“Metamorphosis” was the theme of the 14th edition of Esxence, the largest annual niche perfumery fair in Europe held in Milan from 6th – 9th March 2024.
Was it a metamorphosis? Is there one underway in the perfume industry?
Read on to find out…
Getting There
The first “metamorphosis” was the sheer number of people that visited the fair: 12,000 attendees compared to 10,000 the previous years, a 20% jump. The issue being that the increased participation was all concentrated during the last day of the fair (reportedly 5,000 people), the only one open to the public. This meant that for people such as myself, who had arrived early in the morning at the event, there was an over 2-hour long queue (under the rain) to get in …
Coming from Rome, which is a 3-hour long high speed train ride from Milan (and some people in the queue whom I spoke to had come from much further afield) it was a long way to come for little time on-site and poor access to brands and interesting presentations by industry insiders.
This was clearly not the best way to beginning the experience and a clear sign that organisers had been taken by surprise by the sheer number of visitors. It also meant that brands seemed stressed and slightly under siege, which again impacted the overall experience of the event. So my first recommendation would be for anyone genuinely interested in attending to avoid at all costs going on the one day opened to the public if there is any other way of attending (be it by invitation, as press, etc.) and for organisers to work out another system.
What’s new in the perfume world?
Thankfully, for anyone really interested in the state of perfumery, all the presentations are available on the Esxence youtube channel: (https://www.youtube.com/user/ESXENCEcom), some are extremely interesting, like the discussion with Master perfumer, and Givaudan School Director, Calice Becker about her career and the avenues (or lack thereof seemed to me) for people wanting to study perfumery, or the conferences dedicated to markets such as the Middle East or China.
I will devote separate articles or videos on some of these arguments, as the issues they broach would be too long to go into here. Suffice to say, based on the presentation from Fragrances of the World (the Michael Edwards’ organization) that there are a few take aways:
#1. Take away: niche is dead
First of all, the term “niche” perfumery is, at this stage, meaningless and needs breaking down in sub-sectors, as it covers realities that are too dissimilar (from small artisan brands headed by a one man/woman show, to big companies that have often been acquired by larger groups such as Byroad (Puig) or Frederic Malle (Estée Lauder)).
Since Esxence was create in 2009, there has been a 970% increase in the numbers of niche brands on the market (niche intended in opposition to “designer” brands, such as YSL, Dior, etc. that are traditionally the cosmetic and fragrance arm of luxury companies predominantly known for designing clothes and accessories). As of 2023, niche brands are responsible for the highest number of new perfume launches every year. They are no longer the exception; they are the majority.
#2. Take away: Asia and the East
Geographically speaking, markets that have seen the highest growth are China (growing at three times the speed of other markets), Oceania, Asia in general, and the Middle East. So, in a nutshell, look East with a growing number of locally grown perfume brands that are increasingly aiming at becoming international players, not merely local realities. I for one will be very excited to see how these brands grow, what they offer and how they transition to international.
#3. Take away: loud is here to stay
Fragrance notes and families that have been popular in 2023 are not too dissimilar from those seen the previous year, with long lasting, base-heavy perfumes front and center such as amber fragrances, amber-woods and amber-floral. Meanwhile more natural, softer floral and woods have started being less popular (having experienced their haydays during the Covid pandemic), as well as citrus and green scents.
Some star ingredients featured in new releases have been ginger and cardamom, coconut, cognac, incense, soft leather and tobacco. Vanilla, an evergreen, has continued to be very present in perfume releases leaning on the gourmand side, as well as some fruits that were popular last year, such as cherry, mango strawberry and banana. Finally, “iced woods” have been popular in masculine scents, as woody notes are mixed with cooling spices for a counter intuitive effect.
Brands @Esxence: any trends?
Well with 360 brands present and 5000 people in the room, literally, it was hard to get a chance to explore most brands.
With a bird’s eye view, these are my take aways:
# 1. More diversity (and more non-European brands)
Compared to last year, I think one difference would be the higher number of brands that were not European and offered a different cultural take on perfume. Of course, and this will be the subject of a deep dive at some point, if you are a brand from say Japan or Oman and the perfumer or manufacturer you use is Firmenich or Givaudan, the result will still end up, in my view, being a fairly French-style of perfumery. As beautiful as that is, it’s not real diversity.
I know these big fragrance houses are now hiring and training “noses” from “emerging markets” such as Asia and the Middle East (I generally find that term silly and condescending, but I am using in here in the context of perfumery, comparing consolidated markets versus emerging ones), but still, their whole modus operandi has classical roots and the teachers at those big fragrance houses (Firmenich, Givaudan, etc.,) are mostly French or certainly European.
Some of the Middle Eastern brands present were quite gaudy and there were a lot of “bling” ornate bottles with loud scents full of aggressive amber-woods that made me want to run for the hills. Suffice to say, not everything there seemed to indicate luxury. There was even a house that clearly borrowed the packaging from a well-known English brand’s collection of scents, which was a bit strange to me.
But among the brands I met that impressed me was Gwahali, a UAE brand part of Haloub group. The manager of the brand, Forat Al Haider, took the time to explain the strategy behind the brand and the development of each scent, which he personally created in collaboration with Firmenich if I am not mistaken. From the presentation and a first smell of their scents, the objective seems clearly to offer an elegant, sophisticated line of fragrances that will appeal both to customers in the Middle East as well as international luxury clients. My overall impression was that they were going for a brand positioning similar to a “Maison Francis Kurdijan” (they brand themselves as ” modern oriental niche perfumes”). They come in a 100 ml format and retail in the UAE for 745 dirham, so around 187 EUR. They feel expensive but approachable and easy to wear. Nothing challenging, nothing pushing the boat too much, but beautifully done with quality ingredients. I feel compelled to say though that smelling/evaluating a line of perfumes at a fair is never ideal, so I will certainly make of point of trying to smell them again in an more objective environment and report back.
The packing, although beautiful, raises the question of what is truly luxury in 2024. Gwahali uses all the traditional codes of luxury: a very heavy glass bottle with a “double” glass bottom, a very sturdy metal cap with engravings, the brand’s name in English and Arabic in elegant gold letters, etc.. The result is something that would look great on any instagram post or anyone’s night stand. Is it responsible? Is it refillable? Is the weight necessary? These are all questions some customers are asking.
But in an era of environmental crisis, I think each brand will have a different approach to how to interpret luxury (see Ph Fragrances’ opposite position to this challenge detailed later in this article, or the piece I wrote about this topic in June of last year: https://www.pixidisperfumes.com/packaging-and-perfume-does-it-mater-and-what-is-real-luxury/).
In a quite different direction, there is J-scent from Japan which is proposing an original line of perfumes from a country that has not yet produced a lot of international perfume brands (Shiseido comes to mind, as well as Keiko Mecheiri and Di Ser). Their packaging is simple, with clean lines and feels very Japanese. The names of the various fragrances immediately conjure Japan: Sumo Wrestler, Hanamachi, Roasted Green Tea, Hakka. The notes are also original (wasabi, roasted peanut) and give a beautiful olfactive evocation of Japan. On the whole, it’s a brand that seems to be clear about what it wants to do, which of course works best when there are not a lot of competitors doing the same (i.e. translating Japan into olfactive form). Well worth exploring. My guess is this is more of a Gen Z brand (so your Glossier or Milk consumer if we want to translate this into cosmetics brands).
Of course, this begs a broader question of how will local brands from the Middle East and Asia, that are looking to appeal to international customers, proceed? I personally think that trying to be a “niche brand” that resembles a French or Italian one, will likely results in a loss of “soul” and individuality. I would be more excited to see brands really owning their diversity. Focusing on local notes and accords or on a different way of applying and conceiving fragrances, allowing us to discover something new. In the panel discussion on China, there were some exciting news about ventures between Chinese brands and Western luxury groups, for example L’Oreal’s investment in Chinese fragrance brand “To Summer” which presents itself as a brand that reflects Asian/Eastern sensibilities and tastes (see: https://centdegres.com/work/to-summer-your-eastern-scent/).
Only time will tell if the metamorphosis in the fragrance industry starts East.
# 2. Customisation
I think the whole issue of layering and creating a “customizable” scent is still very much part of what some people on the market crave (possibly especially in the USA according to the talk on the US market you can find on Esxence youtube channel), and EPC (Experimental Perfume Club) has very smartly plugged that segment. The brand proposes a series of scents that can be combined directly by the customers to create a personalized perfume (called the “Essential Collection” comprised of 9 different scents, such as Fig-Neroli, Amber-Iris, etc,), as well as a collection (the Signature Blend Collection) that offers a curated blend of two scents from the essential collection such as for example “Santal Nuit” which is a mix of “Bergamot-Incense” and “Sandalwood-Musk” from the Essential Collection.
The advantage of the second collection is that you don’t need to buy two scents (they cost 20 eur more though, so 150 eur for 50 ml instead of 130 eur for 50 ml for the essential collection) but it takes away from the main concept of the brand of allowing consumers to “play at creating their own perfume”.
#3. Sustainability and Ethics in perfumery
Finally, and these are issues near to my heart, sustainability, transparency and “ethics” in the fragrance industry. These are still challenges that some brands are committing to tackling earlier than others and where a lot of work remains to be done.
I mentioned last year “Parfumeurs du Monde” a brand that has taken the approach of offering all-natural perfumes relying on master perfumers such as Bernard Duchaufour for their creations, as well as the brand creator himself, Thierry Bernard. They are also committing to donating a percentage of their sales back to the planet with associations such as “Coeur de Forêt”. I really wanted to catch up with the founder Thierry Bernard to see how they were doing but the quantity of people at the event and general lack of time made it impossible. I would like to try to organise an interview to have an in-depth look at the brand in the context of a piece on natural perfumery in the months to come. Watch this space.
Another brand that caught my attention was Ph Natural. I met the owner, Camille Le Feuvre, at the end of the day and she seemed utterly exhausted and vented her frustration at how hard it was to convince distributors to take a chance on an eco-responsible natural brand (formulas are according to the company between 84% to 93% natural). Camille has over 15 years’ experience in the fragrance industry, working for the likes of fragrance titans like Givaudan.
Remarking on her experience at the fair, and I am quoting her post on Linkedin, which echoed what she told me at Esxence, “The Ostentatious, the Gold… was omnipresent again and again. Does the old luxury still exist?There were [close to] 400 Niche perfume brands in Esxence last week…But we were only 10 actors of change for more sustainable luxury, more committed to health, the environment and society, but believe me, within 5 years these figures will change”. According to Camille, Ph Fragrances uses over 40 raw materials in their fragrances that are “sustainable” (i.e. respectful of both nature and the human and natural habitat in which these materials are cultivated and harvested, hence their increased cost).
The brand also has home scents as well as cosmetics products and their scents retail for 160 eur for 100 ml or 48 eur for 15 ml. They come in brown tinted bottles ( I think because they choose not to use UV filters in their fragrances), with a gold cap and simple lettering.They feel modern and urban. They called themselves “clean”, which is a term that bothers me generally speaking, and they explain why they chose not to use a series of substances out of a principle of precaution (better safe than sorry). I have no real memories of their scents, it was too late in the day but it seems like they are also taking the route of putting two main ingredients forward for each scent.
Next Year?
So as a conclusion, was Esxence a metamorphosis? Not yet. But things are changing rapidly and Esxence, if they manage to improve their organisation, is an exciting place to get the low-down on what is happening.
Until next year and happy sniffing and olfactive discoveries to all!