Fragrance Is Suddenly That Girl

Perfume is peaking, and we couldn't be more pleased.

- BETH GILLETTE

Three years ago, I owned exactly two perfumes: Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar, my signature scent I wore every day, and Chanel Chance, my special fragrance for dates and evenings out. And that was all I needed. Or so I thought.

Fast-forward to today and my vanity is holding up...108 fragrances. Did I rob a Sephora or accidentally become a hoarder? No (well, actually, no comment on the latter point). It's just that sometime in the past year, perfume stopped being a predictable department-store product or something your mom might buy you on your birthday. It became a Whole Damn Event.

Like with so many current beauty phenomena, we can thank social media for this now-cool-again makeover. Influencers are sharing their "fragrance wardrobes" (collections of scents curated by mood, occasion, or personal aesthetic), #Perfume Tok is a billion-view behemoth, and Gen Z is all about the "sillage" (insider speak for the scent trail a perfume leaves behind).