That Perfume Is Very Strong—and That’s the Point
A new wave of ultra-concentrated fragrances is flooding the luxury market. But what’s behind the craving for such intensity?
Extreme fragrances are having a moment. Walk through any airport or high-end department store, and you’ll find scents advertising higher oil concentrations than ever before. These include: Hermès’s new Terre d’Hermes Eau de Parfum Intense, a sublime bergamot-topped scent inspired by “burning wood and lava stone;” Dior’s 2024-launched Esprits de Parfum line, which introduced Bois d’Argent Esprit de Parfum in June; Mugler’s Alien Extraintense Eau de Parfum, which promises “extreme sensuality” through high-contrast notes of jasmine, cardamom, and “sun heated” skin-like musk; and an increasing abundant range of Extraits and Elixirs vowing to stay on the body and deliver new levels of complexity over time.
There’s Byredo’s Perfume Extract line, with deeply layered offerings like the Morocco-inspired floral Casablanca Lily; niche French perfumery Matiere Premiere’s Extrait collection from 2024; and Tom Ford’s Private Blend line, a market innovator when it launched in 2007 that feels totally in keeping with the zeitgeist today. The most recent addition in the Private Blend line is Rose Exposed, a rose-on-rose co-distillation with seductive, leathery notes. Who wants a simple rose perfume when a more potent—and much more intricate—version is on hand?
“For me, the rise of high concentrations is rooted in the fact that fragrances have become quite expensive over the years,” says Renaud Salmon, the chief experience officer at Omani fragrance house Amouage, and the vision behind Marc Jacobs’s Daisy and Dolce by Dolce & Gabbana. “The last thing people want is to wear an expensive fragrance and not get any compliment, or to have the feeling that, when they remove their shirt at the end of the day, they don’t smell their fragrance. It gives you the feeling that you’ve been olfactorily naked for the full day.”
Amouage, a cult favorite in the luxury perfume world known for especially meticulous craftsmanship, may be the only house to introduce transparency on exact concentration levels. “Brands started trying to imagine names that convey things that are richer and richer and richer,” Salmon says. “It’s a language that is very colorful, that talks to clients. But it’s rooted in nothing, because nothing is regulated.”
The house’s Exceptional Extrait collection boasts fragrances with concentrations ranging from 40 percent to 56 percent, such as Guidance 46 at 46 percent, which is inspired by the beloved floral amber Guidance but given increased complexity through almond and musky, creamy ambrette. “We are not in a race to go for the highest concentration,” Salmon adds. “What matters is the right concentration. You cannot create perfume in spreadsheets and say, I’m going to double the concentration, and then the longevity is going to be doubled. It’s important to define the personality of the fragrance, and then say, what are we going to amplify? What are we going to simplify? Then the creative work on the formula starts.”
Suzy le Helley, the young nose behind the award-winning Acne Studios par Frédéric Malle, suggests brands are seeking to justify higher prices. “We are living in an era where concentration is being challenged in two different ways,” she says. “You have more and more projects with very low concentration, like body mist, exploding on the market. And in parallel, you have the opposite where customers are asking for more and more concentrated fragrances.”
She says she’s been asked to make perfumes with concentrations around 50 percent of late. “It’s very crazy,” she admits, “and it definitely affects the way you are formulating, because the regulatory impact is much more difficult. You can’t use some raw materials that you use in normal concentration. And it’s not the same evaporation, when you put more concentrated fragrance on your skin. It’s evaporating more slowly because the oil tends to retain on the skin longer.”
Then there are the new brands that zero in on high-concentration levels, like Romy Kowalewski’s Barcelona-based line 27 87, known for its provocative, bespoke scents—all with high oil percentages.
Most high-concentration fragrances are new versions of classic scents. “It’s not about rewriting the originals. It’s about revealing new sides of them,” says Byredo perfumer Jérôme Epinette, the nose behind Bal d’Afrique, Gypsy Water, and Cassandra Grey’s new ultra-concentrated Violet Grey parfum. “Bal d’Afrique Absolu, for example, remains a love letter to memory, to music, to movement—but in Absolu form, it’s deepened,” he adds, referencing Byredo’s new Absolu category, which offers more intense versions of its classic range. “Bergamot and blackcurrant flash bright before fading into praline and musks, like sunlight dissolving into shadow. Vetiver and black amber ground the beat. The rhythm is the same, but the voice is bolder.”
Salmon emphasizes that connection to the original fragrance is vital. “[Customers] always say, ‘Yes, I recognize the DNA. I recognize the neighborhood, but it evolves differently.’” he says. “It feels more precious, it feels deeper.”
He also wonders when the pushback will begin. “I think [the obsession with high concentration] will lead to a saturation, a little bit like when music is too loud,” Salmon says. “At some point, you don’t hear it anymore, because you don’t hear the nuances. I think people will crave nuances and will crave fragility. The challenge will become: how do you craft fragility, nuance, and transparency on the grounds of major potency? How can you reconcile the two?”
