Here's why skin-like fragrances are gaining popularity in 2023

Indulge us if you will—we’ll begin with a little reader participation. Close your eyes and imagine you’re smelling, for the first time since last spring, deliciously crisp, verdant, freshly cut grass. Then, beyond the loveliness of the scent itself, imagine how that makes you really, truly feel. Fragrance trends are, essentially, this principle writ large. While perfumers tap into the seasons—giving us that freshly cut grass alongside floral fabulousness in spring and summer, and smokey tendrilled, glowingly warm concoctions in autumn and winter—they do so much more. They tap into the global mood.

What’s lacking in life at this moment? What, sensorially, emotionally, and viscerally, do we need? How can that ‘something’ be blended with seasonal ingredients and channelled into a perfume? (There’s a good reason it takes perfumers seven years to train in this magical alchemy…)

Right now, we want comfort and reassurance. The post-pandemic world is one of economic uncertainty and ecological crisis. Our fragrances need to be anchoring, grounding formulations that smell familiar; scents that bring to mind the warmth of skin, the calming effect of milk, the comfort of vanilla and, ultimately, happier times. "Fragrances are a reflection of our emotions," explains Honorine Blanc, master perfumer at fragrance company Firmenich. "Skin-like fragrances are gaining popularity because, rather than about projecting outwards, they’re about bringing the wearer pleasure and comfort—offering us self-empowerment and making us feel good."

Comfort and joy

After the last economic downturn in 2008, which was closely followed by the rise of social media, a similar phenomenon occurred: we sought out fragrances that replaced the humanness and intimacy being compromised by living through screens. Perfumes such as Burberry Body, Estée Lauder Sensuous Nude and Bobbi Brown Bed enjoyed great success.

What do comfort and reassurance smell like in 2023? For many of us, it smells like Phlur Missing Person, (₹10,784). This fragrance has so nailed the zeitgeist that shortly after it launched, it had a waiting list of over 200,000 buyers. It's a safe-feeling wonder ingredient? Musk, musk and more musk—an ingredient that once originated from the glands of a deer, but is now created synthetically—alongside gorgeously soft white florals.

Anything we smell ‘speaks’ directly to the part of our brain that deals with memory, mood and emotion, and since musk is the perfume ingredient most closely associated with skin, it has the power to be familiar and reassuring. "The 'skin' musk in Missing Person will trigger a memory of some sort for most people," says Chriselle Lim, owner and creative director of Phlur. "Everyone who experiences the scent says it smells awfully familiar and reminds them of somebody, and there’s something about this chemistry that just warms you up inside… it’s like a big hug!" she adds. 

Here on the beauty desk, we felt a palpable and slightly euphoric sense of optimism on the first spritz.

Unique and personal 

But it’s not all about musk. Another very clever note that brings to mind a sense of familiarity and comfort is one with the rather strange name of Iso E Super. How? Well, we couldn’t exactly tell you. Some people can hardly smell it. Others swear it accentuates their pheromones. Perfumers often use it to make a scent more robust, but also to ‘personalise’ a fragrance—it’s a note that develops on the skin (while others dissipate), during which time it feeds off the wearer’s natural smell, making for an end scent that’s at once unique and familiar. Back in 2006, Escentric Molecules did the (in traditional perfumery terms) unthinkable and launched Molecule 01, containing only Iso E Super. Nothing else. But the mercurial nature of this shape-shifting note—the way it seems to smell different from person to person; like them, only better—drove people wild and, to this day, it remains a bestseller. 

For March 2023, Escentric Molecules has tapped into the resurgence in comforting scents with the Molecule + collection: three versions of Molecule 01, each with one additional ingredient. Molecule 01 + Guaiac Wood, (approx. ₹48,000), is very grounding, with the brand’s founder, perfumer Geza Schoen describing it as being ‘like emulsified smoke that melts into the Iso E Super to make a super-sexy skin scent’.  "I love how this note inherently makes each wear unique; playing off the skin’s chemistry for a one-of-a-kind scent experience," says Commodity’s Vicken Arslanian. 

"This lies like a second skin and is slightly more woody than musky," says Vicken. "It’s a lighter take on musk that adds a gentle balance to a fragrance." Then there’s milk—not something we often associate with perfume, but a cosseting, tactile, and surprisingly personal note that we’re seeing more frequently in new fragrance launches. "Milky notes add a comforting, creamy and very modern sensuality to a scent," explains Honorine Blanc. 

This piece originally appeared in the March 2023 print edition of Harper's Bazaar UK