Fragrances: key trends spotted at the Tax Free show in Cannes (in & off)

This year’s TFWA World Exhibition & Conference was bigger than ever, with 482 exhibiting companies taking stands, which was 4% more than 2024’s 462, and a record 7,999 visitors that came through the event’s doors. But the Cannes Tax Free also features a multitude of “off-site” events — an “off” trade show that has likewise broken attendance records. Premium Beauty News was on the ground to sniff out the latest trends.

Fruit is still on a roll

Fruity notes are still the main current trend. They can be found everywhere, embracing floral accords, as can be seen in Crush (litchi and rose) by Akro, or in the new D’Orsay extract called Rose Blaze (rose, peach, iris).

Dark, exotic fruit and wood structures are riding high, for example in Ha Long Bay, the new launch by Jovoy – a perfume inspired from the Vietnam memories of the brand’s founder François Hénin. For this fragrance, perfumer Véronique Nyberg (Mane) selected a mango note truer than life to top a woody, amber and leather base.

Strawberry is the other trendy fruit. In Sweet Enigma, signed by Alexandre J for the Flair studio, it stands alongside a gourmand, balmy world created by a date, pistachio, vanilla, tonka bean, and benzoin accord. In its new Holy Berry extract, D’Orsay adorned oud wood with a strawberry milk accord. And for Cuir InfraRouge, Maison Crivelli also chose red berries to soak a woody leather juice in raspberry with iridescent accents.

Vanilla back to work

Just like in September 2023, vanilla pod invites itself into the olfactory wardrobe this autumn. Matière Première created a new version of its best-seller, Vanilla Powder, in the form of an extract, where it embraces tonka bean outlined with coumarin, vanillin, and ethylvanillin. They crafted it with powdered molecules so they dressed the vanilla pod up with a veil of whiteness on a woody-amber bed.

In Bouquet Encore Latte by L’Orchestre Parfum, vanilla is rich in vanillin and adorned with white flowers and perfect milky notes. Other houses like BDK Parfums chose to explore its dark side, playing with balmy, animal notes to chisel a deep black vanilla. With Scent Of Africa, it reveals itself smooth, milky and woody in the next launch for women, Assayé. The same creamy facet was explored in Novae Vanille, the latest one by Ateliers des Ors, where vanilla pod stands alongside mimosa on a woody-amber base. Vanilla appears solar in Lift me Up by Initio Parfums Privés, exclusively launched in the US and the UK – it will be available in Europe starting from January.

Generally speaking, perfumers have selected the SFE vanilla extract [1] derived from supercritical CO2 extraction. This ‘cleaner’ technique helps remain as close as possible to the natural smell of vanilla pod.

Crafting a pop universe

More generally, there was a noticeable quest for hedonism among creators. Gourmand, fruity, creamy accords convey their enthusiasm for colours and flavours. An appetite for the joyful appearance of fruit which echoes the coloured design of the bottles.

As part of the search for pleasure, indulgence is still very much present in a playful way: a sugared almond note in Juliette Has A Gun’s Powder Love, macaroon in Akro’s Crush, but also date and pistachio notes… Creamy textures’ comforting trails revealed between the lines in many launches over the past three years still have bright days ahead!

A high intensity slider

This phenomenon is nothing new: in the past two years, brands have been developing new, increasingly powerful extract ranges.

Parfums de Marly unveiled a collection of three extracts: amber, woody and spicy Eragon, Carios, a citrusy, spicy, and woody composition, and Valero, a fougère creation with marine accents. These three new creations are presented in a bottle adorned with guilloché detailing.

Also, D’Orsay enriched its range of extracts with two novel inspirations: Rose Blaze and Holy Berry.

Essential Parfums offers a reworked, extract version of its eaux de parfum, Nice Bergamot and The Musc. In the same vein, L’Orchestre Parfum reinvented the best-seller Bouquet Encore in a deeper, milky, almondy Latte version.

Lastly, the Alexandre J brand reinterpreted Oriental Enigma in a perfume called Sweet Enigma, concentrated at 30%: an exclusive to Harrods, where the date, tonka bean, and vanilla accord is enriched with a touch of strawberry and pistachio.

Fruit, indulgence, intense and enveloping trails... these trends have remained pretty stable for two years. Next events, including the Paris Perfume Week in April 2026, and Esxence in June, could well shed a new light on tomorrow’s creativity.