Sea, Salt and Scent

When a brand sets out to bottle the sun, sea and shore in a perfume, you’d assume they’d be referencing somewhere decidedly more exotic. A Maldivian, Hawaiian or Grecian postcode, perhaps- somewhere the sand is as white as snow and the sea so crystal clear, you can admire that dutifully worked 2-week tan beneath it. The formula is familiar: an overpowering dose of frangipani, a hint of amber and coconut and the faint suggestion of factor 50.

Yet Jo Malone has gone in quite the opposite direction. Rather than transporting us off to some far-flung paradise, where frangipani might conjure a red parrot chattering atop a palm tree somewhere in the Caribbean, Jo Malone has planted us firmly on the English coastline with their latest launch; Sea Salt & Bergamot. Think National Trust estates, windswept cliff edges and the Jurassic Coast in all its rugged glory.

However, while some perfumes may only go so far as to allude to this, Jo Malone has recreated the entire sensation of being there. Picture a battered coastal path, a pub looming in the distance and a forecast that promised sunshine but delivered four seasons in one afternoon- much to the despair of your family’s iconic blue windbreaker. Splashes of Bergamot provide that bright crispness only tangible in the bleak wilderness, Sea Salt brings the ozonic minerality of a coast swathed in it and Driftwood adds that dry timber warmth. Together, they create something wholly coastal, albeit far removed from the instagrammable, tropical interpretation we’re used to.

And perhaps that’s where its charm really lies. Boatloads of nostalgia are a given when it recalls a childhood spent in wild water, crabbing nets at the ready and an unwavering willingness to brave the cold, followed by a rogue sunbeam that catches you off guard, Dryrobes be gone. And so whilst there’s no turquoise water, swaying palms and certainly no promise of endless sunshine, there is the guarantee of the British coastline we actually know and love bottled up: windswept and unpredictable, yet all the more beautiful for it.

Shop the scent that takes you straight to the beach below...