What perfume smells like clean skin?

I think we can all envision what it means to smell dirty, but what about smelling clean? It's a harder concept to grasp since there are so many different interpretations of what it means to smell clean. To me, cleanness is the smell of fresh laundry straight out of the dryer, an empty street just after a rainstorm, or a squeeze of bright, fresh citrus.

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Get Personal
What is the cleanest smelling fragrance?
What does clean skin smell like?
How do you smell good and look clean?
What is a skin scent perfume?

I think the biggest thing about a clean scent, though, is that you know it when you smell it. I'm obsessed with fragrance, and I have plenty of scents I've labeled in my mind as "clean smelling" that I rotate through my collection. The biggest similarity they have is that these scents always make me feel fresh and new—like a blank slate. I wear them when I want to feel like I'm giving myself a new start. Keep reading to find my favorite clean-smelling scents. Some may even catch you by surprise.

The last few years have spawned one social media aesthetic after another. The e-girls of 2019 morphed into fairycore, which eventually blended into cottagecore, which has taken a long-winding road to the current vibe of 2022 that feels like a breath of fresh air: the clean-girl aesthetic.

If you're a certified Clean Girl, chances are perfume is not at the top of your list of priorities. Yes, you still want to smell good (don't we all?), but you're probably not one to curate a niche fragrance wardrobe for every mood or gravitate toward heady, over-the-top scents. Crisp, skin-like scents (think light, airy, and shower fresh) and floral fragrances, on the other hand, are likely more your speed.

When we say “clean,” we're not talking about your apartment after you’ve scoured it with Pine-Sol. “That’s a more industrial, deodorant clean and, even if you like the scent, there’s a utilitarian quality that will never be truly beautiful,” says fragrance expert Chandler Burr. The clean we’re talking about is more conceptual. “It’s pure luminescence, or light turned somehow into scent,” he explains. “New materials, including some terrific fragrance molecules, have allowed scent artists to create them.”

But what is it that makes "clean" scents so appealing? (Other than the fact that we can get away with washing our hair less when wearing them.) “Clean scents allow women to communicate themselves in a sharper, more clearly defined way than classical fragrances,” says Burr. “They let us speak much more in our own voices.” Intrigued? Click through to find our favourite so-fresh-and-so-clean-clean scents.

At Refinery29 Australia, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team, but we may earn commission or other compensation from the links on this page.

We all have a unique scent—that natural cocktail made up of our body chemistry mixed with the products we routinely use on our skin, hair, laundry, and more.

It’s the subtle but distinctively-you smell left behind on a T-shirt—or on your bed sheets. If you think of a traditional fragrance formula, worn overtly, then a personal scent is more like lingerie—detectable only during intimate contact. To catch a whiff, you must come close.

Recognizing the potential appeal of bottling a scent so inherently sensual, beauty brands have begun experimenting with fragrances that either attempt to mimic the natural smell of human skin, or use ingredients that take your individual elixir and amplify it. The result: a burgeoning category of eau de parfums and toilettes referred to as skin scents. Not unlike a tinted moisturizer or lip balm—or a styling product that plays up your hair’s natural texture—these understated fragrances aim to make the most of what you have (and emit), naturally.

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""People are emerging from deep social isolation and want to connect emotionally, socially, and intimately. Skin scents can help give us all those things."

Most skin scents are soft, lightweight formulas that cling close to the body—similar to how our own natural aromas behave. Tania Sanchez, coauthor of Perfumes: The Guide, describes skin scents as something “light enough for people to think of not as perfumes, separate entities traveling along with you, but as somehow part of you, emanating from you...I suspect most rely heavily on slow, dry-down materials like musks, woods, and ambers and less on very forward, identifiable materials like berry notes, heavy florals, or grapefruit.”

Skin scents are also typically gender-neutral, and most could be described as warm, inviting, sexy (but not heavy), and clean (but not sterile). Some fragrance experts suggest one reason skin scents are so appealing is because they pay homage to intimacy, something many of us lacked during months of social distancing.

“[The pandemic] put restrictions on being with other people and limited our ability to get very close to someone,” says Rachel Herz, PhD, a neuroscientist at Brown University and an expert in the psychological science of smell. “So getting this secret hint of somebody’s presence provides an added layer of intimacy that has a psychologically meaningful dimension at this particular time. People are emerging from deep social isolation and want to connect emotionally, socially, and intimately. Skin scents can help give us all those things.”

How can a perfumer conjure something so personal? Some blends, such as Glossier You Eau de Parfum or The Maker Naked Eau de Parfum, include notes like pink pepper, which infuses the scent with a subtle spiciness that is surprisingly similar to the smell of human skin.

Other skin scents utilize very soft florals to evoke human skin—but they do it in a subtler way than you’d find in traditional florals. The scent By Rosie Jane Rosie Eau de Parfum, for instance, uses just a whispery hint of rose to give the fragrance a velvety plushness suggestive of warm, damp skin. Glossier You complements its piquant pink pepper note with just a touch of iris to make the blend’s spiciness a bit cozier.

The secret weapon in a skin scent like Molecule 01 by Escentric Molecules is an ingredient called Iso E Super, which magnifies other notes. Alone, Iso E Super smells slightly woody and is almost imperceptible. But spray it on bare skin, and suddenly it can intensify your own natural skin scent.

“We discovered that Iso E Super, the only [active] ingredient in Molecule 01, creates an individual aura for each person who wears it,” says Geza Schoen, master perfumer and founder of Escentric Molecules. Schoen suggests it was this unique characteristic that helped Molecule 01 become one of the brand’s best-selling blends, as many people have been craving an opportunity to express their individuality, as well as find a fragrance that’s an alternative to mass-market, generic scents.

Skin scents can also be deeply sexy. Secretions Magnifiques by Etat Libre d’Orange utilizes aldehydic notes (key components of Chanel N°5, where they create that classic scent’s soapy, clean characteristic), mixed with musk, sandalwood, and marine ingredients, such as salty seaweed. The effect is erotic, yet still surprisingly subtle. Like most skin scents, Secretions Magnifiques is best smelled up close.

Get Personal

Play up your body's natural eau by spritzing on any of these skin scents.

Escentric Molecules Molecule 01Credit: Courtesy

Iso E Super, a subtly woody molecule and the only note in this blend, sticks close to the skin, magnifying its natural aroma.

Etat Libre D'Orange Secretions MagnifiquesCredit: Courtesy

An unapologetically sexual take on a skin scent, this erotic mix boasts musk, sandalwood, and salty, aquatic notes.

Glossier You Eau de ParfumCredit: Courtesy

An understated mix of pink pepper, so iris, and a dash of warm amber, this scent complements your skin’s natural aroma.

The Maker Naked Eau de ParfumCredit: Courtesy

This clean-yet-sensual cocktail marries energizing tangerine with spicier pink pepper to impart a cozy scent that works well on any gender.

By Rosie Jane Rosie Eau de ParfumCredit: Courtesy

A quiet fragrance, described by the brand as like ”sleeping in your birthday suit,” this scent emits muskiness mixed with sweet rose.

D.S. & Durga I Don't Know What Fragrance Enhancer Eau de ParfumCredit: Courtesy

Wear this blend of bergamot and iso e super on bare skin or atop your favorite fragrance as an enhancer to make you smell like je ne sais quoi.

Byredo Blanche Eau de ParfumCredit: Courtesy

What's the color white smell like? According to Byredo founder Ben Gorham, light florals and woods.

Maison Margiela REPLICA Lazy Sunday Morning Eau de ToiletteCredit: Courtesy

Each Replica fragrance recalls a very specific place and time—and notes of lily of the valley, iris, and musk combine for that skin-in-bed scent.

This article appears in the February 2022 issue of ELLE.

What is the cleanest smelling fragrance?

10 best clean perfumes you should try.

Rosie By Rosie Jane Eau de Parfum. ... .

Lake & Skye Echo Lake Eau de Parfum. ... .

PHLUR Hanami. ... .

Maison Louis Marie No. ... .

The 7 Virtues Vetiver Elemi Eau de Parfum. ... .

Good Chemistry Queen Bee. ... .

Heretic Dirty Lemon Eau de Parfum. ... .

Clean Classic Warm Cotton Eau de Parfum. SHOP NOW AT Ulta Beauty..

What does clean skin smell like?

Clean Skin is a concoction of sweet flowers grounded by musk-I also smell an aquatic kind of rose and vanilla in the notes. It's categorized as a floral woody scent, although it's not the type that's too strong and leaves a dizzying trail in your nostrils-it's super soft, warm, and with a hint of sweetness.

How do you smell good and look clean?

Here are our 18 tips for how to smell good all day..

Drink Plenty of Water. ... .

Spritz in the Closet. ... .

Store a Scented Sachet in Your Underwear Drawer. ... .

Perfume Your Hairbrush. ... .

Spray Your Bare Torso with Fragrance. ... .

Blend with Other Favorite Scents. ... .

Apply Lightly Scented Deodorant. ... .

Use Shoe Spray..

What is a skin scent perfume?

In the perfume world, skin scents refer to those fragrances resembling the skin's natural scent. They are fragrances built around a specific synthetic molecule, the Iso E Super, developed in 1973 in the laboratory of the IFF*, that amplify your own skin odour and reflect it back as the smell of soft, clean skin.