Are you a trend junky? As with food, fashion and interiors, fragrance has its exciting and ever evolving trends.
Image Credit: Hand Blown Perfume Bottle – Kaleidoscope – Harrie Art Glass It is our priority to keep you up to date with the latest and greatest of the fragrance trends for 2015 and beyond! In offering a holistic approach our analysis will cover three main areas; fragrance notes, customer experiences and technological advancements.
1) Fragrance Notes:
For our summer and spring month’s three unusual notes will be making the headlines: Rhubarb: bringing a fresh, green, lightly tart and also a red berry note, rhubarb blends with fruity and also floral aromas to create a subtle sharpness. Mint: adding a cool, green note and also a hint of spice, the addition of mint gives scents a natural lift. Tea: offering a variety of delicate aromas, a renewed focus on tea delivers a fresh and also aromatic character.
Our Autumn and Winter months will be fired up by the following notes:
Oud: delivers a rich, musty, woody-nutty scent to create a sultry Middle Eastern backdrop to compositions. Rose: making an appearance for the fourth consecutive season. Rose is distinguished by its eternal femininity and used to add powdery, fruity or also woody notes to a scent. Leather: evident in both masculine and feminine fragrances. A leather note brings smoothness, warmth and even an animalistic direction. According to Bell Flavors & Fragrances EMEA the trend color for 2015, Pantone’s Marsala, will affect the world of fragrances. Sensual berry nuances will touch all four seasons and will provide its characteristic scent profile to various product categories. It is important to mention that the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) is proposing bans on a long list of EU ingredients. These bans have already impacted the fragrance market. Hard to imagine this happening to an all time favorite!
2) Customer Experiences:
The fragrance industry is fast moving in the direction of ‘niche’ perfume creations, blending unusual ingredients such as salt and saffron for example. Customers are searching out unique potions. Fragrance companies are also constantly striving to win the game of being the most innovative and daring. The concept of ‘bespoke’ fragrances is gaining popularity. Perfume lovers can get to explore, decide and select the ingredients they desire, where they can relate emotionally and personally to the fragrance. Such as individual life experiences, events, relationships, hurts and also joys all bottled up in a creation that only the wearer will be able to relate to. The ownership is in the freedom of choice! The customer will be engaged more in stores through improved staff training and questionnaires, ensuring that they have a more novel, informed and awe inspiring shopping experience. According to a study done by Mintel, six in ten wearers expressed that they would be interested in in-store diagnostic tools to help them choose the right fragrance. Harrods, Sephora and also Selfridges are currently the leading retailers in relating fragrance to the consumer.
3) Technological Advancements:
According to perfumer Roja Dove “Consumers have already educated themselves before they enter the store”. The rise in perfume blogging, perfume review sites and also social media has opened up a world of perfume education and entertainment! Many Tech Companies are looking at creating cell phone fragrance applications whereby the cell phone houses a particular scent.
The world of apps has and will continue to create powerful solutions in helping shoppers identify new fragrances that they wish to explore. FR.e.D, which is The Perfume Society’s own virtual fragrance advisor at perfumesociety.org/fred and iPerfumer from Givaudan are great apps to get your fingers on! In closing one may ask; why are fragrance trends of any significance? Fragrance Psychologist Dr Joachim Mensing says it beautifully; “Fragrances are offers for personal transformation. A desire to feel more feminine, more masculine more sensual, more dynamic or self-confident…….also to create a certain atmosphere and emotional setting.” Content Acknowledgements: Cosmetic Business, Euro Monitor, Seven Scent, Aspects Beauty