No spice is more popular for spring than saffron, popping up in dozens of scents from luxury (Amouage Purpose 50 Extrait de Parfum) to mass market options (Dossier Ambery Rose). The popularity of the note may come, in part, from Givaudan’s new natural saffron extract addition to the perfumer’s palette—which has the company’s perfumers feeling inspired—as well as the Middle East’s current influence on the Western fragrance market.
While we often see saffron in rich, heady, woody fragrances, says Certain Boin, it can also work well in ozonic and even mineral-like scents. “Saffron is an ingredient I love using because it adds a whole other dimension to a fragrance,” says Walter Johnsen, vice president of product development at Interparfums. “It’s more of a savory, edible note than a vanilla, sweet note.”
Brands are spilling a lot of tea
Black or green, Earl Grey or oolong, tea-scented fragrances are spring’s trendiest note. Fresh yet comforting, earthy yet sensual, they offer a beautiful option for a season that can fluctuate from cool and rainy (or even snowy) to glorious and sunny.
Spring’s best tea-based fragrances are incredibly diverse, spanning multiple olfactive categories. Aesop’s new Aurner Eau de Parfum, for instance, combines magnolia leaf with chamomile for a herbaceous floral scent. Jasmine tea mingles with mint and eucalyptus in Arielle Shoshana’s zingy and aromatic Tuesday fragrance, and Jill Sander’s new Black Tea scent is a dizzyingly spicy, smoky amber scent that still manages to feel light and airy—like the warm steam rising up from your morning brew.
All types of tea fragrances are trending (with 7,400 weekly views on TikTok, according to Spate Data), but it is matcha fragrances that are really having a moment for spring 2025. Interest in matcha perfume has surged by 241.1% compared with last year, according to Spate’s Popularity Share Index, a proprietary algorithm that analyzes combined data from Google Search and TikTok.
Matcha is a note that can smell earthy or creamy, but d’Annam’s new Matcha Soft Serve captures both aspects perfectly. At first spritz, it smells like you’re whipping up a cup of hot matcha in your kitchen, while the dry down morphs into the sweet, milky aroma of an ice cream-stand waffle cone.
Say cheers to boozy gourmands
Yet another way the gourmand category is expanding? Alcohol—the kind you drink, not the kind used in most fragrances as a solvent. “One of the other ways we’re adding sweetness is with booze,” says Johnsen. “Rums, bourbons, scotches—they bring in a whole new elevation to the edible, gourmand category that’s more sophisticated than using a gummy bear, for example.”