The best fragrances are subjective. While there’s a time and a place for an audacious mob wife-inspired fragrance or a grown-up gourmand honey scent, I’m well aware that some people can find bold, power perfumes slightly headache-inducing. And while I’m all for dousing myself in something with a head-turning sillage, I understand the appeal of having some more easy-to-wear fragrances on hand for occasions when you want your perfume to feel more like slipping into an effortlessly chic linen shirt, rather than a faux-fur coat and leopard print dress.
Thankfully, there has been an influx of fresh perfumes landing on my desk this year that offer exactly this—I’m coining them laundry detergent perfumes. Clean cotton scents are nothing new, of course, but this new iteration of fragrance moves beyond the light airiness of traditional linen-like perfumes and captures the essence of the detergent itself—soft, powdery and with an expensive-smelling undertone from richer notes like amber and cedarwood. Combining the warmth of a skin scent with the soapiness of a luxurious bubble bath, they’re uplifting, fresh and utterly sophisticated—the kind of understated perfumes that will leave people thinking that its you that smells good, rather than your fragrance.
Ahead, my pick of the 7 best laundry detergent perfumes that I can’t get enough of.
1. Maison Margiela Replica Lazy Sunday Morning Eau de Toilette
(Image credit: Maison Margiela Replica)
Let me set the scene: it’s a bank holiday weekend and you’ve gently opened your eyes to feel a warm breeze dancing through the open window, the sunlight casting dappled shadows onto the walls. Your skin is warm beneath the bed sheets and you can smell the freshly-cut grass from your neighbour’s garden. This is exactly what this perfume smells like to me. It’s relaxed, comforting and familiar, yet has a spring-like freshness to it thanks to some brighter notes from fruity pear and a bouquet of powdery florals. I have gone through bottles of the stuff over the years and will continue to do so.
2. Maison Francis Kurkdjian Aqua Universalis Eau de Toilette
(Image credit: Maison Francis Kurkdjian)
Capturing the spirit of expensive-smelling laundry so effectively that Maison Francis Kurkdjian has actually launched a laundry detergent and fabric softener in the exact same scent, this perfume smells like fancy linen that has been hung out to dry in an Italian lemon grove. Capturing that baking warmth of holiday sunshine with a thread of sweet, musky cotton, this scent is enlivened with a citrus splash of sharp Sicilian lemon and fragrant bergamot for added brightness.
3. Perfumer H Powder Eau de Parfum
(Image credit: Perfumer H)
I have always adored the softness of powdery fragrances, and Powder is the epitome of everything I love about these soft, gentle perfumes. Aptly named, this is an incredibly delicate scent which smells like the joy of cuddling a newborn baby. The hypnotic fragrance of their soft skin mingling with freshly-washed cotton muslins and a milky, vanilla sweetness—and there’s a floral undertone too, with a talcum powder freshness. To me, this is like a bottle of home comfort.
4. Bibbi Iris Wallpaper Eau de Parfum
(Image credit: Bibbi)
I had no idea what this perfume was going to smell like when I read the list of notes, but I can now confirm that it’s what I imagine a concierge laundry service at a 5-star hotel to smell like. The clean laundry detergent element comes from a papery, powdery iris which has the kind of sweetness that old paperback books have when they’ve spent years in front of a sunlit window. There’s a fruitiness, too, which gives this perfume a modern edge—ripe peaches and carrots that have been grown in a countryside garden—and warm leather for a deep richness. Honestly, I’m utterly addicted to it.
5. Jones Road Fragrance in Shower
(Image credit: Jones Road)
This is one of the most classically clean scents in the lineup, and it really bottles that just stepped out of the shower feeling. It’s fresh and watery, in fact there’s notes of sea spray and grapefruit, but it’s the addition of patchouli that makes this a laundry detergent perfume for me—rather than a traditional clean cotton scent. That patchouli base note lends the fragrance a musky sweetness that gives it an elegant, sophisticated edge. Combined with the subtle floral pops of neroli and orange blossom, you’ll be left feeling refreshed and uplifted every time you spritz this.
6. DedCool Xtra Milk Eau de Parfum
(Image credit: DedCool)
This walks the line between a classic skin scent and a laundry detergent perfume. (Fun fact, DedCool also has a Dedtergent Milk, so your washing can smell as good as a fine fragrance.) It smells amazing on its own—a comforting blanket of creamy musks, warming ambers and uplifting bergamot—but, much like clean washing, it also provides the perfect base to layer other fragrances on top. And while I’m yet to get my hands on a permanent bottle, I can attest to the longevity of this scent: after spritzing myself liberally with it on a recent trip to Space NK, I had someone ask me an impressive eight hours later what I was wearing.
7. Acne Studios par Frédéric Malle Eau de Parfum
(Image credit: Acne Studios)
The perfume equivalent of a scrupulously clean, crisp white designer t-shirt, this is fresh laundry at its finest. It manages to have all the potency of a true power perfume—trust me this scent turns heads—but in their modern iteration: effusively fresh and expensive-smelling. The soapy tanginess of this scent can be attributed to the opening notes of aldehydes which are strikingly sharp, rather than powdery. And while there is warmth from sandalwood, vanilla and musk, it avoids the cloying creaminess of some linen-inspired scents, instead highlighting the soapy note of florals—rose, violet and orange blossom—to conjure that fresh laundry feel.