It seems to be easy to find rain-smelling perfumes – just grab one or another with the word “rain” or “rainy something” in its name.
But how many of them really smell like rain to you? To me – none.
Of course, I didn’t smell them all, including the iconic Petrichor perfume by Demeter, fragshame on me!
But I did smell a lot, and the conclusion was: it’s not about the name of a perfume or a certain “rainy” or watery accord in its composition.
It’s always about certain raw materials like vetiver, patchouli, geosmin.
So, here is my short list of non-obvious perfumes that smell like rain to me.
My Favorite Rain-Smelling Perfumes
1. Hermessence Vetiver Tonka by Hermès
Created by the master perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, this fragrance smells like the anticipation of a thunderstorm. In mid-spring or summer.
It is lightweight and at the same time heavy, like gathering gray clouds.
It has something that makes you feel excited, like the rising levels of oxygen in the air.
Something that makes you go out.
Charlotte Bronte in her “Villette” described it perfectly:
“At that time, I well remember whatever could excite—certain accidents of the weather, for instance, were almost dreaded by me, because they woke the being I was always lulling, and stirred up a craving cry I could not satisfy. One night a thunder-storm broke; a sort of hurricane shook us in our beds: the Catholics rose in panic and prayed to their saints. As for me, the tempest took hold of me with tyranny: I was roughly roused and obliged to live. I got up and dressed myself, and creeping outside the casement close by my bed, sat on its ledge, with my feet on the roof of a lower adjoining building. It was wet, it was wild, it was pitch-dark. Within the dormitory they gathered round the night-lamp in consternation, praying loud. I could not go in: too resistless was the delight of staying with the wild hour, black and full of thunder, pealing out such an ode as language never delivered to man—too terribly glorious, the spectacle of clouds, split and pierced by white and blinding bolts.”
This is one of my favorite feelings in life, and vetiver in perfumes can somehow recreate it for me.
Even in Vetiver Tonka which is considered a gourmand perfume due to the nutty notes and tonka beans.
The essence of vetiver roots has a multifaceted scent that can be green and grassy, earthy and dusty, sometimes smoky like grilled meat, sometimes rain-like.
But always a bit electrifying…
2. Fat Electrician Semi-Modern Vetiver by Etat Libre d’Orange
Another gourmand vetiver fragrance that smells like rain to me. Like a thunderstorm.
The exact effect of Vetiver Tonka, but with added weight to the clouds and the first lightnings in the sky.
The texture of this Electrician is heavier and fattier. He likes desserts with a French chestnut cream.
It’s also dustier and really has something nostalgic, something “semi-modern”.
Like standing in the middle of the field of your memories, old dreams and hopes, your old version of yourself.
And seeing the thunderstorm approaching.
3. The Noir 29 by Le Labo
It may be unexpected to see The Noir 29 in the list of rain-smelling perfumes because of its iconic tea fragrance status.
But it’s not my cup of tea. Literally, not idiomatically. I like it stronger. And it has vetiver in the composition…
But also some sweet fig-infused dampness. The one you can feel in the air after the rain.
I was wearing this perfume running through puddles in the hope that turned out to be a synchronised agony of the other.
The travel-size bottle is empty. The beauty of this fragrance remains. As well as “the blackness” of my 29.
4. Dance of the Dawn by The Different Company
Finally, a new star ingredient for smelling like rain – patchouli!
Piercingly peppery here, shimmering like the drops of the summer rain dancing in the dawn sun rays.
The essence of patchouli leaves is famous for its damp earthy smell with a rough texture that can lead you to the dark cellar of your soul.
Instead, Dance of the Dawn invites you to a peaceful beach with the wet golden sand under your feet.
It’s the iris, incense, and driftwood notes that make the difference.
And the rain as a sign of Shiva’s blessing.
5. Hermann a mes cotes me paraissait une ombre by Etat Libre d’Orange
But let’s get back to the dark cellar of your soul. That place where you store or even hide your shadow.
The name of this perfume is a line from Victor Hugo’s poem “What Two Horsemen Were Thinking in the Forest”:
The night was so black and the forest very dark.
By my side, Hermann seemed to me like a shadow.
Our horses were galloping. Guardians of god!
The clouds in the sky looked like marble.
The stars flew through the branches of the trees
Like a swarm of firebirds…
The heart of this perfume is geosmin, the chemical compound responsible for the smell of petrichor.
Or simply the smell of damp soil after the rain.
Has Quentin Bisch created the best perfume that smells like petrichor?
If not the most photorealistic, but definitely the most sophisticated. With bloody-red roses and the chilling air.
With gothic stories echoing in the forest. And your shadow. Always by your side.
The list of my favorite rain-smelling perfumes is over for today, and I hope you enjoyed it.
Let it be your scented reminder to skip the names and look into the hearts.
