The Second Skin Fragrances You’ll Want to Wear Every Day

If the glitter-slicked hairdos, intensely smoky eyes and daringly bold lips spotted on runways recently are anything to go by, clean girl aesthetic’s days may be numbered. But there’s one corner of the beauty industry where the less-is-more approach will never go out of style: the fragrance aisle. Skin scents—soft, stripped down and designed to smell like you, but better—are always a good idea.

“A skin scent feels both intimate and subtle,” says Chriselle Lim, the founder and creative director of Phlur, the modern fragrance brand behind the viral Missing Person scent, which helped popularize the category in recent years. Designed to wear close to the skin with the most subtle of sillages, these spritzes are not about being immediately noticed. Instead, they feature notes like musks, soft woods or sheer florals to create a second-skin veil. The result is delicate and illusive, often shape-shifting depending on the wearer’s body chemistry. “It’s subtle, luminous and enveloping,” says Delphine Jelk, Guerlain’s director of perfume creation and the nose behind the brand’s new Les Eaux collection, a line themed around musk and inspired by the feel of cashmere, cotton, poplin and tulle on bare skin. “It creates a delicate aura that feels almost tactile, like a soft fabric or a whisper of air.”

From the way they wear to the emotions they conjure up, skin-like scents are deeply personal—and no one knows this better than Lim, whose divorce inspired Missing Person. “At the time, I felt lonely and was longing for closeness, so I wanted to capture that intimacy and vulnerability in a fragrance,” she explains. The result is a warm, comforting and addictive juice that perfectly evokes the feeling of wrapping yourself up in your crush’s favourite sweater.

At a time when we’re craving authenticity and intimacy, skin scents are the perfect antidote to traditional fragrances that conceal and distract. “We’re all overstimulated and everything is loud, but [these] feel effortless and real,” continues Lim. “They feel like yourself.”

Ready to bare it all? Scroll on to find your next signature scent.

Phlur Missing Person Eau de Parfum

Launched in 2022, Missing Person instantly became a viral sensation—and for good reason. With notes of musk, jasmine, neroli blossom and sandalwood, this nostalgic eau de parfum smells like longing and your crush’s favourite sweater.

Glossier You Eau de Parfum

If there’s one juice that has popularized and defined the modern skin-scent category, it’s this cult favourite. This aptly-named blend of pink pepper, iris, ambrette seed and ambrox smells a little different on everyone—it’s all about letting “you” shine. This scent has a slight spicy edge that wears down to an irresistible musky warmth. It wears close to the skin while still leaving an impression, making it perfect for everyday.

Henry Rose London 1983 Eau de Parfum

A skin-inspired scent with a rebellious smoky twist, this perfume features fig and pepper with soft white florals and blonde woods for a dry-down that’s equal parts cozy and bright. Worn alone, it feels fresh and optimistic, but layered with the creamy vanilla notes, for instance, it shows its grounded side.

Guerlain L’Art et La Matière Eau de Cashmere Eau de Toilette

Guerlain’s new Les Eaux collection aims to bottle up the sensation of fabric on skin with scents inspired by tulle, poplin, cotton and cashmere. As soft and cozy as its namesake, Eau de Cashmere pairs the line’s signature note of white musk with bergamot, cedar, vetiver and iris for a sophisticated spritz.

Clean Reserve Skin Eau de Parfum

With a bright and zesty opening of bergamot, orange blossom and honeysuckle that dries down to a warm and woody musk, this juice smells like cotton on bare skin and pure sunshine. It strikes the perfect balance between cheerful and elegant.

DedCool Xtra Milk Eau de Parfum

Made to layer, this amped-up version of the brand’s ultra-popular Milk scent features the same notes of bergamot, white musk and amber for a juice that’s bolder than the original but still sheer, intimate and comforting.

Hermès Hermessence Musc Pallida Eau de Parfum

For this scent, Perfumer Christine Nagel took her inspiration from the way the saddlestitch—the sewing technique used to craft many of the house’s iconic designs—brings different materials together. The result is a perfectly balanced blend of musks and iris pallida that’s warm, inviting and timeless.