All people like the scent of rain due to obvious evolutionary reasons: our ancestors used to rely on it for survival (feeding the crops, providing drinking water, etc.). Modern perfumery offers a lot of options to get this smell whenever and wherever you want regardless of the weather.
Before talking about perfumes, let’s answer the question: what makes fragrances smell like rain? And what is the smell of rain? Of course, the raindrops have no scent. But petrichor does! Petrichor is the smell caused by raindrops falling on the ground: a combination of ozone, geosmin (byproduct of soil bacteria) and plant oils. It’s earthy, fresh and overall pleasant for a human nose, and it is the scent that we all associate with rain.
Now here’re 7 perfumes that smell like rain (or petrichor):
Baie 19 by Le Labo
It smells just like the air before the storm! Ozonic, earthy, woody and sweet with a dominant patchouli note. Very cozy and warm, as if you’re hiding from the rain in your forest cottage.
Rain by Clean
If you seek something on the lighter side, try Rain by Clean. An aquatic, fruity and floral scent: it’s like morning dew on grass after summer rain. The fragrance has melon and white flowers notes in the opening, with water hyacinth and musk in the dry down.
Un Jardin Apres la Mousson by Hermès
A beautiful atmospheric scent inspired by India during monsoon season: watery, fresh, green and spicy. The most noticeable notes are melon, citruses, ginger flower, cardamom and black pepper with a vetiver base.
Splash Rain 2016 by Marc Jacobs
This one is not a heavy downpour but a light spring shower. Very light, fresh and almost soapy clean scent with fruity and floral notes.
Petrichor by Demeter
Demeter Fragrances are famous for bottling abstract scents and they’ve come up with three different takes on the rain theme. “Petrichor” is trying to replicate the smell we’ve described above. It’s an earthy, fresh and aquatic fragrance with cucumber notes. However, take into account that it gets polarizing opinions from different people (for some it comes out as too sharp) so it’s better to try it for yourself.
Thunderstorm by Demeter
A soaking wet, lush green forest after thunderstorm. It’s similar to Petrichor as it has that musky, earthy heart, yet it’s a lot greener and a bit sharper, almost smelling like freshly cut grass.
Rain by Demeter
Very green, watery and sweet: it’s like a blooming garden after rain. After some time it becomes more of a wet metallic scent.
Very helpful!