Written by Amina Noshi
Edited by CHIQIO
keywords:Vegetal accords, Dark vanilla, Scent-surrections, Neuroscents, Fragrance innovations
From fragrance accords evoking the roots of verdant gardens to those elevating a classic, warm gourmand, 2024 scent trends are reflective of the vastness of the fragrance market’s landscape and of the ever-growing demand for niche fragrances exploring uncustomary accords. Alternatively, innovations in technology such as ‘scent-surrections’, leveraging DNA sequencing to produce potent notes of endangered ingredients, or neuroscents, claiming to improve users’ cognition, mood and memory, are also gaining attention.
Vegetal Accords: Mood-boosting alternatives to traditional summer scents
A key fragrance trend for 2024, one WGSN has playfully dubbed ‘Eau de Veggies’ signals an appetite for nostalgic, green notes and accords. Vegetal accords of the green fragrance family including stems, seeds, leafy greens, vegetables, soil and roots inspired by gardens, backyards and greenhouses signal fragrance-users’ yearnings for a deeper connection with nature. Vegetal notes range from tomato, carrot, black pepper, green pepper, basil and cucumber, which add a fresh,woody or green accord to fragrances, to other vegetal artichoke, pumpkin and rhubarb notes which add a soft or even sweet accord to base or heart note compositions. Check out fragrances such as Maison Francis Kurdjian’s ‘Aqua Media’ or Diptyque’s ‘La Droguerie’ candles for a sampling of this wider fragrance trend.
Diptyque “La Droguerie” Household Cleaning Collection
Dark Vanilla: Elevating a classic gourmand note
Imbuing fragrances with a sophisticated allure through pairings with vanilla, a beloved, gourmand ingredient, woody and spicy coffee, clove, pink pepper, coriander, leather and sandalwood ingredients are gaining traction according to WGSN. Offering the warm sweetness of vanilla a darker, complex character, woody and spicy notes help to compose fragrances that suit the preferences of customers seeking layered ‘grown-up gourmands.’ Employing the vanilla ingredient in its purest form as vanilla leaves or vanilla absolute adds the potency of vanilla to fragrances and provides an ideal base for layering in pepper notes, woody notes and leather notes for a full-bodied fragrance character. Check out fragrances such as D.S. and Durga’s ‘Deep Dark Vanilla’ or ‘Vanilla Antique’ by Byredo for a sampling of this wider fragrance trend.
Deep Dark Vanilla D.S. & Durga
Scent Surrections: Extinct Ingredients in Fragrance Design
Offering alternatives to natural ingredients made scarce or endangered by the climate crisis, or even to those declared extinct, ‘scent-surrections’ will leverage biotechnology to offer perfumers a new arsenal of notes to employ in creating “never-before-experienced” accords and fragrances. Scientific technologies such as DNA sequencing can be leveraged to revive the scent profiles of ingredients ‘thought-forever-buried.’ Check out Boston-based fragrance label Future Society’s employment of DNA sequencing and extinct flower samples from the Harvard Herbarium in its pioneering ‘Scent Surrection’ collection.
Future Society ‘Scent Surrections’
Neuroscents: Fragrances
Although fragrances with aromatherapeutic properties are by no means a novelty in the fragrance market, ‘neuroscents’, those offering ingredients that aim to have a positive psychological effect on our mood and behavior (rather than a therapeutic one), have been recently gaining attention. Fragrances labeled as neuroscents currently on the market contain mood-boosting molecules backed by data in peer-reviewed medical journals or by neuroscientists who have tested ingredients directly. Studies have also recently indicated the possible positive effects of neuroscents and prolonged periods of ‘olfactory enrichment’ on memory and focus.
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