Of Cold Water and Hot Days.

August has given us a little break from the heat. Finally. And perhaps now is exactly the right moment to think about coolness. Not air conditioning or the number on the thermometer, but those small moments when a hot summer day suddenly feels different for a little while.

A cold stream after a long hike. A shady courtyard the midday sun never quite reaches. Wet stone. An open window early in the morning. The first breeze from the sea. Sometimes just thinking about it is enough.

Can a fragrance feel cool?

We like the idea that fragrances can evoke not only places and memories, but temperatures too. Some smell warm to us: sun-warmed wood, dry grasses, spices, skin after a long day outdoors.

Others seem to do the opposite. Mint between your fingers. Juniper and clear mountain air. Salt on the skin. Damp rock on a coast. Perhaps it is less about actual cold than our memory of it. A fragrance opens a small door – and suddenly we are standing with our feet in a mountain stream again, or looking for the coolest spot in an old stone house in the middle of summer.

Six moments of coolness.

For this August, we have gathered six niche fragrances that evoke exactly these kinds of images for us.

Mon Vetiver · Essential Parfums
The coolness of a shady courtyard.

Menta y Menta · Miller et Bertaux
Fresh mint between your fingers.

Un Air de Bretagne · L’Artisan Parfumeur
Wind on the Breton coast.

Eau de Minthé · Diptyque
A cool breeze on a summer morning.

Youth Wave Busan · Le Plein Été
Yuzu and a quiet afternoon by the sea.

Karst · Aesop
Wet stone on a rugged coast.

There is one fragrance missing.

There is one fragrance we have kept from you until now: Nord du Nord by WienerBlut. We have a particularly close connection with WienerBlut. We appreciate not only the fragrances, but also the stories behind them – the care that goes into the research and the way places, history and scent are brought together so naturally.

Nord du Nord is a beautiful example. Inspired by the Alpine tradition of Sommerfrische, it combines peppermint and ice water with herbs, lichens and woods. To us, it feels like clear mountain air, cold water and that moment when a hot summer day suddenly feels a few degrees cooler.

Which brings us to Bad Gastein.

Most people associate it with winter. We especially like coming here in summer.

Perhaps it is the waterfall rushing through the middle of town day and night. The spray in the air. The still mountain lakes nearby. Or the old houses and hotels, whose stone seems to hold on to some of its coolness even on hot days.

There is something peculiar about Bad Gastein anyway. A little grand, a little faded. Belle Époque meets rugged mountain landscape, a centuries-old tradition of summer retreats meets new art. Much has disappeared, some things are still waiting for a new purpose, and others are just beginning again.

Perhaps that is exactly why we like it. It is not a place that was ever truly finished. And then there is always the water. Loud in the middle of town, completely still up in the mountains.

From our notebook.

We have spent quite a lot of time between waterfalls and mountain streams this summer. And discovered that our strategy for dealing with the heat is apparently very simple: go somewhere where the water is cold enough to make you briefly regret jumping in.

Perhaps that is our favourite way to cool down.