Yes, I Want To Smell Like A Tomato. You Too?

I swiped the new California Naturals Tomato Lip Balm across my mouth and immediately thought of warm vines and sun-wet skins in late August. It is a collab with pasta sauce upstart Sauz, which sounds like a joke until you smell it. Fresh heirloom tomato, a subtle red tint, and a clean ingredient list for 10 dollars make it the rare novelty that actually earns its keep.

Savory is no longer the weird cousin of gourmand. It is the point. If you’ve chased that mouthwatering green snap before, you know the references: the elegant bite of Sisley Eau de Campagne with its unmistakable tomato leaf; the summer-in-a-greenhouse realism of CB I Hate Perfume Memory of Kindness; the straight-to-the-stem simplicity of Demeter Tomato and Demeter Tomato Leaf. Last year’s garden fever hit the mainstream with Maison Margiela Replica From the Garden, a dew-drenched ode to snapped vines and soil. In the home space, the mania is already full bloom with the culty Flamingo Estate Roma Heirloom Tomato candle, Jo Malone Green Tomato Leaf candle, and Malin+Goetz Tomato candle. Even the cheeky D.S. & Durga Pasta Water candle proved people want their rooms - and apparently their lips - to smell like dinner.

Here is what surprises me about the balm: it is not kitsch. The scent reads green, juicy, a little tart, then it softens quickly into skin-warmth. The tint is flattering in that “I just bit a cherry tomato” way. On me it layers beautifully under sharper green fragrances, makes citrus feel more vivid, and even turns a vanilla into something flirtier and less dessert-y.

Is this the most serious fragrance launch of the year? Of course not. But it quietly solves a very real craving. We want freshness without fruit salad. We want sensual without sugar. And some of us want the romance of a garden on our lips at 8 a.m.

If tomato has ever tempted you, start here. Clip it into your bag, pair it with Eau de Campagne or spritz From the Garden, and let the vine do the flirting. At 4 g for $10, this is a low-stakes, high-pleasure way to taste - and smell - the trend.