‘Smellmaxxing’ and ‘frag heads’: how the gen Z perfume boom came up roses for indie brands | Fragrance

“Will the lady who I simply met on the fragrance retailer please remark the fragrance you beneficial,” wrote Chappell Roan on Instagram final month. “You mentioned it smelled like lipstick.”The put up went viral and the scent – Lady of the Yr by the Los Angeles fragrance home Skinny Wild Mercury – immediately bought out.Lady of the Yr by the Los Angeles fragrance home Skinny Wild Mercury. {Photograph}: Skinny Wild MercuryIt’s arduous to think about a extra acceptable fragrance for the performer. The home describes it as having “prime notes of lipstick and incense; center notes of ‘smoker’s leather-based jacket’ and a base of sandalwood, orris root and classic fur”. The model – whose title is culled from a Bob Dylan quote – is certainly one of a rising set of perfumers reinventing scent for brand spanking new perfume followers. Like bed room DJs or T-shirt screen-printers earlier than them, they’re altering the tradition of a longtime business.The worldwide perfume market is the largest it has ever been and nonetheless rising; it’s set to generate income of about £45bn in 2025, in response to Statista. The UK market alone reached £1.74bn in 2024 and, if development continues apace, will prime £2bn by 2029 in response to a 2024 Mintel report. This development is pushed by gen Z and millennials, who’ve shaped a singular relationship with perfume on account of social media and Covid isolation – PerfumeTok drove 45% of social media scent gross sales within the US by 2023. As a substitute of a dab behind the ear, they like scent layering – sporting two or extra perfumes on the identical time – and scent wardrobing (matching fragrances to totally different events). Eighty-three per cent of gen Z put on perfume as usually as thrice every week, in response to a latest report by Circana.Paul Firmin and Niko Dafkos, founders of Earl of East. {Photograph}: Earl of EastPerfume took off, considerably unexpectedly, throughout lockdown, says Suzy Nightingale of the podcast On the Scent. “It was anticipated the perfume market would fall, nevertheless it boomed,” says Nightingale, an award-winning fragrance blogger. “Individuals found they may punctuate their day with moments of distinction – journey with their noses, experience nostalgia or excite their senses with novelty. I feel that was when folks realised it’s not about ‘attracting a associate’ or having a signature scent – if it ever was. It’s donning an invisible cloak of safety, empowering your self.”Profitable fragrance influencers play a key function within the storytelling aspect of those merchandise. Theatrical and charismatic TikTokkers resembling @professorperfume and @jeremyfragrance clarify new scents so vividly that their followers typically purchase with out smelling the fragrance first. They spin tales of the bizarre women and assured boys who put on these scents; PerfumeTok influences 66% of gen Z purchases.Teenage boys have change into shocking cognoscenti in terms of luxurious aftershave. The TikTok time period for scent layering on this age group is “smellmaxxing”, a buzzword that grew to become so prevalent that the New York Occasions outlined it final yr as a “time period for enhancing one’s musk”.In keeping with a 2025 US development report by Piper Sandler, youngsters are spending more cash throughout magnificence classes usually, however perfume has grown essentially the most – up 22% yr on yr. On a latest go to to Bloom Perfumery, a boutique promoting impartial and area of interest fragrances within the UK, I watched a boy who couldn’t have been older than 16 chat about cologne with an assistant twice his age with a genuinely inspiring degree of ardour and class, beaming by means of his braces as he mentioned smoky notes.Zoologist’s Bee scent options notes of ginger syrup, royal jelly and broom. {Photograph}: Zoologist“There’s been a number of pearl-clutching commentary worrying about how a lot [teenagers] spend,” says Nightingale. “However should you really hassle to speak to the youthful generations thronging the halls of perfumeries from Boots to the Black Corridor of Harrods, you uncover they’re saving their pocket cash – typically for years – and taking up part-time jobs to discover scent.”Whereas earlier generations have been glad with scent juggernauts resembling CK One, Le Male, Poison or Opium, an rising group of “frag heads” desires extra. The thought of personalising your scent – smellmaxxing or scent layering – is vital for them. Nonetheless, what 16-year-old can afford to layer a £90 Loewe scent with one thing marginally cheaper from Armani – and to that finish, how did such costly scents change into the norm?As luxurious scents boomed post-pandemic, so too did dupes – replicas of designer merchandise. Providing luxurious model at low costs, dupes really feel extra Robin Hood than responsible secret. Some new manufacturers received their begin offering vegan or cruelty-free alternate options to blockbuster fragrances, notably Eden Perfumes, a family-run enterprise in Brighton now lauded for its personal scents as a lot as its knockoffs.In the meantime, the excessive avenue stepped as much as do what it does greatest: producing designer model at reasonably priced costs. The Zara fragrance counter is presently the place to go if you wish to odor like 1,000,000 {dollars} for lower than £20. Whereas logos and bottle designs are simple to trademark, you can’t trademark a scent nor patent a fragrance recipe underneath UK legislation. Some dupes could be poorer high quality than luxurious manufacturers, however they’re secure so long as you utilize frequent sense. A trusted retailer will comply with security requirements; an unknown one might not be as stringent.skip previous e-newsletter promotionSign as much as Style StatementStyle, with substance: what’s actually trending this week, a roundup of the very best vogue journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solvedPrivacy Discover: Newsletters could comprise data about charities, on-line advertisements, and content material funded by outdoors events. For extra data see our Privateness Coverage. We use Google reCaptcha to guard our web site and the Google Privateness Coverage and Phrases of Service apply.after e-newsletter promotionAs effectively as dupes, “area of interest perfumes” gained traction. Whereas cosmetics giants resembling Coty, Guerlain and Estée Lauder have dominated for the reason that early twentieth century, impartial pioneers appeared who adopted their instincts and style slightly than market analysis. Manufacturers resembling Le Labo, Sol de Janeiro and Byredo modified the sport – Le Labo’s Santal 33 was the style circle’s signature scent and a Santal 26 candle appeared in Beyoncé’s Lemonade movie in 2016. Victoria Beckham and Sienna Miller namechecked Byredo as their favorite perfumer. It’s no surprise these manufacturers have now been snapped up by LVMH and different conglomerates.Extra indie scents launched after lockdown, together with difficult and counterintuitive fragrances. The thought of fragrance as confrontational, complicated artwork grew. The Canadian model Zoologist discovered fame for its award-winning Bee scent (notes of ginger syrup, royal jelly and broom) in 2020, as did Inexcusable Evil by the Romanian perfumer Toskovat, with its bouquet of bandages, blood and burnt flowers. This yr brings Silver Haze from Alloy Studio, which evokes “a backseat smoke session” and has notes of hashish, chocolate powder and strawberries. Meals-inspired fragrances are the newest fragrance craze with scents like pretzels and cherries discovering favour.Alloy Studio’s Silver Haze evokes ‘a backseat smoke session’. {Photograph}: Alloy StudioSome followers went deep, obsessing over course of, rarity or a singular notice in a scent, discussing them like oenophiles on Reddit and devoted scent chatrooms. Some turned to DIY, utilizing Sam Macer’s YouTube channel and boards resembling Basenotes to swap recommendations on sourcing substances and aroma combos.For a couple of, the pastime grew to become a aspect hustle and at last a profession. Indie firms seemed to creators who had taught themselves to mix new scents. Because the business historically requires a chemistry diploma, a spell at a (ideally French) fragrance college – resembling ISIPCA in Versailles – then an apprenticeship at a perfume home, this inflow of recent blood has been an enormous shakeup. You should buy fragrance substances resembling fixatives, solvents and scent compounds on-line, so, like microbrewers and bakers earlier than them, self-taught perfumers merely received caught in.“There’s a particular sense of punk-rock impresarios to some indie manufacturers,” says Nightingale. “Not tied up in shareholders’ opinions and having to panel-test the whole lot in order that it’s acceptable slightly than thrilling.”At a time when magnificence conglomerates are turning to AI and science for brand spanking new scents, it’s refreshing to seek out gatecrashers on the social gathering. The Spanish firm Puig used 45m mind readings from males aged 18-35 to finesse the substances of the cologne Phantom by Paco Rabanne earlier than its 2021launch – the outcome was a industrial bestseller.Unbiased perfumers can carry a bit extra creativeness to the method. The British scent firm Earl of East lately collaborated with the musician Bon Iver, who they requested to do a blind odor take a look at, then used his solutions to create a customized scent impressed by his newest album. The ensuing vary of temper mists and candles immediately bought out. The creation course of for the 2 merchandise couldn’t be extra totally different, however the world smells higher as a result of each of them exist.Paul Firmin, a co-founder of Earl of East, thinks the dearth of formal training behind the model is a power. It began as a pastime and a market stall however is now stocked globally. It holds workshops for patrons who need to make their very own perfumes. “We’ve labored arduous to demystify scent, encouraging folks to have interaction with it in a manner that feels private slightly than intimidating,” says Firmin. “Eradicating outdated boundaries – like the concept that scent needs to be tied to gender – has additionally opened up the house. That distinction was a ridiculous idea within the first place.”Earl of East collaborated with the musician Bon Iver for a spread of merchandise that bought out. {Photograph}: Earl of EastAnother autodidact is Maya Njie, a Swedish-born, UK-based perfumer, who began her perfume home in 2016. Whereas learning floor design on the College of Arts London, Njie received sidetracked. “I used to be exploring storytelling by means of pictures, print and sample and I started incorporating scent.” She was impressed by household photograph albums; vacation snaps of Gambian seashores led to her fragrance Tropica, which mixes sea salt, pineapple and coconut. “Being self-taught has given me the liberty to strategy perfumery from an inventive and instinctive place,” she says. “I can do that because the model proprietor as I’m solely working to my very own temporary.”Nightingale needs the brand new indies of fragrance obtained extra help from the business. “I see so many tiny manufacturers fall by the wayside. I’d like to see retailers have fun them extra – giving them shelf room among the many huge corporate-owned names.”Maya Njie: ‘I’m working to my very own temporary.’ {Photograph}: Maya NjieCathleen Cardinali, co-founder of Skinny Wild Mercury, discovered that nothing beats phrase of mouth. As she posted on social media after Roan’s viral message: “[Our] prospects went loopy tagging us in a global pop celebrity’s Instagram as a result of they have been so excited by the notion that she may like their favorite little indie fragrance model.”For those who’re on the lookout for the odor of lipstick, solar cream from a day on the seaside, smoking in a automobile, or have another olfactory fantasy, this new era of self-taught perfumers are ready to play it out for you.