5 Fragrance Trends To Try In 2023

Like many industries, the perfume industry saw a sharp rise in interest thanks to TikTok. Fragrances, which were once solely sold through sniffing them in stores, somehow became more popular during 2020 and 2021 when the world was on lockdown. Instead of relying on consumers' ability to smell scents before they purchased them, companies found new ways to market their products.

Instead of simply describing the notes of a fragrance, they marketed them as experiences and feelings, a tactic that thrived on an aesthetic-fueled platform such as TikTok. Fragrance was no longer simply about the way something smelled – it became an embodiment of the wearer's personal aesthetic. Clean girls wore Glossier You and the coquette girlies wore Miss Dior.

Now, in 2023, the interest in fragrance is still growing. The signature scent is dead; instead, people are growing their perfume collections, abandoning the once-popular scents they formerly used in search of something different. Thankfully, the releases haven't stopped, giving perfume lovers a myriad of scents to sample from. Read on to see the top fragrance trends of 2023.

Sweet and rich, gourmand scents consist of notes associated with edible items. Warm vanilla, heady chocolate, and syrupy caramel are prominent notes in the scent category. Like years before, people tended to gravitate towards photorealistic examples of gourmands, with the hunt for a true vanilla scent garnering over 18 million views on TikTok. While we still love our pure vanilla perfumes like Nemat's Vanilla Musk, 2023 is going to see the ascent of more complex gourmands.

Instead of being totally sweet, complementary spicy, salty, or fresh notes will mingle in the background, elevating the perfume like sea salt on a brownie. A recent example of this is Kayali's Yum Pistachio Gelato. A nutty, light fragrance, its notes of hazelnut, whipped cream, and marshmallow emit a fresh and sweet enveloping scent.

A tribute to David Bowie, Vilhem Parfumerie's Poets of Berlin is truly a unique vanilla. With top notes of blueberry and lemon, the fruity freshness dries down into a soft powdery vanilla, enmeshed in lush bamboo and vetiver.

Although we've collectively moved past the era of having a sole signature scent, individualism in fragrance is still important to perfume buyers. Although our own personal skin chemistry makes each scent slightly different, so you can never truly smell the same as someone else, catching a whiff of your favorite fragrance on someone else's clothes takes away from the main character vibe you get from constantly wearing a scent. Enter perfume layering.

More than simply spritzing on two different scents, proper perfume layering includes using fragranced body products to elevate your scent. This can include rubbing on a white floral-scented moisturizer to enhance the jasmine note in your perfume or applying a caramel fragrance oil to sweeten up a woody scent.

If you're unsure of where to begin with layering, use your existing scented body products and perfumes to see what you like when mixed together. You can also use perfume discovery scents to play around with different fragrances, spritzing two on various pulse points to figure out what smells best on you and the combinations you like. The Boy Smells Discovery Set features five of their fragrances, including their recent release Woodphoria, a mix of delicately sweet fig and coconut water with rich cedarwood.

Thick and intoxicating, musk has come a long way from headier scents like Chanel No. 5. While people still desire the animalistic, slightly sweet aura of musk, perfumes with the notes tend to be lighter, reminiscent of skin. A complicated, seemingly contradictory combination, today's musk scents are both the smell of leaving the bath, but also laying around in bed, unwashed. Thanks to the invention of ambroxan, a fantasy musk note that mirrors the creamy, salty, soft scent of ambergris, musky scents are popular again.

After some... questionable trends such as vabbing (please don't do this) and pheromone oils, it's clear that people are after the scent of alluring, warm skin that makes you want to stay in bed with someone all day. If you're looking for that kind of vibe, try Musc Ravageur by Frédéric Malle. Though it opens up with lavender and tangerine, it quickly dries down to reveal the spicy scent of cinnamon and cloves, leading the way to a base of musk, tonka bean, and vanilla. Animalistic and ambery, this sexy scent truly embodies desire.

If you prefer your musk on the cleaner side, give 11 11 from Lake & Skye a try. An airy, uplifting scent with notes of white amber and musk, 11 11 was created to mirror the feeling of ascending out from the ocean, with a fresh, clean scent enveloping you.

After the success of strong scents like Carolina Herrera's Good Girl and Maison Margiela Replica Jazz Club, fragrances that announce themself the instant you enter a room are definitely on trend for 2023. Even now iconic scents such as Maison Francis Kurkdijan's Baccarat Rouge 540 is a long-lasting scent with a wide sillage that ensnares everyone's nose. Although these popular luxury and niche perfumes are to thank for the prominence of bold scents, the popularity of Arab fragrances on TikTok is equally a driving force.

Amassing almost 200 million views on the app, the Arab fragrance industry has seen an increasing customer base thanks to PerfumeTok's appreciation of the rich, complex, and strong scents. Notes like saffron and musk dominate the scents, with oud – a rich, dark resin from Agar trees in Southeast Asia – being one of the more prominent notes in the category.

A heady and sweet concoction, Swiss Arabian's Shaghaf Oud long-lasting scent with amazing projection. With notes of spicy saffron, soft rose, and decadent praline, Shaghaf Oud is a luxurious and vivid scent. To satiate your sweet tooth, try La Yuqawam Jasmine Wisp by Rasasi. A tropical vacation in a bottle, this scent has notes of passionfruit, coconut, and peach, entrenched in vanilla and white flowers.

For a few years now, the skincare and makeup industry has looked inward, wondering the ways in which they can make their products safer for both the wearer and the environment. If you've developed sensitivity to fragrance over time or have asthma and allergy problems, then perfume has probably been a no-go for you in the past. Fragrance can often have ingredients such as parabens and phthalates, which are potentially harmful.

If you have skin sensitivities, clean brands like Good Chemistry, Ellis Brooklyn, and 7 Virtues can provide you with allergy-safe options. Snif's fragrances are vegan and cruelty-free, made with preservatives or synthetic dyes. Its scent Way with Woods is a warm and cozy woody scent, uplifted by notes of white tea and mandarin. Another clean brand, Clean Reserve uses recycled materials and sustainable ingredients in their fragrances.

Clean Reserve's Citron Fig is a bright, yet subtle, citrus scent. With notes of lemon, mint, and mandarin, this refreshing fragrance is given depth with the addition of spicy cardamom and ginger.