Perfumes That Smell Like Rain: The Best Petrichor Perfumes to Try

Looking for a perfume that smells like rain? Rain smells different to everyone. For some it's the ozone crackle before a summer thunderstorm. For others it's wet pavement, or soaked garden soil, or a pine forest dripping after a downpour. That earthy after-rain smell even has a name, petrichor, and it's a hard smell for a perfumer to capture. Many rain perfumes are fleeting, and a few lean more floral than you'd expect. Even so, there are some wonderful rain and petrichor perfumes out there, and a handful that people recommend again and again.

We read through 36 rain and petrichor threads on fragrance forums and subs to see which rain perfumes people actually recommend. Then we sorted the ones we carry by style. Browse the full rain and petrichor lineup at Surrender to Chance here.

Photorealistic Rain Perfumes

Demeter Thunderstorm: The most-recommended rain scent in the threads we read, named in 22 of them. It's the smell of the ground waking up as a storm rolls in: wet soil and green plants, with what fans describe as an ozone edge. On r/fragrance: "It's nothing but the smell in the air the moment the first raindrops hit the hot pavement during a summer city thunderstorm." Like most Demeter colognes, it's fleeting, so keep it handy.

Demeter Petrichor: Demeter's take on that earthy smell of rain on dry soil. Lighter and greener than Thunderstorm. One r/Indiemakeupandmore commenter said it "smells just like stepping outside in the rain."

Demeter Rain: Not petrichor but the rain itself: clean, cool and delicate, with a sweet, watery freshness. The one to reach for if you want falling rain, not wet earth.

Calyx Silence Like Rain Fragrance Mist: Damp streets after the rain, wet dust and earth, puddles and petrichor, all from botanical ingredients. The city exhaling after a storm, in a light, easy mist.

Fresh, Misty Rain Perfumes

Le Labo Baie 19: Frank Voelkl's ode to rain hitting parched soil after a long drought. Juniper berry, green leaves, patchouli, ambroxan and musk. Le Labo says it "should have been called Water 19." It's the second most-named rain perfume in our research. Be warned, it's a love-it-or-hate-it scent.

Maison Margiela Replica When the Rain Stops: The sun breaking through after a shower. Pink pepper, bergamot, green and rain notes, Turkish rose and jasmine, then patchouli, moss and pine. Softer and more floral than most on this list. 

Future Society Wandering Rain: Rain before it touches the earth. Future Society studied the airborne microbes that travel in rain, and perfumer Michael Nordstrand turned what they found into black tea, blue lotus, pear, eucalyptus, orris and musk. Cool, airy and a little spa-like.

Tada Parfumeur Under the Rain: Ginger, ozonic notes and violet leaf, then artemisia and honeysuckle on cedar, oakmoss and amber. Fresh, green rain with a woody finish.

Wet Earth and Petrichor Perfumes

CB I Hate Perfume Black March: Christopher Brosius's 2006 classic, and probably one of the first earthy petrichor scents. Spring dirt, rain, wood, sap and loam, like your fingers digging in the garden. On r/fragrance: "it smells exactly like after the rain on a very early barely-spring day."

Marissa Zappas Petrichor: Cold, wet dirt and cold stone, built around orris. Damp earth and lemon, then immortelle, orris and vetiver over ambergris, sandalwood, moss and musk. Avant-garde but beautiful. 

Etat Libre d'Orange Hermann a Mes Cotes Me Paraissait une Ombre: One of the few perfumes that lists geosmin, the molecule behind the smell of wet earth. Blackcurrant bud, black pepper and galbanum, then peppery rose, incense, patchouli and dark woods. One r/Perfumes commenter: "Hermann is like standing on a balcony watching a thunderstorm going on in the distance."

Cognoscenti No. 44 Fire and Rain: Rain (geosmin) on the California coast, with sunshine citrus and saffron, neroli and gardenia, and a curl of smoke from vetiver and cypriol. A warm, sunny take on petrichor.

Filippo Sorcinelli Pioggia Moderata: "Moderate rain." Walking through Milan with your footsteps on the wet road. Marine notes, iris, myrtle and nutmeg, then jasmine, clove and soil over musk, labdanum, patchouli and sandalwood. Dark and earthy, perfect for rainy days.

Olympic Orchids Night Flyer: The original Zoologist Bat, inspired by the caves of Jamaica's Cockpit Country. CaFleureBon praised it for legitimizing geosmin in perfumery. 

Rain-Soaked Forests

Imaginary Authors Impassable Wilderness: A rain-soaked hike into the deepest, darkest woods of the Pacific Northwest. Grand fir, Scotch pine, resurrection fern, red cedar, oakmoss and petrichor.

En Voyage Rainmaker: Shelley Waddington's Pacific Northwest rain forest. Rose leaf, silver pine tips and wild citrus, then iris and patchouli with cedar, fir, redwood needles, petrichor, oakmoss and amber.

Liis Forest Sounds: Vetiver, rain notes, green leaves, loam and yuzu. Bright, wet and green. It settles into a soft vetiver.

Imaginary Authors Every Storm a Serenade: A stormy Baltic coast. Danish spruce, eucalyptus, vetiver, Calone, ambergris and sea mist.

Indie Rain and Storm Perfumes

Andromeda's Curse Tempestarii: Grey clouds, a crash of lightning and a sudden downpour. An ozonic, earthy aquatic with thunderstorm, muddy dirt, wet grass and petrichor. 

Alkemia Mist Becoming Rain: Rainwater, mist-drenched hazel wood, meadow grasses, sage blooms, orris root and grey amber. A cool, grey, misty morning in perfume oil form.

Hexennacht Fallen Angel: Rain-soaked granite, mountain air, petrichor, creeping ivy and damp earth. 

Haus of Gloi Asperitas: Rain-soaked grass and an ozonic accord, with bright flashes of lemon, a crack of sharp pepper and Egyptian musk.

Arcana Wildcraft Graveyard Dirt: A limited Halloween release that's all about geosmin: the lonely essence of petrichor, cool rain on black soil and freshly turned earth. Soft and damp, not muddy.

Andromeda's Curse Earth: Wet dirt, sweet loam, cedarwood, amber and sandalwood. A sweet-ish dirt scent with a "just rained" feel.

Desert Rain and Monsoon Perfumes

In the desert Southwest, rain smells like creosote bush. When it rains, those resinous leaves release a smell many people call the smell of desert rain.

Fzotic Creosote: Sage, galbanum and clove bud with desert willow, guaiacwood, petrichor, cedar and creosote bush. Green and cool, with a smoky, leathery edge.

Seasons Fragrance Co. Creosote: A desert rain accord with sagebrush and eucalyptus, then creosote bush in bloom, chaparral resin and sun-warmed earth over cedar, vetiver and warm sand.

Solstice Scents Desert Thunderstorm: Piñon resin and pine, desert sagebrush, petrichor, sweetgrass, creosote, sand and smoke from a canyon fire. A desert storm with a campfire.

Dryland Wilds Greasewood Desert Spray: The New Mexico badlands after a summer rainstorm: wet greasewood, red dirt and endless blue sky. A light, handcrafted spray for skin, hair or room.

Dame Perfumery Monsoon: The desert after a monsoon. Iris, orris, jasmine, water lily and lily of the valley with creosote and cedar.

Amouage Meander: Inspired by monsoon rain in Oman, with olibanum, carrot, pepper, orris, rose and cypriol. Warmth opens up slowly "like drops of rain hitting dry earth."

Classic Rainy-Day Florals

Guerlain Après L'Ondée: "After the rain shower." Jacques Guerlain's 1906 masterpiece. Heliotrope, anise, violet, iris and carnation over vanilla. Soft, wistful and a little melancholy, like flowers glistening after a spring shower.

Frederic Malle En Passant: Olivia Giacobetti's memory of a spring rain: wet lilacs, cucumber, orange leaves and the smell of fresh bread drifting down the street.

Miller Harris La Pluie: "The rain." Lyn Harris pairs lavender, tangerine and bergamot with ylang, jasmine and orange blossom over wheat, vanilla and vetiver. Airy, soft and gently ozonic.

Perfumer H Rain Cloud: Also by Lyn Harris. Less rain than a humid rain cloud of sultry white flowers: ylang-ylang, jasmine, orange flower, cassie and iris on vetiver, vanilla, white musk and amber.

D.S. & Durga Steamed Rainbow: Every color of the rainbow softened in humid air. Blood orange, elemi and grass, then almond blossom, violet, vapor, cedar and vetiver. An r/Perfumes fan called it "a super unique petrichor, very humid smelling." Another said it's "more summery, humid and all around fabulous" but without a strong petrichor note, so think of it as the steamy air after rain.

Rain Perfume Samplers

Want to try several at once? Our Who'll Stop The Rain sampler brings together six of the most-loved rain perfumes: Le Labo Baie 19, Replica When the Rain Stops, CB I Hate Perfume Black March, ELdO Hermann, Andromeda's Curse Tempestarii and Alkemia Mist Becoming Rain. For a full-on storm, try The Coming Storm. It includes Tempestarii, Osmofolia Geosmin and Sixteen92 Supercell, which one r/Indiemakeupandmore commenter called "the most realistic, fresh rain perfume I've tried." There's also Petrichor: The Earthy Scent of Rain, The Smell of Rain, The Moment the Rain Passes, Dancing in the Rain and When the Storm Passes. For desert rain, try Petrichor-Scented Creosote: The Smell of Desert Rain.

Rain can be a summer thunderstorm, a misty grey morning, a cold spring garden or the desert after a monsoon. There's a rain perfume for every kind of weather.

Rain Perfume FAQ

What perfume smells like rain?

In the threads we reviewed, the rain perfume people named most often was Demeter Thunderstorm, a realistic wet-earth-and-ozone scent. Le Labo Baie 19 came next, a fresher, more wearable petrichor. For falling rain rather than wet soil, try Demeter Rain. For wet earth and stone, try CB I Hate Perfume Black March or Marissa Zappas Petrichor.

What is petrichor?

Petrichor is the earthy smell of rain falling on dry ground. The word was coined in 1964 by Australian scientists Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Thomas, from the Greek petra (stone) and ichor (the fluid in the veins of the gods). Much of that smell comes from geosmin, which is made by soil bacteria. The sharp, clean smell before a storm is ozone.

How do perfumers make a rain scent?

Rain is built as an accord. Aquatic molecules like Calone bring the watery, airy feel, while ozonic notes and aldehydes add the electric freshness of a storm. Geosmin, vetiver, patchouli and mineral notes bring the wet earth and stone. Green leaves, violet leaf and moss make it smell like a garden after rain. A few perfumes list geosmin by name, including ELdO Hermann and Cognoscenti Fire and Rain.

What's the difference between a rain perfume and a petrichor perfume?

A rain perfume usually smells like the rain itself or the air around it: clean, cool, watery and ozonic, like Demeter Rain or Replica When the Rain Stops. A petrichor perfume smells like rain hitting the ground: wet soil, stone and green plants, like Demeter Petrichor, Black March or Marissa Zappas Petrichor.

Why don't rain perfumes last long?

Fresh, airy notes evaporate quickly, so many photorealistic rain scents are fleeting. One r/Perfumes commenter said Demeter's Thunderstorm "is a dead ringer. Longevity isn't great, but it's the only one I really love." If you want a longer-lasting rain scent, look for one with a woody, mossy or musky base, like Baie 19, Hermann or Rainmaker, and always sample first.