You will smell like your kitchen this summer, according to expert noses

Wafts of freshly laundered cotton and lavender, perky summer citrus, and sweet vanilla beans; fragrant, resinous oud, spicy incense, smokey warm wood: the multi-scented and multifaceted world of perfume offers endless possibilities of personalisation.

Whether you’re loyal to one lingering scent, or have a wardrobe of perfumes perfected for different occasions, fragrance is a powerful tool to help define your person. As such, switching up a trusted scent staple can be as transformative and cathartic as chopping all of your hair off. “2024 is all about elevating your scent wardrobe,” says Icelandic niche perfumer Andrea Maack. “It's not just about that one signature scent any more. Scent is so much more than that, it changes with you.”

Niche perfumers lead the way for olfactory trends, according to Swedish brand No Ordinary Scent's founder Sandra Kinnmark. “There's a growing interest for genuine craftsmanship and expressing individuality,” she says. "Customer demand is shifting from celebrity launches to personalised olfactive identities. We don't want to smell like anybody else than ourselves now.” “For me, the market is growing so fast that it is difficult to catch any direction of where the trends are going,” adds Mai Britt Østergaard Nielsen, head of marketing and PR at Danish beauty brand Alûstre, highlighting the important of individuality.

Below, we tap expert noses from the Nordics to weigh in on three perfume trends to consider when switching up your scent this summer:

Sweet treats and gourmand notes are making a big comeback for 2024, with vanilla leading the charge. "Vanilla represents safety, embrace and nostalgia, things we all seem to crave at the moment," says Kinnmark. "This year almost every fragrance house is launching a grown up, luxurious fragrance centered around vanilla." According to Mach, the modern way to work with nostalgic ingredients is to "take these ingredients and doing something new with them," She pin points that a sweet ingredient like vanilla requires more complicated formulations to feel fresh. "We work in layers, adding rum, plum, and chocolate," she says. "Like a high-end cocktail."

Beyond vanilla, Maack identifies other kitchen staples as notes to know for 2024: milk, chocolate and alcohol. "And Saffron," adds Østergaard Nielsen. "Fruits can bring such a fun top note and when they are mixed in the right combination of base notes, they can become really sophisticated," she says. Kinnmark, however is nuts for nuts. "Pistachios enter our olfactive identity this year," she says. "It adds sweetness without those candy associations."

“Lavender is another one of those 'kitchy' raw ingredients that's coming back,” says Maack. But the lilac flower, most often related to dusty summer days in the country side or your nan's wardrobe, is made sexy for summer 2024. “I think we will see more lavender this year, mixed in different ways,” says Maack. “We mixed it with Oud and darker ingredients.” shares Maack. “Lavender brings a fresh vibe for spring,” the Icelandic perfumer continues. “It's not just an old lady scent any more. It's having a moment and can be mixed in so many directions.”

Another flower to carry ‘Old Lady’ connotations is the rose. For summer, the classic powdery perfume ingredient is given a makeover in the form of Rose Oxide “It is a green metallic and sparkling rose that doesn't give you headache or soapy vibes,” states Kinnmark. “It can be found in many unisex launches this year.”

“We don't seem to get tired of woody notes, however last year's boom in woody notes added pressure to the environment,” says Kinnmark. As such, the development of safe synthetics and responsibly-managed forests are gaining importance to niche perfumers. At Alûstre, wood is a constant factor. The constant trend sees the Copenhagen-based brand use “more and more dry amber-y wood notes,” says Østergaard Nielsen.

Even crowd-pleasing citrus scents are given a woody makeover. “I think we will see more cedrat notes,” says Kinnmark. Also known as the ‘Original Lemon’, not modified by humans, the cedrat brings a bright, slightly woody facet to perfumes.