Is This Really The World’s Best Smelling Sunscreen?

Jun 17, 2023

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Southern Living editors test Vacation sunscreen to find out.

Amazon.com

Beyond checking the SPF and ingredients, most people don’t think too much about their sunscreen of choice. It’s usually a slap-it-on-and-go situation. That's how it was for me, anyway, until I came across Vacation sunscreen, which has become a bit of an obsession for me this summer.

Billed as "the world’s best smelling sunscreen," “excessively good,” and “leisure-enhancing sunscreen for those who take their leisure seriously,” this isn’t your ordinary sunblock. Visit the company’s website and you’ll feel like you’ve entered a portal to a beachy resort where everyone is tan, relaxed, and has hair from the 1980s. The product packaging looks straight out of the era too—so much so that I actually wondered if it was originally created 40-something years ago. (It wasn’t—the marketing is that good.) Available in SPF 30 and 50, it comes in a lotion (regular and mineral) and a spray.

Amazon.com

$19

Buy on Amazon

But back to the smell. The company describes the scent of Vacation sunscreen as a combination of “coconut, banana, pool water, pool toy, and swimsuit lycra—all of your best sunscreen summer memories”. While I can’t say I got a whiff of pool toy, it hits all of those notes in a way that evokes relaxing, sunny days spent by the water. I love it so much I'll wear it instead of my regular perfume. (Added bonus: sun protection!)

“This scent whisks me right off to the beach!”

“It smells like a piña colada—this is the sunscreen Jimmy Buffett would use. Apparently they make a car air freshener in this scent and I’d love that.” [Note: They make several different types of air fresheners.]

“Love the nostalgic smell—like being on the lake with my grandparents and splitting a tube of Pringles with my cousin! Love, love, love.”

“I like that it smells like coconut but isn’t too strong or overpowering.”

“It smells like the packaging looks—pitch-perfect beach vacation nostalgia. I’d want to lather up in it while at the beach but would prefer unscented for daily wear.”

Related: How To Reapply Sunscreen, According To Experts

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