Fragrance Marketing Trends Shaping 2025

This year, the conversation around perfume has shifted from glamour and seduction to care and connection. Consumers are turning to scent as a daily ritual, not just as a beauty choice. They’re looking for fragrances that help them slow down, lift their mood, and escape the noise. 

This year, we attended Cosmoprof Bologna with one clear goal: to uncover the newest trends shaping the beauty world. Naturally, fragrance couldn’t be left out of the conversation. 

We listened closely as fragrance marketing experts, brand founders, and creative voices shared their insights during the panel discussion, revealing how fragrance is evolving from a product into an experience, a statement, and for many, a daily emotional ritual.

The Future of Fragrance panel discussion at Cosmoprof Bologna 2025 about fragrance marketing.

We listened closely as fragrance marketing experts, brand founders, and creative voices shared their insights during the panel discussion, revealing how fragrance is evolving from a product into an experience, a statement, and for many, a daily emotional ritual.

In a world where attention spans are getting shorter and identities are rewritten daily, fragrance has found its place, not as an accessory, but as an extension of the self. 

While makeup and fashion still dominate the visual grid, scent has become the invisible signature of digital personalities.

It’s what can’t be posted but must be talked about. On TikTok, creators are narrating who they become when they wear them.

• ‘This is my confident date-night scent.’
• ‘This smells like walking through a dream in July.’

Scent is personal branding, distilled.

TikTok creators @professorparfume and @perfumerism are sharing their insights on fragrance scents.

One of the most striking shifts we’ve observed at Cosmoprof Bologna is the rise of emotion-first and genderless fragrance storytelling. Instead of ‘for her’ or ‘for him,’ consumers are gravitating toward perfumes that align with feelings, memories, or aesthetics. 

On platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, we see fragrances curated like mood boards: sun-warmed skin, salty breeze, crushed mint.

Vahy’s Pinterest board

Fragrance lovers today know more, say more, and feel more strongly about what they like. They want to know the perfumer’s story, the sourcing of each ingredient, and how it compares to a discontinued vintage scent from 1998.

This kind of detailed knowledge works perfectly on short videos, where creators focus on one scent note or even review how satisfying the cap sounds when it clicks shut.

Personal taste is the new status symbol and rare and unique scents matter more than big brand names.

Social media has become fragrance’s most unlikely playground. The visual language of TikTok and Reels – with its storytelling, surprise, and sensory tension – pairs beautifully with the mystique of scent. 

In a scrollable world, the most successful fragrance content doesn’t just inform; it evokes feelings. It builds curiosity. It creates longing. And that’s exactly why fragrance marketing in 2025 is less about product features and more about the feeling you leave behind.

Fragrance used to be discovered in department stores.

Today, it’s discovered in a 15-second vertical video – shot in someone’s bedroom, lit by natural light, narrated with passion. TikTok has become fragrance’s most unexpected territory. Not because the platform is visual, but because it thrives on emotion, relevance, and cultural tension – exactly what fragrance is made of.

At Cosmoprof Bologna, a TikTok strategist put it plainly:

Lots of the content regarding perfumes on TikTok are super savvy, super specific, super detailed.

And that’s the magic. TikTok rewards deep dives, not overviews. The best-performing content is often about things you’d never think to notice: how a cap clicks, how the atomizer sprays, how a scent evolves in real time on the skin. Micro becomes macro.

Suddenly, a forgotten niche brand from Ireland is trending, not because of celebrity backing, but because someone described it as ‘smelling like cold marble floors after a storm.’

The sophisticated aesthetic of Cloon Keen, Ireland’s luxury fragrance house.

On TikTok, creators are building quizzes like ‘Guess the scent by the cap,’ or using green screen overlays to explain the story behind a single note. Duets, reactions, blind smell tests, even ASMR unboxings, it’s all content. And it’s all commerce.

This shift is about how consumers want to relate to brands. They don’t want to be sold to. They want to participate.

A creator rating a scent as ‘main character at a summer wedding’ carries more influence than a perfectly polished ad campaign in fragrance marketing now.

Legacy names still hold weight, but the algorithm favors the underdogs.

‘It’s much more interesting on TikTok to talk about something you’ve never heard of,’ said one panelist. And they’re right.

This is the era of discovery-first branding, where unfamiliarity becomes a feature, not a weakness. 

Indie brands, especially those with bold aesthetics, complex backstories, or region-specific ingredients (like Middle Eastern ouds or Irish botanicals), are winning the scrolling game.

In this context, savviness equals status. The more obscure and emotionally resonant a fragrance is, the more powerful its social currency.

TikTok has essentially turned scent discovery into a social sport.

Fragrance used to be an invisible luxury, a whisper behind the wrist. But now, it has to perform on the feed. The explosion of Reels, Shorts, and TikTok has forced fragrance marketing to visualize the intangible. It’s not easy, but it’s becoming an artform.

We’re seeing brands lean into hyper-stylized, dreamlike visuals – often borrowing language from indie cinema, vintage fashion editorials, and even video games. From slow-motion pours of liquid over velvet to blurred shots of sunlit bodies running through fields, it’s all about capturing the feeling of a fragrance in a single frame. 

As one panelist put it:

Consumers are really looking for a new kind of storytelling – more visual, more cinematic, more inspiring. – Pascal Fontaine, Founder of Amoi Parfums

This trend harmonizes with the rise of what Evolut calls aesthetic-based branding – the idea that your scent isn’t just something you wear, but a vibe, a moodboard, a character you become. 

This is why creators now curate perfume wardrobes for different roles.

Perfume wardrobe curation IG post from @vanessasskin.

There’s a scent revolution coming from the East and the West is paying close attention. In 2025, the Middle East is reshaping the global fragrance industry.

Long dismissed or exoticized by Western perfume houses, Middle Eastern olfactory traditions – rich with oud, incense, musk, and ritualistic layering – are now leading global fragrance innovation.

What was once seen as niche is now the new language of luxury.

As highlighted in the BeautyMatter BWME 2024 report, regional brands are no longer waiting to be ‘discovered.’ They’re building global identities on their own terms, rooted deeply in culture, tradition, and brave choices.

Fragrance houses like Ajmal, Arabian Oud, Swiss Arabian, and Lootah are commanding both heritage and aspiration, exporting not just scent but a lifestyle rooted in storytelling and ritual.

Europe’s recent obsession with oud is just the beginning. Consumers are now leaning into the entire Middle Eastern fragrance philosophy – one that centers ritual, slowness, and sacredness.

Burnable fragrances (like bakhoor), fragrance oils, and layering rituals are gaining popularity because of their meaning.

As noted at Cosmoprof, there’s a growing demand among Gen Z and Millennial consumers for cultural authenticity and something that feels real. Middle Eastern fragrance traditions deliver both.

Scents last longer, speak louder, and built on ancient traditions.

We’re witnessing a global re-education. Terms like attar, mukhallat, and oudh are entering everyday fragrance vocabulary on TikTok and Pinterest.

The storytelling around these ingredients is no longer filtered through a Western lens. Creators from Dubai, Riyadh, and Doha are owning the narrative, showing how scent connects to identity, gender, faith, and family.

In BeautyMatter’s words, ‘fragrance remains the largest and fastest-growing category across the Gulf region,’ with consumers spending more on perfume than skincare or color cosmetics. Why? Because scent is cultural currency. A form of self-expression. A symbol of generosity and prestige.

For global fragrance brands, the message is clear: this is not a trend only. It’s a huge shift in what scent means and how it’s worn. Collaborations with Middle Eastern artists, perfumers, and cultural historians are no longer optional. They’re essential.

The Middle East’s moment is coming.

We’re living in the golden age of niche fragrance. Not because small brands are suddenly louder, but because the consumer is looking for solutions differently. Mass-market perfection is old school.

Now, it’s the unpolished, unique, hyper-personal scents that draw attention. A perfume that smells like ‘wet pavement in Tokyo’ or ‘melted plastic on a playground slide’? Suddenly, everyone wants to try it.

In 2025, indie fragrance brands are thriving because they offer something the mainstream can’t: surprise.

While heritage houses chase trend cycles, niche creators are making perfume emotional again – weird, poetic, and sometimes uncomfortable. And that’s exactly why they’re winning the game.

Today’s most magnetic indie brands don’t speak in vague abstractions like ‘feminine’ or ‘floral.’

They speak in micro-moods and microscopic moments: a perfume for heartbreak recovery, another for walking home after midnight, one for the smell of vinyl records and forgotten basements.

It’s fragrance marketing for the ‘emotionally literate consumers’.

This is especially resonant in summer, when scent becomes part of personal rituals. Not just parties and vacations, but solo walks, creative highs, long, humid afternoons spent doing nothing. Indie brands tap into that with intention.

As one panelist at Cosmoprof noted:

Consumers now prefer storytelling that’s real, emotional, and specific. There’s no room for fluff.

Many of these niche brands follow the ‘unbrand’ aesthetic. Minimal packaging. Absurd names. Handwritten batch numbers. They don’t try to impress, they invite curiosity.

This unpolished approach works because it aligns with a larger cultural shift: audiences are tired of being sold perfection. They want intimacy, voice, and oddity. They want to discover something their algorithm didn’t feed them.

Platforms like TikTok and Substack are helping these brands build cult followings without traditional campaigns. A single unboxing, a smell-memory voiceover, a behind-the-scenes look at formulation – that’s enough to launch a micro-hit that sells out overnight.

Consumers will start seeking fragrances that make them feel like they are discovering something completely new – something only they have access to.

Shared by Ariana Silvestro, CEO of Scent Lab at BeautyMatter’s FUTURE50 Summit where industry insiders predicted a sharp turn away from influencer-fueled trends.

In 2025, it’s no longer enough to sell a beautiful scent. The most successful brands are selling a way of being. Fragrance has become more than a personal accessory – it’s a social signal, an emotional anchor, a lifestyle choice.

The question is not ‘What perfume are you wearing?’. It’s ‘What does your scent say about your values and your mood?’

That’s where lifestyle branding steps in. At Evolut, we believe a fragrance brand is all about the mood it creates. It shows up in your Instagram feed, in the newsletter you open with your morning coffee, in the TikToks you save at midnight. It’s not just seen, it’s felt.

That’s the power of true omnichannel presence. That’s what makes it unforgettable.

The playbook has changed: from prestige to participation. And the smartest brands aren’t trying to dominate. They’re trying to belong.

The rise of the ‘scentellectual’ – a fragrance-savvy, curious consumer who wants to understand compositions, notes, and mood-building – is redefining what brands must deliver.

As Kristen Sgarlato (KES Innovation) noted at BeautyMatter’s FUTURE50, fragrance is now the new playground for consumers who’ve “graduated” from skincare. Education, transparency, and personalization are no longer brand extras, they’re expectations.

The most meaningful perfumes today don’t just sit on the skin; they anchor us to a feeling, a story, a season of life. And this summer, more than ever, people are choosing fragrance not for status, but because it fits who they are.

From TikTok’s ultra-specific scent storytelling to the rise of Middle Eastern ritual, from the poetic boldness of indie brands to the wellness-minded reset of functional fragrance – the message is clear: emotion is the new luxury. 

The brands that succeed moving forward will be the ones that can translate invisible feelings into sensory rituals, micro-memories, and lifestyle ecosystems.

For fragrance marketing enthusiasts: go deeper. Create with intention, not just scale. Because the future of fragrance isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about being felt – deeply, memorably, and personally.