Found: The Only Dry Shampoo I’m Using All Summer Long

You know when you have two friends from different groups finally for the first time, and you (being the common link) knew they would get along? Learning about Amika’s new collab with indie fragrance brand Ellis Brooklyn felt exactly like that — but in beauty product form. 

For starters, both brands have roots in NYC, and as I chat with both Shapiro and Amika CEO Chelsea Riggs, it’s immediately clear this isn’t just another beauty collab — it’s a friendship. (“Amika” actually means “friend” in Esperanto, the world's most popular international auxiliary language.) The fact that I also happened to find the dry shampoo I’ll be using nonstop this summer? A total bonus.

“Perk Up has been in the market for almost 15 years, and it's also ranked as the number-one premium dry shampoo,” Riggs tells Refinery29. “We knew we wanted to have a moment for that, and fragrance was where we wanted to lean in.” Ellis Brooklyn was a natural fit; during our conversation, Ellis Brooklyn founder Bee Shapiro shared that she was a former client of Amika’s (sadly, now closed) salon in Williamsburg. Kismet!

Just in time for summer, Amika has reimagined its bestselling Perk Up Dry Shampoo with the scent of Ellis Brooklyn’s Miami Nectar. The result? The same instantly refreshing dry shampoo, now with tropical notes of pink pineapple, coconut water, and amber. “We tested a bunch of different fragrances that Bee and the team sent, and I really thought we were going to end up with Sun Fruit, given the color and it feeling very Amika,” Riggs shares, adding that it was a lab sample of (then-unreleased) Miami Nectar that wont the team over. “It smelled as if Amika had gone to the beach.”

But this sun-soaked version of Perk Up isn’t just a way to refresh your roots and add a boost of volume; it’s an invitation to layer your fragrance for a unique blend of good smells. I’ve been using it nonstop in my hair, adding a floral scent like Aesop’s new Aurner Eau de Parfum when I’m feeling more feminine, or leaning more into the warm, woody notes by wearing something like Le Monde Gourmand’s Santal Supreme.

 “We were thinking about what exactly is ‘functional fragrance?’” Shapiro tells me. “And at the end of the day, what’s more functional than my favorite dry shampoo with our amazing scent?” While Amika products are already beloved for their fruity-floral scents, Shapiro says this limited-edition collaboration was a chance to take things to a whole new level. “There are already amazing scents in hair, but we're coming at it with a little bit more complexity [with this launch],” she adds. Miami Nectar Perk Up retails for $28 (the same as a full size of OG Perk Up), and is available at Sephora, as well as Amika and Ellis Brooklyn's respective websites.

If you’re not already using Amika products, chances are you could spot a brightly-colored, patterned can from across the room and know it was the brand’s. A closer look at the packaging reveals Easter eggs that nod to the fragrance (coconuts, pineapples, groovy florals) and Miami’s sun-and-fun lifestyle (pool slides, ice cream cones, seashells, and even a few dolphins). In the few weeks since I received an early sample to test, I’ve been using it nonstop — after workouts, to add texture to my style, or simply as hair perfume. (BTW, I’m a dark brunette, and this stuff disappears into my roots without a trace.) I was already a fan of Ellis Brooklyn’s Miami Nectar fragrance (especially as someone living in Miami) and Amika’s dry shampoo, so to have them combined into one? Nothing less than a match made in beauty heaven.