I’m a Beauty Editor—These Are The 10 Best Summer Perfumes Of All Time
My MVP scents are on repeat this season.

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Summer perfumes don’t have to disappear after Labor Day. Some of my favorite fragrances are the ones I reach for during late-summer adventures, transitional dressing, and warm-weather escapes to places like The Breakers Palm Beach and Grace Bay in Turks & Caicos. These scents skillfully marry pleasure, leisure, and anticipation I associate with summer.
Best Summer Perfumes
- Best Overall: Vacanza Cap Ferrat Eau de Parfum
- Best Unisex: Better World Fragrance HouseSummer Mink Eau de Parfum
- Best New Release: Influxious Magic Hour Eau de Parfum
- Smells Like a Tropical Resort: Glasshouse A Tahaa Affair Devotion Eau De Parfum
- Juicy Citrus: Tom Ford Taormina Orange Eau de Parfum
Unlike the deep and spicy perfumes I gravitate toward during the winter, warm-weather appropriate scents should be fresh, bright, and enticing. My recommendations effortlessly pull me in without overwhelming the senses. Some were so enticing, strangers stopped me on the street to ask what I was wearing. Talk about captivating.
How I Chose
To help you pick the perfect summer perfume for your mood, I put more than 40 fragrances to the sniff test over the last six weeks. I sprayed each fragrance on my clean, unscented pulse points—wrists, neck, and behind my ears—and assessed the top notes. I smelled my wrists again after 30 minutes and two hours, then at the end of the day, to see how the fragrance developed through its middle and base notes.
I also paid close attention to the longevity and projection. Higher-end brands like Krigler and Amouage had the most impressive staying power. Notably, I caught a whiff of Krigler on my summer cardigan the next day. Some aromas were designed with women in mind, but Better World Fragrance House excels at making a unisex summer scent that strikes the right balance of warmth and sensuality without feeling overly masculine on my skin.
Ultimately, these are the 10 summer perfumes I won’t shut up about in my group chats and can confidently say are well-deserving of a spot in your fragrance rotation. The best part? These full-size bottles start at just $80.
Nicole Saunders is the beauty editor at Women's Health and has nine years of experience researching, writing, and editing lifestyle content. She specializes in breaking down complicated topics, like red light therapy for hair growth and LED face masks, into easy-to-understand guides. Saunders takes great pride in heavily researching and testing featured beauty products, such as strengthening shampoos and body washes for dry skin on our site.
Previously, she was the beauty editor at Best Products where she tested quite literally thousands of launches for her quarterly column and the Best New Beauty Awards package. She also launched the beauty and wellness coverage at NBC News and contributed to CNN, Cosmopolitan, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Harper's BAZAAR.
You can follow her on Instagram to stay in the loop on her product testing adventures.

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