7 Best Fresh Colognes for Men – Clean Smelling Picks For 2023

No time to shower? Sweaty after the gym? Looking to impress the girl who sits next to you at the office? The best fresh colognes will take care of all three. With bright, punchy scents loaded with citrus and herbs, the best men’s fresh fragrance will ensure that you feel clean all day long.

This isn’t to say that you should stop showering, but the ebest fresh and clean colognes are a convincing alternative to Dove bar soap. Wear them through the hot months of the summer to mask stinky pits or in the depths of winter to keep things light.

One thing’s for sure, no matter where you’re going, the best fresh colognes for men are coming with ya. These are the best choices to add to your rotation this year.

Key Takeaways

The best men’s fresh fragrance ultimately boils down to what you’re looking for. In terms of the best fresh cologne that you can wear year-round, our top pick is &Horace, which adapts to you. It’s a solid mid-range price, with enough depth for the colder months, though it will carry you through the summer flawlessly.

If you’re shopping for the best fresh and clean colognes on a budget, Burberry Weekend and Lacoste Essential are both under $100 and smell like sunshine.

Our Top Picks

two bottles of horace eau de parfum on a mirror stand — View More on Horace

While it’s not challenging to find the best fresh colognes, it can be tricky to find a fresh cologne that smells unique. Most of the time, bright fragrances are loaded up with citrus without much else. But &Horace is a fresh cologne that actually changes with every man who wears it.

Designed to adapt to the wearer’s skin, &Horace is one of the best fresh colognes for men seeking something different—we love it here at Fashionbeans. The bright, spicy mix of bergamot and white pepper is invigorating, while the depth from cedarwood and sandalwood colognes creates an overwhelmingly clean scent. With surprises in every sniff, this is the best fresh cologne for a versatile, year-round signature fragrance.

Even after racking your brain, it’s challenging to come up with a destination quite as fresh as Capri. Sitting off the coast of Naples, the island is positively brimming with bright citrus. 19-69 captures this in their up and coming fresh cologne for men, creating a fragrance that’s almost as good as dinner on an Italian terrace.

This bright scent deepens with notes of sweet jasmine, captivating ylang-ylang, and white musk to make the perfect summer cologne. While it can be worn year-round, Capri will have the biggest impact in the warm months as a fresh fragrance to cut through the heavy heat as a breath of fresh air. It’s also a top choice if you’re looking for the best musk colognes for summer.

If you’re on a budget and looking for the best colognes under $50, a top choice is Burberry Weekend (it’s a few dollars over, but close enough). Capturing the smell of a casual Saturday spent with friends, it opens with fresh lemon notes with a grounding base of sweet honey and amber. This fresh option is ideal for office or daytime wear, especially as a cologne for young men. It’s bright but not too strong, with alluring aromas reminiscent of warm weather and the best times in life.

Don’t mind spending a little more? Lacoste Essential is an easy everyday scent, especially if you’re looking for the best fresh colognes on a budget. At under $100, this cologne has a striking depth to it, with a citrus top, heart notes of black pepper, and an elegant sandalwood base.

Aesop is the epitome of luxury and the gold standard in the world of the best fresh colognes for men. Tacit is our top pick, encapsulating everything we love in a crisp fragrance. Drawing inspiration from the Mediterranean coast, it’s citrusy, herbal, and plenty spicy to create harmony between unsuspecting ingredients. If you can’t make it to Italy, this is the next best thing. Tacit smells like lunch in Naples—lemon pasta, Caprese salad, and lots and lots of basil.

If you’re looking for a serious splurge, Creed Aventus is a luxurious alternative and one of the best colognes for men of all time. It’s more fruit heavy with seductive sweetness, making it worth the jaw-dropping price tag.

Aqua di Parma is the pioneer of the best fresh and clean colognes for men. The brand is well known for pumping out timeless, refreshing fragrances, with Colonia as the crown jewel. Combining lively citrus with herbal, floral, and earthy notes, Colonia transcends the ages as one of the best fresh colognes for men of all time.

Aside from the stunning aroma profile, we’re huge fans of Colonia for its versatile nature. Whether you wear it year-round or reserve it for warmer months, spritz it before the office or a hot date, Colonia will carry you wherever life leads with a fresh boost of confidence.

Rather be at the beach than crunching numbers? If you’re looking to rack up compliments with your everyday fresh cologne, there’s no better choice than this scent. Essentially the fragrance that put Jo Malone on the map, Lime Basil & Mandarin is the perfect cologne to carry you through life. Work, dates, family functions, you name it. This fresh cologne is a suitable choice, no matter the occasion.

The smell evokes memories of warmer days, sipping margaritas seaside, and lying under the hot summer sun. Whenever you need a pick me up, give this fresh cologne a spray, and you’ll be instantly transported to somewhere far, far away… Ideally, a lounge chair in the Carribean.

As the best fresh colognes women love on men, Diesel Only the Brave is well worth considering on your quest for a new scent. This cologne will carry you beyond just date nights—it’s a top choice for an everyday signature fragrance. On a personal note, Only the Brave is my boyfriend’s go-to, and I can’t keep my hands off of him when he wears it.

Dominated by crisp top notes of lemon and mandarin, this fresh cologne has an herbal base, which sets it apart from other fragrances. Grounded in temping rosemary and warm cedar, Only the Brave is distinctly masculine and positively irresistible.

a bottle of 19-69 capri with lemons in a woven net bag — oberpollingerofficial / Instagram

What to Look for in the Best Fresh Colognes

Size

The first consideration when it comes to choosing the best men’s fresh fragrance is the size. Since it’s a clean cologne, you’ll likely reach for this bottle more often than intense colognes reserved for nighttime. Make sure you have enough to always have a spritz on hand when the occasion calls.

For fresh colognes for men, it never hurts to splurge for the larger size, thanks to the ease of wear. Although, if you plan on tossing it in your gym bag or taking it on your travels, a mini bottle is often the more practical choice.

Seasonality

When choosing the best fresh and clean colognes for men, it’s also worth keeping seasonality at the forefront of your mind.

At their core, fresh fragrances are naturally the ideal choice for warm weather. There’s something about July and citrus that just makes sense. However, if you’re shopping for a fresh cologne to wear during chillier months, it’s worth choosing an option with a touch of spice, sandalwood, and amber to temper out the greenness.

With this in mind, the colognes on this list transcend the time of year to help you feel crisp no matter the season.

Type

When choosing the best fresh and clean colognes, it pays to stick with something less concentrated, like an Eau de Toilette. In their essence, Eau de Toilettes are lighter than Eau de Parfums or the best long-lasting colognes. Oftentimes, just a touch of light fragrance feels cleaner than bathing in it.

An Eau de Toilette will allow you to layer different fragrances to create a unique scent. Since it’s not too strong to start with, it’s like a fresh canvas, waiting for more details. Plus, it makes it easy to wear your fresh cologne year-round, especially when fused with a deeper scent.

That said, fresh fragrances can already be light to start with, so if this is a concern, opt for an Eau de Parfum or Cologne for a more intense smell.

a bottle of horace eau de parfum and itsingredients in raw form — horace.co / Instagram

Final Verdict

The final verdict on the best fresh and clean colognes is there’s a whole lot to choose from. If you’re hunting down your next signature scent, &Horace is bright, with enough complexity to wear year-round.

Shopping on a budget? Burberry Weekend and Lacoste Essential are classic fresh scents that won’t break the bank. If you have a little more to spend, consider Aesop Tacit or Creed Aventus for a luxurious splurge.

FAQ

- The best fresh cologne is often packed with citrus, bursting with lemon, mandarin orange, and bergamot. Many fresh colognes also have herbal qualities like sage and rosemary. But fresh fragrances can also be some of the best woody colognes, with earthy scents like sandalwood, cedarwood, and oakmoss. Overall, a fresh cologne should smell like a sunny day.