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If you’re a fragrance lover, then you’ve likely noticed a pattern over the last few months — namely, the rise in vanilla perfumes. What feels like every month, there’s a new fragrance launching that either focuses entirely on the note or has it somewhere in its formula. From Snif to The 7 Virtues brands are leaning, making the note feel virtually inescapable right now.
What’s with the sudden surge, you ask? There are a few reasons why vanilla is currently trending; one of which is the rise in gourmand fragrances. “Consumers are craving sweet smells that resemble some of their favorite foods,” Bryan Edwards, co-CEO and co-founder of Snif, tells POPSUGAR. “Vanilla is a core scent note in almost any gourmand perfume, so as a result, it’s quickly developed its own spotlight.”
The Beauty of Vanilla Perfumes
On one hand, vanilla can feel pretty basic and it certainly isn’t new, yet the beauty of perfumery is that there is no “right” way to use a note. “Vanilla has incredible olfactive qualities and customers have been asking me to create a vanilla scent since I debuted Matiere Premiere in 2019,” says Aurelien Guichard, founder of niche fragrance house Matiere Premiere. “One of our more recent launches, Vanilla Powder, takes the note up a notch and combines it with powders and palo santo woods, making it a more refined version of the scent that still satisfies novices and perfume experts alike.”
Many of the recent launches seem to approach vanilla in a way that welcomes new customers but still retains brand DNA. “Perfumers particularly love vanilla’s versatility and its ability to round out a scent as a powerful base note, but its popularity is also linked to growth across the fragrance category specifically fueled by new customers,” Edwards says. Thanks to influencers like Funmi Monet, there has been a steady rise in fragrance content on social media, like TikTok, and it’s being noticed by perfumers behind the scenes. “As more fragrance novices enter the conversation, vanilla is a particularly approachable and recognizable scent that is loved by the masses,” Edwards says.
If you’ve given your perfume collection a once-over and find that it’s lacking in this delicious note, we’ve got you. If you’re ready to add a vanilla fragrance to your perfume collection, read ahead for a few of our favorites.
