With fragrance sales on the rise, these are the hottest perfumes for autumn

For those of us who read the tea leaves of scent sales, 2025 is shaping up to be a good year. The “fragrance index” – a kissing cousin of the “lipstick index” – seems to be looking up: for plenty of consumers, fragrance is self-care and perceived as an affordable luxury, so they’ll indulge even in an uncertain economic outlook. Circana reports prestige fragrance sales increased by six per cent, to US$3.9 billion, in the first half of the year. The growth was partly attributed to new brand launches, highly concentrated eaux de parfum and travel sizes.

We’re now in 2025’s home stretch, which brings a slew of new products and, as perfume lovers will tell you, a change of season is the perfect time to change up your scent. Clement Gavarry, a senior perfumer at DSM-Firmenich AG, suspects that this autumn consumers are going to seek out “neo-gourmands,” which he says “celebrate dessert-like scents, but with a twist”.