Why Luxury Brands Want Your Home and Body to Smell Like Tomatoes
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Given the dizzying pace of microtrends, it seems anything can hit virality, then disappear in a TikTok second. So when tomato started trending last summer with flush-faced ‘Tomato girl’ makeup, we didn’t exactly expect to the nightshade to stay on our radars into 2024. But thanks to tomato-fragranced candles, perfumes, and even home cleaning products launched by luxury brands like Loewe, Maison Margiela, Diptyque, and more, the fresh scent has hit peak ‘it-status’ with proven staying power.
“Spate has observed a growing preference for fruity fragrances,” says Yarden Horwitz, co-founder and president of Spate, a consumer trend and data intelligence platform. “Tomato, in particular, has garnered attention through products like Loewe’s Tomato Leaves candle and Tomato Girl Summer, coinciding with the vibrant red color trend in fashion from summer through fall... Tomato’s consistent growth in searches (+55.2 percent since last year) combined with its popularity in the zeitgeist suggests a promising trend for future months.”
The tomato scents put forward by luxury powerhouses aren’t exactly an ode to nonna’s sunday sauce. Instead, the trending scent can be rendered to smell clean and crisp, herbaceous and earthy, or sweet, like fresh tomatoes on the vine. “The smells that are created don’t have to exactly smell like a tomato, but they can be a bit of a fantasy fresh, crisp tomato-y scent,” notes Olivia Jezler, founder of scent consultancy firm Future of Smell. She says the luxury market is backing tomato because “it’s different from the usual florals and woods and ambers. It also fulfills a different olfactive category—it’s more of a crisp freshness without having to be citrus. Plus, the fact that tomato is a ‘vegetable’ but a beautiful looking one that has so many positive associations makes it a win.”
Ahead, find 10 ways to freshen your home and body—and uplift your spirit—with the irresistibly verdant notes of tomato.
Maison Margiela Replica Garden Eau de Toilette
This blockbuster scent starts as bright and green (think: tomatoes on the vine), before developing to something akin to sunsoaked citrus, then warms on the skin to a scent that’s lightly herbaceous with a touch of geranium. The end result is a clean scent that feels familiar, comforting and timeless, just like the backyard tomato garden in your childhood home.
Buy Maison Margiela Replica Garden Eau de Toilette at Sephora, $165
Leland Francis 109 Eau de Parfum
Makeup artist Dillon Peña created this small batch parfum with plant-based natural ingredients blended with organic sugar cane alcohol for a less synthetic scent. The powdery floral, which includes notes of palmarosa, rose, vanilla, and cedarwood, opens with a green hint of tomato leaves (in homage to the Western Oklahoma garden of Peña’s grandmother’s). The scent is a nostalgic one for the brand: its namesake 109 is a nod to the family rural post box number.
Buy Leland Francis 109 Eau de Parfum at Thirteen Lune, $118
Jo Malone Green Tomato Vine Townhouse Candle
Somehow, this elegantly housed candle serves as a close dupe for the oils housed in the hairlike trichomes of tomato stems and leaves—a little crisp, a little sweet, and very uplifting. The result is a fragrance that evokes cleanliness and hope (or the exact thing to combat a room overcome by dirty laundry and not enough time to deal).
Buy Jo Malone Green Tomato Vine Townhouse Candle at Bluemercury, $140
Buy Jo Malone Green Tomato Vine Townhouse Candle at Nordstrom, $140
Diptyque La Droguerie Odor Removing Room Spray
Diptyque’s La Droguerie line includes dish soap, surface cleaner, shoe polish, and, of course, a candle—all designed to neutralize wicked smells. We put the collection’s room spray to the test after cooking with onion and hosting a trio of teenage boys who all shared a room. A few spritzes of the spray replaced the knock-out stink of both scenarios with a medley of basil, tomato and mint, a trick well worth the steep price tag.
Buy Diptyque La Droguerie Odor Removing Room Spray at Neiman Marcus, $80
Buy Diptyque La Droguerie Odor Removing Room Spray at Nordstrom, $80
Nette Laide Tomate Candle
A more mellow take on the tomato trend, this candle mixes the verdant scent of tomato vines with blackcurrant bud, basil, mimosa, orange flour, sea salt, and mineral woods for a subtle summer scent that celebrates the intersection of oceanic aire and summer garden. The effect feels very White Lotus Season 2: coastal, easy, and rich. Bonus: the vessel—made of food and dishwasher-safe blown glass—is screaming to be used as a cocktail glass in its second life.
Buy Nette Laide Tomate Candle at Neiman Marcus, $78
Flamingo Estate Roma Heirloom Tomato Surface Cleaner
Leave it to L.A.’s most expertly marketed garden space to create a surface cleaner that feels as natural and bougie as its clientele. This tomato scent is all young, bright vines and foliage (with none of the sweetness of the fruit itself) combined with wild-harvested Tarragon and black pepper sourced from Madagascar forest. Better yet, the blend cleans surfaces as well as any traditional solution, but leaves a crisp scent that feels far more sophisticated than the standard lemony fare.
Buy Flamingo Estate Roma Heirloom Tomato Surface Cleaner at Flamingo Estate, $26
Ere Perez Wild Tomato Riche Creme
Just a touch of this ultra-rich moisturizer from a Sydney-based naturopath goes a long way to hydrating skin and brightening tone (thanks in part to the lycopene, used to address dryness and smooth texture), all while delivering a kiss of tomato-lavender scent upon application.
Buy Ere Perez Wild Tomato Riche Creme at Neiman Marcus, $42
Memo Paris Italian Leather Eau de Parfum
Used to balance deep and sexy notes of leather, myrrh and vanilla absolute, oil of green tomato leaf brings a bright and subtly sweet element to this unisex fragrance that has fantastic staying power. After a few hours of wear, the scent settles into a smooth, spicy, and earthy mix of vanilla, leather, and wild herbs.
Buy Memo Paris Italian Leather Eau de Parfum at Bloomingdale's, $310
Carrière Frères Tomato Candle
The sharp scent of green tomato vines is balanced with a fresh fragrance of garden air in this vegan wax candle made from European organic rapeseed. It’s the ultimate burn when looking to sweeten the air with the aura of natural cleanliness and capture sunny afternoons in the salsa garden without stepping foot outside.
Buy Carrière Frères Tomato Candle at Bloomingdale's, $69
Fountain of Waters Tomato Garden Hand Serum Cream
If they smell good enough, hand creams can get away with packing a fantastic fragrance—and not doing much else. But this K-Beauty formula offers both an exceptional scent (thanks to citrus, vanilla and what smells like sweet cherry tomatoes on the vine) and serious skin care chops (see: probiotic Lactobacillus ferment, glycerin, and shea butter, along with tomato pulp, seed, and peel upcycled from California Farms) for a gel-cream consistency that instantly absorbs, softens skin, and leaves a brightening scent in its wake.
Buy Fountain of Waters Tomato Garden Hand Serum Cream at Fountain of Waters, $28
Antica Farmacista Tomato Vine Dish Soap
If anything can elevate the drudgery of doing dishes, it’s this excellently fragranced dish soap, which uses all the sweet, bright and uplifting elements of fresh tomatoes on the vine for a scent that boosts mood like citrus but in a more unexpected way. What’s more, the formula itself cleans dishes and cuts grease without having to pile on the soap, making the liquid gold of this 24-ounce bottle last and last.
Buy Antica Farmacista Tomato Vine Dish Soap at Antica Farmacista, $38
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