Women's Lifestyle March 2, 2026 0 Comments

This Summer Fridays Scent Is About to Take Over—Here’s Why Everyone’s Talking About It (And You Should Too)

Ever caught yourself wondering why vanilla, that humble, sweet scent, is suddenly stealing the spotlight in the fragrance world? Well, I’ve been chatting with the brilliant minds behind Summer Fridays—Marianna Hewitt and Lauren Ireland—and trust me, they’re flipping the vanilla game on its head. From a skincare brand born in 2018 to a full-on lifestyle powerhouse, Summer Fridays has quietly brewed up something spectacular: Sunlit Vanilla, a fragrance that’s not just about smelling good but transporting you to that golden hour after a sun-soaked day, licking a vanilla ice cream cone. It’s funny how they started with fragrance-free skincare and now they’re riding the wave of gourmand scents, perfectly timed for today’s fragrance aficionados. Intrigued by how they blend emotion, nostalgia, and a touch of sunscreen-y sweetness into one long-lasting scent? You’re in for a treat.

LEARN MORE

3 min read

On a Zoom call with Summer Fridays founders Marianna Hewitt and Lauren Ireland, I tell them about one of my recent “on this day” memory posts: an Instagram Story gushing about the brand in its infancy, way back in 2018. I was an instant fan. I travel with the Jet Lag Mask in every carry-on. I used the Babymoon Belly Balm throughout my pregnancy (it really worked), and I keep a tinted Lip Butter Balm at the bottom of all my bags.

Summer Fridays has exploded in popularity in the last five years, growing from a few viral skincare SKUs to a full-fledged lifestyle beauty brand. Recent launches include color cosmetics like blushes and lip stains, as well as an apparel collaboration with Gap. So it was only a matter of time before Summer Fridays took its breezy, effortlessly cool ethos to the world of fragrance. Meet Sunlit Vanilla.

Courtesy of Summer Fridays

Courtesy of Summer Fridays

“When we were thinking about what people love from Summer Fridays—it’s interesting, because our skincare is all fragrance-free, non-comedogenic, but we have this other half of the business that is all scent and flavor-driven,” Hewitt says. “We dreamed up the idea, and we knew that our first product had to be a vanilla perfume, but we didn’t want it to just be your typical vanilla.”

You might be thinking: wait, why do I vaguely remember a Summer Fridays perfume? Great memory! Back in 2021, the brand released a limited-edition trio of rollerball perfume oils for the holiday season. “One was vanilla, one was coconut, and one was citrus,” Hewitt explains. “And it’s so funny, because looking back, I think we were just a little bit ahead of our time. People maybe weren’t ready for gourmand perfumes yet.”

They are now. Gourmands, and vanilla scents in particular, are more popular than ever before. The competition is stiff, but Sunlit Vanilla brings a fresh take that combines everything fans loved about the prior perfume oil trio. The top note is bergamot, which brings an immediate feeling of sunshine. In the middle are caramel and coconut, which, for me, conjure yummy sunscreen (in the best way). Then it dries down to notes of vanilla, creamy musk, tonka bean, and amber. It’s warm, it’s golden, it’s sweet and sexy, but never overpowering. It’s the fragrance you’re about to smell everywhere—an early contender for scent of the summer. What impressed me the most was the longevity of Sunlit Vanilla. I wore it all day, scrubbed myself down in the shower, and could still catch whiffs of it on my wrist.

At the heart of every Summer Fridays launch is nostalgia and the spirit of vacation. “When we thought about this specific scent, we really thought about, where is the scent taking you to?” says Ireland. “It’s that warm summer day, and it’s after a day in the sun. It’s getting that vanilla ice cream cone at the end of the beach day.”

And then there’s the bottle—a gorgeous vintage-inspired glass that fits nicely in your hand but also your travel bag (there’s a rollerball version available, too). “Lauren and I always like to think of the functionality of actually using your products. We had so many perfumes that we love, but they come in really large, round bottles. You want to put them in your makeup bag and travel with them, but they were just clunky, and you never wanted to take them with you,” Hewitt says. Sunlit Vanilla comes in 10 ml and 50 ml glass bottles, with the fluting as a subtle nod to striped beach towels. “We loved how it felt in our hand, and then how it looked sitting out on the vanity,” Hewitt adds.

The Sunlit Vanilla Eau de Parfum is launching exclusively on the Sephora app on March 16 and at Sephora and SummerFridays.com on March 17. The fragrance will be available in 10ml (0.34 fl oz) for $30 and 50 ml (1fl oz) for $82.