If you’re a guy looking for a new scent to sport this summer, you’re in the right place. Read on to see our favorite men’s summer colognes.
The best fragrances for summer conjure up memories of hazy, hot days, drifting on a sailboat, lazing on a beach, or swinging gently in a hammock reading the latest novel while sipping iced tea – or preferably something stronger.
Summer colgones are lighter, more citrus-y, more aquatic, fruitier and more refreshing that the headier, punch-you-in-the-face winter parfums. If you prefer a subtle fragrance, the following will keep you smelling wonderful no matter how hot it gets.
Quick Take
Here are our top three recommendations from the list:
Jean Paul Gaultier Le Beau is a tropical and exotic cologne. It has a comfy, nutty-fresh coconut tropical vibe. It is perfect for a summer date night.
Launched by the design house of Nautica, Nautica Voyage is a marine based masculine and a long lasting fragrance with top notes of apple and green leaves.
The Last Days of Summer brings you a soft, earth-scented freshness combined with woody, spicy flavors for a calming, balanced, all-season fragrance.
Read on for more info and the complete list…
The 10 Best Colognes for Summer
Here is our list of top 10 summer favorites:
Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Pour Homme
This is a light, aromatic, aquatic fragrance, which was launched in 2007 and has remained a solid seller ever since. It was the winner of the FiFi Award Fragrance of the Year Men’s Luxe Category in 2008.
Top notes include Scicilan mandarin, grapefruit and bergamot. Middle notes comprise rosemary, rosewood and pepper and base notes include musk, oakmoss and incense. Light and fresh, this fragrance is ideal for the warmer months.
Give yourself a spritz in the morning and another one before you go out at night – and you’ll get admiring glances all day.
Tom Ford Costa Azzurra Acqua
Conjure up the magical sea air of the Italian Rivieria with yet another Tom Ford sensory masterpiece.
How does he do it? This fragrance is deliciously exhilarating and zesty, combining the freshness of coastal pine and driftwood with the cold saltiness of the ocean.
Top notes are juniper berries, lemon and myrtle. Middle notes comprise cypress and pine needles and base notes are mastic, amber and labdunum. Imagine a blast of cool air as you jump into a refreshing waterfall and you’ll get it.
Louis Vuitton Imagination
In-house ‘nose’ Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud has created some delicious fragrances for Louis Vuitton – and this one is no exception.
It is a citrus aromatic fragrance which blends black tea, citrus, neroli, ambrox and ginger – and it smells like endless hot summer days. It was launched in 2021, so it is brand new.
Top notes are citron, orange and Calabrian bergamot. Middle notes comprise Tunisian neroli, Ceylon cinammon, Nigerian ginger and base notes are Chinese black tea, ambroxan, guiaiac wood and olibanum.
Gucci the Alchemist’s Garden the Last Days of Summer
The name says it all. This fragrance has you clinging on to that blissful summer feeling all year long.
It is a unisex fragrance, introduced in 2019 by parfumier Alberto Morillas, suggesting a bouquet of spicy, woody, earthiness reminiscent of a freshly dug garden. Its top note is cypress, middle notes are nutmeg and vetiver and base notes are cedar wood and patchouli.
The Last Days of Summer brings you a soft, earth-scented freshness combined with woody, spicy flavors for a calming, balanced, all-season fragrance.
Jean Paul Gaultier Le Beau
You have to give it a try. Le Beau is a clean, masculine fragrance in the woody, aromatic category.
It was created in 2019 by Quentin Bisch and Sonia Constant. Top notes are bergamot, middle notes of coconut palmwood and base notes of tonka bean.
It is a tropical and exotic cologne, reminiscent of summer nights outside, dawn on the beach and the first rays of the sun. It has a comfy, nutty-fresh coconut tropical vibe; it is easy to wear and perfect for a summer date night.
The bottle is in an iconic shape of a bare-chested male torso for those whose virility is never in question.
Nautica Voyage
Breathe in a cool, salty ocean breeze on a hot summer’s day.
That’s the feeling you get with Voyage, developed by “nose” Maurice Roucel for the Nautica brand. Its refreshing, marine based fragrance captures the essence of the sea with top notes of apple and green leaves, middle notes of lotus and mimosa and base notes of musk, cedar, oakmoss and amber.
Sail away with this one.
Prada L’Homme Water Splash
Invigorating, refreshing, vibrant yet not too heavy, Prada L’Homme Water Splash captures the essence of summer.
It will wake you up and keep you cool and fragrant all day long, with its distinctive powdery freshness.
Top notes include neroli and mandarin orange leaf. Heart notes are of ginger and base note comprise sandalwood and cedarwood. Water Splash is the great all-round summer fragrance you need in your fragrance wardrobe – if nothing else.
Aesop Tacit
This is a sophisticated, refined cologne for the man who appreciates the finer things in life.
It is crisp and fresh, with enough zest to make an impact, but it will not overpower your office colleagues or cause complaints from your significant other. As its name suggests, Tacit is, well… understood.
It’s not necessary to hit you over the head with this fragrance, because you are smart, hip and refined enough to “get” it. Tacit takes the classic format of citrus blended with aromatics and transforms it into a walk through perfumed vegetation on a salty trail near the Mediterranean coast.
Top notes include yuzu and citruses with a middle note of intense green basil and base notes of vetiver and cloves to give it subtle warmth.
Acqua DI Parma Blu Mediterraneo Mandorlo DI Scicilia
It may have one of the longest names in the cologne world, but don’t dismiss it out of hand.
This fragrance deserves your attention. It smells like essence of Sicily in full flower, with wafts of frangipani, jasmine and orange blossom blended with vanilla and almond.
It will make you think of a Mediterranean summer all year long. Top notes are almond, star anise, orange and bergamot. Middle notes are white peach, ylang ylang and jasmine, and base notes are bourbon vanilla, tolu balsam, white musk and cedar.
It’s a sweet, floral, fruity summer scent, and it is one of the best from the Acqua Di Parma brand.
Davidoff Cool Water
Davidoff Cool Water is an inexpensive cologne which opens with a zesty burst of lavender, oakmoss, musk and sandalwood. This fragrance is light, with a touch of the outdoors combined with hints of salty marine.
It’s been around a long time – since 1988 actually – but has obviously enjoyed lasting appeal in the marketplace. It’s a nostalgic fragrance, but a classic never goes out of style.
Top notes are sea water, lavender, mint, rosemary, calone and coriander. Middle notes are sandalwood, geranium, neroli and jasmine. Base notes comprise musk, tobacco, oakmoss, cedar and amber.
Summer is about enjoying the outdoors, long days and long nights, sailing, swimming, the beach, lush gardens, parties and cookouts.
Whatever you associate with summer, keep the memories alive – and stay fresh and fragrant all year long with one of these great summer colognes.
Questions? Comments? Leave them below!
Ask Me Anything