Choosing a deodorant for summer usually leads to disappointment for me, a heavy perspirer. As a beauty writer, I usually begin the season sampling a new deodorant, which though appealingly packaged or scented winds up not working. I invariably end up with a tried-and-true drugstore anti-perspirant, white formula leaving streaks on clothes. But this season I started a fling with a cool new deodorant, Oak Essentials Microbiome Balancing Deodorant, and I’m loving it even more than I did when I first tried it—so much so that I’m dabbing it on my neck as my summer scent.
I initially thought the stick was weird, since it’s an otherworldy shade of blue and comes in the pale matte packaging that’s in line with creator Jenni Kayne’s Cali Chic vibe. The stick glides on more like a gel than a cream or chunky stick deodorant, and doesn’t leave a white trail. And the scent is intoxicating—it’s scented with blue tansy and chamomile, which evokes a wildflower field, green and not too sweet. The scent is giving upscale French pharmacy more than crunchy granola hippie, which is the only aesthetic past generations of clean beauty were able to choose from. (Someone should send this to Seema on And Just Like That—her outdoorsy natural deodorant-loving paramour would approve.)
