Gourmands have created big business for many fragrance companies. According to Future Market Insights, the gourmand fragrance market will have a CAGR of 3.8% from 2023 to 2033 and a value of $55 billion by 2033. In terms of geographical breakdown, the US had a 31.6% value (6% CAGR) share in the market, Germany a 21.8% share (4% CAGR), the UK a 19.5% value share (5.2% CAGR), India a 6.9% share (4.1% CAGR), and Japan an 8.6% value share (4% CAGR). According to the Gourmand Fragrance Report by Market.US, the European market has a $13.36 billion value.
These figures show no signs of slowing down with Spate’s research presenting a growth of +77.5% in searches for gourmand fragrances year over year. But will the gourmand bubble burst once consumers overindulge in sweet scents? BeautyMatter spoke to brand founders and retailers to hypothesize about the state of the niche fragrance industry post-gourmand.
A Consumer Audience Seeking Saccharine Comfort in Uncertain Times
Whether in food or fragrance form, sweetness is comforting. In a study of 225 people from 10 different cultures, vanilla was ranked as the most pleasant smell. Due to its pleasing palette, the compliment potential of a gourmand creation means the wearer is likely to gain more positive attention from wearing a scrumptious vanilla than an intense leather rose scent for example, which in turn could drive purchasing power. After all, if sweet scents have an addictive pull, how much more addictive is receiving compliments about smelling delicious? The appeal goes beyond mere pleasantries: administration of a vanilla scent during MRI imaging reduced anxiety by 63%. And arguably in today’s world, some crave the power of that comfort more than ever.
Current sociopolitical motivations notwithstanding, the gourmand craze is not an overnight sensation. “Gourmands never went away. Angel was one of the fragrances that confirmed the trend. Everybody wanted to smell yummy and attractive with a big sillage,” Ulrich Lang, founder of Ulrich Lang New York, tells BeautyMatter. “This current trend of gourmands was probably accelerated by all these crises in the world because they want to have something that's really cozy and cocooning.”
Angel by Thierry Mugler, the 1992 amber vanilla scent by Olivier Cresp and Yves de Chirin used ethyl maltol (a synthetic that smells like cotton candy and strawberry jam) in overdose to create a bold antidote to the fresh citruses and clean-smelling musks of the ‘90s. The fragrance was awarded the FiFi Award Hall of Fame in 2007.
The legacy of Angel can be felt in the industry to this day. “For us, gourmand is part of the Quartana DNA, ever since I was inspired to get into fragrance in the first place after experiencing Angel by Theirry Mugler one night at the Tunnel nightclub in the early '90s,” recalls Parfums Quartana founder, Joseph Quartana. “I'm not sure we will veer too far away from creating the world's most unique gourmand and gourmand-adjacent fragrances for all moving forward.” The brand’s take on gourmands adds elements like oakwood, labdanum, and vetiver to round out the passion fruit, lychee, and vanilla absolute of the smoky citrus Soleil Invisible or castoreum and patchouli to make an earthly grounding for the spiced plum and black of the woody scent Wolfsbane.
The gourmands trending all over #PerfumeTok are those of a hyper-foodie variety: the pistachio and salted caramel of Sol de Janeiro’s Brazilian Crush body mist, the boozy vanilla of Kayali Vanilla 28, the thick caramel of Bianco Latte by Giardini di Toscana. With names like Eclaire (by Lattafa Perfumes) and That Girl /Viral Vanilla (by Oakcha in collaboration with TikTok fragrance influencer @paulreactss), these scents are hitting the sweet tooth hard. “I also find the celebrity [fragrance] trend is affecting the industry, because everybody wants to wear what this artist is wearing. In a lot of cases, its a gourmand,” Lang comments. Recent examples include Billie Eilish’s debut fragrance launch Eilish with notes of cocoa and sugar, or Sabrina Carpenter’s Sweet Tooth launch with notes of chantilly cream and vanilla.
Arguably skewed towards Gen Z audiences, it’s certainly not the office fragrance attire of older generations but is big business nonetheless. “Social media has brought niche fragrances to a much younger audience (Gen Z) in a way that’s never been seen before. I believe this surge in awareness has played a significant role in elevating the gourmand category. What’s exciting is that gourmand fragrances are becoming more sophisticated than they were just a few years ago. Thanks to advancements in new molecules and captives, these scents now offer more complexity and refinement,” comments Karl Bradl, co-founder of Aedes de Venustas. At the retailer, the top-performing scent categories are actually spicy, incense-heavy, and woody creations. Clean and fresh scents come in second followed by florals, gourmand, and green perfumes. So while sweet scents may be getting a lot of attention, not all fragrance consumers are dipping their hands into the proverbial cookie jar.
Navigating the Trend Cycle as a Brand Founder
The purchasing figures behind these foodie scents are undeniably appealing, as the range of launches from dupe brands and top-tier luxury houses alike can attest to. But not every fragrance house caters to Gen Z’s hyper-sweet palette. For brand founders with a long-term lens in mind, navigating this spike in demand is a more subtle matter than simply jumping on the good ship lollipop, which comes with a substantial entry fee if accounting for development, marketing, and production, especially for independent brand founders.
Lang emphasizes the importance of creating from a brand DNA rather than chasing trends. In 2023, he debuted Suncrest, a fruity floral launch with notes of peach, black currant, jasmine, and Dreamwood, but it was filtered through the aesthetic lens of Ulrich Lang New York. “We didn't have a fruity fragrance, but this is a super overripe peach. It's super realistic, like the peach that's dripping down your chin in the summer combined with sandalwood. So it's super yummy, but it’s not a peaches and cream,” he explains. The creation proved especially popular with female customers.
“I try to refrain from copying others. I would rather set a new standard, because we need to do something that's completely different from what's out there. I need to do something that works with our DNA, which is very contemporary, which is also very quiet. A designer needs to stay close to their DNA,” the founder states. Case in point: the brand released a minimalist green scent (APSU) with notes of coriander, water lily, and white musk in 2016, at the height of the oud craze. For Lang, that move paid off, opening up the Chinese market for the brand. Perhaps the concept of going left when everyone goes right isn’t just a bold move, but also a smart business strategy to set a release apart from the bigger sea of creations.
The Significance of the Trend in the Fragrance Industry
In a consumer category as subjective as fragrance—one fragrance trash is another’s fragrance treasure—what value does the trend hold? Certainly, scents aren’t subject to as quick of a turnaround in trend as color cosmetics or nail art trends, but gourmand fragrances have been showing an impressive reign over the last few years.
Wright and Lang believe that molecule and ingredient innovations will be key drivers looking forward, trickling down to the consumer. Bradl places a brand identity and authenticity over trends, which he notes can oversaturate the market at the price of creativity being lost. Wright is also critical of the market oversaturation which leads to clone and dupe creations.
Trends aren’t just impacting the products being created, but the very structures of the industry, as evidenced through widening distribution channels. “The niche fragrance world, from one year to the next, it's more and more fragmented. Mass is now using a lot of ideas and things that are coming out of the niche world because we can experiment a little bit more. Then if they see that there's a lot of traction, they are going to put it into a bottle and launch it in a more global fashion,” Lang comments. “Prestige is much less important than it used to be. It's only a matter of time until people can switch to a mass retailer carrying niche. But I don't know if that's ever going to happen because there's a certain demographic you can never reach with niche because the price points are too high.”
When it comes to gourmands, there has been a push towards mass channels and dupe creations—thinks brands like Zara, Lattafa, Finer’y—breathing new life into what was once a lesser visited channel, save for the standalone champion of sweetness that is Aquolina Pink Sugar, which has been sweetening up shelves since 2004. Arguably, creating an affordable vanilla scent (at least if one is using synthetics instead of natural raw materials) is an easier task than trying to create a top-shelf soliflore jasmine perfume at the drugstore. Given the Gen Z audience for foodie gourmands, the price point also tracks. Kyse Perfumes and Le Monde Gourmande have built entire businesses off of an ever-expanding range of gourmand releases, at prices ranging from $25 for a 30 ml bottle (at Le Monde Gourmande) to $90 for a 60 ml bottle (at Kyse).
Masstige entrants like Bath & Body Works sells $7.4 billion in bodycare, perfumes, and candles annually across its 2,360 stores globally. One of its major launches for the last holiday season was Perfect in Pink, a cherry gourmand produced in partnership with Givaudan, distributed across a 29-product range. But Bath & Body Works is no stranger to the genre, with its “fan favorite” Warm Vanilla Sugar being released over 20 years ago (and still in production).
"The gourmand olfactive is a very important segment of our business," Betsy Schumacher, Chief Merchandising Officer at Bath & Body Works tells BeautyMatter, citing scents like Strawberry Poundcake and Pumpkin Pecan Waffles as bestsellers. "The quantity of gourmand scents in our portfolio varies depending on the time of year and the trends we are standing for. Trending ingredients like vanilla have fueled growth in the industry and at Bath & Body Works over the last few years. Our Vanilla Romance fragrance was a strong performer when it first launched in Fall ’23, and it’s still seeing strong customer love today, while our original gourmand, Warm Vanilla Sugar, has been a customer favorite for years." Schumacher adds that the buyers of these scents are less specific to age and region but moreso influencers by trends and seasonality, with an uptick in demand during the fall and holiday season, as evidenced by the popularity of Vanilla Bean Noel.
The appeal of gourmands expands across all price points and categories. In prestige, there are heavy hitters like Burberry Her with notes of strawberry and amber for a “strawberry milkshake”-esque creation, YSL’s Black Opium with coffee notes and vanilla, or the caramel tones of Prada Candy. On the more niche front, there is Akro Bake (reminiscent of lemon tart), Escapade Gourmande by Maison Mataha (black sugar meets tonka bean), or Angels' Share (a boozy cinnamon and praline concoction), and Love, Don’t Be Shy (the marshmallow floral that gained notoriety for being Rihanna’s favorite fragrance) from By Killian. These scents smell delectable, sure, but there often isn’t the same level of sweetness as SKUs tailored towards younger audiences, with more dessert-like notes accented through heavier wood notes and musks to temper the sugar rush.
With the rise in a niche of high-spending Gen Zers snapping up $300 bottles of perfumes by houses like Creed or Amouage, there is also a blossoming market for luxury gourmands. Amouage’s best-selling Guidance eau de parfum contains notes of hazelnut, vanilla, and saffron, while Creed’s newest release, Fragaria, is centered around strawberry notes. Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry (in 2018) and Bitter Peach launches (in 2020) were seen by many as trend-defining entrants for the gourmand-focused releases that followed.
The Next Big Wave
While the everlasting appeal of a crowd-pleasing gourmand is hard to pass up, for consumers that have hit sugar peak, what will be the genre to replace them? Parfums Quartana is betting on a more clean creation. For the house’s next release, the house is releasing a floral scent inspired by fabric softener, Les Potions D'Entèlèchie, with the intent of “elevating the commonplace to the seemingly divine.”
Lang believes “a trend within a trend” of lighter gourmands like green vanillas, lemon meringue scents, and pistachio will continue to delight audiences looking for comfort. But his predictions don’t end there. “Generally, [the next big trend post-gourmand] is more fragmentation. I don't think it's easy to pinpoint another major trend. You have to look at the subtrends and what's coming out,” he comments. “I do think oud is ready for revival, but it's going to be a new, modern version. It’s going to be a very sophisticated, global oud, the previous version of which I personally think has always been a little too heavy. It needs to be juxtaposed with something that's much lighter.” He also pinpoints lily and freesia as underrated florals, plus a move towards skin scents with warmer, animalic undertones.
Wright predicts consumers diving into tea and tropical floral scents like plumeria, gardenia, and pikake coming next, although he also notes that “sweetness is still in high demand” as gourmand and fruity floral and fruity woody scents continue to boom in sales.
“I have a feeling that the gourmand category might stick around longer than we expect, especially as it continues to evolve. Only time will tell what the next trend will bring,” Bradl says. While he can’t predict the exact direction, the founder notes a desire for distinctiveness, exclusivity, and individuality continuing to capture interest. “Fragrance is deeply personal. Emotional even. A consumer might hop on a trend initially but will ultimately find his or her own style. I’d say 99% of our clients prioritize their personal preferences over trends,” he adds.
Personal preference will always throw a layer of unpredictability into the fragrance forecast of the future. Gourmands have certainly taken a big slice of the pie in recent times, but who is to say that customer palettes aren’t ready for a taste of something different? However in the age of fragrance wardrobes and constant experimentation, perhaps the concept of a static trend is taking on an entirely new shape altogether. Maybe fragrance buyers won’t abandon their saccharine creations altogether but simply nibble on something a little more savory to cleanse their palette in the meantime.
