From roasted sweet potato and rice milk to matcha and pandan, a new generation of Asian fragrance houses is bringing regional ingredients and cultural references to gourmand perfumery. As niche fragrance gains market share, brands like Vietnam’s KIRA are finding inspiration in familiar everyday ingredients, showing that the extraordinary doesn’t always require something exotic. In Asia, even the idea of a perfect sweet scent can challenge Western expectations of gourmand.

We follow fragrance creators because we trust their taste, but how independent are our preferences if we’re all responding to the same trends, advertising, and ideas of desirability? When a perfume suddenly becomes a community favorite, it’s worth asking how much of its appeal comes from the scent itself and how much from the story surrounding it. Rather than expecting influencers to be unbiased, the real measure of trust may be their expertise, transparency, and willingness to question their own opinions.

Despite a challenging geopolitical backdrop, Beautyworld Middle East maintained strong visitor traffic, with the fragrance halls highlighting the region’s growing influence on the global industry. From original compositions rooted in regional identity to new technologies and personalized scent experiences, Middle Eastern brands are moving beyond their association with dupes to establish themselves as creative forces and international trendsetters.

As weight-loss medications change the way some consumers experience food, fragrance makers are exploring what this could mean for gourmand scents. With research showing that GLP-1 users spend more on fragrance, the category is evolving beyond familiar sugary notes toward more complex profiles, including whisky, roasted sesame, and Tabasco. The shift raises new questions about the relationship between sensory pleasure, consumer behavior, and the future of gourmand perfumery.

As China’s fragrance industry grows, successful concepts and storytelling approaches can quickly become trends to imitate. Alex Wu, founder of Notes Shanghai, believes lasting impact comes from a more individual point of view. By drawing on personal memories, distinctive materials, and unexpected sensory experiences, creators can find fresh inspiration and new starting points for their next fragrance.

After more than six years overseeing global marketing and communications at Galeries Lafayette, Guillaume Gellusseau returns to the fragrance sector with The Estée Lauder Companies. He will lead Kilian Paris and Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle globally, bringing experience across luxury fragrance, retail, and brand development to two of the group’s prestige fragrance houses.

From “smells expensive” to the idea that niche fragrances are inherently more sophisticated, perfume culture is full of assumptions about wealth, taste, and social standing. Looking at how these judgments have evolved since the nineteenth century, this article explores how traditional class prejudices continue to shape the way we talk about fragrance today.