This Beloved "If You Know, You Know" Perfume Smells Like Plastic, and I Love It

Welcome to Deep Reviews—your one-stop destination to discover the absolute best products and brands the beauty industry has to offer. The Who What Wear staffers you already know and trust will research, test, and review the market's most sought-after and buzzed-about products to see which formulas (of the hundreds up for consideration) are truly worth your hard-earned money and attention. You can expect honest, completely uncensored feedback and no-BS recommendations our hard-to-please testers endorse without reservations.

The majority of our Deep Reviews will feature our editors' honest, ultra-hot takes on entire product categories or multiple products from a particular beauty brand, but every so often, we'll sprinkle in a special single-product format called Honestly, I Love It. As the name suggests, these reviews will hone in on one standout beauty formula our editors quite literally can't shut up about. This time around, I'm raving about the Comme des Garçons Parfums x ERL collaboration fragrance: Sunscreen ($112).

Once in a while, there's a fragrance that really digs deep down into my soul and refuses to get out. Scientific experts say our memory is intrinsically tied to smells, with each pivotal moment in our lives being recalled when we get a whiff of something we were wearing. It's why brides insist on getting a "wedding scent." (Cue TikTok influencer Mikayla Nogueira's multi-video series hunting down the fragrance to wear down the aisle.)

In my case, there are a few fragrances that transport me right back to where I was when I was wearing them. There's the sickeningly sweet, teenage-fueled scent I wore to my prom (Black Opium by YSL Beauty) and the smell that takes me back to senior year of college when I listened to Taylor Swift's Folklore for the first time (Bal d'Afrique by Byredo). But nothing comes close to touching one of my favorite fragrances of all time, which I wore when I first moved to New York: Sunscreen, a collaborative fragrance by Comme des Garçons Parfums and cult-favorite menswear fashion brand ERL. 

I first discovered the scent almost two years ago when then GQ fashion critic Rachel Tashjian wrote that Sunscreen "instantly evokes late '90s and early 2000s Americana, a pre-9/11 dreamscape of overheated blacktops and boy bands and sunset wallpaper in strip mall nail salons, a time when all of us millennials had it good." As another writer with flowery words, I instantly got it, but I needed to try it for myself. In the middle of a semi-blizzard that happened days after I moved into my minuscule apartment near Gramercy Park, I trekked the few blocks uptown to Comme des Garçons in-store sanctuary Dover Street Market to see what the hype was about. Safe to say, it didn't disappoint. 

With notes such as musk, cedar oil, coconut, and lily of the valley, Sunscreen dries down to a scent reminiscent of wet skin. The power, however, lies in the fragrance's eyebrow-turning top notes—particularly solar accord, a synthetic scent that can only be described as plasticky. Frankly, it's what gives Sunscreen its zany, indescribable appeal. When launched in the summer of 2021, the fragrance came with a limited-edition inflated plastic bag that would let the bottle float while in the pool. (I can't make this up even if I tried.)

Sunscreen feels like a technical masterpiece. It's one thing to spray your body with UV protection, but it's another thing to smell like it without the sticky feeling it gives, no reapplying necessary. Comme des Garçons Parfums, ERL, and Nelly Hachem-Ruiz—the nose behind the scent—all describe Sunscreen as evoking the feelings surrounding a nostalgic summer. Sunshine, ocean water, and pool chlorine are all cited as inspirations. 

How does a perfume that's literally meant to smell like a pool noodle become synonymous with Venice Beach cool? Like the nosy person I am, I had to investigate.

Seemingly built for long days in the great outdoors, Sunscreen wears for four to six hours—much less if you're dipping in and out of the pool it begs to be worn in. There's a faint, skin-like smell mixed with coconut that dries down after the initial projection fades away about an hour or two in. 

Aside from the kitschy styrofoam packaging Sunscreen comes in, the fragrance's sleek, discreet bottle is easily transportable. Although I wouldn't recommend throwing it in haphazardly packed luggage for an international flight, the no-frills design meant I wasn't constantly worried the bottle would break when I took it with me for overnight and weekend-long trips. 

Unlike a few other signature scents I'll wear for special occasions or on nights out, Sunscreen's mild scent makes it an everyday fragrance for me. It's not a punchy fragrance. Frankly, most people besides those you're quite familiar with won't notice it's there after the initial spritz. At the end of the day, though, I'm wearing perfume for myself. Sunscreen's subtle aroma feels like the olfactory version of a slight head nod and a knowing wink you'd get from someone you're sharing an inside joke with. If you know, you know, and if you don't, you don't.

While there are a few scents and perfume houses the fashion crowd always swears by (Le Labo's Santal 33 is becoming a cult classic among skaters and art gallery owners), Comme des Garçons Parfums and ERL's collaborative scent is an underground favorite. Long gone are the days of head rush–inducing, mass-marketed fruity and floral scents. Summer break (and Sunscreen) forever. 

Shop more niche perfume recommendations:

Next, Out of 67 "Best-Ever" Perfumes, Our Editors Tested and Chose the Top 15