A gentle whisper of sea spray, a sunlit breeze, the promise of adventure: the magic of coastal escape fragrances is that they allow us to journey wherever we wish, whenever we wish. With each spray, these scents have the power to conjure the wildness of a blustery clifftop or the languid warmth of a balmy beach, regardless of the weather outside the window.
Here, a selection of evocative fragrances, each a bottled memory of the coast, invites the imagination to set sail. It’s true escapism in fragrant form, no matter what the actual weather is doing this weekend. So, where would you like to go…?
Ruth Mastenbroek Marlin
As the sun dips below Kent’s coastal dunes, this fragrance awakens like a balmy evening stroll through lavender fields kissed by salty air. Aromatic bergamot and thyme pirouette with English lavender’s herbal calm, while plum and amber hum a dusky serenade. Atlas cedar and fir needle anchor the blend, evoking sun-bleached driftwood and the quiet thrill of twilight over shoreline. It’s a scent for those who crave the serenity of empty beaches, where the only sound is the distant sigh of waves meeting sand.
£65 for 30ml eau de toilette ruthmastenbroek.com
Goldfield & Banks Pacific Rock Moss
Picture a cliffside path in New South Wales, where lemon-scented gusts whip through sage and coastal moss clinging to sunbaked rocks. This fragrance is the essence of a summer day distilled – citrus sharpness softened by creamy cedarwood, herbal whispers tangled with mineral freshness. It captures the moment when sea spray mingles with sun-warmed skin, a vibrant yet meditative ode to the Australian coast’s rugged beauty. Close your eyes and feel the crunch of crushed shells beneath bare feet.
From £100 for 50ml eau de parfum jovoyparis.uk
Acqua di Parma Arancia Di Capri La Riserva
Sunlight flickers through blood orange groves above Capri’s cliffs, their juice dripping onto rosemary-studded slopes. This scent is a two-month maceration of Mediterranean summer – zesty citrus bursting with saline intensity, basil’s green snap softening into suede’s golden embrace. It’s the olfactory equivalent of diving into turquoise waters, surfacing with salt-crusted hair and the tang of seaweed on your tongue. A richer, eau de parfum formulation that celebrates and somehow bottles the very scented soul of coastal Italy.
£217 for 100ml eau de parfum libertylondon.com
Jorum Studio Rose Highland
No tame garden rose, this – imagine petals torn by Hebridean winds, flung against jagged rocks where gorse battles the elements. Saline air carves through sweet basil and clove bud, while rhododendron and jasmine cling like determined wildflowers. Vetiver and Atlantic oak rise like ancient cliffs, their ruggedness softened by ambergris’s sunlit warmth. It’s the scent of a storm rolling in across the Scottish coast, equal parts brutal and beautiful, demanding attention and inspiring romantic reveries.
£89 for 30ml extrait de parfum jorumstudio.com
Thomas de Monaco Grand Beau
The French Riviera in a bottle – pine resin dripping from sunbaked trunks, juniper berries crushed underfoot on a coastal trail. Tuberose and olibanum swirl like silk scarves caught in a sea breeze, their opulence tempered by vetiver’s dry intellect. Marine notes emerge like a sudden glimpse of azure through cypress trees, ambrette seeds humming with skin-warmed sensuality. This is the a stolen kiss in a hidden cove, all salt, shadow, and forbidden encounters so-elegantly evoked.
£230 for 50ml extrait de parfum lessenteurs.com
Each of these fragrances holds a key to uncharted shores – let’s think of them as not mere perfumes, but portals. They prove that adventure needn’t require luggage or plane tickets (even if you’re craving that reality but can’t make it happen just yet). A spritz becomes a compass, guiding the spirit to where the horizon stretches endless and the air tastes of possibility. The coast, in all its moods, awaits in every drop. Oh, let’s go!
Written by Suzy Nightingale