The 14 Best New Colognes of 2024 (So Far)

Perfumehead’s fragrances always tell a story and this one is all about the morning after a particularly wild rager. Practically, let’s call it a vanilla scent because, well, it is—but it’s not one of those single note gourmands that makes you smell like a cookie. The vanilla here is warm and deep and mixed with notes like saffron, sandalwood, incense, and musk to bring an earthy sexiness that not only makes it more wearable, but more masculine as well. It’s more like you were dancing all night with someone wearing vanilla perfume and you woke up with their smell still lingering on your skin.

At first smell, this elixir comes off sweet—almost cloyingly so—because of the sticky, jammy blackcurrant top note, but pretty soon the resinous notes of olibanum and myrrh emerge, giving it a mysterious, mineral, amber quality. It’s the type of scent that evolves quickly on your skin and ultimately becomes surprisingly masculine for something with such a sweet quality. It’s not for wallflowers, that’s for sure. But if you’re looking to make a statement, this will do the trick.

If you can’t tell from the brightness of the bottle, this scent screams citrus. Notes of grapefruit, bergamot, and blackcurrant make up the top, which delivers an eye-popping zing of fruity freshness that never truly goes away. It’s one of the longest=lasting fresh colognes out there, in our opinion, because even as it dries down enough for the warmth of the woods and ambergris in the base to emerge, it never truly loses the fresh, citrus quality. It very well could be the perfect summer scent that can carry you way beyond sunset cocktails and into the warm night.

This new version of Legend, released just in time for summer, is definitely in line with your classic, fresh cologne. There’s a blast of citrus up top and a nice, clean lavender note. But what makes this one stand out is the addition of mint, which gives this juice a crisp, clean vibe that lingers on your skin for hours—even on hot days. Let’s not forget that Legend DNA, which helps this retain its masculine quality with notes like sandalwood and oakmoss. Then there’s the rich ambroxan at the base that slowly emerges to warm everything up, without taking away the crispness.

It might be just us, but suddenly all we want to do is wear citrus colognes. Maybe it’s the heat, but when temperatures rise, we gravitate toward crisp, clean, and fresh scents. This brand spanking new juice from the iconic European fragrance house Krigler dials up that freshness to 100 with a summertime scent that’s all about the mix of green tea and mandarin. There’s no cloying sweetness to the aroma, just a zesty freshness that lasts and lasts and lasts through hours of dry down. It may just be the longest lasting citrus scent we’ve ever tried and that’s a very, very good thing.

Someone recently told us this scent was “polarizing” and while, yes, it’s definitely more of a conceptual fragrance, we actually think it’s quite democratic. It’s surprisingly complex for such a simple concept—much like the Mr. Dior-designed clothes that give it its name—and is all about aldehydes. Typically aldehyde notes smell soapy, and this one does a little bit, but there’s also frankincense and ambery notes in there that give it a complexity as it dries down. As it evolves, it takes on a scrubbed skin-like quality that’s like an incredibly bold statement delivered with a whisper.

Like all of its products, Huron’s fragrances are surprisingly high end-smelling for the price tag. We’re fans of the original Citrus + Eucalyptus (a zingy fresh, clean vibe) but the new Sea Salt + Driftwood might be our favorite so far. It’s smooth, mineral-y, and aquatic and calls to mind the iconic watery scents of the 1990s (you know the ones) without feeling old fashioned.

There’s a lot that went into the creation of this new addition to the H24 family, including the use of a brand new molecule called Phsycool that smells vaguely minty but also has an actual effervescent sensation on your skin. Like the other H24 colognes, Herbes Vives is rooted in botanicals (in this case herbs like sorrel, savory, and hemp) but it’s also fresh and watery, inspired by the smell of a garden after it rains. Think of it as the modern spring fragrance: fresh, herbal, but surprising as well.

Vacation’s ability to capture nostalgia and update it with a combination of modern technology and tongue-in-cheek humor makes it stand out, not just in the sun care market, but also in the fragrance world. Case in point: this new fragrance from the brand, inspired by the electric green post-sunburn “aloe vera” gel of your youth. The result instantly transports your back in time, but isn’t entirely literal. The scent is modernized with notes of actual aloe vera, gin, green tea, ozone, tonic, “resort towel plush,” and more. It’s somehow both hilarious and addictive, and the perfect sundown scent for, well, a vacation.

This may be billed as a citrus scent, but what you actually get at first spray is a near-literal interpretation of Coca-cola. It sounds wild, but actually smells great—so fresh and fizzy that you can almost feel the bubbles. If that puts you off, don’t worry; that cola note dries down quickly to reveal a versatile masculine vibe of cedarwood and smooth vanilla, laced a little bit with spices. Then the cola notes pops through every so often just to remind you how innovative this scent actually is.

Loewe fragrances are always a bit cerebral and unexpected, but this new one is extraordinarily hard to put your finger on. Notes of thyme, lavender, orange flower absolute, and vetiver intermingle to create a vibe that’s green and herbal, but also warm and comforting. You’d expect it to be fresh and clean, but somehow it’s more earthy and almost syrupy in is woody sweetness. It’s one of those scents that reveals itself more and more each time you wear it and somehow almost never smells the same.

OGs may know Fulton & Roark for the brand’s solid colognes, which we’ve been fans of for years, but recently the North Carolina-based company released all of its unique scents in extrait de parfum sprays for the first time. In spray form, their fragrances are richer and more deeply layered than their more subtle solid counterparts. It’s hard to pick just one out of the collection of 15, but we keep going back to HWY 190, a smooth, wind-in-your-hair mix of myrrh, cedarwood, vetiver, and freesia that calls to mind road trips in a convertible (top down, of course).

Nashville-based niche fragrance house Ranger Station always stays true to its roots (think Western crooner vibes) when creating its fragrances and candles. This new addition is no exception. The brand’s take on oud, a typically overpowering and heavy note, is lighter, woodier, and smokier thanks to a healthy dose of palo santo. It’s a surprisingly chill cologne that doesn’t take itself too seriously and may just be the perfect daytime oud.

If you’ve been paying attention to fragrance trends recently, you’ve likely noticed that vanilla is having a major moment. Vanilla can be polarizing, especially among men, but if you’re going to dip your toe into the trend, we say go for it with this unmistakably vanilla cologne. It’s sweet thanks to multiple kinds of vanilla and tonka bean, but tempered with a top note of bitter almond and a base of smooth sandalwood. It smells best once it’s been on your skin for a while and had time to mix with your natural chemistry to bring out a bit of muskiness.