Ever since my first fragrance masterclass—tucked into a suite at The Balmoral with perfumer and founder of Kingdom Scotland (Scotland's first luxury fragrance house) Imogen Russon-Taylor—I've been fascinated by how we interact with scent in our day-to-day lives, and how it's continued to evolve. And boy has it evolved. "Fragrance is shifting from being a luxury accessory to something more emotional, experiential, and ritualistic," says Carol Han Pyle, the founder of Nette. "People are choosing scents based on how they want to feel, not just how they want to smell."
According to Spate's global beauty insights report, fragrance searches on Google and TikTok have grown by 26.5 percent year over year and aren’t slowing down anytime soon. Part of the rise? Layering fragrances has become the standard, leading to a growing overlap between fragrance and body care scents. Experts expect to see more of this overlap come into play for 2026—with an emphasis on fragrance as a total sensorial experience. "People want more ways to interact with scent than a single spritz to the wrist," says Isaac Sinclair, a master perfumer for Abel. "We will see a continued rise of atmospheric scents and on the home front, refined room fragrances that behave more like fine perfume."
And consumers are also savvier than ever, and are demanding more from their fragrance in terms of ingredients, sustainability, and efficacy, which has create a demand for slow perfumery. "People are asking better questions about what is in their perfume, how it was made, and the impact it has," says Sinclair. "At the same time, the creative palette is expanding thanks to biotechnology advancements and new natural extractive methods, so perfumers suddenly have access to precision plant-derived molecules that simply did not exist a few years ago."
Fresh off Marie Claire's fragrance awards, I'm already looking ahead to what's next. The good news: the future of fragrance is looking good. To uncover all the exciting new fragrance trends for 2026, I asked the top perfumers, scent experts, and more industry insiders to share their predictions for the new year.
The Death of Signature Scents
When I think of a signature scent, I always imagine a classic Upper East Side grandma with a uniform of polished tweed skirt suits, oversized furs, a string of pearls, Manolos, and a spritz of Chanel N°5. While I love the chic aesthetic, I find it hard to pick just one fragrance (or uniform for that matter) that feels decidedly me. The good news? If you, like me, are a scent chameleon, we can finally leave the idea of a signature scent in 2025.
"People are no longer looking for a single signature scent," says Yasmin Sewell, founder of Vyrao. "Fragrance is emotional at its core, and our emotions aren’t static—so why should our scents be?" Instead, we're officially embracing the idea of many beautiful scents for a wide range of moods. "Building scent wardrobes—multiple fragrances for different moods, moments, and energies—is the new norm," adds Sewell. Fragrance discovery sets are a brilliant way to test a few different scents before committing to the few you love; alternatively, layering different formats depending on the seasons or to mark special moments is so fun too.
A Feast For The Senses
Fragrance is evolving from something you spray as a finishing touch to something totally sensorial. "After the pandemic, when we couldn’t travel or experience anything in person, we turned to fragrance to help us connect to culture and others," says Erin Kleinberg, founder of SIDIA. "People started craving sensorial experiences rather than one-note products that didn’t evoke any sort of real emotion." Essentially, interacting with fragrance is no longer just about the smell. "We are fully embracing the shift toward a multi-sensory experience as a way to communicate mood, memory, and connection," says Cynthia Russell, a co-founder of the wine and fragrance brand Dancing. "We are pairing scent with taste, texture, and movement as well as with the emotional resonance of memory and place."
For example, Icelandic perfume house Fischersund offers a full scent tour experience at its Reykjavik flagship studio. Each fragrance is inspired by the childhood memories of the sibling founders—Jónsi (of the post-rock band Sigur Rós), Lilja, Inga, Sigurrós, and their father, Birgis—and then brought to life through visuals, poems, and songs. During the tour, you experience each fragrance with all your senses: you close your eyes, listen to the poem and accompanying music, experience each fragrance, sip tea, and more. The combination of scent and poetry makes you viscerally feel and enjoy each fragrance in your own way. While you might not be traveling all the way to Reykjavik, 2026 fragrances are hyper-focused on bottling memories.
Finery Meets Functional
Functional fragrance took the world by storm in 2025. But while consumers are looking for fragrance with mood-boosting, stress-lowering benefits, they still want an elevated experience beyond a simple essential oil. "People want scents that genuinely support their well-being, but they also want them to feel luxurious and considered," says Pyle. "So we’ll see more fragrances rooted in aromatherapeutic benefits, but crafted with the sophistication of fine perfumery."
An Entire Fragrance Atmosphere
Fragrance has become a mainstay in our homes, our showers, and beyond—and innovative delivery methods mean more fragrance oils, mists, body sprays, solid perfumes, and more. "Perfume is just one moment," says Sinclair. "Hair, body, and home create an atmosphere, and scent can shape how a home feels, how a room welcomes you, or how you transition into a different mood."
Experts expect to see a continued rise in the elevated home, body, and hair fragrance category for this purpose. "People want scent woven throughout their day—a body cream that leaves a trail, a candle that sets the tone of a space," says Pyle. "Fragrance makes everyday moments feel more intentional and elevated. It’s a way to create atmosphere, mood, and a sense of self beyond the traditional idea of a signature perfume scent."
The Next Level of Natural and Sustainable
Upcycled. Renewable. Clean. Natural. Sustainable. While these terms have swirled around the food and beauty industries for a while, they've only recently become tentpoles for fragrance. Consumers want fragrance that smells good—and does good. "Natural fragrance means working exclusively with ingredients from nature, including essential oils, absolutes, natural isolates, and now biotech molecules made from plant sugars," says Sinclair. "People want transparency, simplicity, and a connection to something real."
Innovation in extraction methods, "green" chemistry, and advanced biotech molecules (a way to replicate rare ingredients in a lab) is part of the shift towards sustainability. "The boundaries of natural perfumery are expanding fast, and the definition of what is possible is shifting," says Sinclair. "Every year we are introduced to new natural isolates...that behave beautifully in a formula, so when I'm working on all-natural scents, it feels like a renaissance." But natural doesn't mean boring or simplistic. In fact, quite the opposite. "Natural formulas tend to evolve more beautifully on the skin," says Sinclair. "They feel alive because they are, which is a big part of their growing appeal."
A Sense of Place
Hotels with a particular scent are not new; however, more and more hotels, spas, and other destinations are creating their own signature scents in collaboration with top perfume brands to enhance the spaces and help guests bring a piece of the experience home. "Expect the unexpected," says Russell. "Things not usually associated with fragrance, like favorite foods or favorite places, are going to be big moments for fragrance in 2026."
For example, The Maker, a fragrance and lifestyle brand was started by Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg, the duo who founded beauty brand Fresh. What began as a beautiful hotel in the Hudson Valley naturally grew into fragrance, with each candle and scent inspired by rooms in the hotel. And just recently, Rosewood, the chain of luxury hotels, introduced its signature fragrance, Bois Cachemire, developed in collaboration with L’OBJET.
But it's not just hotels getting in on the scent action. Fragrance has become a focus of restaurants, facial studios, and more—evident by collaborations like SIDIA's with candles made for restaurants like Don Angie and San Sabino as well as Sofie Pavitt's facial studio. "Fragrance is the ultimate conduit for storytelling, connection, and memory," says Kleinberg. "In a sense, the sole purpose of fragrance is to re-imagine everything." These souvenirs are a way to bring you back to a great meal or a romantic weekend, or invoke that same relaxed feeling you have post-facial.
Goodbye, Gourmand
Okay, so we won't see gourmand scents entirely disappear in 2026, but Pyle expects that there will be a big shift. "Gourmands will continue evolving, with deeper, more textured interpretations that aren’t overly sweet," she says. Sinclair agrees, noting that gourmand scents will get the modern treatment for "more complexity and less sweetness." For Kleinberg, it's about bringing in more fresh perspectives. "After the gourmand resurgence, there’s a desire for personal fragrances that feel comforting, grounded, and naturally warm, rather than overtly sweet—something intimate and lived-in that wraps you in subtle warmth," she says. "I’m very excited to watch the world step away from the vanilla gourmand boom dominating the space."
Earth to Florals
While floral scents are classically fresh and bright, expect some uniqueness—think florals that went forest bathing—in the floral category for 2026. "Notes will get less general and more specific," says Russell. "I'm anticipating florals will get more earthy and grounded." For Sinclair, ingredients are entering a more natural palette at the moment, which is also influencing traditional florals. "I'm excited that we'll see florals with tension built into them, where you get beauty and shadow in the same breath," he says. "There will be more ingredients with bite or tension, too—think resins, bitter herbs, damp woods, and aromatic leaves."
Dark Meets The Light
A bit dark, a bit mysterious, and a bit moody—the common denominator of this trend is juxtaposition. “Classic materials will be used in modern, unexpected ways,” says Pyle. “Things like orris, labdanum, smoky resins, and soft suede-like accords—but reimagined with airiness and light,”
Sinclair says he’s expecting more vegetal and savory tones. “We’ll see more notes that sit outside the traditional ‘pretty’ spectrum,” he says. "Notes with more bite and tension like woods that feel mineral and dry rather than creamy."
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Brianna Peters is an Austin and New York-based beauty writer and consultant with over a decade of experience in the industry, writing for outlets like goop, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, InStyle, Marie Claire, Brides, and more. For this story, she spoke with many fragrance founders, formulators, and experts to determine this list of 2026's fragrance trends to watch.
Meet The Experts
Erin Kleinberg is the founder and CEO of SIDIA, a luxury fragrance and body care line. After co-founding Coveteur, her eponymous clothing line (sold at Barneys NY, Harvey Nichols, Lane Crawford and more) and award-winning agency Métier Creative (working with CHANEL, Hermés, Dior, Augustinus Bader, Oribe and more), she felt inspired to share her story of family and care. She created SIDIA to uplift women to live fulfilling lives.
Carol Han Pyle is the founder and CEO of Nette. After covering fashion and beauty for publications like ELLE and ELLE.com, she took her brand-building knowledge and launched a social media agency that worked alongside clients like The Peninsula Hotels, Rosewood Hotels, Shopbop, Simon Malls, Dr. Jart, and more. After a decade- plus of building that agency, she felt ready to develop her own brand focused on fragrance as a means to feel good. Nette is inspired by her childhood memories of being ensconced in her mother’s Sausalito candle shop, Nette imparts the same sense of what it means to feel safe, joyful, and confident.
Cynthia Russell, raised in California, is a wine enthusiast who enjoys discovering niche vineyards, an art collector with a passion for emerging artists, a fragrance aficionado, and co-founder of Dancing. She has experience building businesses and launching products, and currently focuses on developing Dancing’s collection and retail presence across the US. She is a Scripps College graduate with an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Doctorate from Columbia University.
Isaac Sinclair is Abel’s Nose and Australasia’s only Master Perfumer. Raised in Auckland New Zealand, his early fascination with scent led him from a department-store fragrance counter to Grasse, Milan, Paris and São Paulo, where he trained under industry greats and worked at the heart of the global perfume market. Alongside other creations for major commercial houses and several niche, for more than a decade Isaac has shaped Abel’s signature style; elevated, expressive fragrances crafted using a cutting-edge palette of 100% plant-derived, biotech and upcycled ingredients. His approach blends artistic intuition with scientific precision, proving natural perfumery can be modern, complex and uncompromising in performance.
Yasmin Sewell, is the founder of Vyrao, a new genre of mood boosting fragrances bring a revolutionary, multi-dimensional approach to wellbeing. She is a renowned fashion and creative director of luxury retailers such as Browns and Liberty, a certified expert in reiki, and has extensive training in Ayurveda, flower essences, and other holistic practices. In 2019, driven by her belief that good feelings are foundational to our wellbeing, Yasmin decided to direct her lifelong passion for energetic medicine into creating her own brand—and in 2021, Vyrao was born.
