In short: a sea salt note smells like a breezy shoreline: clean, mineral and a little briny, with a cool, airy freshness. It is the smell of salt drying on your skin after a swim.
What sea salt smells like
Sea salt scents feel open and clean. Some lean watery and cool, others more mineral and skin-like, with a hint of driftwood or seaweed. They pair naturally with woods and citrus, and they make a room feel like the windows are open.
How the scent is made
Salt crystals have no smell at all. The smell we call "the sea" comes from other things in the air near the ocean, including a sulfur compound released by plankton, seaweed, and the fresh, airy quality of ozone. Perfumers recreate it with an accord: mineral and skin-like notes for the salt, aquatic notes for the water, and a little green or woody material for seaweed and driftwood.
A molecule called Calone, discovered in the 1960s and made famous by the fresh fragrances of the 1990s, gives many marine scents their watery, slightly melon-like freshness. Our candles use fragrance oils with sea salt and marine accords.
How it is used
Sea salt usually sits in the heart of a blend, with woods underneath and citrus or ozone above. It is the center of the coastal and "aquatic" fragrance style.
What it pairs with
- Driftwood, cedarwood and teakwood, for a beach at dusk
- Ozone, for a stormy sea
- Orange peel and bergamot, for a sunny coast
- Jasmine and other florals, for a coastal garden
Our candles with sea salt
- Hidden Cove: sea salt, teakwood and orange peel in a secret cove.
- Pelagic: sea salt and marine ozone with wild jasmine and driftwood cedar.
- Poseidon: salty ocean spray with ozone, dark musk and sandalwood.
Common questions
Does salt have a smell? No. The smell of the sea comes from plankton, seaweed and fresh air, not from the salt itself.
Is a sea salt candle a summer scent? It shines in summer, but sea scents with dark woods, like Poseidon or Pelagic, feel just as good on a stormy winter night.
Explore more notes in our Fragrance Notes A to Z, or browse our Fresh & Clean candles.