It seems like I’ve been here before. . .

In honor of Labor Day weekend and the unofficial end of summer, I thought I’d round up a few fragrances that helped me get through recent high temperatures and low moods. I don’t usually consider myself a “green” fragrance aficionado, but maybe it’s a seasonal taste for me—there’s definitely a pattern. Every year, when the mercury rises, I start to crave perfumes that evoke weeping willows and rippling streams and vegetable gardens and mint juleps. You get the idea!

So, here are a few longtime favorites and new loves in the leafy-green sub-genre that I’d like to recommend. Feel free to share your own cooling perfume picks in the comments. . .

ERIS Parfums Green Spell (2021, Antoine Lie): I start digging out a sample vial of Green Spell as soon as the summer solstice arrives, because Green Spell encapsulates some of the season’s the most magical botanical elements: tomato leaf, the stemmy scent of galbanum, a sliver of orange peel, a sunny meadow. It’s a true bucolic idyll for the nose (without the real-life summer nuisances of humidity and mosquitoes and hordes of tourists) and a sophisticated “touch grass” scent that has helped reconcile me to the loss of my favorite original GAP fragrance.

Diptyque L’Ombre dans L’Eau (1983): I’ve been wearing this niche classic every summer since 2003, which makes, um, a long time (and the price has definitely risen exponentially since the Y2K era). L’Ombre dans L’Eau was a best-seller long before I acquired my first bottle, and it continues to be one, for good reason: no one has managed to improve on its signature mix of tart blackcurrant and soft rose and crisp, stemmy green notes. Diptyque recently brought back the matching body products, and I covet the shower gel very badly.

Régime des Fleurs Cacti (2016, Mathieu Nardin): I was very fortunate to win a bottle of Cacti in some Instagram lottery or other, and then I realized that I love this fragrance as much as some of the brand’s more floral-centered offerings. Last summer, InStyle interviewed me about summer-appropriate perfumes, and I told them that “[i]n really hot weather, I’ll look for something with notes of green tea or mint, like Régime des Fleurs Cacti, which makes me feel physically and mentally cooler.” (Additional notes include aloe vera, cucumber, shiso, bergamot, black tea, and maté.)

Eau de Boujee/Olfiction Verdant (2023, Pia Long): When I ordered a Eau de Boujee sample set, I expected to love Queen (a jammy rose), and I do, but I fell even harder for Infleurno (charred grapefruit with magnolia petals) and for Verdant’s succulent notes of fantasy foliage sprouting out of a futuristic urban landscape. Weirdly, I actually feel healthier when I’m wearing Verdant, as if I’d just eaten a beautiful salad of organic mixed greens. Just so cool, in every sense of the word.

Nomen_clature Minted (2022, Jerome Epinette): When I reviewed this one for Now Smell This, I wrote, “The mint note is refreshing without being reminiscent of mouthwash or chewing gum, and there’s an elusive fruity note in the opening that I keep trying to pinpoint. The jasmine is crisp and clean (not indolic) and there’s a hint of honeyed sweetness to Minted, as well. The dry down is still minty green tea with sheer woods.” Just a really good balance of freshness and body, and the smaller-sized bottle looks like cute enough to drink from (but don’t do it!).

Ffern The Green Knight (Summer 2026, Elodie Durand): Way back in July (I could swear that more than two months have passed since I wrote that post?), I said, “The Green Knight starts off with some juicy bergamot rind and tart blackcurrant before segueing into leafy-fresh galbanum and some bright rose and muted resins. By the far drydown, it circles back to a woody citrus.” I don’t think I’ll be continuing my Ffern subscription, since I already have so many fragrances in my collection, but I’m still enjoying this one.

Of course, there are also a few classic green chypres on my shelves, but those tend to feel more “early autumn” to me. Perhaps a subject for a future post. . . !

Image: William Merritt Chase, Courtyard in Venice, 1877. Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2004-115-3.

— with apologies to New Order