TikTok is an endless consumption generator, with nearly every industry turbocharged by the viral demand for hyped products. Yet out of all the beauty hashtags, PerfumeTok is arguably the most popular, with its 3.2 billion views breeding a new generation of fragrance obsessives. The once stuffy sector has become an exciting playground for self-expression.
Now the latest rage on #PerfumeTok sees Gen Z competing to find the most underground smells from independent perfumers far away from the industry giants. One that will garner an “if you know, you know” seal of approval akin to wearing a hard-to-find archival piece. Think of these fragrances as the final touch to an Instagram-approved outfit.
Although you won’t find these at your local Boots, that’s part of the allure. So put down your Dior Sauvage or YSL Black Opium and add a spritz of something different to your morning routine.
Marissa Zappas
Marissa Zappas is not your regular perfumer. She counts sex workers and astrologers as collaborators, and has even created official scents for New York’s Museum of Sex. Across social media she’s built a cult following for her leftfield perfume Annabel’s Birthday Cake, whose top notes include lemon sugar and balloons, while its mid notes pull for tuberose frosting and fresh-out-the-oven cake. As a mainstay of the Brooklyn scene, the master whiffer also lends her nose to developing custom perfumes, with the creator of Netflix hit You, Sera Gamble, already using this service.
Hilde Soliani
To those in the know, Hilde Soliani is the queen of gourmand fragrances. Although she has a relatively small digital footprint, that hasn’t stopped a committed legion of TikTokers from falling in love with her homely, full-bodied scents. A theatrical performer first and foremost, she uses her Parma-based studio to “express her joie de vivre”, which immediately comes across in one spray of her flirtatious cherry scents or earthy tomato fragrance inspired by the tradition of throwing fruit at a stage during a bad performance.
Perfumehead
With a press release that talks of “personal smell museums” and “olfactory screenplays”, the newly launched Perfumehead immediately caught the attention of fragrance zealots. Created by Daniel Giles (who has already been called “the Sofia Coppola of scent”), his debut line comprises seven unisex fragrances inspired by his hometown Los Angeles, from the Flamingo Estate in the LA hills to the jacaranda trees of West Hollywood. Each scent is accompanied by a poem (because why not?) and they all have offbeat names like Cosmic Cowboy and Canadian Tuxedo.
Phlur
Helmed by stylist and digital entrepreneur Chriselle Lim, Phlur fragrances are inspired by universal life experiences like heartbreak or finding yourself. What’s more, she seems to have successfully bottled up these shared feelings, with their breakout scent Missing Person (which Lim describes as “about the longing for a person that you miss so much”) amassing a 200,000-strong waiting list for it. With celebrity devotees like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Miranda Kerr, Phlur won’t be niche for long.
Universal Flowering
“Don’t you think we need to live in our dreams to find presence?” asks Courtney Rafuse, the founder of Universal Flowering, on the site’s landing page. She’s being rhetorical, because who wouldn’t want to get sucked into her deeply romantic, utterly fixating world of fragrances? Launched in 2016, Rafuse’s genderless perfumes like Daddy and Holy Hell (inspired by “whirlwind romance” and Italy’s “Sferracavallo beach at night”) have become the hottest things on the internet.
Perfumer H
One of London’s most popular exports, Perfumer H was founded by Lyn Harris in 2015. Since then she’s perfected her unconventional scents from her Marylebone laboratory. Having trained under Monique Schlienger and Robertet in Grasse, her latest offering, Rhubarb, is inspired by her grandmother’s veg patch.
