proof if you offer something different people love it. My most popular perfume is heavy on palo santo and coconut, customers repeat buy because they can't find anything else like it.
My new favorite scent is Noisette by Maison d’etto. I was drawn to the lavender undertones which felt unique, looking at the scent profile now I see musk is included. “Smells like: Magnolia Flower, Musk ( TOP ); Orris Concrete, French Lavender Oil ( HEART ); Ambrette Seed, Lavandin Absolute, White Amber ( BASE )”
And I love this piece so much! Makes me wonder what movies, fashion and other trends would look like on a similar graph… someone mentioned in the comments, the flattening of culture, which feels very real. Are we all buying, watching, reading, listening to and making the same things? What does that mean for originality? Is creativity being redefined?
So good to see data used in such a volatile (pun intended) area! Thanks for the analysis. Not sure things will change, this is “what the consumers want”, right? And AI will only increase this uniformly, I suppose?
How I love perfume! Well, at least I used to before they started using strange chemical scent enhancers and things whose chemical assault upon my nervous system obliterate subtle variations of scent so lovingly described here. To me it all smells like Febreeze, but smell isn't the working verb here, it's the instantaneous headache, reeling dizziness and disjointed orientation that hits me more than any actual scent.
I do think that there's been a flattening of culture which has been reported on a bit.... having to do with algorithms giving us what we want, and all that. Of course, perfume is not going to be left out. Now that we know what is being made, will that also be reflected in what people are buying? I mean, if we are just fed the same information everywhere, maybe we will all also smell the same. After years of not following most perfume trends, now that I'm into perfume more, I find myself liking vanilla... whomp whomp.
I struggle with finding a good scent these days. Now in my early 60's, I remember the joy of finding gorgio beverly hills for the first time and then all of a sudden they changed it and it wasn't the same. My next scent love was hypnotic poison and the same thing happened - it seemed to change. For a while after that I loved L'instant Guerlain. I can no longer find it anywhere. When I go into the stores these days most scents all smell so similar and none really stand out or sit well on me. Many end up smelling rank on my fairly oily skin. I live in hope of finding that new scent that will be my signature scent but for now I am using brazillian crush 62 which doesn't last very long but is priced so that I can be liberal several times a day. It isn't the same but does until I find that new exciting signature scent.
These graphs show what I felt to be the case and it's good to see data back it up. Is there hope for the future of perfumery? I'm an eternal optimist, but even I sometimes admit defeat when I walk the streets smelling the same few scents.
Coming late to the party, just to say: chapeau. This is one helluva revelatory, informative, and pedagogical piece. (It also serves to confirm my bias toward the classics and my relative aversion toward the sameness of what’s now in vogue.) Thank you.
Very interesting. Since my favorite notes are orange blossom, Iris, Lily of the valley, linden, frankincense, ambergris and sandalwood, this perfectly explains why I find mainstream offerings uninteresting, boring and smelling like nothing much and like every other main stream perfume at the same time! Thanks for the useful data.
Brian Buchanana's Illuminating review of the trends in scent preferences has this soapmaker wondering and sharing.
Perhaps the increasing preference for those lower notes on the scent scale are because they are stable, and comforting like Mom's basement. Or possibly the high notes had been screeching so hard they became irritating, and people revolted. The idea that reinforcement and rewards for conformity might be affecting the scent preferences also seems valid. Lastly, the olfactory changes caused by the COVID buggs, are probably a significant influence.
Might there not be a denominator problem here? Eg if the market is flooded with flankers, wouldn’t that cause these lines to look more stable, even if there are just as many alternative scent profiles as there ever were as an absolute number?
Who knew? Not me. Found this through 'Substack Reads', a weekly compendium of writers I'd never have known about otherwise. Thanks Substack and thanks Brian Buchanan. I'm interested in the interactions between aroma-therapy and perfumery.
proof if you offer something different people love it. My most popular perfume is heavy on palo santo and coconut, customers repeat buy because they can't find anything else like it.
Aromatherapy and perfumery meet in what's known as aromachology. If it smells good, it makes you feel good is the basic idea.
Using scent for wellness is getting pretty popular these days.
My new favorite scent is Noisette by Maison d’etto. I was drawn to the lavender undertones which felt unique, looking at the scent profile now I see musk is included. “Smells like: Magnolia Flower, Musk ( TOP ); Orris Concrete, French Lavender Oil ( HEART ); Ambrette Seed, Lavandin Absolute, White Amber ( BASE )”
And I love this piece so much! Makes me wonder what movies, fashion and other trends would look like on a similar graph… someone mentioned in the comments, the flattening of culture, which feels very real. Are we all buying, watching, reading, listening to and making the same things? What does that mean for originality? Is creativity being redefined?
Thanks for sharing!
Is creativity being redefined?
Interesting question, I'd have to think about that.
Anyone got any ideas?
So much is being optimized for profit. Just another industry not taking chances and going for what sells? Just my two cents.
So good to see data used in such a volatile (pun intended) area! Thanks for the analysis. Not sure things will change, this is “what the consumers want”, right? And AI will only increase this uniformly, I suppose?
How I love perfume! Well, at least I used to before they started using strange chemical scent enhancers and things whose chemical assault upon my nervous system obliterate subtle variations of scent so lovingly described here. To me it all smells like Febreeze, but smell isn't the working verb here, it's the instantaneous headache, reeling dizziness and disjointed orientation that hits me more than any actual scent.
Wow. Standing ovation here. Nicely done.
I do think that there's been a flattening of culture which has been reported on a bit.... having to do with algorithms giving us what we want, and all that. Of course, perfume is not going to be left out. Now that we know what is being made, will that also be reflected in what people are buying? I mean, if we are just fed the same information everywhere, maybe we will all also smell the same. After years of not following most perfume trends, now that I'm into perfume more, I find myself liking vanilla... whomp whomp.
I struggle with finding a good scent these days. Now in my early 60's, I remember the joy of finding gorgio beverly hills for the first time and then all of a sudden they changed it and it wasn't the same. My next scent love was hypnotic poison and the same thing happened - it seemed to change. For a while after that I loved L'instant Guerlain. I can no longer find it anywhere. When I go into the stores these days most scents all smell so similar and none really stand out or sit well on me. Many end up smelling rank on my fairly oily skin. I live in hope of finding that new scent that will be my signature scent but for now I am using brazillian crush 62 which doesn't last very long but is priced so that I can be liberal several times a day. It isn't the same but does until I find that new exciting signature scent.
I’m surprised to not see tuberose represented.
There are several notes missing from this graphic but Chao Li has now made an updated version. It's more detailed but all the more busy for it.
These graphs show what I felt to be the case and it's good to see data back it up. Is there hope for the future of perfumery? I'm an eternal optimist, but even I sometimes admit defeat when I walk the streets smelling the same few scents.
Coming late to the party, just to say: chapeau. This is one helluva revelatory, informative, and pedagogical piece. (It also serves to confirm my bias toward the classics and my relative aversion toward the sameness of what’s now in vogue.) Thank you.
Thanks for your note, it's kind of you to say so.
Very interesting. Since my favorite notes are orange blossom, Iris, Lily of the valley, linden, frankincense, ambergris and sandalwood, this perfectly explains why I find mainstream offerings uninteresting, boring and smelling like nothing much and like every other main stream perfume at the same time! Thanks for the useful data.
Very interesting. Why has perfume become so samey? You'd think it might go the opposite way - do you think this trend will continue?
I hope not, but I fear it will continue for some time.
I noticed how cedarwood has jumped a few spots but I didn’t see wood ambers on the chart . Is cedarwood the proxy for those?
I don't know how the graphic was put together so I really couldn't say.
Brian Buchanana's Illuminating review of the trends in scent preferences has this soapmaker wondering and sharing.
Perhaps the increasing preference for those lower notes on the scent scale are because they are stable, and comforting like Mom's basement. Or possibly the high notes had been screeching so hard they became irritating, and people revolted. The idea that reinforcement and rewards for conformity might be affecting the scent preferences also seems valid. Lastly, the olfactory changes caused by the COVID buggs, are probably a significant influence.
Might there not be a denominator problem here? Eg if the market is flooded with flankers, wouldn’t that cause these lines to look more stable, even if there are just as many alternative scent profiles as there ever were as an absolute number?
Who knew? Not me. Found this through 'Substack Reads', a weekly compendium of writers I'd never have known about otherwise. Thanks Substack and thanks Brian Buchanan. I'm interested in the interactions between aroma-therapy and perfumery.