I may be a beauty editor, but I haven’t lost the plot entirely. I don’t advocate for 20-step routines, nor do I think an expensive serum will protect you from failing to wash your make-up brushes. Just look at my favourite face cream! Jumbo-sized and just nine quid, it’s as un-luxe as it gets but does the job beautifully. If anything, this job has cured me of susceptibility to fancy packaging and souped-up price tags – at least without the creds to back them up. (Seduce me with science and I’ll be loyal for life.) Still, the one area I am sniffy about is scent.
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I like to smell fresh, smell interesting and smell layered. I loathe boring, insipid fragrances that are designed to fade into the background and I detest gourmands. Or at least I did until this summer.
A gourmand fragrance is one designed to smell good enough to eat – or inhale deeply. Marshmallow, raspberry, vanilla, caramel, coffee and chocolate perfumes all fall into this divisive category. Largely marketed at young girls, they often become a fug of sugar or, worse, dry down into a faintly floral nothingness.
Still, on TikTok videos about gourmand fragrances abound. Google data suggests searches for gourmands are up 5,000 per cent compared to last year. So the appetite for these pudding-adjacent scents is real. And amidst a flurry of new fragrances in this category, three newcomers have even me convinced.
First up, Byredo’s newest drop, Future Memories. Unlike the brand’s previous wide open and breezy Alto Astral, Future Mems is altogether woozier. The big vanilla base and middle notes, along with cream liquor, mark it out as a gourmand. Without the addition of orange blossom and musk, it may well have fallen into the sugar-coma category I try my best to avoid, but it doesn’t. It smells smoky and sensual, with a soft, cashmere-like texture. The blackcurrant gives it depth, anchoring the river of vanilla.
For me, fêted perfumer Quentin Bisch has managed to hit on something that’s sweet without veering into the juvenile. You’ll find yourself smooshing your nose into your skin to get more of it.
Next, Loewe’s Roasted Vanilla. Where Future Memories is boozy, Roasted Vanilla is spiced, leaning on warm woods to carry the rich, vanilla accent. Notes of oak and pink pepper are what give the fragrance its resinous, smoky quality. The smoke, I should add, is that of an ember rather than a dimly lit jazz club. Think fire pit, not smoking area. As it dries down, more and more of the vanilla comes through, settling into the skin with a creamy and smooth sweetness.
Finally, a fruity gourmand that smells like fresh produce and not like Haribo. New from Jo Malone, Scarlet Beetroot is juicy and moreish, somehow capturing the earthy scent of fresh dirt left on veg. Beetroot and blackcurrant are ripe and bright, while the patchouli running through the middle gives it a freshly-picked, slightly fizzing quality. If you’re a keen allotment-goer, or enjoy the scent of fresh veg, you’ll love this.
