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This is the best gender-neutral perfume to spritz all-summer-long

This crowd-pleasing scent evokes the British coastline

Daisy Lester
Tuesday 23 July 2024 12:50 BST
You’re bound to love this as much as your significant-other will
You’re bound to love this as much as your significant-other will (iStock/The Independent )

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Andrew Feinberg

Andrew Feinberg

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Some of the best summer scents are the one’s you can share, whether it’s between housemates, partners or best friends on holiday. Looking past feminine and masculine tropes, gender-neutral perfumes are universally appealing, inclusive and almost guaranteed to get you a compliment.

Free of overly floral notes or dark, moody packaging, genderless scents challenge the binary. Back in the Nineties, Calvin Klein’s enduring CK one brought unisex perfumes to the forefront, with brands from Le Labo and Aesop to Maison Margiela and Byredo now offering a sensory experience for everyone, right from the luxurious packaging to the unisex scent.

Arguably the biggest British perfume brand, Jo Malone needs little introduction. Not only are its signature scents now cult favourites (think lime, basil and mandarin or peony and blush suede), but the brand is a go-to for gender neutral fragrances that you’re bound to love as much as your significant-other will.

Evoking the British coastline and great outdoors, the wood sage and sea salt was crowned the best unisex scent in our round-up of summer perfumes. A real crowd-pleaser, here’s everything you need to know about Jo Malone’s gender-neutral fragrance.

Jo Malone wood sage & sea salt: £82, Lookfantastic.com

(Lookfantastic.com)

“This is somewhat of a rediscovery for me this summer and now we’re reacquainted, I’m telling you, this should be a staple for everyone having a UK staycation,” our tester said.

While perfume descriptions can often be ridiculous, Jo Malone has perfectly captured wood sage and sea salt: “Breathe in the bracing air of the British coast”. According to our tester, it is “the ice bath of summer scents and I love to liberally spray it on those mornings when the sun is streaming in and you’re eager to get out into the great outdoors.”

The most gender-neutral scent on our edit of the best summer fragrances, “it holds up a good few hours – I don’t mind losing a few for that freshness. I do, however, hate that it makes me rage for failing (once again) to book a summer Cornwall break.”

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Discover more fragrance recommendations in our summer round-up

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