What’s In And Out For Fragrance This Year

“What’s In And Out For Fragrance This Year” by Rachel Brown

Originally appeared on BeautyIndependent January 26, 2025 Issue

Click here to view the original publication.

Fragrance registered the steepest sales growth of any beauty category in 2024. In the first nine months of the year, market research firm Circana’s sales estimates show it up 14% in prestige and 2% in mass. As “fragheads” or “scentellectuals” continue to cultivate their relationship with fragrance and newcomers are introduced to the category, fragrance industry prognosticators predict 2025 will be another strong year for it. Market research firm Euromonitor International expects 10.8% growth in mass fragrance and 12.2% growth in prestige fragrance.

Diving deeper into the shifts shaping the fragrance category, for the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we asked 15 fragrance brand founders and executives the following: What fragrance trends will rise this year? What fragrance trends will be over?

Audrey Gruss
Founder, Hope Fragrances

I see three key trends going into 2025 in the fragrance industry: The continuation of gourmand notes in formulations, an increase in the unisex category and larger offerings of smaller sizes.

In 2024, I was particularly attracted to some of the gourmand perfumes that were launched and became bestsellers in the industry. Some of these gourmands included notes such as pear, orange and cherry paired with amberish or floral flavors. These perfumes were not like the fruity perfumes we grew up with. They are youthful, with an air of fun and mystery. Perfumes such as Jo Malone’s English Pear and Sweet Pea and Kilian’s Playing with the Devil both played on this duality of sweet but sophisticated.

As we turn the page onto a new year, I think the fragrance category will make leaps and bounds in terms of new development, partly because the consumer is increasingly seeking comfort through scents. The gourmands will continue to be trendy in the formulation of prestige fragrances, but we might see exotic ingredients like lychee, passion fruit and rambutan used more prevalently in new formulations.

Second, unisex and gender-ambiguous fragrances will continue to gain in popularity. This year, we will see combinations of citrus notes and other refreshing flavors like aquatic and green aromatics that capture the feeling of an active lifestyle and the energy of the outdoors. This trend is strongly influenced by younger generations of men and women who blur the lines on gender rules and conformity.

Lastly, as brands continue to push boundaries with innovation, the consumer will be presented with many amazing trial options when it comes to prestige fragrances. The idea of bottling a scent in smaller packaging will continue to gain in popularity as consumers will want to try more fragrances compared to just one or two.

Who wouldn’t want to have five small fragrances instead of one large one? Discovery sets, travel sizes and minis will not only be used as trial, but also to reflect the moods of the consumer at a particular point. Instead of one or two perfumes, the consumer is now trained to have a scent that reflects her mood, time of day or occasion and even her daily activities.

One of the trends that might diminish over the course of 2025 is the usage of the ingredient oud as a primary note in perfume formulation, simply because of its over-usage in 2024. Paired expertly with other woody scents or florals, oud has a way of elevating a fragrance to new heights. Expensive because of its long and complicated extraction process, only dedicated perfumers use this note helping to make its resurgence with a modern twist.

With a scent profile that is animalistic, earthy and sensual, oud is used by brands like Maison Francis Kurkdjian and Tom Ford to perfection. However, its rarity, not necessarily its popularity, will stabilize or even diminish its use in new formulations over the course of the year.