Discover Your Signature Summer Scent

Estee Lauder Modern Muse
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Discover Your Signature Summer Scent

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Discover Your Signature Summer Scent

Discover Your Signature Summer Scent
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When the weather heats up, you swap the sweaters and boots in your closet for flip-flops and sundresses-and you should do the same switcheroo with your fragrance. A spicy, warm, musky scent that was perfect with eggnog and a cozy fire is often too heavy for summer. With fresh fruit in season, flowers blooming, and trips to the beach on the horizon, it's the perfect time to take a cue from nature and update your summer scent.

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Demeter Sunshine

Demeter Sunshine
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If you're trapped inside your office on a beautiful day, just take a sniff of your wrist. Sunshine ($20; demeterfragrance.com) smells like a favorite cotton T-shirt warmed by the sun, a scent that took two years in development to perfectly re-create.

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Issey Miyake L'Eau D'issey Summer

Discover Your Signature Summer Scent
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Inspired by passion fruit, guava, and lychee, sniffing the notes in L'Eau D'lssey Summer ($72; sephora.com) is like strolling through a produce market while on a trip abroad: the fruits are sweet, exotic, and memorable.

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YSL Manifesto

YSL Manifesto
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Though the word "manifesto" might bring to mind an angry rant, this scent is the exact opposite, all softness and flowers. The blend of jasmine, vanilla, and tonka beans is rich and feminine ($62 for 1oz; yslbeautyus.com).

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Clinique Happy

Clinique Happy
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The reason this fragrance is a perennially best-seller is because it smells like a ripe ruby red grapefruit, Hawaiian wedding flowers, and spring mimosa—aka, exactly what makes us happy in the summer ($63; clinique.com).

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Gucci Guilty Black

Gucci Guilty Black
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Who doesn't want some spice and mystery on a hot summer night? The combination of pink pepper, violet, patchouli, and amber is sexy, grown-up, and asking for a little trouble ($56; gucci.com).

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Burberry Summer

Burberry Summer
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The quintessentially British scent is less urban London, more sprawling fields of the British countryside. Fresh, outdoorsy top notes of sparkling pomegranate, mandarin, and green leaf mix with florals, like rose and lily of the valley, and base notes of woods including cedarwood and sandalwood ($65; sephora.com).

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Tom Ford Neroli Portofino

Tom Ford Neroli Portofino
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Ford describes this scent as "transportive—it perfectly captures the cool breezes, sparkling clear water, and lush foliage of the Italian Rivera." Since it includes notes of Italian Bergamot and Sicilian Lemon but not a plane ticket to Italy, we'll just have to sniff it while re-watching Under The Tuscan Sun ($205 for 1.7oz nordstrom.com).

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Jean Paul Gaultier Under Your Skin Classique

Jean Paul Gaultier Under Your Skin Classique
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We're not saying it's worth wearing this fragrance just to say "ylang ylang" when someone inevitably asks you, "Ooh, what's that scent?" though it is endlessly fun to say. And just as delightful to the nose are its other notes: orange blossom, Sicilian Clementine, white iris, vanilla, and musk ($82; macys.com).

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Kate Spade Live Color Fully

Kate Spade Live Color Fully
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Kate Spade knows bright colors, so it's no surprise even her (albeit clear) fragrance is packed with the bold shades of mandarin orange, pink water lily and golden gardenia ($95; katespade.com).

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Jimmy Choo Flash

Jimmy Choo Flash
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Know that dream where you're slow-motion running toward George Clooney through a field of fragrant flowers? We can't help you on the Clooney front, but this summer bouquet of tuberose, jasmine, white lily, and heliotrope has your field of flowers covered ($45 for 1.3oz chooconnection.jimmychoo.com).

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Clean First Blush

Clean First Blush
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The scent's creator says he was inspired by "the sweet, cool freshness of morning at the beach." If you can't squeeze in an actual beach trip, a hit of this limited-edition fragrance's mix of sparkling tea, bergamot, basil, sweet mint, and neroli notes is a close second ($59; cleanperfume.com).

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Calvin Klein CK One Summer

Calvin Klein CK One Summer
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It's rare your boyfriend and you will be fighting over who gets first spritz, but this unisex fragrance perfectly balances woodsy masculine notes (moss, blonde woods, musk, and crushed leaves) and the femininity of fresh produce (watermelon, zesty citrus, and cucumber) without being too flowery ($50; sephora.com).

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Viktor and Rolf Flower Bomb

Viktor and Rolf Flower Bomb
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If The Secret Garden was your favorite book (okay, or movie), you'll want to hide out inside a bottle of Flower Bomb ($75 for 1oz; sephora.com). Rather than run-of-the-mill florals, it utilizes a botanist's dream of special blooms like Sambac Jasmine, Centifolia Rose, Cattleya Orchid, and Ballerina Freesia.

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Givenchy Dahlia Noir

Givenchy Dahlia Noir
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Heavy musks can be too overwhelming once you start to perspire, but this musk is lightened up by citrus notes (neroili and cedrat) and florals (rose and peony), making it breezy enough for summer ($90 for 1.7oz www.nordstrom.com).

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Hermes Jour d' Hermes

Hermes Jour d’ Hermes
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One spritz of the delicate blend of green notes, gardenia, and white flowers is like walking into a French florist's shop. Tres magnifique! ($108 for 1.6oz; www.nordstrom.com).

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Pacifica Island Vanilla Spray

Pacifica Island Vanilla Spray
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Smelling of sweet, sensual island vanilla can help actual islands, since a portion of sales goes to the Ocean Futures Society, a conservation nonprofit ($22; pacificabeauty.com).

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L'Occitane Thé Vert & Bigarade

L’Occitane Thé Vert & Bigarade
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We don't know why your summer wouldn't include a trip to France, but just in case, the green notes, sweet and bitter orange, and hint of yerba mate are like a postcard from the Provence town of Grasse. And if it's from Provence, you know it's good: the area's been called the fragrance capital of the world ($75; usa.loccitane.com).

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Escada Cherry in the Air

Escada Cherry in the Air
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What's even sweeter than a cherry scent? When it's mixed with vanilla and marshmallow. Before you think "ice cream sundae," know that it's tempered with floral and woodsy notes like gardenia, orchid, and oak to keep it from being too sweet ($56 for 1.6oz; sephora.com).

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Tocca Liliana

Tocca Liliana
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Talk about this French fragrance's joie de vivre—flappers at a 1920s lawn party were the inspiration of who might wear this scent, dancing the night away while wafting gardenia and peony ($68; tocca.com). It makes us want to spritz our pulse points, take a sip of champagne, and do the Charleston.

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Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau so Fresh Sunshine

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau so Fresh Sunshine
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It's a "bolder" Daisy turned up a notch for summer-as if anyone ever accused Marc Jacobs of being mild. In this version, the dainty flowers of Daisy get a juicy punch of strawberry, apple blossom, and pink grapefruit ($78 for 2.5oz; marcjacobs.com).

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Estee Lauder Modern Muse

Estee Lauder Modern Muse
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Ultra feminine and ultra chic, this mixture of light floral, rich vanilla, and woody notes is topped off with a bow-shaped spray-through cap for the perfect finishing touch. Launching September 2013 (1 oz. for $58; esteelauder.com)

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