaiian-inspired scent. Gardenia and jasmine keep it fresh, never cloyingly sweet.
Nothing evokes sunkissed bliss better than Lauder’s iconic coconut milk-laced scent. This year’s edition gets a Santorina-inspired upgrade with notes of fig nectar and pink bougainvillea.
Take a trip to an oceanic paradise with this Australian brand's latest fragrance. It's a radiant, calm, and sunlit scent, where crisp sea salt meets blooming coastal white flowers.
The head-turning gourmand blend of wild strawberries, whipped cream and vanilla taps into the colourful extravagance of Miami’s South Beach.
While we’re in Florida’s capital of fun, here’s a tropical take on Miama. Pink pineapple and coconut water set a laid-back, beachy note, while a touch of salted woods softens the sweetness.
Picture a sunset walk through the Royal Gardens of Old Ceylon as your senses take in the heady notes of jasmine and orchid intensifying on the evening air.
Perfect paired with a preppy sweater, this smart-casual scent of peach, gardenia and musk will have you settled in for sundowners at an East Coast beach club.
Lie back and lean into the drowsy, daydreamer warmth of vanilla, combined with the salty air tang of the Mediterranean.
Join the Nile high club. The magical shifting light of Egypt has inspired Chloe’s new wanderlust scent, which opens with the shimmer of blue lotus, and deepens with notes of velvety jasmine and earthy kyphi.
A perfumery passport to Brazil, where entry is rubber-stamped with uplifting notes of mandarin orange, bergamot and mint. A lingering dry-down of musk, patchouli and violet leaf keeps the good times rolling.
Head off the beaten track with this new perfume, from Burberry’s boutique edit inspired by nature’s rarest beauties. It’s centered around the serenity of the desert rose, and grounded by sandalwood, to evoke a magical sense of calm and stillness.
This ‘postcard in a perfume’ sends a picture of holiday glamour in Capri, where a zingy cocktail of lemon and raspberry is served with a rim of sugar.
What did we say about banana perfumes being a thing? This scent finds the fruit drizzled with honey, and presented beautifully with blooms of jasmine and orange blossom.
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