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A selection of mid-season scents for new beginnings
Transitional scents | May 20, 2025
Although we have been graced with a spate of gorgeous weather in London recently, we’re still a little way off from those glorious summer nights, where the air is thick with possibility and you won’t catch a chill once the sun goes down. Until those suncream-perfumed evenings arrive, Because have rounded up the finest selection of transitional scents, with notes that surprise as much as they satisfy. Think rewarding reimaginings of classic flowers, unexpected combinations (hazelnut and grapefruit?), and a general spirit of trans-seasonal experimentation.
Matteo Pini
l’étiquette Horace
Men’s fragrance brands often look to laboured conceptions of masculinity to sell their products: forbidding icy landscapes, imposing steel structures, bearded hunks driving expensive sports cars. Try a little tenderness, suggests French cosmetics brand Horace, whose new launch l’étiquette expresses a kinder, more beautiful form of male embodiment. The combination of lavender with tobacco is unapologetically classic, yet any grandmotherly associations are sidestepped with an intriguing iris and tonka accord. Imagine a Mediterranean garden party, a chilled bottle of Chablis and a linen suit with a pocket square, and you’ll get the gist. And for this price point, who could complain?
The scents of the Hong Kong brand Ode Ona hinge upon intriguing contrasts down to their homophonic name. Leather and lemon aren’t notes that you’d immediately put together, but in practice, the combination at the heart of Everjet brings the best out of both notes. Any cough-sweet connotations of the lemon are mellowed into something prettier and creamier by the musky leather. It’s an invigorating combination, one perfect for before summer gets too muggy.
As with all of DS & Durga’s output, Brown Flowers surprises as much as it pleases. Inspired by the drab majesty of 1970s aesthetics – think Grey Gardens and floral-print dresses left in the attic – I was anticipating a fetid, vintage store-type scent, the kind of dark Americana scent Ethel Cain would have worn before being murdered. Instead, it’s a strikingly lovely jasmine, undercut with a note my skin always loves: coffee. Not the screechy bitterness of instant, but a rich nuttiness that gives heft to the floral opening.
The art on the cap of Contes de Parfums’ Positano, a rendering of the namesake Italian village with its jet-blue water and charming architecture, gives you a good impression of the juice inside. Formulated by legendary perfumer Carlos Benaim, it is a citrus freshie with a beachside twist: after you get past the cheery orange oil opening, you take a dip in the sea with marine middle notes, before drying off with a dusky vetiver and patchouli base. A sweet, sophisticated approximation of that longed-for Italian getaway, Positano continues Contes de Parfums’ rewarding experiments in scents that tell the story of a place. Happy holidays!
After the gourmand gauntlet of the past few years, you might baulk at the release of yet another vanilla perfume. But Bibbi, a brand inspired by the meditative visions of owner Stina Bibbi Seger, does not disappoint, and their Vanilla Factory is less cheap ice cream, more ambery warmth and velvety sweetness. Vanilla is, after all, a spice, and Bibbi pays homage to this through a nutmeg and pink pepper top note, befriended by saffron, papyrus and eventually the titular bean.
Female-founded, eco-conscious brand Eauso Vert has been making waves with their natural fragrances. Inspired by El Árbol del Tule, a sacred tree in Oaxaca, Mexico, Dos Mil Años is a revelatory interpretation of its piney essence. I love how a deep nuttiness undercuts its green cypress and sharp grapefruit opening – nutmeg, clove, and hazelnut are listed notes – with a majestic, balsamic labdanum finale. It’s one of my favourite finds this year and a brilliant example of how sustainable perfumery doesn’t need to reek of essential oils.
In Moroccan culture, the Medjool date is prized for its honeyed aroma, jammy flesh and beautiful pale colour. With Moroccan Medjool, a gourmand-floral fragrance, London-based perfumer Electimuss has bottled its appeal in all its sticky, malty glory. Musky ambergris and bitter oak moss add complexity to the generous floral bouquet at the fragrance’s heart. Warmly spiced and surprisingly refreshing, it’s ideal for any weather.
An almost cola-esque, tannic richness defines Poivre 23, Le Labo’s black pepper-forward fan favourite. Combining an array of fragrant woods with incense and the titular pepper, the result is a glorious dance between light and heavy, sophisticated, while appropriate for everyday wear. As the London installment of Le Labo’s City Exclusive series, you can only purchase Poivre 23 in their London stores – don’t miss out!
Perfumer H never disappoints with its well-formulated scents, beautiful packaging, and crisply evocative perfume names. Their latest scent Steam brings to mind not the vigorous boiling of a pot of pasta, but a wispy cloud billowing from a sauna. With fresh grapefruit, earthy green mate and resinous birch wood, it’s an unmistakably clear scent, one you can imagine perfuming the misty hills of a rainforest at dusk.
