The fragrance market finished on a high note in 2025, according to Circana’s analysis of retail performance in both the prestige and mass categories. 

Mass market fragrances rose 15% in dollars with unit growth at nearly the same rate, according to Circana. Prestige fragrances rose 5% in dollars, which analysts said was a sign of “normalization” after several years of “extraordinary” expansion. 

As 2026 moves into Q2, the question remains: will the past be prologue?

Out early this year are several high-profile launches from notable brands that should generate buzz among fragrance fans. And ccording to more recent data from Circana that tallied mass market women’s fragrances for the 52 weeks ended February 22, 2026, sales remain strong (see chart).

In its fiscal 2025, Coty’s prestige fragrances rose 2%, mass was up 8%, and ultra‑premium increased 9%. Standout launches included Burberry Goddess Intense, Marc Jacobs Daisy Wild Intense and Cosmic Kylie Jenner 2.0.

Coty’s largest Consumer Beauty launch in the past 10 years, Adidas Vibes, drove over 20% like‑for‑like growth in Adidas fragrance sales in fiscal 2025, according to officials at the brand.

“Coty’s fragrance expertise lies in its ability to work across cultural relevance, olfactive innovation, and emotional resonance,” said Jean Holtzmann, chief brands officer, prestige. “Adidas Vibes is a strong example of this emotional dimension—designed to elevate mood and emotional well‑being while matching the energy of everyday life. In consumer testing, 81% said the fragrances made them feel good, and 85% reported a boost in mood.”

Coty’s 2026 pipeline includes new scents from Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Marc Jacobs, Kylie Cosmetics and Infiniment Coty Paris, among others.

In February, Coty unveiled Calvin Klein Euphoria Elixirs, a new collection of three parfum‑intense creations, and Cosmic Kylie Jenner Intense—an amber gourmand spin on the original.

Also new from the Coty camp is Chloé’s Essences Méditerranéennes, which is said to offer an olfactory journey along the Mediterranean Sea, evoking sun‑warmed earth, pine‑needle‑strewn paths and sea‑sprayed rocks. 

“This most recent launch marks the next chapter in Coty’s prestige fragrance portfolio, reinforcing our ability to continuously refresh iconic brands with contemporary relevance,” said Holtzmann about the Chloé launch.

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The Aura at Elizabeth Arden

A new chapter is underway at Elizabeth Arden. Last month, the brand released Eternal Aura, its first flagship fragrance in more than eight years. 

“This launch reasserts Elizabeth Arden’s leadership in the women’s fragrance category while reinforcing the momentum of Revlon’s entire fragrance portfolio, to help re-energize our existing loyalists while simultaneously inviting a new generation of consumers to the brand,” noted Amber Garrison, who joined Revlon last fall to lead Elizabeth Arden and its global fragrance operations. 

“More than a scent, Eternal Aura is a strategic milestone. It anchors our 2026 innovation pipeline and reinforces fragrance, which accounts for one-fourth of our entire portfolio, as a core growth pillar for the business,” Garrison told Happi. “By introducing a modern, energy driven fragrance rooted in emotional resonance, we’re strengthening the brand for the next generation while honoring what has always made Elizabeth Arden iconic.”

Eternal Aura’s formula features natural ingredients that are scientifically proven to enhance energy, self-esteem and happiness, translating the emotional dimension of fragrance into something measurable and meaningful. It opens with dragon fruit, golden pear and pink pepper and builds into the floral heart  with notes of magnolia, peony and an exclusive Elizabeth Arden co-distillate of rose and ambrette. Sandalwood, musk and tonka base add warmth to uplift one’s moods.

According to Garrison, founder Elizabeth Arden “adored fragrance.” This new scent, she said, honors and modernizes the brand’s rich history in the space—from the 1937 debut of its first scent, Blue Grass, to classic fragrances like Red Door, now a Fragrance Foundation Hall of Famer.

“In every way, Eternal Aura bridges who we’ve always been with where the brand is heading—timeless, empowering and now, even more relevant to the rhythm of modern womanhood,” Garrison noted.

Eternal Aura, according to Arden officials, taps into the cultural conversation around aura, energy and self expression. 

“It’s aligned with the massive rise in social-driven fragrance discovery—with PerfumeTok driving nearly half of social-influenced fragrance purchases—and meets a new generation of consumers where they are,” Garrison noted. 

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Valentino Beauty’s Immersive Strategy

For the recent launch of Born in Roma Purple Melancholia, Valentino Beauty orchestrated a multi-market campaign that blended out of home (OOH), influencer-led product seeding and celebrity storytelling with Colman Domingo, the brand’s global ambassador for fragrance. Stakeholders have called it a prime example of a luxury beauty brand evolving its launch playbook.

Ahead of launch, Valentino Beauty deployed a layered influencer strategy designed to generate early “Fragtok” curiosity. During London Fashion Week, London’s Soho neighborhood was filled with painted billboards, large-format digital screens and high-impact placements (in the US, painted murals were installed in Brooklyn, NY and other key neighborhoods). In addition, the brand’s “Who’s Your Purple?” campaign was said to reframe fragrance marketing around memory and identity. 

“With Purple Melancholia, we felt it was important to create something that truly lived beyond a classic launch moment,” said Claudia Marcocci, global president of Valentino Beauty. “Born in Roma has always been about individuality and self-expression, but this time we approached it as a cultural takeover rather than a campaign.” 

Marcocci said the integration had a different feel.

“We did not think in silos. The OOH presence, the transformation of neighborhoods into a world of purple, the digital screens across cities and the creator conversations all happened together and intentionally,” she said.

What’s more, the multi-dimensional strategy was aligned with how consumers are finding fragrance.

“We are proud of our Roman roots and our luxury codes, but we also understand how today’s consumer discovers fragrance through community and self-expression,” Marcocci said. “Born in Roma has always been about celebrating individuality. Approaching launches in this way allows us to honor our heritage while speaking authentically to a new generation.”

From The Estée Lauder Companies comes a new scent in the limited-edition Estée Lauder x Diane von Furstenberg InCharge Collection—a beauty line-up created with the iconic designer.  

Described as an amber floral essence, InCharge Essence d’Eau contains top notes of saffron oil, mimosa absolute and honeysuckle; middle notes of incense, rose oil, violet accord and orris concrete; and a base of benzoin resin, incense wood, musk and kyphi accord.

InCharge Essence d’Eau is a water-based fragrance that ELC says “reimagines” how scent interacts with the skin, creating a sensorial experience “that is as fluid and modern as the woman who wears it.” 

Unlike traditional fragrances, InCharge Essence d’Eau is formulated without drying alcohols, allowing the scent to feel soft, weightless and hydrating, according to Lauder. 

Balmain Beauty’s first prestige fragrance is now on the market. Destin de Balmain is described as a bold floral fruity eau de parfum. The blend contains two sustainable components—Akigalawood and Ambrexolide. Crafted using white biotechnology, Akigalawood is a 100% natural fragrance ingredient derived from upcycled patchouli oil. Ambrexolide is a sustainable alternative to musk.  

The scent has an “optimistic spark of ripe strawberry” and notes of peony and creamy sandalwood.

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New Developments at Interparfums

Interparfums’ two largest US-based brands—Guess and Donna Karan/DKNY—saw fragrance sales increase 7% and 8%, respectively, in 2025. 

There are new scents from both franchises, including Donna Karan Collection Rose, DKNY’s Be Delicious Latte Collection (inspired by café culture and Gen Z social trends with notes like matcha with fruits and florals, vanilla and pistachio latte) and Guess Iconic Sublime, offering a blend of aqua accord with blue lotus, jasmine, magnolia and a warm base of vanillin, amber and sandalwood.

In January 2026, Interparfums signed a 15-year extension of its exclusive worldwide license agreement with Guess?, Inc., for the continued creation, development and distribution of its fragrances. It began working with Guess in 2018.

According to Paul Marciano, Guess, Inc. co-founder and chief creative officer, Interparfums continually demonstrated outstanding expertise in managing the Guess fragrance business. 

“The early extension of our long-standing partnership emphasizes the strong trust and satisfaction built through our collaboration to date, as well as our shared confidence in continued successful growth ahead,” Marciano said in a press statement.

Interparfums also reported “pronounced growth” from Roberto Cavalli in Q4. Cavalli fragrance sales rose 33% in both the fourth quarter and full year, “underscoring the substantial brand elevation achieved during its second full year under our management,” noted Madar, who cited “innovative” launches like Roberto Cavalli Serpentine and Just Cavalli Give Me Magic. Among newer launches are Roberto Cavalli Signature Verde and Uomo Verde.

Next month, Interparfums is set to release Ferragamo Signorina Romantica. It is said to “celebrate the spirit of Italy” with a bright Italian lemon note inspired by the Amalfi Coast, layered with creamy vanilla gourmand reminiscent of cookies and warm woody notes.

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What’s Trending in 2026

According to Walter Johnsen, vice president of product development at Interparfums, there are three key directions emerging so far this year:

Skin-Deep Clean: Airy, pure and fresh compositions blending green florals, aldehydes, fruits and modernized fougère structures with warm amber and leather nuances.

Textural Gourmand: Provocative, sensory-driven fragrances elevating edible notes such as fruits, desserts, liquors and pistachio into refined, addictive signatures.

Warm Maximalism: Bold, high-intensity fragrances built around leather, woods, resins, amber and tobacco, celebrating fragrance as identity and self-expression.

Ana Gomez, a perfumer at Iberchem, also pointed to gourmands as capturing attention this year.

“Food culture is becoming increasingly gourmand, with flavors like latte, strawberry matcha, dates and marshmallow gaining popularity through social media and café culture, she told Happi. 

“This growing appetite for sweet, comforting and indulgent tastes is now extending into the world of perfumery, where fragrance houses are translating these edible inspirations into scent profiles that evoke creamy, milky and dessert-like sensory experiences.”

Additionally, Gomez pointed to the influence of the Gen-Alpha cohort.

“Generation Alpha is increasingly becoming an influential consumer cohort and is rapidly becoming a motor of growth across nearly all categories,” she said. “With their digitally native habits, early brand awareness and strong social influence, they are reshaping demand, particularly in the perfume and fragrance industry, where younger audiences are accelerating trends toward layering and wardrobing, playful scent profiles, personalization, and social-media-driven discovery.”

And while Gen Alpha’s influence is on the rise, nostalgia and minimalism are serving as powerful sources of comfort in times of uncertainty, driving consumers to reconnect with familiar references and emotionally resonant experiences, according to Gomez. 

She continued, “This dynamic is also hitting the world of fragrances with the revival of iconic accords and notes such as chypre and fougère reimagined in modern ‘2.0’ interpretations. Besides, the rise of intimate skin scents reflects a desire for both heritage and contemporary softness.”

According to Ines Guien, COO and head of the creative lab at Dossier, there’s a shift underway in the gourmand category. 

“Gourmands, specifically vanilla scents dominated 2025 and we’ll see the continuation of this trend in 2026. However, this year we’re going to see more sophisticated modern scents, what I like to refer to as la nouvelle vanille: sensual, genderless, textured, intimate. Less dessert, more desire,” she said.

Guien pointed to movement away from the super sweet gourmand vanillas of the late 1990s and early 2000s to more “elevated vanillas” paired with unexpected notes that create deeper, less saccharine scents. 

Aligned with this is Dossier’s Call Me Vanilla, which has notes of pink pepper, musks and rum.

Also on Guien’s radar: metallic scents.

“I definitely think we’re also going to see a rise in metallic scents—fragrances that remind us of elements like gold and silver,” said Guien. “We’ll see a mix of warm and cool metallic fragrances trending. With perfumes inspired by warmer metallics like gold, we’ll see notes of things like honey, myrrh and amber—ingredients that we typically think of as warm and rich. 

“For cooler metallics like silver, these will have sharper, spicier notes like pepper and woody amber to give them that crisp, sharp almost futuristic feel we associate with things like silver and chrome. These fragrances will be rich but not too overpowering and will be perfect for layering.”

Dossier reported success with Of the Hour and Better Days, two scents released last year in collaboration with beauty and lifestyle influencer Allyiah Gainer. They sold out within 24 hours of launch and continue to be two of the company’s best selling SKUs, according to Guien. 

“With these perfumes we played with the idea of day and night,” she told Happi.

 Better Days is a blend of zesty, fresh and gourmand sweetness while Of the Hour is deep and moody, and has a slightly masculine edge, according to Dossier.   

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The Artistry of the Perfumer

How trends are interpreted inside the bottle remains the domain of the perfumer. And while artificial intelligence (AI) is expanding—accelerating formula analysis, sustainability efforts and personalization—the artistry of the perfumer remains irreplaceable.

“Perfumery is an art form, and it emphasizes creativity and emotional storytelling—something AI cannot replicate authentically,” Johnsen of Interparfums told Happi. “AI can analyze patterns, but it doesn’t experience scent emotionally—and fragrance is about connection. People buy what makes them emotionally react in a positive way, ending with a smile. AI cannot offer that authentic experience.”

Discovery of novel ingredients and cost efficiency driven by data retrieval that optimizes ingredient sourcing and minimizes waste were noted as “pros” to AI, according to Johnsen, who will deliver a keynote at the World Perfumery Congress in June.

“In the end, there’s a compromise—AI will not be a replacement, but will exist as another tool at the disposal of the perfumer; a tool that can help formula acceleration and offer sustainability suggestions,” he said. 

“AI can offer rapid data analysis to help the perfumer create with quick access to knowledge. Final olfactive direction will always rely on human perfumers—they are the true artists of fragrance creation.”