In the heat of summer, do you still wear perfume?
Which perfume(s) are ideal for hot and muggy weather?
Do you have tips for cooling fragrances?
Or do you go for blooming sillage in the heat and use your “big” perfumes?
My Answer:
I love orange blossom when it is warm, but when the heat really hits, as it has over the past week here in Austria, I go for refreshing citrus scents, Eau de Pamplemousse Rose is a favorite as is the perennially great Chanel Eau de Cologne. My best way to smell lastingly of orange blossoms is to apply Diptyque’s Lait Frais bodymilk in the evening, it lasts beautifully until morning.
It seems like the heat has broken this morning and I am happy, as I am not a great fan of heat… 😉
How is the weather in your part of the world?
How do you cope with great heat?
Olfactoria's Travels 
Living where summers are long and hot, hot weather fragrances make up a large part of my collection! I do go through phases though, one summer I crave BWF’s, other years citruses etc..
The ones I always reach for though include Hermes Jardins- Mousson and Sur le Nil, Guerlain Vetiver and Encre Noire, Voyage d’Hermes, and herbals like Corsica Furiosa (P d’Empire) and Caron Yatagan. I find when the temps soar to the high 30’s and 40’s citrus becomes too sharp but vetiver and the Jardins still work their magic. 🙂
So true, vetiver is always great in the heat, cooling and cool. 🙂
If I want to be really refreshed Eau de Cartier – that’s what I was wearing all weekend long.
This has been a favourite of yours for a long time. Can you believe I still have not tried the original? (Shame on me,)
Hi Birgit – well, we’re certainly at the hot end of the spectrum out here in Kuwait. The thermometers reached 52 degrees C last week. Like you, I am an orange blossom fan and have been wearing a lot of Elie Saab L’Eau Couture and Safanad. I also love citrus in this weather and flower blossoms, so I have been wearing Apres la Mousson and my favourite blossom note: linden. I love Jo Malone’s French Lime Blossom, Tilleul and April Aromatics Linden Blossom. However, my favourite notes above all in this weather, are salty marine, so the wonderful Acqua di Sale, Tirrenico and Eau de Merveilles are never far from hand :).
I would die, just keel over and die. Kuwait would not be for me… 🙂
I hear so many good things about Acqua di Sale, must re-smell it again soon.
My biggest mistake in the late 80s was wearing Coco Chanel in Greece when it was above 30 degrees, I got a skin rash, and probably annoyed people by wearing such a strong perfume, but that was the 80s for you!
I’m in Scotland so it’s rarely hotter than 25 degrees, so except for the hottest days my favourites are white florals such as Baiser Vole and Lys Med, also Philosykos, sometimes Prada’s Fleur d’Oranger, also Seville au l’Aube is lovely in warm weather. If it’s really hot, similar to you I’d wear more green/citric perfumes with a hint of bitter notes – such as Eau de Lierre or Kelly Caleche edt, maybe Ivoire for formal. One of my favourites in hot weather is Passage d’Enfer, it’s so lovely when wearing muslin, silk or linen – like your clothes have been in a cedar chest
Rashes from perfume in the heat are also an issue for me, so I try to avoid stronger perfumes also for that reason. But I remember the 80s too… 😉
Love your hot weather choices, Rose!
I do not like hot weather, especially hot AND muggy – yuck. In the northeastern U.S., we’re in the throes of summer weather. Thunderstorms tend to cool things off a bit. Atelier Cologne works well, and my favorites for the really hot days include Sous le toit de Paris and Mistral Patchouli. Andy Tauer’s Cologne du Magreb is also fabulous.
Me neither. I was once in NYC when it was incredibly hot and I sure don’t envy you!
Atelier Cologne is a great brand for summer scents.
The early summer weeks are perfect for L’ombre dans L’eau as the earth starts to waken up! For some reason sultry heavier perfumes such as Ambre Sultan and Jeu de Peau, both Serge Lutens, are my go to scent during the warmer summer weeks, especially in evenings. My neighbours BBQ smells have to compete with these beauties during the summer night! In the morning and daytime though, I love a fresh, citrus such as Jo Malone Lime Basil and Mandarin or a fresh Orange Blossom. Annick Goutal ‘Quel Amour’ is also lovely for summer. As late summer approaches rich rosy blooms tinged with spice go well with a (I wish!!) late summer glow. Malle’s Une Rose fits this as does the largely forgotten Estee Lauder Knowing. The summer months lend themselves to such beautiful choices. I would love to wear Creed’s Jardin d’Amalfi but it’s price sadly prohibits that..however if there is a similar scents with the fruity rosy woody notes it contains, I would like to try it. By the way, I hope your leg is getting better, Birgit.
Thank you, Annette, it is definitely on the mend! 🙂
You have very nice summer picks.
I hope someone will chime in with alternates for Jardin d’Amalfi, unfortunately I haven’t smelled it, so I’mo help… 😦
Can I talk about how I’m coping with winter? Kelly Caleche. Unbelievable.
I had it pegged as a summer fragrance, but when a seller in a Facebook group offered a bottle for sale (I’ve only ever had samples) I felt a sudden longing for it. I bought it. I should NOT need KC’s tart citrusy opening in this weather, although the elegant leather is welcome. I can’t believe that I’ve gone from near dislike on this one, to love. I think it must be having an aroma-therapeutic effect. I wear it in the evening because it clears my mind.
Of course! Sorry about the northern hemisphere-scentric world view here. 😉
So happy you enjoy Kelly Caléche so much. Do you have the EdP or EdT?
Just the EDT, though I hear good things about the EDP. Fruitier, is what I hear. I must see if my local department store has a tester. But I’m so enjoying the EDT that I don’t want to spoil things … you know how it is … 🙂
I have the EdP and recently “inherited” Sandra’s EdT, need to wear them side by side soon, but I’ll wait for cooler temps. 😉
I’m that horribly selfish person wearing white florals in the heat 😉 It’s terrible habit but it makes me SO happy. Yosh White Flowers and Nasomatto Narcotic Venus spring to mind. Then I also often wear Elie Saab’s scent – either the original eau de toilette or eep, and then the edp intense for evenings. I recently got into the habit of having a signature scent (I’ve finished two bottles so far) of Yosh Sombre Negra – but it just doesn’t work for warm weather. I’d layer that with Chanel Coco parfum in the evenings.
I secretly also love Cartier’s flowery one (forgot now which one it is, the one which smells of stems and flower shop deliciousness), but the fact that it lasts all of five minutes puts me off.
Do you mean Baiser Volè? It’s lovely!
The Yosh and Nasomatto are seriously gorgoeus perfumes, so enjoy them with abandon! 🙂
Juniper Sling I wore during a heatwave in Germany to great effect. It literally feels cold on skin! Hardly gets out in this country, as you might imagine. 😉
Ha, yes, I can imagine the British weather favours warming fragrances. 🙂
Well, anything above 22 is regarded as a heatwave here and summer rarely gets in the way of my perfume choices. I am thinking of getting a bottle of Baume du Doge for summer, it’s a light incense with an orange kick. When I’m somewhere really hot like Thailand, I only wear perfume in th evening.
One more reason I should seriously contemplate moving to the UK. I think I would love the weather and all those Barbour jackets. 😉
Baume du Doge, that’s Eau d’Italie, isn’t it? It sounds cooling and like it could clear the head, a great choice for summer.
It truly was hot here this weekend. You wore some beautiful perfumes. To be honest I used up the last drops of my Guerlain Encens d’ Mythique sample. In the cooler temps EdM remains very incensey. However, in the heat and humidity it bloomed and I adore the ambergris in the drydown. Today I am wearing La Belle Helene from MDCI.
It was your kind of weekend, wasn’t it? 🙂
Lovely perfumes! La Belle Helene is delicious.
In the US Midwest we are having July/August weather, hot and muggy. Not my favorite, I feel cheated of my beautiful clear blue June days, but there it is. I like salty, citrus or cool and dry in this weather: Eau Des Merveilles, Seville l’Aube, Messe di Minuit, Passage d’Enfer. We are heading to the US Gulf Coast for vacation soon, where the sun, heat and humidity will be ramped up to the stratosphere….I’m psyching myself up and choosing decants carefully. Spending time with close friends will be worth it, but it’s definitely not my favorite weather.
I hear you! I hope you will have a lovely time anyway!
Well,Diorella is my go to for hot days,but considering in Dublin thermometers rarely go above twenty something degrees,I have to be honest and say that during summer is just business as usual.I do like Orange Blossom and I wear it mostly in the warm season,but my choices would be on the sultry side of things:Rubj EDP and George by JdE.If the sun is shining strongly I make sure that I do not spray perfume on the exposed skin.It’s one of the surest way to get a rash.
Diorella – so lovely!
Good advice about the rash, thank you!
What a great Q! Here’s my hot weather pick: Eau D’hadrien By Annick Goutal. The creme. A citrus scent is perfect for muggy weather, I do believe.
Enjoy the week,
Theadora
Thanks, Theadora, have a great week too!
The Goutal créme must be lovely and luxurious. Scented body creams are such a good way to wear pefume in summer.
I agree! I also love A.G.’s Petite Cherie. Sadly, one a few are available as body creams. Do you have a favorite Goutal scent?
~T.
I really like Musc Nomade and Songes.
I (shamefully) don’t really make a distinction, but I am forced to – I am away for the hottest months, so I travel with decants. I don’t want to risk my precious FBs on the airplane. I have the Atelier Cologne sample pack (favorites so far: Cedrat Enivrant and Grand Neroli) and I’m looking forward to trying l’Eau MiXte. And I won a giveway on APJ (thank you Val!) so I have four new to try!
So glad the heat has broken for you. Hot nights in the city are the worst.
Those are good samples to travel with.
It takes days to get the heat out of the apartment again, even when it’s turned cooler. 😦
There are only a few that I like in South Carolina heat. The favorite is Eau de Patou. Lately it has been hard to find and way too expensive, but it is spot-on perfect for hot weather. Jicky is not bad either, and I’m learning that my new FB of Mona’s Musc is also powdery and nice when it is too hot to breathe. Eau de Lancome is less expensive and is a fresh citrus scent. Oh yes, YSL’s In Love Again that smells like grapefruit will also cool you off. Keep that inhaler close at hand. Sometimes heat can cause havoc with breathing…Best, Anita
South Carolina is beautiful, but the weather wold kill me.
Thanks for the kind advice about the inhaler, I appreciate you thinking of me! xx
It hit 50 degrees a few weeks ago here in the eastern part of Spain. Fortunately, the heat calmed down a bit now and we are enjoying 27-33 degree mild temperature. 😉 On that hot day, I was wearing Le Jardin de Monsieur Li and it turned out to be pretty good fragrance for a hot weather. At the height of summer, I do enjoy wearing any of the Atelier Cologne line. My favourites are Grand Néroli and Oolang Infini.
50C! Goodness! Oolang Infini is my favourite too!
It doesn’t get much more hot and humid than it is here in Atlanta, Georgia! I would bathe in Tom Ford Neroli Portofino all summer if I could afford to do so, but alas it is far too fleeting for the investment. In hot weather, I tend to reach for Eau d’Hadrien, Voyage d’Hermes, L’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse or something beachy like Esteé Lauder’s Bronze Goddess. But, my very favorite, super inexpensive summer treat is a big bottle of the Spanish baby perfume Nenuco that I keep in the refrigerator and splash on liberally throughout the day!
That sounds like a good approach to defeat the heat, Jaclyn. Bronze Goddess is so beautiful, summer bottled.
I’ve been wearing a lot of Eau d’Orange Verte recently, which somehow didn’t strike my fancy the first few times I tried it (it seemed too bitter). However, this muggy summer it is just about perfect! I also like Sel de Vetiver and Eau des Merveilles 🙂 So Hermes and related Elenas for me!
Always a good bet! 🙂
Interestingly, Eau d’Orange Verte hasn’t gotten much attention from me either so far, maybe I should change that this summer.
I hate hot weather and the only place I can stand it is when I’m on vacation in Hawaii. For that hot weather I have a set of favorites: Bronze Goddess (from the fridge), Pulp, Bombay Bling!, Traversee du Bosphore, OJ Tiare and OJ Frangipiani. Luckily for me, weather in Northern California isn’t all that bad and, combined with heavily AC’ed offices, in theory, I could wear almost any perfume all-year long. But in summer I prefer lighter floral compositions.
My faves are Two Cabanel Meloe and Tauer Cologne design Maghreb. It is light and refreshments ng and spicy and soft at the same time. Melons refreshing citrus and Jasmine. Ahhh
Those two are very pretty and refreshing!
We are in agreement, Undina. Give me heat in Hawaii and stick to 25 degrees max everywhere else. 😉
Well… I have a Japanese fan scented with cherry blossom infused Japanese frankinsence aroma. It’s pure bliss to use it during hot summer days!
Otherwise, I rely on either something super sweet and rich to “go with the heat” or, if I want a fresh veil, I choose a single note Spearmint by Balm Balm. It’s not just the scent of some cheapo chewing gum of course – it’s more like the spearmint essence. Like Moroccan tea, for example. 🙂
P.S. Glad to see you “at work” once again, B. 🙂
Strangely for me, but for hot weather I prefer sweet perfumes (I usually stay away from such). Last summer’s discovery was Estee Lauder-Bronze Goddess and last week (it was scorching hot in Sofia) I found Profumum Roma- Dolce Acqua- almond-coconut-heliotrope!!-fragrance.