Best Of
8 Perfumes That Smell Like Coconut
Coconut in perfume runs from fresh coconut water to suntan lotion to whipped cream. These eight cover all of it. Start with Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar for coconut and vanilla, Skylar Coconut Cove for coconut with citrus, and Tom Ford Eau de Soleil Blanc for a resort version.
What Makes Coconut Smell Creamy?
Lactones. These ring-shaped molecules are behind the creamy, milky smells of coconut, peach and cream, and coconut’s main ones are gamma-nonalactone and the delta-lactones found in the fruit. Gamma-nonalactone has a confusing old trade name, “aldehyde C-18”, from a time when perfumers numbered their synthetics loosely; it isn’t an aldehyde at all.
Coconut oil itself barely smells once it’s refined, so the coconut in perfume is built from these molecules, often with tiare (the Tahitian gardenia traditionally steeped in coconut oil to make monoi) and vanilla. That combination is also the backbone of sunscreen scent, which is why coconut perfumes so often smell of holidays. Our sunscreen list has more on that.
| Perfume | The coconut | What’s with it |
|---|---|---|
| Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar | Coconut and vanilla | Creamy vetiver |
| Lavanila Vanilla Coconut | Young coconut | Tiare, Madagascar vanilla |
| Skylar Coconut Cove | Coconut | Bergamot, cardamom, jasmine, Ambrox |
| Victoria’s Secret Coconut Passion | Coconut | A warm-sand accord |
| Bath & Body Works Pink Coconut Calypso | Coconut water | Freesia, lily, apple, driftwood |
| Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess | Coconut milk | Tiare, vanilla, amber |
| Tom Ford Eau de Soleil Blanc | Coco de mer accord | Bitter orange, pistachio, cardamom |
| Ariana Grande Cloud | Coconut and praline | Lavender, pear, vanilla orchid |
8 Coconut Perfumes
Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar
Pacifica describes Indian Coconut Nectar as coconut, vanilla and creamy vetiver. Vetiver is the clever part: earthy and a little smoky, it gives the coconut something to stand on, so it isn’t just sweet. One wearer enjoys the creamy coconut, vanilla and woody vetiver. This is the original spray perfume; Pacifica’s Aromapower spray has a different composition.
Lavanila Vanilla Coconut
Lavanila Vanilla Coconut pairs young coconut, Tahitian tiare and Madagascar vanilla. Tiare is the traditional partner, and it adds a heady, slightly spicy floral note that makes the coconut smell less like dessert and more like a garland. Light and simple.
Skylar Coconut Cove
Coconut Cove opens with bergamot, cardamom and lemon, puts jasmine, gardenia and green notes around the coconut, and finishes on Ambrox, coastal woods, heliotrope and vanilla orchid. Citrus and cardamom make it the freshest coconut here. Heliotrope adds a soft almond powder. Pick it if you like coconut but find most of these too sweet.
Victoria’s Secret Coconut Passion
Coconut Passion is coconut and a warm-sand accord. It’s coconut on a towel in the sun, simple and sweet, and as a body mist it’s light enough to spray freely.
Bath & Body Works Pink Coconut Calypso
Pink Coconut Calypso lists coconut water, freesia, lily, apple and driftwood. Coconut water is the watery, green side of the fruit rather than the creamy flesh, and with apple it’s crisp. The driftwood adds a beach. The freshest of the mists.
Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess
Bronze Goddess is a solar floral of tiare flower, coconut milk, vanilla and amber, with Sicilian bergamot on top. It’s the department-store tanning oil: coconut milk and tiare, warmed with amber. It has come out as a Skinscent, an Eau Fraîche and an EDP, and the formulas differ.
Tom Ford Eau de Soleil Blanc
Eau de Soleil Blanc lists bergamot, bitter orange and petitgrain, then ylang-ylang, pistachio, a coco de mer accord, cardamom, tuberose and orange blossom. Coco de mer is a different palm, from the Seychelles, with an enormous double nut; its “accord” is an invented creamy coconut. With bitter citrus and cardamom, it’s coconut at a hotel pool. Soleil Blanc EDP is a heavier, different perfume.
Ariana Grande Cloud
Cloud is lavender, pear and bergamot over coconut, praline and vanilla orchid, with a cashmere accord at the base. Coconut here is whipped cream rather than suncream. Lavender gives it a cool, herbal edge. The sweetest coconut on the page.
More Coconut and Sun
For the lotion side, see our sunscreen perfumes. Beach perfumes add salt and driftwood, and the vanilla list goes sweeter.
Table of Contents
Not sure which fragrance is you?
Answer seven questions to explore fragrances for your preferences.
Related Coverage
List
8 Perfumes That Smell Like the Beach
Eight beach perfumes, from Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt and Hermès Eau des Merveilles Bleue to Tom Ford Soleil Blanc and Tommy Bahama St. Kitts, and how perfumers fake the smell of salt.
List
6 Perfumes That Smell Like Sunscreen
Six sunscreen perfumes, from Demeter Suntan Lotion and Vacation to Bobbi Brown Beach and Tom Ford Eau de Soleil Blanc, and the salicylates and lactones behind the smell.
List
8 Perfumes That Smell Like Vanilla
Eight vanilla perfumes from Guerlain Shalimar and Kayali Vanilla 28 to Tobacco Vanille and By the Fireplace, and why vanillin smells the way it does.