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6 Perfumes That Smell Like Sunscreen
The sunscreen smell most people remember is a perfume, and a deliberate one. These six range from a literal bottle of lotion to a resort perfume that only hints at it. Start with Vacation for the poolside version, Demeter Suntan Lotion for the plainest one, and Tom Ford Eau de Soleil Blanc if you want it dressed up.
Why Does Sunscreen Smell Like Sunscreen?
Partly by design. Coppertone began in 1944, when pharmacist Benjamin Green made a lotion to deepen a tan, and its fragrance became so recognisable that the critic Chandler Burr called it “arguably the single greatest work of scent branding ever.” Coconut, white flowers and a creamy sweetness: that’s what the word “sunscreen” now means to the nose.
Part of it is chemistry. Several UV filters are salicylates, octisalate and homosalate among them, and the same family turns up in perfume: benzyl salicylate is a soft, faintly floral material perfumers use for what they call a “solar” effect. Then come the lactones. Gamma-nonalactone smells of coconut, and others smell of peach and cream. Put salicylates, lactones and a white flower like tiare or orange blossom together and you have suntan lotion, whether or not there’s an SPF in it.
These are perfumes, though, and none of them protects your skin.
| Perfume | The lotion | What’s with it |
|---|---|---|
| Vacation Eau de Toilette | Coconut and banana | Pool water, swimsuit Lycra, sea salt |
| Demeter Suntan Lotion | Plain white lotion | A neroli-style accord |
| Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess | Coconut milk | Tiare, vanilla, amber |
| Bobbi Brown Beach | Lotion on warm skin | Sand jasmine, sea spray, mandarin |
| Tom Ford Eau de Soleil Blanc | Coconut in the background | Bitter orange, pistachio, cardamom |
| Juliette Has a Gun Sunny Side Up | Lactones, creamy | Sandalwood, iris, vanilla |
6 Sunscreen Perfumes
Vacation Eau de Toilette
Vacation is a sun-care brand dressed as a 1980s pool party, and its Eau de Toilette is the most literal sunscreen perfume here. The pyramid, as retailers such as Dermstore list it, is petitgrain, coconut water and coconut milk, then bergamot, solar musk, banana and pineapple, over pool water, swimsuit Lycra and sea salt. The banana is the clever bit. It’s the note that turns coconut into drugstore lotion, not a piña colada, and the pool water and Lycra put you on a lounger, not a beach.
Demeter Suntan Lotion
Demeter makes single-note scents, and Suntan Lotion is a neroli-style lotion accord with nothing else to distract from it. Where Vacation is coconut and banana, this is the white, creamy kind of sunscreen. It’s light and cheap, made for a quick hit of July in February. The same name covers lotions and bath products, so pick the cologne spray.
Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess
Bronze Goddess is the department-store tanning oil. Estée Lauder describes it as a solar floral of tiare flower, coconut milk, vanilla and amber, with Sicilian bergamot on top. Tiare is the Tahitian gardenia, the flower traditionally steeped in coconut oil to make monoi, so the pairing is older than any sunscreen. Amber and vanilla make it warmer and more golden than Demeter’s. It has come out as a Skinscent, an Eau Fraîche and an EDP, and the formulas differ, so look at the label.
Bobbi Brown Beach
Beach lists a sand jasmine accord, a sea spray accord and mandarin. It’s lotion on skin after a day outside, with salt and a little citrus instead of coconut. One wearer loves its strong sunscreen opening and the softer, lived-in beach smell after it. Pick it if coconut is the part of sunscreen you could do without.
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. It’s sunscreen at a hotel pool: the coconut and white flowers are there, but the bitter citrus and cardamom keep it from smelling like the bottle. Pistachio adds a nutty creaminess that echoes the lactones. This is the Eau de Toilette; Soleil Blanc EDP is a heavier, different perfume.
Juliette Has a Gun Sunny Side Up
Sunny Side Up is the one that lists the chemistry: amyris, sandalwood, lactones, iris, sambac jasmine, ambrette and vanilla. With no coconut named, the lactones give it the creamy, slightly milky smell of skin with lotion soaked in, and sandalwood makes it warmer than anything else here. It’s the subtlest sunscreen perfume on the page, and the easiest to wear in winter.
Sea Air Instead of Lotion?
If it’s the water rather than the lotion you miss, our ocean perfumes are built on Calone and seaweed. The coconut list goes further into the lactones, and beach perfumes sit between the two.
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