Why Does Everyone Smell Like Candy?

In 2023, beauty on the internet was all about food. We pivoted a little this year, but still, 2024 was all about … candy. This showed up in products like Brown Girl Jane’s Carousel, a candy apple-inspired scent; Jackie Aina’s Forvr Mood fragrance Hard to Get, the whipped vanilla scent that sold out immediately; eos’s Vanilla Cashmere shea-butter body lotion that people have been cutting open to use every last drop; Burberry Goddess, a rich vanilla scent that was so beloved it led the brand to launch a Burberry Goddess Intense this year; and Summer Fridays’ viral Butter Balm in scents that smell like … actual candy. Prada Candy walked so these scents could run. This week, Sabrina Carpenter launched Me Espresso, a cappuccino and espresso bean fragrance packaged in a chocolate bar bottle.

“I believe this trend towards gourmand fragrances and decadent foods comes from people seeking comfort but also wanting to indulge and experience a little adventure,” says perfumer Jérôme Epinette, who has formulated fragrances for brands like Byredo, Vilhelm Parfumerie, and most recently, the new viral brand NOYZ. He pointed to scents of vanilla, caramel, or sugar. “Gourmand scents often remind us of simpler times with family and friends, bridging the past and present. With that sense of nostalgia also comes feelings of comfort and escapism.”

NOYZ 12:00 Eau de Parfum

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Mona Kattan, founder of Kayali Perfume and a longtime fragrance aficionado, agrees. She believes that sweet, decadent fragrances evoke memories of childhood that are often associated with joy and happiness. “I think the notes alone are enough to make anyone’s mouth water,” she says. “Plus, who doesn’t want to walk around smelling like a delicious snack?” Fair. 

Like many trends now, the virality of many mouth-watering scents this year can be traced, in part, to TikTok. One scent instantly intrigued people: Phlur’s Vanilla Skin body mist. Why? In April, a TikTok creator and stripper who goes by Terree shared that it was the key to making more money in her profession. “As a stripper, I feel so qualified to tell you what scents you can spray to get men’s attention,” she said. “It’s warm. It’s soft. It’s sensual. It’s got that sweet soft-serve vanilla kind of kiss at the end of it.” The video now has over 4 million views. Shortly after Terree’s video went viral, TikTok creators started reviewing the body mist, calling it the “stripper perfume.”

PHLUR Vanilla Skin Body & Hair Fragrance Mist

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Fitness influencer Maria Carvajal shared a video admitting that she bought it because of Terree. “I’m going to trust a stripper when it comes to smelling good,” she said. She continued to share how many compliments she received after a full sweaty workout. In June of this year, Phlur launched Vanilla Skin in an eau de parfum, and in October, the company launched a Vanilla Skin deodorant (and, yes, it actually works). A few months after Vanilla Skin went viral, a perfumer anonymously shared that the body mist was in the running to replace Sol De Janeiro’s cult-favorite body mist as the top-selling body mist in the country.

Later in the year, non-fragrance brands also started leaning into the category. Cirque du Soleil, the theatrical traveling circus, launched a debut fragrance in August. The scent was created as an homage to the circus’s “steadfast origins.” When we think of a circus, we think of buttery popcorn, sweet funnel cake, and other fair foods. The notes of the fragrance included cotton candy, red candy apple, buttery popcorn accord, and caramelized amber, but it was balanced out with familiar notes we see in other fragrances, such as vanilla bean, sandalwood, and even bergamot, inviting a bit of a fruitiness into the sweet, caramel-like gourmand fragrance. “This is the final boss of all sweet, delicious gourmand fragrances,” fragrance TikTok creator Paris Mars said in a video describing the scent.

There were actual food brands who gave in to the trend of smelling sweet, too. In late summer, Auntie Anne’s launched a limited-edition fragrance, Knead. (Yes, that Auntie Anne’s, the pretzel company you generally find in malls.) The perfume smelled precisely like the intoxicating scent trail of irresistible buttery dough that we all know and love. The product was available online or at a New York pop-up experience, which also offered free pretzels with every purchase of the scent (adds to cart.) The scent is no longer available from Auntie Anne’s, but it’s being resold on eBay for up to $100 — more than double the original $45 — for the 3.4-ounce bottle.

Kayali’s Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar was among the handful of viral sweet scents this year. The fragrance is a part of Kayali’s Yum collection, dedicated to Kattan’s love for desserts. “I wanted it to feel like I was a kid again, walking into the candy store and picking up all of my favorite treats, like Jolly Ranchers, bubblegum, caramel chews, so we didn’t see it as a trend, but more of a mood and moment I wanted to bottle up,” Kattan says. When it comes to fragrance notes (like Kayali’s Yum Boujee Marshmallow fragrance, which features notes of pink marshmallow and whipped vanilla) Kattan says to lean into the sweetness rather than trying to balance it out with a non-sweet fragrance.

KAYALI Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar

$138

$138

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NOYZ, a brand launched in Ulta, prefers to add contrasting elements to sweet fragrances. For example, a gourmand scent like 12:00 has notes of spun sugar balanced with pink pepper. “We’ll start with a sweet note and balance it with contrasting elements; think smoky woods, salty accords, or even a hint of bitterness. This creates a subtle, nuanced sweetness,” Epinette said of his creations.

TikTok creator Funmi Monet calls herself the “fragrance auntie.” She regularly educates her followers on fragrance and has recently come out as a gourmand lover. “I really want to normalize the idea that you can still enjoy smelling sweet and edible scents without it being childish or juvenile,” Monet says. She recalls fragrances she loved this year, like Kayali’s Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar and Mind Games Lionora, a luxury scent that juxtaposes passion fruit notes with sandalwood. She likes to layer fragrances with offerings from drugstore brands like Caress’s mango and almond oil body wash because, she says, layering scents can start in the shower. “The mango note is so sweet and creamy I literally could stick a straw in it and drink it,” Monet adds.

If you thought this trend was going anywhere, just last week, Pantone announced that its color of the year for 2025 is Mocha Mousse, so there will surely be more sweet treats for us in the new year.