As you’ve likely heard, 2023 is the summer of the “tomato girl.” She languidly traipses around Italy (or coastal Spain, or her local farmer’s market) gathering fresh produce to turn into bounteous feasts and sipping spritzes, all while wearing plenty of flowing prairie dresses. Her hair is swept into a messy, romantic updo or tucked back with a silken scarf. And she loves a tomato-scented candle.
“Wait, what?” I hear you say.
That’s right: a new guard of candles, diffusers, and beauty products is on hand to help you live the tomato girl fantasy, all featuring notes inspired by the summery vine fruit. “Farming fragrances from the garden adjusts the expectations and enhances the sensory possibilities,” says Núria Cruelles, a perfumer at Loewe. In 2020, the brand first released its Tomato Leaves collection, a series of candles and a room spray that pulled inspiration from wandering markets, Spain’s abundant natural resources, and playing in the garden. “The scent warms the room, revealing notes of cassis berries, green verdant, and fruit just on the edge of blossom.”
Also celebrating tomato girl summer are brands like Flamingo Estate, Malin + Goetz, and Jo Malone. While Flamingo Estate’s Roma Heirloom Tomato scent is currently only available in candle form, a doubling in sales over the last year means that bar soaps, body wash, a room spray, and more are slated to launch this month.
“From the very beginning, we were always looking for ways to bring the garden inside,” says Richard Christiansen, founder of Flamingo Estate, of the fragrance. “On the surface, it’s green and earthy, but as it burns, it becomes more complex with layers that are peppery and fresh – anchored by the aroma of tomato vine, basil, and black pepper – transporting you to the decadence of a summer dinner party in a Sicilian garden.”
Sure, tomatoes are tasty, and are intrinsically associated with the summer months. But according to Christiansen, another of the humble tomato’s draws is the nostalgia it evokes: if you grew up with access to a garden bed, the scent of its filament-coated leaves and stems sticks in the memory. As adults, a plate of freshly-plucked and sliced tomatoes, and the accompanying aroma, signals a sort of breezy abundance; the sort of meal one serves up in the carefree throes of vacation mode. “The tomato can be so many things – earthy and sensual, decadent, and romantic,” says Christiansen. “We’re drawn to fragrances that connect us to something fondly remembered, but the best ones go beyond that to create a unique sensory experience.”
Malin + Goetz’s Tomato candle was conceptualised as a new take on garden-to-table: a simple means of bringing the joys of the outside, in. “This fruit symbolises, and brings us to the centre of, every home,” says Ciello Tuazon, senior director of global production innovation at Malin + Goetz. “It also represents the expanding role of food in culture and how, now more than ever, we crave comfort.”
Because of the nature of social media, it’s likely that your vision of a tomato girl summer includes a far-flung and extensive Mediterranean getaway – but it seems that the olfactory draw of the tomato is deeply rooted in our own backyards. Scent-driven staycation, anyone?
