Fragrance notes

I’m fascinated by the fragrance boom, and how digital sales are soaring alongside content from creators (see the 3.7 billion views of #perfumetok for just one example of the hype). At Harper’s Bazaar we’ve found fragrance-related features are flying too, spurring us to focus more and more on the topic.

We often talk about scents by specific categories that we know are well searched for (whether that’s because they’re timeless, or because they’re trending). Think ‘rose perfumes’, ‘skin scents’, ‘women’s ouds’, ‘solid perfumes’ etc. Here, our PR relationships are key; from granting us access to samples and experts for quotes, to alerting to us to best-sellers and buzzy products – you can inspire and inform the features.

And I tip my hat to those of you bringing fragrance press releases into the future. Famously flowery (no pun intended) and often bordering on bombastic, traditional fragrance releases have felt rather useless. Now, my favourite kind clearly explain a fragrance’s olfactory pyramid while incorporating expert voices and injecting colour. Scents impact mood, emotion and memory, after all, so conveying the feelings a fragrance can generate (as much as the notes they’re composed of) is important.

I also value sales insights. Inspired by stats reflecting the uptick of hair perfume shared by beauty retailer LookFantastic, I’m writing a feature on that specific category this week – so do shout if your client has one I should know about.

It’s a tricky thing selling something so subjective as scent. Especially doing so via platforms which can’t be smelt! But it’s because of this, not despite it, that the fragrance market is doing so well – and for storytellers it’s a dream scenario.