Feral florals and dreadful daylight🌷🪦𖤓

Four Midsommar scents fit for a May Queen

Midsommar had us with its central premise: a horror movie set in 100% daylight. Having lived in the City of Angels, we know all too well the terrors of relentless sun, the way it makes you feel blind and exposed and completely on edge, like something horrible is about to happen. In Midsommar, that horrible thing does happen, at a Swedish summer ritual marked by 20 hours of daylight. Ari Aster takes this typically wholesome summer tradition complete with maypoles and flower crowns and joy, and turns it into a horror movie about white men in academia who willingly throw themselves into a violent Swedish cult (for the thesis, bro!). As one Letterboxd user put it: “i am SO glad ari aster clearly never went to therapy.” Another: “ahhhhh this was so scary!! thank god sweden doesn’t exist in real life.” And since we’re smack in the middle of summer ourselves and Ari Aster’s new film Eddington just dropped (it’s nutty), there’s no better time to scent his legendary linen-clad panic attack from the fictional land of Sweden.

So what does “Sweden” smell like? At first, idyllic: wildflowers crushed under bare feet, sun-warmed cotton, and the sharp bite of herbal spirits. The air is light and sweet, buzzing with grass, pollen, and the woozy hum of psychedelic mushrooms kicking in. But stay too long and it all starts to smell a bit off. The sour tang of sweat clinging to ceremonial robes, the cloying sweetness of flowers wilting in the sun, fermented fish and meat heavy on the breeze, pine smoke from sacrificial bonfires, and the acrid scent of burnt hair and singed fur. It’s pastoral perfection on the surface, with something very very wrong underneath. Summertime terror, baby!

Dandelion Butter by Clue

Chicago-based perfumery Clue’s Dandelion Butter smells like Midsommar before everything gets terrifying, like those early scenes where they’re just doing mushrooms in a meadow, all giddy and innocent, surrounded by glowing dandelions in soft focus, everything slightly distorted (but only in a fun way). The fragrance is inspired by that playground ritual where you hold a dandelion under someone’s chin to see if their skin glows yellow. If it does, they “like butter.” This tender logic mirrors the scent, which opens with notes of milky sap, dandelion greens, and pollen. Then the butter arrives, rich and sun-warmed and lightly salted, like something passed around at a feast you don’t yet realize was planned by a dangerous cult. It’s the scent of sweet summer sunlight just before your eyes start to burn.

Hot or cold? Perfectly warm.
Color? Buttercup yellow.
Who wears it? That bitch who's always posting photos of herself doing cartwheels.
Room in the house? Backyard (with hammock).
Animal? Baby lamb.
Theme song? “Strawberry Fields Forever” by the Beatles.
Texture? Sticky stems.
Signature drink? Mushroom tea.
Favorite word? “Dreamy.”
Ripe or dead? Ripe AF.

-Anna

Calin d’Ete by Strangers Parfumerie

While the scent’s copy says it was inspired by François Ozon's evocative film Été 85, to me this scent is any sun-soaked romp—even one that ends in a mass death. And actually they also note that it “captures the intoxicating pull of desire and the weight of grief,” so there you go, all the horny-violent-sadness is right there. Your whole family is dead but you’re going on vacation, look at the bright side! This scent is absolute round-the-clock daylight, starting with citrus and juicy florals as it dries down into something musky, a little leathery, some powder and a strong whiff of free-range organic patchouli. A kind stranger passes you an essential oil blend and some shrooms, and yeah, they’re a little scary, but they have visible abs. What could go wrong?

Hot or cold? Solar flare.
Color? The pinkish purple behind your eyelids you get after staring into the sun for too long.
Who wears it? Hot girl in Birkenstocks.
Room in the house? Sun room.
Animal? Butterfly.
Theme song? “Solar Power” by Lorde.
Texture? Fresh sunburn.
Signature drink? Spiked kombucha.
Favorite word? “Ritual.”
Ripe or dead? Just peeled.

-Crissy

Fantôme de Maules by Stora Skuggan

We featured Stora Skuggan’s Mistpouffer in our indie sleaze roundup, but the cult Swedish house’s Fantôme de Maules could be the official scent of Midsommar. It’s named after an urban legend from a tiny Swiss village, where a cloaked, masked figure haunted the forests for over a decade. He’d wander the woods picking flowers, sniffing them through his (*trigger warning* Dani) gas mask, and vanish the moment a twig snapped. The spooky scent opens deceptively bright: citrus and greenery, like the Swedish countryside at golden hour. Then the sweetness burns off and the woods get witchy: cardamom, moss, and resin creep in. A gentle musk lingers on the skin, like the smell of pheromones on your prairie dress, or is it fear? Either way, you smell like the prettiest girl at the maypole who just realized she’s not going home.

Hot or cold? Cool forest morning.
Color? Moss green.
Who wears it? That startup founder who cashed out in 2011 and now lives in a treehouse carving amulets from animal bone.
Room in the house? Pantry full of herbs.
Animal? European hare.
Theme song? “If I Had a Heart” by Fever Ray.
Texture? Tree bark.
Signature drink? Home-made absinthe.
Favorite word? “Secret.”
Ripe or dead? Dead like the leaves under your feet.

-Anna

Snowy Owl by Zoologist

You have to look past the entire branding here: apologies to the team, Zoologist, but the twee cartoons are just not for me. This scent, however, is divine. I was a little skeptical of it at first because it came to me as a suggested Macanudo dupe/in the throes of my dirt addiction (not a euphemism for drugs, just an accurate description of the hundreds of dollars I’ve spent on scents that smell like wet earth). And smell like wet earth it does—like, exactly. Like the ground in Sweden when the snow starts to thaw and the first hints of greenery are poking through. I do get iris and frankincense, sure, and maybe a little sharp mint on the opening, but it’s pure petrichor to me. Floral, feral, damp, and dangerous. It’s lying down with a stranger and getting grass stains on your jeans, it’s accidentally microdosing and ripping grass out of the ground, dark little half-moons forming under your fingernails because oh my god do you guys fucking feel how good this is? I don’t think this scent screams cool or arctic. It’s more ‘enchanted corpse six feet under’ than it is ‘cartoon owl flying above ground’ and to me, it’s perfect that way.

Hot or cold? Melted ice.
Color? Chlorophyll green.
Who wears it? Nordic guy who’s incredibly hot in spite of lacking discernible eyebrows.
Room in the house? Amateur greenhouse.
Animal? Hibernating black bear.
Theme song? Season of the Witch cover by Lana Del Rey
Texture? Wet soil underfoot.
Signature drink? Vodka on the rocks.
Favorite word? “Bare.”
Ripe or dead? Dead but not for long.

-Crissy

📸📸📸 Camera Roll 📸📸📸
🪻🌸🌷 Flower Crown Edition 🌷🌸🪻

Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette paired with Black Jade by Lubin (a reformulation of the perfume Marie Antoinette allegedly wore!).

Sharon Tate on her wedding day paired with Jicky by Guerlain (which Sharon Tate definitely wore).

Harry Styles circa 2013 paired with Rose Atlantic by D.S. & Durga (no idea if Harry Styles has worn this but he def would).

Natalie Portman grinning wildly at the Thor: Love & Thunder (honestly have no idea what that is) premiere paired with Une Rose (now Rose Tonnerre) by Frederic Malle.