Lianna Albrizio, Assistant Editor12.01.22
Of all the senses, smell, which has been dubbed the “unsung hero” of the five by researchers, seems to be the sense most neglected. The body’s ability to smell not only acts as an internal alarm system to detect the perilous smells of smoke or gas, but contains the power, per psychologists, to uplift with the whiff of pleasant aromas from everything from fresh baked bread to a bouquet of roses to perfume.
When covid-19 surfaced three years ago, it caused a loss of smell and taste in certain people. The losses prompted a decline in quality of life in “long haulers”—people who experience lingering symptoms long after the virus had cleared. Pamela Dalton, principal investigator at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, cited a study published in the American Journal of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Medicine and Surgery. Eighty percent of subjects who lost their ability to smell from covid-19 reported enjoying life less. Forty percent reported feeling depressed. More than half of people reported that being robbed of their sense of smell evoked feelings of insecurity as they were unable to detect their need to reapply deodorant or bathe. What’s more, 70% said they missed smelling fragrances.
“This is critical,” said Dalton, speaking during a recent Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) meeting in Weehawken NJ. “This is the sense that if it’s not stimulated, may lead to neurodegeneration because of the way the structures of olfaction are completely intertwined with our limbic system, which regulates our emotions, and so depression may not simply mean not enjoying things, it can actually be an underlying physiological change.”
THE POWER OF SCENT
While research among scientists continues into why covid robs some infected persons of their ability to smell and not others, Perfumer Sue Phillips has been doing her own olfactorious healing. Phillips, who developed fragrances for Tiffany, Burberry and Lancaster, has been for the past 14 years a creator of bespoke fragrances. Phillips’ clients have included celebrities like Katie Holmes, Jamie Foxx and Susan Sarandon who come to her to create their own unique scent through a scent journey that includes a quiz and hands-on exposure to perfumes in eight main olfactory families.Phillips says she helped 140 people who lost their sense of smell from covid-19 regain some olfactory function through an exercise which she calls both meditative and sensual. One was a 51-year-old woman who was without her sense of smell for 13 months after covid-19.
Deep into the process, the client said to Phillips, “I smell something and it’s beautiful”—and she started to cry.
THE FALL AND RISE OF FRAGRANCE SALES
The pandemic created havoc in the global healthcare system, and the global economy. Fragrance marketers were among the most hard-hit by the pandemic, as consumers stayed at home and rarely applied fragrance, if at all.According to Larissa Jensen, vice president, industry advisor at The NPD Group, the prestige fragrance market was hit hard in 2020 with sales plummeting to 2015 levels following retail closures such as Ulta Beauty and Sephora.
In 2020, net sales in the prestige fragrance market were $4.2 billion, a loss of 8%. Fragrance sales picked back up in 2021, and the fragrance category grew by 49% versus the year prior.
“As a result of the pandemic, two things were at play,” said Jensen. “The industry started to pivot and consumers were looking for that indulgence and escape.”
Consumers, Jensen explained, found some solace in a fragrance’s ability to elicit pleasant memories. Perfumes and EDTs provided an escape as consumers had a hankering to treat themselves to luxury fragrances that inspired feelings of romance and travel. There was also a rise in fragrance purchases that emitted the sandy, salty aromas of the Bahamas, according to the research company. About 70% of fragrance consumers are influenced by a scent that lifts their mood, according to NPD.
The market came back with a vengeance as restrictions eased and shoppers found their way to department store fragrance counters. In 2021, prestige fragrance sales soared 50% to reach $6.3 billion. The gains continued into 2022. In the first half of the year, sales jumped more than 17% to reach $2.7 billion, according to NPD.
More good news was expected in the second half, as Jensen noted that 30% of all fragrance sales take place in December during the all-important holiday selling season.
Prestige fragrance sales may be soaring, but demand for more modestly priced scents continues to lag. According to data from IRI, a Chicago, IL-based market research firm, retail sales in multi-outlets (grocery, drug, mass market, military and select club and dollar retailers) for women’s fragrances for the year ended August 7, 2022 fell 5.9% to $620.4 million. Perfumes and colognes/body powder sales were $493.7 million, a 5.1% change from the prior-year. (See chart, p. 50).
The best-selling scent? Body Fantasies perfumes and colognes/body powder led the way with $44.4 million followed by private label at $29.1 million and Ariana Grande at $24.3 million, according to the IRI data.
In August, one of the pop singer’s best-selling fragrances, God Is A Woman, added a namesake body line at Ulta Beauty that included body scrub soufflé, body oil, multi-purpose hand and body cream and a travel spray.
Demand dropped in the men’s mass market, too. According to IRI, sales within the men’s fragrance and shaving lotion category fell 3.7% to $648.5 million. In a bit of good news,. cologne/talc/shaving lotion sales rose 3% to $520.4 million, according to IRI.
NEW SCENTS
Across the category, new scents are entering the market in a range of price points.This past summer, Victoria’s Secret released its first original fragrance in five years simply called “Bare.” The woody floral scent—which features upcycled Australian sandalwood—has a formula that adapts to each person’s body chemistry, creating a scent that is unique to the wearer, according to the company.
In September, Amaffi Perfume House rolled out its Casino fragrance collection—a line created specifically for high rollers. With prices ranging from $3,200 to $3,800, the luxury fragrances are called Place Your Bets, Lucky Dice, Royal Flush Diamond and Royal Flush Club. The perfume bottles are shaped like dice, a deck of cards and roulette wheel in handmade black and ruby crystal.
Indie grooming and personal care brand Bravo Sierra recently launched its first eau de cologne, retailing for $45. Touted as the perfect contrast between warmth and spice, American soft cedarwood teams with bright citrus to yield what the brand calls a harmonious, timeless scent. Made in collaboration with French Master Scent Designer Lucas Sieuzac, this new spin on a classic musk entails sensual notes of warm leather and cedarwood elevated by bright citrus top notes with rich juniper berry and botanicals to yield a scent that is masculine, intoxicating and modern, according to the company.
Puig’s Carolina Herrera has her own take on the modern man. This holiday season, the fashion designer presents the Bad Boy and Good Girl Gold Fantasies. The fragrances, housed in glistening gold packaging, contain a limited-edition gold stiletto and gold lightning bolt, respectively. Good Girl expresses Herrera’s vision of womanly duality (alluring sides of light and dark) while Bad Boy is the perfumer’s own vision of the modern man.
New from Jean Paul Gaultier this holiday season is a limited-edition Le Male eau de toilette in which the iconic Le Male bottle is reimagined in a red Gaultier puffer jacker containing the original Le Male scent of mint, lavender and vanilla.
People who like vanilla are the life of the party—fun and energetic, according to Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago.
The Healthy Fragrance in Pure Vanilla—handcrafted using organic sugarcane alcohol—has been so well-received by brand fans and new consumers alike, that the Lavanila doubled the size of its traditional 50 milliliter fragrance for fall 2022. The new fragrance, retailing for $72, boasts the same scent formulation with its signature Madagascar vanilla base note and soft heliotrope accord over tonka bean.
On the subject of feminine, vanilla scents, Marilyn Jones, founder of B Fragranced, a Black-owned, self-funded company, recently launched her brand into Walmart with two feminine scents: Embellish and My Epiphany. My Epiphany has notes of mango, d’anjou pear, pomelo and wild strawberry leading to a bouquet of lily of the valley and then notes of vanilla and amber sandalwood when dried. Embellish is infused with sparking notes of apple, peach and citron plus jasmine and honeysuckle, and soft amber and sandalwood.
MEGASTARS, MUSIC & FRAGRANCE LAUNCHES
This year, the fragrance industry saw new luxury fragrances that channel late movie stars and singers.The unisex Judy Garland fragrance, Judy, announced in mid-summer, was inspired by the multi-talented entertainer. With a bottle clothed in the ruby-colored glass slippers à la Wizard of Oz, the fragrance was created by Vince Spinnato, CEO of TurnKey Beauty Inc., with input from the late icon’s daughters, Lorna Luft and Liza Minnelli.
Retailing for $185, the fragrance showcases “the scent of Old Hollywood nostalgia” that TurnKey Beauty says embodies dark orchid, coriander, a medley of sultry gourmand and spice notes and a hint of the official Judy Garland Rose, emitting what the brand describes as a sexy, modern and all-inclusive fragrance. The scent has a lingering sweetness of tonka bean, bourbon vanilla and caramel balanced against notes of velvety musk and patchouli woods.
“I’m such a huge fan of Judy Garland,” said Spinnato. “To develop a fragrance for her with Lorna and Liza is beyond the rainbow! Our goal is to respect Judy Garland’s memory, help preserve her legacy and hopefully introduce her to a new generation of fans with this unisex fragrance as well.”
In October, Scent Beauty partnered with The Estate of Whitney E. Houston, Primary Wave Music and Firmenich to capture the late singer’s message of self-love and beautiful voice into a signature fragrance.
Housed in a tall, crystal-shaped bottle in Houston’s favorite color purple, the fragrance inside contains notes of bright fruits and florals while lingering woody notes keep consumers warm and self-assured.
“To wear Whitney Houston is to feel inspired and confident like Whitney, who always encouraged women to embrace the greatest love for themselves,” said Pat Houston, executor of The Estate of Whitney E. Houston.
A portion of proceeds of the fragrance, which debuted on the Home Shopping Network in October, will benefit The Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation, which offers grassroots programs and initiatives for the young.
But not all launches from music and Hollywood were posthumous.
This fall also saw the launch of Cher’s Decades fragrance collection. The singer worked again with Scent Beauty, which launched Cher Eau de Couture in 2019.
Decades takes fans on a journey through her illustrious career, dating back to the Sonny and Cher era of the 1960s (a fragrance mix of chypre flora with notes of bergamot, rose damascene and patchouli) all the way up to the 1990s when her hit song “Believe” topped the pop charts. This latter fragrance is a floral with notes of peach nectar, heliotrope and sandalwood, representing pop escapism.
This year also saw the return of Rihanna’s Fenty eau de parfum, a unisex fragrance by the pop star which sold out within hours of its release two times last year.
Both spicy and sweet, Rihanna is said to have hand-selected key notes of magnolia, musk, tangerine and Bulgarian rose alongside world-renowned LVMH Master Perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud. The result is a sensual warm floral inspired by distinct memories and places near and dear to the singer—from Barbados to Paris to Los Angeles to New York. For the holiday season, the fragrance, retailing for $140, comes with a limited-edition brown Fenty scarf wrapped around each bottle.
Dua Lipa, the global ambassador for YSL Beauty, introduced the luxury beauty brand’s Libre Le Parfum at an exclusive event in Paris in early September. Guests discovered the new fragrance in an immersive space designed around Libre Le Parfum’s accords of fern, lavender, orange blossom and warm saffron from the YSL Beauty Ourika Community Garden. The perfume is described as a warm and spicy interpretation on the classic eau de parfum.
Scent Beauty Inc. also announced partnerships with Kylie Minogue and actor and recording artist Luke Grimes of Yellowstone. Minogue released a recreation of her hit fragrance Darling in the US following a successful launch abroad in the UK, Spain, France and Australia. First launched in 2006, Darling is a more modern, longer-lasting version of the original scent, captured by Firmenich Perfumer Illias Eremendis in a “vegan” formula. The playful, floral emits notes of passionfruit, freesia and lychee, lily and boronia flower which dry down to a blend of vanilla, amber wood and sandalwood.
Grimes is the new face for Stetson, the men’s fragrance franchise. He joins Stetson as the brand continues the expansion of its fragrance and grooming offerings built on the original fragrance. Having recently celebrated 40 years, it features bold notes of citrus, cedar and patchouli, with notes of musk, honey amber and tonka bean as it dries down.
FRAGRANCE ENTERS THE METAVERSE
Gone are the days of only discovering fragrances on paper blotters at department stores. Social media marketing drives sales, but it’s more than YouTube ads and Instagram scrolls. Video sharing giant TikTok appears to be significantly driving fragrances purchases. According to The NPD Group, the #PerfumeTok hashtag has had more than three billion views on TikTok, with the platform accounting for 45% of social media-driven fragrance purchases in the US, according to the group’s 2022 Fragrance Consumer Report. These figures represent an increase of 15 points versus 2021.TikTok and Instagram are currently tied as the top social media platform to influence fragrance purchasing decisions among all age groups. What’s more, some of the beauty industry’s top influencers, which include Gen Zers Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae, launched their own fragrance lines this year.
Speaking of social media’s influence on fragrance, Miley Cyrus is the face of the new Gucci Flora Gorgeous Jasmine. Cyrus became the first persona to appear as an avatar in Gucci Town on Roblox as the brand expanded its #FloraFantasy into the metaverse. Gucci town visitors discovered the fragrance in the virtual Gucci store, which was modeled after real-life boutiques.
This past fall, beauty influencer Stephanie Ledda launched Ledda, her direct-to-consumer fragrance company. Her first perfume, 22 Orris, is described as the “perfect date night scent” with notes of pink pepper, sandalwood and orris. Engineered with a higher concentration of fragrance oil, the scent co-created with global perfumer Frank Voelkl, carries a long-lasting scent, according to Ledda. It is also available as a hand cream.
In November, beauty maven Huda Kattan’s sister Mona Kattan launched a fragrance from her brand, Kayali. Said to cater to the vanilla scent, Vanilla Royale Sugared Patchouli, follows the 2018 launch of cult favorite Vanilla 28. Exotic florals and rich spices comprise what is being marketed as a sexy, rich and “boujee” older sister to make the wearer feel “luxe.”
SALT OF THE EARTH
Current events shape business, and the same rings true for fragrance. A culture built on inclusivity coupled with wanting to feel more connected to the Earth in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, have prompted perfumers to create woodsy, gender-neutral fragrances. For example, Aesop’s fourth fragrance in the Othertopias collection, Eidesis eau de parfum, is what the makers call a beguiling fragrance with bright opening notes that develop into deep spice, damp earth and dry woods. The fragrance was inspired by the myth of Narcissus, exploring liminal spaces that challenge perception, ignite dialogue and promote dream-like states.Consistent with “The Mirror” concept, the woody, spicy blend is infused with watery floral notes. With top notes of petitgrain, black pepper and frankincense and base notes of sandalwood, cedar and vetiver, Eidesis eau de parfum is said to be unfettered by conventional definitions of gender, according to the brand.
As another ode to the woodsy fragrance family, Phlur developed a fragrance apropos for fall called Somebody Wood. The scent, designed by Perfumer Robert Gaudelli, encases an uplifting, unexpected vibrant and “addicting” wood fragrance. Introduced with top notes of lemon and bergamot, the fragrance’s amber musk comes through from jasmine, watery marine notes and a boost of spice.
French Perfumer Guillaume Flavigny created a luxury fragrance called Royal Earth. Three years in the making, Royal Earth features a root extraction of the Orris flower in Italy—which comprises the strong powdery top note—carrot seeds and ylang ylang.
“It’s the message of well-being,” said Flavigny in a Zoom call with Happi. “We need the light of ylang ylang, very luminous, very positive. There’s no stress. The roots are the stability that links with the earth. It’s what we need. It can help you to find more stability and peace and harmony in your life. This is the energy in the bottle.”
Similarly, Abel Founder Frances Shoemack had been in search of natural ingredients when she founded her fragrance brand nearly a decade ago in Amsterdam.
A former winemaker, Shoemack insists she “detoxified” her beauty routine, steering away from synthetic scents when she connected with Master Perfumer Issac Sinclair and Fanny Grau who shared her love of natural ingredients.
This past year, as part of its US debut, Abel introduced Cyan Nori, which uses the ocean as its muse. Fruity and juicy scents of tangerine and peach meet a salty, deep-sea dry-down accompanied by hints of plant-derived musk.
“Covid changed a lot of things about day-to-day life and one of those things was the way people wear scent,” said Shoemack, whose perfumes are available in 25 countries.
“More and more we hear from customers that they wear perfume not for how it smells to others, but how it makes them feel. It’s an awesome change that makes perfume less superficial, more meaningful. And it makes natural ingredients in perfume a more powerful proposition,” added Shoemack about the launch.
With the passing of genre-bending French fashion designer Thierry Mugler in January, Mugler Fragrances worked tirelessly to keep the mogul’s legacy alive with the introduction of Alien Goddess Intense. Fronted by Willow Smith, the new floral perfume contains a blend of woody, amber and floral notes inclusive of Calabrian bergamot and jasmine with a bourbon vanilla infusion. In June, The Fragrance Foundation (TFF) held its first in-person event in three years at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City to celebrate the fragrance industry’s outstanding creative achievements. Tom Ford’s Black Orchid was inducted into the Fragrance Hall of Fame while pop megastar Billie Eilish’s first fragrance, “Eilish Eau de Parfum” was voted Most Popular Fragrance of the Year. According to Linda Levy, TFF president, members felt Ford’s Black Orchid, an amber floral developed 15 years ago, imbues a “unique, extraordinary scent” that will endure as a classic fragrance. Jeff Gennette, Macy’s Inc. chairman and CEO, was honored with the 2022 Hall of Fame award while Francois Demachy, Dior’s former perfumer and creator, received the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Perfumer award. “We are grateful to be in the fragrance business where we are united in our mission to inspire the world to discover the artistry and passion for fragrance,” said Levy. “People appreciate fragrance now more than ever as we discover the importance of the sense of smell, and fragrance sales reflect this since the pandemic began, as well as going forward. Fragrance has the ability to transport us to destinations and invoke special memories. It truly has become the invisible accessory.” |