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It all seemed to start last summer, when Love Island USA contestant Leah Kateb shared a TikTok video of her fragrance collection, which included Lush’s kettle corn-scented body spray, called Let the Good Times Roll. “You just smell like caramel cake and like you’re ready to be served on a decorated plate,” she told her 4 million followers. Influencers began evangelizing about the sweet, buttery fragrance, noting its ability to attract compliments from strangers.

Only this wasn’t just the case of a cult product going viral. For several months now, my TikTok “For You” page has been flooded with regular consumers wanting to smell delicious.

It still seems like there’s only one desirable way to smell — edible, delectable, like you can literally be eaten. Whether it’s sweet vanilla fragrances, Arabian perfumes featuring tonka beans, or a growing number of pistachio scents, Gen Z’s most visible beauty obsession at the moment is smelling like a bakery.

The first thing you guys say to me when meet “woah you smell so good” 😂🫣🤭💌 GO RUN UP YA MANS credit CARD #perfume

Synthetic dessert-like notes, such as vanilla, chocolate, caramel, and honey, are commonly found in perfumes. However, this booming scent category, known as “gourmand,” has seen a huge boost in popularity on #PerfumeTok and #FragranceTok, over the past year. The food-inspired fragrance market is on a robust growth trajectory. Last year, Spate reported that online searches for gourmand scents are growing at a rate of 77.5 percent year-over-year.

With perfumers jumping on the foodie bandwagon and experimenting with more edible notes, the trend still has plenty of room to grow. Future Market Insights predicts that the gourmand fragrance market will expand from a value of $32.5 billion in 2025 to $55 billion in 2035.

Last year, these scents were practically unavoidable. Among other delectable fragrances, Kayali’s Vanilla 28, Tom Ford’s Vanilla Sex, and Yves Saint Laurent’s Black Opium became viral sensations. Glossier finally expanded its You perfume line to include a plum scent with notes of buttercream and almond. Celebrities have also been influential in this space as well; pop singer Sabrina Carpenter released a whole line of dessert-themed fragrances.........

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