Perfumes that smell like soap are refreshing, clean and safe to use. In this article, we have gone through the best soapy fragrances for men and women. You’ll find 11 great scents that fit every budget, occasion and style.
Soapy fragrances are perfect for you if you want a clean, fresh and healthy scent. The great thing is that they can, most often, be used anywhere. Whether it’ll be in the office, on a date or after the gym. Fresh scents can be worn anywhere.
Because, let’s be honest, clean and fresh is what most people like. Thus, making a soapy perfume a popular type of fragrance.
Best perfumes that smell like soap
There is an almost unlimited amount of perfumes with ingredients that replicate a soapy scent.
We have gone through an absurd amount of soapy fragrances to find the absolute best ones. It was not an easy task – but we finally reached our goal.
We have found 11 superb perfumes that smell like soap, both for men and women.
1. Prada L’Homme EDT Spray
Time: Day
Season: Spring, summer, and fall
Signatures: Powdery, woody, floral
Keywords: Gentle, soothing, modern, inoffensive
Released as part of a pair with Prada La Femme, L’Homme was released to be a modern fragrance incorporating classic Prada notes. The flacon definitely preaches its modernity.
The formulation of L’Homme is significantly spicy and floral, with violet, neroli, geranium, and iris being the floral elements. Black pepper and cardamom lend some warmth to the composition. The base gets its masculinity from patchouli, sandalwood, and cedar.
This is an inoffensive scent, and one of those that is a safe bet as a blind buy. It’s not too daring with any of its notes, yet smells modern and clean. There’s a smooth, powdery sweetness to it, similar to costly hand soap. Some might opine that it’s a tad too floral, but we find that the spices and rougher notes like sandalwood at the base balance it nicely.
The pleasant calmness of the perfumes makes it a perfect fit if you’re looking for a new fragrance for the office. It’s casual and will go down well year-round. Performance is just above average, so there’s not much we can hate here.
2. Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Cologne
Time: Day and night
Season: Fall and winter
Signatures: Powdery, woody, aromatic, fresh spicy
Keywords: Classic, mature, gentlemanly, formal
Each time we come across this house’s name, we have visions of Victorian-era England spring into mind. The name oozes such sophistication, and the bottle maintains a vintage appearance most likely akin to what the house started off with in 1854.
The top and middle of this cologne are made up of rather sweet-leaning notes. In the top, we have lavender, geranium, and amber, with rosemary joining up to add a little spice. Carnation and orange blossom are the floral elements in the middle, with fern adding a bit of green to it.
The base is more rugged, and stops this from becoming overwhelmingly sweet. The titular sandalwood, cedar, patchouli, oud, and vetiver, among others, give some aromatic masculinity to this.
This is a very classically formulated scent. It smells vintage, just like the time it seemed to teleport from. There’s a soapy sweetness lent by all the floral elements, but the base notes are able to give it a classic edge. This is the perfect gentleman’s cologne.
3. Thierry Mugler Cologne
Time: Day
Season: Summer and spring
Signatures: Citrus, white floral, fresh spicy, aromatic
Keywords: Clean, pleasant, unimposing, fresh
We will choose to disregard the relatively eccentric bottle this comes in, seeing as the house has a predisposition for bottles a bit more outlandish than this. This one is relatively tame in fact, and there’s not a star in sight.
The inspiration for this cologne was a Moroccan soap that Thierry Mugler took a liking to. The fragrance opens up with the citrus family flavours of neroli, petitgrain, and bergamot. These lend a fresh citrus tone to the entire fragrance. The base is musk, and the heart note is an undisclosed ‘S’ note, which is rather mysterious.
Like citrus soaps, this cologne feels clean and fresh. It feels rather airy and unimposing, which makes this a great choice for the warmer seasons. As the cologne dries down, the strong citrus opening cools off into an even cleaner soapy scent.
Colognes with fragrances reminiscent of soap tend to be safe bets, and this is no different. We found this to be a great office choice. It’ll last you about 6 hours on the skin, and it projects rather moderately. It’ll last through most work days, and with a gentle enough aura to have your colleagues appreciate it instead of hate it.
4. Escentric Molecules Escentric 01
Time: Day
Season: Summer and spring
Signatures: Woody, musky, citrus, amber
Keywords: Unique, classy, clean, delicate
Escentric 01 doesn’t give us insight into the tiers of its notes, but only four went into the mixture, so its relatively simple. Iris, Amalfi lemon, pink pepper, and the beloved odor molecule Iso E Super are in this formulation.
As this opens up, the citrus sharpness is clear thanks to the lemon, though rather light. There’s a tiny bit of sweetness present in it too. The floral nature of the iris comes in next, lending in a sweetness like baby powder.
As the fragrance matures, the mild spice of pink pepper creeps in to add another dimension to this cologne. By this point, the multi-faceted nature of this fragrance had us astounded. As the dry down began, the Iso E Super brought in its characteristic woody tone to paint the last stroke on this fragrance.
Ultimately, this is a unisex cologne, and it does what it does well. Its longevity is excellent by all standards, lasting at least 8 hours at a go, though projection is relatively held back. We don’t really mind anyway. This is a premium general use fragrance, and it smells like nothing else.
5. Roger & Gallet Open Eau de Toilette for Men
Time: Day and night
Season: Fall and winter
Signatures: Aromatic, tobacco, fresh spicy, woody
Keywords: Gentlemanly, mature, masculine, vintage
Roger & Gallet’s Open is one of the more vintage entries here, with its original launch dating back to 1985. Its composition is decidedly aromatic, with bergamot, lemon and lavender making up the top tier. Sage and thyme make the middle fresh and spicy. The base settles with the prominent smokiness of tobacco, and the woodiness of vetiver and patchouli.
The top and middle notes show proudly in the opening, with a mixture of the sweet powder, the sharp sweetness of citrus, and the aroma of the spices in the middle. Everything comes together to produce a unique tone to the opening.
As the scent begins to settle, the smokiness of tobacco comes in strong. It is perfectly suited for colder months due to this, with some minor assistance from the spices. It’s clearly the most prominent scent in this fragrance, and it makes it rather masculine.
The vintage element in this strong, and we imagine it going well with a tweed jacket and a handlebar moustache. The other elements give it a mild soapy flavour, and the tobacco gives it a new facet that we can’t say we’ve seen quite often.
6. Tom Ford Neroli Portofino
Time: Day
Season: Summer and spring
Signatures: Citrus, white floral, aromatic, fresh spicy
Keywords: Premium, elegant, clean, sophisticated
Encased within a beautiful turquoise flacon, Tom Ford Neroli Portofino is a premium unisex fragrance that comes at a rather premium price. The notes in this are numerous, giving much complexity to the fragrance.
Citrus and floral elements are prominent throughout the top and middle. Citrus-wise, the top has bergamot, mandarin, lemon, and bitter orange, with neroli and African orange blossom in the middle. The floral elements are lavender and myrtle as top notes, and jasmine and pitosporum in the middle. The base is more heterogeneous, with amber, ambrette, and angelica.
This botanical fragrance is absolutely refreshing. Honestly, it is one of the cleanest perfumes we’ve had the joy to perceive, and the citrus and white floral notes make this one of the most pleasantly sweet fragrances we’ve smelled.
It’s a fresh, sweet, soap-like perfume that reeks of quality. It’s what we expect from Tom Ford by any standard. We notice the sweetness blends smoothly into a more powdery signature towards the end. It’s great, but performance isn’t. For such a gorgeous fragrance, it’s sad that it lasts about 4 hours and projects weakly during that time.
7. Paco Rabanne Pour Homme Eau de Toilette Spray
Time: Day
Season: Year-round
Signatures: Aromatic, fresh spicy, woody
Keywords: Casual, brilliant, comforting, masculine
Paco Rabanne Pour Homme is one of those vintage scents that manages to send its ripples of influence through to the future. Crafted in 1973, this fragrance uses spicy and sweet notes to craft its peculiar blend.
Clary sage and rosemary spice up the top, with tonka, lavender, and geranium combining their characteristic sweet notes in the middle. Honey and amber add more sweetness to the base. Musk, oakmoss, and Brazilian rosewood add a twist to the formulation.
This is one of the most interesting masculine scents we’ve had the good fortune to sample. It is far from cloying, despite all the sweet notes in it. The sweetness paired with the spices give a comforting warmth, and give it a slightly soapy tone.
Oakmoss, rosewood, and musk, make this a distinctly masculine fragrance. They take the fragrance down a woody, herbal path to perfection. This is an aromatic and fresh scent for men. There’s not too much complexity in the scent, which makes it perfect for anytime wear. Performance is good too, lasting about 8 hours, and projecting confidently.
8. Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue for Women
Time: Day
Season: Summer
Signatures: Citrus, woody, fresh, fruity
Keywords: Sporty, pleasing, inoffensive, crisp
The bottle and name of this fragrance lay out expectations for the type of fragrance that lies within. The name, Light Blue, and the frosted glass with light blue cover make it seem like a fresh, airy scent, perfect for summer.
If the image we’ve painted is similar to your thoughts on it, then you’re mostly right. In terms of notes, this is a very natural fragrance. Sicilian lemon, apple, bellflower, and lemon, make up the top, which gives a crisp and sweet citrus opening to the cologne.
As it lingers for a while, the floral scents of white rose and jasmine become evident, with bamboo adding some green balance to it. The base contains amber, musk, and cedar. The notes come together to produce a fresh, inoffensive fragrance.
This is easily a safe option for summer wear, and is easy to blind buy for yourself, or as a gift for others. The lemon paired with the flowers make this a mildly soapy scent, and with the zest from the lemon, feels rather sporty. The performance is bang average, so you may need to go a bit heavy on the application to get the best effect.
9. Acqua Di Parma Essenza
Time: Day
Season: Summer and spring
Signatures: Citrus, aromatic, fresh spicy, white floral
Keywords: Classy, fresh, clean, sporty
Arriving in a modest, yet very appealing black flacon, Essenza was formulated to be a stylish and elegant fragrance. We have no luck this time around with stratifying the notes, and considering the sheer number, that’d be hard to do by nose.
The notes are significantly leaning towards floral and citrus influences. Bergamot, grapefruit, mandarin, and orange are rather prominent in this cologne. Jasmine, rose, and lily-of-the-valley add the floral fragrances to this.
Spices are also significantly represented in Essenza, with rosemary, sage, and cloves. The different domains of notes in this cologne give a beautiful multifaceted experience. All these groups pull together to produce a sweet, fresh, soapy cologne.
It’s hard to see Essenza as smelling like anything other than a classy bar of soap, because it is that on the nose in that regard. With longevity of 6 hours and moderate projection, this is one of your best bets when looking for a cologne of this type.
10. Calvin Klein Eternity for Men
Time: Day
Season: Spring and summer
Signatures: Aromatic, fresh spicy, citrus, woody
Keywords: Mature, vintage, clean, confident
First launched in 1990, Eternity for Men utilizes numerous floral and citrus notes to produce a fresh and clean men’s fragrance.
Eternity is a vintage scent, and some might think it is not modern enough in this age. We don’t mind though, and we think it does what it does well. Lavender, mandarin, bergamot, and lemon in the top give it a clean, zesty opening.
The floral middle provides a powdery sweet centre to the fragrance. Jasmine, lily, geranium, lily-of-the-valley, and orange blossom, provide a beautiful white floral tone to the fragrance. Normally, the cologne would have tilted into feminine territory, but sandalwood, vetiver, rosewood, and musk in the base pull it right back.
The vintage element to this makes it a great scent for older men, and it may not be carried as well on younger men. Performance is leaning just below average, which is a shame. We struggled to get 4 hours on skin with this, and projection is modest.
11. Polo Sport by Ralph Lauren
Time: Day
Season: Summer and spring
Signatures: Aromatic, fresh spicy, citrus, green
Keywords: Youthful, sporty, versatile, masculine
Polo Sport, considering its name, would disappoint if it wasn’t a sporty fragrance. Looking at the perfume pyramid, you’d be right to assume it is, due to the frequent appearance of floral and citrus notes.
The citrus is clear in the opening, thanks to lemon, bergamot, and mandarin. Mint and ginger help give a spicy characteristic to the cologne, and we like how they coalesce. As the scent begins to dry down, the citrus calms down, but the spices and woody notes stay in.
This is a masculine scent by all regards. With the citrus and spices performing uniquely at the top, it has a sporty, fresh tone overall, and we see this excelling as a summertime scent. We imagine this working well for any age, but the younger crowd should fit in nicely with it.
In terms of scenarios for wear, Polo Sport feels versatile. Whether it’s the office, a dinner or lunch, or just to have fun at the beach, this has your back. Longevity is just about 4 hours, which isn’t great, though projection manages to make up for this, extending far out of an arm’s reach.
