What does Driftwood smell like?
Pick up a piece of wood on a beach at the end of summer. It hardly smells of resin anymore. It smells of salt, warm sand and dry air. That is what the driftwood accord aims for: a pale woodiness with no sugar or smoke. It often has an ambery, mineral side. In perfume it feels like skin after a swim. It lasts well on skin, as the molecules behind it are heavy.
Origin and production
No driftwood is distilled for perfume. The accord relies mainly on woody and ambery synthetics, often paired with salty and seaweed notes. Cedar, vetiver and musks sometimes round out the formula. Each house therefore builds its own driftwood. The note rose with the seaside-scent trend of the 2010s.
How perfumers use it
Driftwood sits in the base with sea salt, sage and musks. Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt (2014) made it popular, under ambrette and grapefruit. Tom Ford Costa Azzurra (2014) puts it in the top instead, with seaweed and celery seed. Hermès Un Jardin sur la Lagune (2019) sets it under magnolia. Boucheron Quatre pour Homme (2015) pairs it with labdanum.
How to wear it
Driftwood is a summer note for day or evening. Wood Sage & Sea Salt is light, so allow four sprays. Costa Azzurra is denser and needs only two.