Perfume as a story

It has been well establish for centuries that scent conjures the strongest memory. This has been supported by a mountain of evidence from psychologists due to the nose's direct connection with the brain's emotional vault. 

In the 2010's niche and at times bizarre ingredients were all the rage for fragrance marketing. These ranged from the commercially viable Tom Ford for Oud Wood (containing oud from the Middle East) to the deliberately shocking Etat Libre d'Orange's Sécrétions Magnifiques which contained an accord of blood, sweat, saliva. 

Today it seems the market has ridden the trend to the point where it has become too obvious, however how now looked at new horizons to sell the intangible concept of scent (usually via the internet). Consumers may roll their eyes at the matcha flavor trend that was tipped to be the next big scent in 2026, fatigued from a decade of being sold novelty ingredients. As outlined in a recent Vogue article by Chloe Schama "We All Now Want a Perfume That Tells a Story" Schama describes the shift from ingredient to story. 

"But contemporary fragrances have become so invested in story-telling that they have come to lean on reference points with little connection to things that actually smell... Frederic Malle’s newest series is based around the idea of “desert gems”—a popular one is called “The Moon.” If you want to smell like an actual rock, jewelry company Mateo has scents based on turquoise, mother of pearl, and malachite."

It is hard to say when the storytelling trend will jump the proverbial shark, as described by an interviewee in Schama's article as "the tug of war between novelty and nostalgia." However the industry has completely leaned in and the creativity surrounding it cannot be denied. For Quinn, simple remains best and the only story we are interested in is that of the woman who wears the product.