Fragrance industry embraces nostalgic and gourmand scent trends

The fragrance industry is seeing a shift toward nostalgic and indulgent scent profiles. A rising trend involves “cola accords,” where niche and luxury brands reinterpret the aroma of soft drinks using notes of lemon, lime, vanilla, caramel, and cinnamon to evoke emotional connections.

Other notable trends include a return to 1990s-style floral and amber compositions, such as Jean Paul Gaultier’s La Favorite, which utilizes white flowers and vanilla bases. Additionally, there is a growing demand for “clean skin” scents—fragrances that mimic the smell of body cream or a fresh shower through the use of white musk, citrus, and light woods, exemplified by Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Aqua Universalis.

In the luxury sector, there is a move toward “quiet luxury” through complex technical processes like co-infusion. This method, used by Acqua di Parma for its Cedro Virtuoso fragrance, involves macerating ingredients like cedar and hazelnut together for 30 days to create a more integrated and sophisticated olfactory texture.