2025’s Biggest Fragrance Trends Are a Feast for the Senses

Sophia Panych
·21 min read

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The perfect buttery croissant with a deliciously creamy matcha latte. A fragrant bowl of pho. A slice of pizza straight out of the oven. Surprisingly, this isn’t a list of must-try dishes in New York City (although, if you are planning a visit, get a pie at John’s of Bleecker Street and you won't be disappointed). These mouthwatering treats inspired some of 2025’s biggest fragrance trends, from surprisingly savory notes and cafe-inspired milky drinks to the next iteration of the ever-popular gourmand category.

Fragrance, as a business, is thriving. Market research company Euromonitor predicts that the category will have grown from $64.4 billion in 2023 to $68.9 billion by the end of this year. Circana, a global market research firm and technology company, sees it as the fastest-growing category in the prestige beauty sector, climbing in value by 12% in the first half of 2024 compared to 2023. On TikTok, videos that use the hashtag #perfumetok have over 5.2 billion (yes, billion) collective views.

With all that growth and interest comes excitement and innovation—and we’re breaking down what’s next with the help of the industry’s top experts. They anticipate new technologies that will improve fragrance longevity (finally!) and molecules that will make beloved notes more nuanced. Read on for what we’ll be spritzing in 2025.

Meet the experts:

In this story:

Gourmands will continue to dominate.

The not-so-breaking news for 2025: Gourmands aren't going anywhere. “People want to smell sexy and delicious, especially young people, which is where the fragrance industry is directing a lot of its attention,” says Jessica Matlin, director of home and beauty at luxury e-retailer Moda Operandi. In curating the luxury e-retailer’s fragrance selection for the end of 2024, she’s noticed many of the brands the company stocks are continuing to play with gourmand scents. Search trends mirror what fragrance buyers are seeing behind the scenes: Across both Google and TikTok, searches for caramel perfume, gourmand fragrances, and vanilla scents have grown significantly over the past 12 months, according to Spate, the trend-forecasting agency, which predicts this positive growth will continue into the new year.

Perfumers, however, are cooking up new and exciting gourmands that go beyond traditional confectionery-inspired scents. Dubbed “neo” or “new” gourmands, these fragrances are still “edible” and delicious, but softer, more sophisticated, and more complex.

Take Glossier’s You Reve, for example, with its warm, mouthwatering trifecta of buttercream, plum butter, and toasted almonds, the scent is sweet but not overly sugary or syrupy. “Glossier was very intentional in how they described the fragrance as ‘edible,’ [instead of gourmand], trying to distinguish it from the sweet, birthday cake cousins that it might sit next to on a shelf,” says Matlin. “I think the idea is that it's more succulent and sophisticated, and I think we're going to see the same sort of thing with other fragrances that still want to be sweet and addictive, but also want to be a bit more elevated.”

Glossier You Rêve Eau de Parfum

$78.00, Glossier

Fleur Éclair Eau de Parfum

$260.00, Moda Operandi

Heavy Cream Body Mist

$38.00, Phlur

Régime des Fleurs Fleur Éclair is a scent that does this well, says Matlin, with hints of cardamom and cocoa powder adding subtle warmth and sweetness to an otherwise woody-floral fragrance.

In addition to traditional gourmand notes like caramel, vanilla, and tonka bean, expect these new gourmands to contain a lot of nutty notes (hazelnuts, pistachios, toasted almonds), maple syrup, and honey (soft, sweet notes with a lot of depth, according to senior Givaudan perfumer Caroline Sabas), as well as fragrances inspired by ingredients you use in baking, like butter, nutmeg, and heavy cream. (Phlur just came out with a Heavy Cream Body Mist that is somehow both beautifully decadent and delicate at the same time.) “It’s not about the ingredient being in or out, but rather it’s ignited an interest in vanilla and other gourmands, and it’s exciting to see how brands interpret these sorts of notes,” adds Matlin.

Get ready to smell savory.

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For some brands, that interpretation means going even further outside the usual gourmand box than adding some nutty notes. In 2025, the appetite for edible notes is set to grow and delve deeper into the kitchen, exploring vegetal and savory ingredients like truffle, tomato leaf, basil, carrot, steamed rice, and even fermented soybeans. Similar to a traditional gourmand, these savory notes evoke a sense of comfort and nostalgia, whether it’s Snif’s take on a piece of pizza with Slice Society (which has notes of basil and tomato sauce) or Eloria capturing the smells of traditional Korean fermented sauces with its Jang Eau de Parfum. These are two very different fragrances, but our experts called out both as being highly experimental and surprisingly wearable. “You smell these types of scents and think, What am I smelling? Why is this familiar?” says Robertet perfumer Arielle Lebeau. “These savory notes add a layer of complexity and interest to a fragrance.”

Slice Society

$65.00, Snif

Jang (장) Eau De Parfum

$150.00, Elorea

These scents may not be for everyone but it’s indicative of where the industry is going in 2025 and beyond. “Savory flavors are not exactly romantic, but they're exciting and they drive newness, fuel editorial storytelling, and reflect the broader trend of fragrance globalization,” says Matlin. “The business isn't just catering to a Western consumer looking for white florals, but rather a more sophisticated, ‘seasoned’ (no pun intended) client who is open to new ideas and notes.”

Milky fragrances will be spiked with caffeine.

After two years as one of perfume's most popular categories, milky fragrances are growing up and heading to the coffee shop. “I’m expecting to see this category expanding with new takes on other sweet drinks, from milk teas to lattes and matcha lattes,” says Susan Wai Hnin, founder of Gabar fragrances, who calls d’Annam’s Vietnamese Coffee a perfect example of the trend. With notes of coffee and condensed milk, d’Annam perfectly replicates the smell of Cà Phê Sữa Đá, a traditional Vietnamese drink. Kayali does something similar with Cafe Oud 19, capturing the smell of a creamy cappuccino, while Maison Margiela’s Coffee Break—one of the first milky drink scents, launched in 2019—is a warming and invigorating blend of coffee, milk mousse, and vanilla.

Vietnamese Coffee

$120.00, d’Annam

Oudgasm Café Oud 19 Eau de Parfum Intense

$140.00, Huda Beauty

Replica Coffee Break Eau de Toilette

$165.00, Nordstrom

If coffee isn’t your milky drink of choice, there’ll be plenty of other options on the menu in 2025. Gabar’s 05 Lull Eau de Parfum is a soothing black tea scent that smells dreamy, creamy, and utterly romantic. Interest in matcha-inspired perfume is also picking up speed as 2024 comes to an end. Spate tracked a 127.4% increase in search year-over-year for the note on Google, and Lebeau says that many of her clients are asking for matcha scents. While some want the sweet, creamy version of the green tea-based drink, others are requesting the very earthy, bitter smell of pure matcha powder. “It’s interesting from a perfumer’s perspective because matcha is a very complex note to explore,” she says. If you’re looking for one that has more of a milky quality, Obvious Parfums Un Été, which incorporates both vanilla and tonka beans at the base, is a super-photorealistic option.

05 Lull Eau de Parfum

$154.00, Gabar

Un Été

$140.00, Bluemercury

Expect to get your fill with rice fragrances.

Rice notes are set to be particularly popular in 2025, after the success of Diptyque’s Le Papier and the virality of d’Annam’s White Rice. It’s also one of the easiest notes to experiment with. “A steamed rice accord is soft, comforting, and clean, and will be familiar to many people,” says Sabas. It also smells particularly lovely on the skin when mixed with vanilla or soft woods like sandalwood, adds Lebeau. “These rice fragrances really feel like a new way of exploring the intersection between clean and skin scents,” says content creator Emma B., who adds that her followers are particularly interested in these types of fragrances right now.

Le Papier

$130.00, Nordstrom

White Rice

$120.00, d'Annam

Expect stone fruit and cherry scents to mature.

2024 was the year of fruity fragrances. It started with an obsession with strawberry scents, continued over the summer with Ellis Brooklyn’s pink pineapple-y Miami Nectar, and seems to be ending with excitement around cherry eau de parfums courtesy of Sabrina Carpenter’s Cherry Baby. That cherry note signals what we’ll see in 2025.

Miami Nectar

$110.00, Sephora

Cherry Baby Eau de Parfum

$30.00, Walmart

“Coming off the cherry trend, stone fruits—plums, mangos, peaches, apricots—are going to be really big next year,” says Lebeau. Plum is already being highlighted in many end-of-the-year releases like Marc Jacobs’s Perfect Elixir and Victoria Beckham’s Reverie 21:50, although my (and all of TikTok, it seems) current favorite plum scent is NOYZ Unmute, which is one part fruit fragrance, one part gourmand (classic and new, thanks to vanilla and pistachio), and all around intoxicating.

Perfect Elixir

$129.00, Nordstrom

Reverie 21:50

$200.00, Bluemercury

Unmute

$85.00, Ulta Beauty

If you want to get ahead of the trend, there are already some amazing stone fruit-inspired fragrances out there. Eau So Vert’s Fruto Oscuro features two stone fruits native to Mexico—Mexican black cherry and zapote—and is unlike any fruity fragrance we’ve ever smelled. It’s somehow dark, syrupy, smoky, and tart all at the same time. Vilhelm Parfumerie’s Mango Skin smells like a super-fresh, ripe mango (versus something you might slurp down from Jamba Juice), while Tom Ford’s Bitter Peach is a classic in the category, bursting with notes of ripened peach, bright blood orange, and earthy patchouli.

Fruto Oscuro

$185.00, Stele

Mango Skin

$195.00, Nordstrom

Bitter Peach

$405.00, Nordstrom

Florals are ready to make their comeback.

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perfume bottle with rose.jpg

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Florals are to fragrance as red lipstick is to makeup. The category will never go out of style, but they’ve certainly taken a back seat to the trendier gourmands, ouds, and fruit-based scents of the last year. “Florals haven’t been the star for a long time, but I do think there’s new interest and an appetite for them,” says Ellis Brooklyn founder Bee Shapiro, who points toward the immense popularity of Parfums de Marly Delina and the recent obsession with Jo Malone’s classic floral scents. The end of 2024 has also seen a burst of flowery launches, including Palatine, a new fruity floral from Parfums de Marly that combines powdery violet leaf with juicy pear, mandarin, and everyone’s favorite vanilla note, as well as Ellis Brooklyn’s Dear Sky, which pairs tuberose and white peony with rhubarb, honeydew, and an earthy, woody base.

Delina

$220.00, Nordstrom

Palatine Eau de Parfum

$375.00, Nordstrom

Retailers are also seeing a demand for floral fragrances. Matt Belanger, a cofounder of Stéle, a New York City-based boutique that sources niche brands like Maya Njie and Perfumer H, tells Allure they’ve seen a massive upswing in “people from all walks of life drawn to bold, inspiring florals.” For Moda Operandi, florals have been and continue to be one of the e-retailer’s bestsellers. How come? “Because at the end of the day, they smell gorgeous and optimistic,” says Matlin.

Out of all the florals, rose fragrances are poised for the strongest comeback, a trend that we started seeing pick up this winter. “Rose used to smell a bit old-fashioned and powdery, but now it's much fresher and multifaceted,” says Sabas.

This is because perfumers have new and improved molecules to work with that capture different facets of the rose (the fresh green stems, the delicate petals, the intoxicating heart). It’s also because they’re having fun combining rose with unexpected ingredients like leather, caramel, and pink pepper. Paco Rabanne’s Rose 1969, for example, combines rose with ambery notes. Sabas spotlights it for boldness, modernity, and far-reaching appeal.

Rose 1969

$315.00, Paco Rabanne

The #Beastmode fragrance trend will fade—and nuance will replace it.

On Reddit and now on TikTok, there’s long been this belief among fragrance fans that the stronger the scent and the longer it lasts, the better, says Shapiro. “But in this past year, because of that feedback and demand, we've reached max strength: Eau de parfums are extra-powerful, with 20 to 25% perfume oil, and body mists are as strong as eau de toilettes used to be—with nearly 12% oil concentration.”

Matlin echoes this, citing a surprising trend that took over social media this year. “The popularity of #beastmode fragrances on TikTok, for all genders, definitely put power fragrances on the map,” she says. The term is given to high-impact fragrances that are superpowerful and can be smelled halfway across the room. “In fact, one of Moda Operandi’s most popular scents, Matiere Premiere Crystal Saffron, is also its strongest,” she adds.

Crystal Saffron

$205.00, Nordstrom

Glossier You Doux Eau de Parfum

$78.00, Glossier

Dear Sky Eau de Parfum

$115.00, Ellis Brooklyn

But many perfumers and brand owners think we’ve reached a point where we can’t get much stronger and hope that in 2025, the industry can start having a more nuanced discussion around fragrance strength, projection (i.e. sillage), and longevity as they relate to a fragrance’s quality. Just because a fragrance isn’t #beastmode doesn’t make it subpar in formulation. “It used to be that if a scent didn’t last it was fair for the customer to think they weren't getting a decent value,” says Matlin. “Now, while some clients are looking for a real wallop others are looking for superlight, barely there scents.” These could be citrus scents, whose notes will never be as long-lasting as more robust musks and ouds due to their molecular structure, or skin scents, which aren’t formulated to have a strong projection. Glossier’s new You Doux, for example—a gourmand take on a skin scent—is not particularly powerful, but has earned a ton of attention. Described on the brand’s website as being “soft and serene,” it's a scent that stays close to you…as skin scents are meant to do.

While you can still expect to see many new “extraits” and “eau de parfum intenses” at the beginning of the year, you can also expect to see the opposite slowly start to hit shelves as more and more brands and customers talk about the differences in notes, formulations, and concentrations. “I’m starting to hear people talk about longevity in more nuanced ways than just wanting a fragrance to last forever,” says Shapiro, whose newest scent, Dear Sky, is formulated to be airier to appeal to people who don’t want a #beastmode scent. “If you want a lighter, allover mist then go with a body mist. If you want an intense, concentrated dose then go with an extrait. The concentrations all have their own function.”

Slow-release perfumes that stretch out your scent are on the horizon.

Some of the most exciting technological developments coming in 2025 are around longevity. DSM-Firmenich, for example, has developed Haloscent Pure You, which offers a controlled-release fragrance experience, similar to the timed-release concept in medicine. An evolution of technology the company debuted in the mid-1990s to be used in fabric softener, Haloscent Pure You is the first time DSM-Firmenich has found a way to incorporate the science into fine fragrance.

The technology combines two molecules—one fragranced and one odor-neutral. "The resulting 'Haloscent molecule' is odorless until it is triggered by exposure to air, water, light, or your microbiome. Once activated, the molecule is broken, releasing the fragrance notes over time,” says Caroline Ornst, the global fragrance development director at DSM-Firmenich. The Haloscent Pure You molecule is specifically triggered by the wearer’s microbiome (the naturally occurring bacteria/enzymes found on our skin). “When a fragrance containing Haloscent Pure You is sprayed, the fragrance molecules deposit on the skin. Once the exact enzyme found in the microbiome reaches a specific level, it triggers or “activates” the release of the fragrance molecule,” explains Ornst.

So what does it mean if you're wearing a fragrance that contains the Haloscent Pure You molecule? According to Ornst, you will be able to smell the fragrance every time the molecule is broken (when there’s an elevation in temperature or heat) and it releases the scent. “This means you’ll better notice your fragrance over a period of time when otherwise you might have become adjusted to it,” she explains. DSM-Firmenich announced the technology in 2024, but New Zealand brand Châlon Paris is already using it in their range of hand washes and body lotions.

Mood-boosting accords will become the norm.

The functional fragrance space has always been a murky one, with many perfumes marketed as wellness products with psychological benefits despite a general lack of scientific evidence. As far as what current science shows (as in blind, placebo-controlled studies conducted outside the fragrance industry), scents won’t help treat your depression or boost your dopamine, but linalool, found in lavender essential oil, may ease anxiety. Despite this, in 2025, “mood-boosting” accords aren’t going anywhere, but they'll be incorporated into fragrances like any other notes without brands overpromising or making a big song and dance about it (in most cases).

When creating a fragrance, brands will often visit oil houses with briefs on the type of mood they want to create and the target audience they want to reach. But while perfumers used to rely solely on their (very adept) noses, years of research in aromachology (the study of odors on human behavior and emotion) and the introduction of AI is giving them a leg up. DSM-Firmenich has EmotiON, an emotions-based research program that explores claims, colors, ingredients, and olfactive cues to target a specific emotional territory, explains Ornst. “It has been a driving success in the development of emotionally impactful fragrances,” she says.

Givaudan has MoodScentz, a metric tool that allows perfumers to run their formulas through a proprietary algorithm and check if they’re likely to evoke the moods they are trying to create, while International Flavor & Fragrances (IFF) uses a similar technology in its Science of Wellness program. “It’s becoming a [normalized] way of working for the major oil houses like IFF and Givaudan, who have invested heavily in this [aromachology] technology,” says Clayton Ilolahia, evaluations and communications manager at Fragrances of the World. “The research now exists for the companies to say, ‘Okay, we know that when we combine these ingredients, people equate it with a certain mood.’”

Nette Pear Jam

$120.00, Sephora

Osmanthe Liu Yuan

$150.00, Fiole

Nette’s Allure Best of Beauty Award-winning Pear Jam is an example of this technology being put to use. Created by Givaudan perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux, the scent is fruity, bright, juicy—and purported to evoke uplifting emotions when its combination of notes (koji pear, fruit jam, jasmine, rose, and patchouli) was analyzed by the company’s MoodScentz tool. Le Jardin Retrouvé Osmanthe Liu Yuan is another Givaudan-made fragrance that aims to evoke feelings of happiness and delight with warm, sunny notes like apricot, peach, and osmanthus.

Nearly every brand will have a hair perfume.

We don’t have the psychic capabilities to tell you if 2025 will be full of good hair days. We can, however, say that it can be full of good-smelling hair days if you want it to be. With the number of hair perfumes that launched recently (including the Best of Beauty-winning Phlur Vanilla Skin Body & Hair Mist) and those set to be released next year, your hair could have a different signature scent for every day of the week.

Phlur Vanilla Skin Body & Hair Fragrance Mist

$38.00, Amazon

Perfume Mist Discovery Trio

$30.00, Ulta Beauty

“It’s probably the biggest category I’m working on right now,” says Lebeau, who believes the trend started with the success of Sol de Janeiro’s perfume mists, which are meant to be used on both body and hair. Pia Fisher, senior beauty strategist for trend-forecasting company WGSN, says it used a proprietary TikTok analytics tool to identify hair perfumes as “the next category to watch” in the growing area of alternative fragrance formats that help consumers personalize their scent through layering.

Ornst believes the growing interest in hair perfumes is driven by customers who are interested in fragrance formats with dual purposes, which brings us to the biggest reasons this category is set to do so well in 2025: Hair perfumes can also be used on your body and can be significantly cheaper than traditional fragrances. “Based on the comments I get [on TikTok and Instagram], I haven’t heard of many people buying [hair] perfume [just] for their hair,” adds Emma B. “They’re getting it because it’s cheaper. I know a lot of people who really like Delina, so they buy the hair perfume because it costs hundreds of dollars less.”

One of the reasons for that cost discrepancy is hair perfumes contain significantly less perfume oil. “Typically, a hair mist is dosed between 3 to 5% fragrance oil, whereas an eau de parfum is anywhere from 20 to 25%,” says Lebeau. “Hair and body mists are also slightly more diluted as they contain a percentage of alcohol as well as a percentage of water, versus traditional fragrances that just contain alcohol.”

Even more fashion brands will dabble in fragrance.

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In 2024 we saw some pretty big fashion houses enter (and in some cases, reenter) the fine fragrance chat with multi-scent, luxury-priced collections. There was Fendi (which launched seven fragrances in May), Paco Rabanne (eight in July), Cult Gaia (three in September), Balmain (eight in September), and Bottega Veneta (five in October).

Carbone Eau De Parfum

$260.00, Balmain

Déjà Minuit

$450.00, Bottega Veneta

La Baguette

$330.00, Fendi

This trend shows no sign of slowing down in 2025, according to Ilolahia, who returned from major fragrance trade shows in Italy and France shortly before our chat. “I know of two other brands that are coming out with perfume collections next year and both are pretty major,” he says. These fashion houses might seem a bit late to the fine fragrance game but their entry into the category doesn’t feel like an afterthought. “I’ve smelled one of the new collections launching in 2025 and seen the packaging and it’s nicely done and well thought out,” adds Ilolahia.

Both Balmain and Bottega Veneta debuted their launches during spring 2025 fashion week in an effort to make a strong connection between the fragrances and the DNA of the brand. Fendi matched its La Baguette fragrance to the current colorways of its iconic bag at the same time. Even without a direct reference to an item of clothing or accessory, all of these luxury designer ranges use unique bottles, higher price points, and limited distribution in an attempt to attract both aspirational and long-time customers. “I think this is their way of reestablishing themselves and reaffirming themselves in that higher end of the [fragrance] market,” says Ilolahia. “It’s also an opportunity to capture the segment of the market that has disposable income for luxury but in the past wouldn’t have spent more than $200 on a fragrance. Now they’re open to buying the bag and the fragrance.”

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