I Can’t Stop Thinking About This New Ulla Johnson Perfume

Though the number of fragrances I’m sent is eye-watering, only a select few instantly trigger an intense wave of nostalgia. Sometimes, it’s scents I used to spend my part-time job money on at the department store as a teen — fragrances I quite literally doused myself in. Other times, the familiarity is harder to place, sparked by something within the scent itself. That’s exactly what happened when I tried Ulla Johnson’s Adriatic Gold.

The airy floral perfume, with jasmine, ylang-ylang, and Italian bergamot grounded by milky rice, sandalwood, and musk, felt like something I’d known before — even if I couldn’t quite place why. And beyond that sense of familiarity, it’s one of the most striking, unusual floral fragrances I’ve encountered in a long time.

On the skin, it opens with sparkling Italian bergamot and mandarin — an immediate burst of brightness before white flowers, angelica seed, and black pepper emerge at the heart. The effect is transportive, nodding to Lokrum, the Adriatic island that inspired the fragrance. As it settles, it warms into the sensual combo of sandalwood, white musk, and rice.

Altogether, it feels both like a sun-soaked escape and comfort in a bottle.

Ulla Johnson’s Adriatic Gold

Fashion designer Ulla Johnson introduced her debut fragrance collection on April 28 with three scents: Drift Rose, Baroque Garden, and Adriatic Gold. Each was crafted by perfumer Lyn Harris in collaboration with French perfume house Robertet as a way to reflect the designer’s passion for nature. The fragrances are housed in round glass inspired by 19th-century Chinese snuff bottles, capped with porcelain orbs designed by Los Angeles-based ceramic artist Jonathan Yamakami.

Each of the scents is truly stunning. Drift Rose is a sun-warmed floral with Sicilian lemon, white peach, and lush rose, while Baroque Garden encapsulates a waltz through lush, freshly tended greenery with Calabrian bergamot and Iranian galbanum.

Adriatic Gold, though, is the one that immediately struck me. Described as a scent that captures “the feeling of the sun on your skin” while you’re reclined on a rock by the Adriatic Sea, it glimmers with solar energy layered with oceanside florals and skin-like musk.

With gourmand fragrances still dominating the perfume world, sweet florals are having a moment — offering a fresher alternative to the now-saturated world of vanilla-heavy scents. Adriatic Gold captures that shift, but elevates it with a more transportive, skin-like quality. Rather than lean into gourmand sweetness, it remains diffused and airy, with a warmth that slowly unfolds during dry down. It doesn’t announce itself so much as it settles in, becoming something closer to a second skin than a statement fragrance. It’s familiar, fleeting, and entirely its own — and I’m completely obsessed.