On The Scent… of NEWS: did you know that Flowers Are Watching Us? (And some surprising news about Andy Warhol.)
All the feels at Gap and Elizabeth Taylor as fragrance gets nostalgic for the 90s, alongside arty florals at dsm–firmenich and a long-awaited launch from Estée Lauder. Also, have we finally got a scientific excuse for our excess fragrance purchasing? Our newshound Amanda Carr – writer, trend-spotter and Barnes Fragrance Fair founder – keeps your finger on the pulse of all things fragrant
Watch out for those Blooms – Flowers Are Watching Us, by dsm-firmenich
Is this hibiscus watching you…? Photograph: Evelyn Verdin for Unsplash
Interesting times at the big fragrance ingredients houses, who are becoming keener on opening their doors to the world to show what they do. This summer Swiss based dsm–firmenich, one of the biggest suppliers of fragrance ingredients to the world of perfume, as well as home to some of the most celebrated perfumers, has launched a beautiful, immersive art–slash–perfume experience in Paris.
Called Flowers Are Watching Us, the activation (the new word for interesting art installations) features a selection of gorgeous botanical photography by artists such as Sophie Zénon, Anaïs Tondeur, Hideyuki Ishibashi and Almudena Gerardi, which sit alongside a truly spectacular site–specific folded and pleated floral paper sculpture by artist Junior Fritz Jacquet which merges light, perfume, movement and texture. Origami fans may want to consider a trip to Paris just to see this.
dsm–firmenich is using the activation to demonstrate more than a century of ingredient innovation within its labs and to present what might happen next in floral ingredient creation. Floral molecules from Iralia, created in 1903 and one of dsm–firmenich’s first ever synthetic molecules (used in Mitsouko and Chanel No5) and jasmine–like Hedione, used in Dior’s Eau Sauvage and Estée Lauder Pleasures, through to widely used base ingredients such as richly rosy Wardia, are all on display.
New sustainable technology is also being celebrated, with planet–friendly notes such as Firgood extraction and NaturePrint Capture, alongside green-chemistry ingredients such as Heliobliss. There’s even an exclusive fragrance which you can enjoy at the show, created by Amandine Clerc-Marie and Coralie Spicher, in collaboration with Junior Fritz Jacquet – a luminous, airy solar floral bouquet.
Fragrance consumers are now much more interested in ingredients, perfumers and who makes their scent, buy until recently the big ingredients houses were shy of publicity, perhaps worried they may disrupt the magic. Now, consumers follow their favourite perfumers on social media and can list ingredient compounds almost as efficiently as a perfume scientis. So, opening the doors to the laboratory – via gorgeous artistic installations – seems an obvious next step. With Flowers Are Watching Us, dsm–firmenich merges art with science to show its strong credentials as a quality creator and supplier.
The travelling pop-up installation has kicked off in Paris, but will be visiting Barcelona, São Paulo, New York and Shanghai soon. Did they forget London? Please add us to the list, dsm-firmenich…
Fast Food Fragrance. Is scent replacing calories for those on GLP-1s ?
We’ve been fascinated by the increased reporting of a link between the GLP–1 weight loss drugs such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic and an increased stimulation in olfactory activity with users.
Not wishing to blow our own trumpets, but our observations on the subject were quoted about in The Guardian last year, where 2025’s 24% rise in ‘sugary-scented, dessert themed fragrance’ – gourmands to you and me – was linked to an increase in GLP–1 usage in the UK. Market analyst Mintel stated consumers may be inhaling gourmands as a type of replacement for calories. It also acknowledged that users are wanting alternative sensory stimulation, hence the rise in interest with scent.
Throughout the year, forums such as Reddit have become full of comments from users saying how they are noticing a passionate interest in perfume, often impulse buying fragrances like they might have bought fast food. The HuffPost recently reported how comedian Todd Masterson developed an addiction to floral and vanilla based fragrances, amassing nearly 100 bottles at last count – when using Zepbound, a GLP-1 drug. The Independent similarly reported the trend, and offered an observation by Leslie Kay, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Chicago, who said the drugs could be hijacking the olfactory pleasure circuits in the brain for non-real food smells, like gourmand and other types of perfumes, to make up for the lack of food stimulation.
The Monell Center, a leading light in advanced taste and smell research, has recognised the chemosensory change caused by GLP–1s is an area that warrants more clinical research, as medical practitioners globally are increasingly noting this heightened sense of smell awareness in many GLP–1 patients. Fascinating stuff. And we’re hungry to hear more, as research continues.
Noses on standby for four reissued GAP favourites – Om, Grass, Heaven and Dream – with a new creation, Harmony
All The 90s Nostalgia Feels - with Gap Beauty and White Diamonds Icon, by Elizabeth Taylor
Nostalgia has been a trend for quite a while in both fashion and fragrance, so no surprise that two big 90s fragrance icons have relaunched and revamped their original, very successful perfumes for today’s fragrance–mad market.
Firstly, Gap Beauty has revisited its original Gap Fragrance collection from 1994, relaunching Dream, Grass, Heaven, Om and the new–for–now Harmony, in a weightier 20% eau de parfum concentration. The original eau de toilettes were beloved and captured the youthful, fun vibe of the 90s during Gap’s heyday as the go-to place for well designed, easy to wear casual dressing. You can still find the originals on resale sites, but according to the brand today’s consumer wants a more lasting and substantial formula, hence the new EDP strength.
The original perfumer Honorine Blanc has been brought back to tweak the original formula into the new strength, alongside Nicole Mancini, both from dsm-firmenich. Deb Redmond, Head of Beauty at Gap Inc. explained ‘We were rigorous about the technical journey, maintaining the core DNA of the original scents while modernising the formulations for how people actually wear fragrance today.’
Apparently, today’s fragrance buyers want feelings, and each of the five fragrances aims to captures an emotion. Dream is warm and woody, Grass is light and restorative, Heaven is soft and sensual, with Om offering grounded sandalwood and ginger. New addition Harmony adds a playful and uplifting vibe with apricot and amber. It’s good to see new launches in the more affordable sector of the market, but sadly Gap can’t tell us when the collection will be launched in the UK, it launched in the USA on July 30th. Back to Vinted and eBay for us, then.
Over at Elizabeth Taylor, it’s 35 years since the original White Diamonds, was launched, creating not just a hugely successful and much-loved fragrance icon but also setting the template for celebrity fragrances throughout the next three decades. Esteemed master perfumer Carlos Benaïm, worked with Taylor on the original scent, has been brought back to give it something of a lift for today’s consumer. For White Diamonds Icon, Carlos has worked alongside fellow IFF perfumer Catapano Natasha Côté-Mouzanner to lighten the fragrance, balancing ‘luminous florals with a modern warmth’. (Word is that the UK launch will take place in 2026. Meanwhile, got any friends travelling Stateside…?)
We thoroughly approve of this 90s relaunch trend. Some of our favourite fragrances were created during this period and we’d be thrilled to see lots of them return. What fragrances would you like to revisit from the 90s? Cartier’s aptly-named So Pretty, perhaps? Dior Dolce Vita, with its jaunty flacon? Prescriptives Calyx, which enjoyed its heyday in that decade…? Let us know! We might just start a petition.
Estée Lauder’s first launch in over a decade, Glimmer, hit the shelves this week
Glimmer Glamour at Estée Lauder
Big news at Estée Lauder. After a gap of some 12 years, the company has released Glimmer Eau De Parfum, its first major prestige pillar fragrance launch since Modern Muse (excluding the odd flanker here and there). We officially declare it worth the wait.
Created by perfumer heavyweights Dominique Ropion, Anne Flipo and Jean–Marc Chaillan, the fragrance is a grown–up, amber floral, both elegant and warm with just a touch of gourmand sweetness (and Chypre whispers, with it). It feels both thoroughly modern while remaining glamorous and wearable, and is intended to add micro moments – glimmers! – of joy throughout the day.
We were introduced to the Glimmer Eau de Parfum world via journalist Sali Hughes and General Manager of Estée Lauder UK, Luke Evans, who explained the extensive research and thought that went into this beautiful new addition to the family. Luke acknowledged that the addition of a new fragrance to the Estée Lauder stable was later than they would have liked, but that getting the fragrance perfect was very important, however long it took.
The fragrance has also captured the current mood for emotionally grounded perfume, it’s been created to stimulate an immediate emotional shift in the wearer, to enable them to capture the tiny–but–wonderful sensory cues felt from those smaller moments of life that can spark joy. An astute move by the brand – goodness knows we all need some glimmers of joy in our current crazy world.
The fragrance also comes in beautiful, weighty bottles carved with stylish semi circles that feel like tiny sculptural works of art in your perfume wardrobe. The fragrance also comes in 30ml, 50 ml and 100ml bottles with the same sculptural design, as well as a travel 10ml version, a nice touch and one that reflects a need for affordable ways to buy at the moment. We think Estée Lauder has a hit on its hands, let us know what you think.
And in other scent news….
While we were at the Glimmer launch, we learned that Andy Warhol (pictured below) – despite creating celebrated art works around the Chanel No5 bottle – was actually buried with a bottle of his beloved Estée Lauder Beautiful. He was never without a bottle during his lifetime, and clearly made sure he’d be well stocked with it in any afterlife!
Andy Warhol photographed at The Jewish Museum/copyright WikiCommons
